Ok so if you have a Calorie deficit everyday does that guarantee weight loss??

newphilly123

Wanna make sure I ain't wasting my time

jemhh

Over the long term, yes.

leanjogreen18

^^^Yes.

I will add that accurately logging your calories especially if your deficit is small is important.

Most recommend getting a food scale and weighing your food, because generally people (experts as well) are pretty poor at guessing at portion sizes.

jdog022

newphilly123 wrote: »

Wanna make sure I ain't wasting my time

I suggest you view it more as a weekly thing then every day. dont expect the scale to drop every single day just because you had a deficit the day prior but with all that said.. this 100% works but log, measure and be honest with yourself

cerise_noir

It does, if you're accurate with your calories in (food intake) and calories out (activity and exercise).

For calories in, weigh your food on a food scale, and be diligent with your logging by logging everything that you eat and choosing the right database entries (there are many incomplete and incorrect entries). Check entries when barcode scanning as it doesn't always point to a correct entry.

For calories out, if using mfp, eat only 1/3- 1/2 of those calories back.

savithny

Yes.

The trick is actually knowing you're in a deficit. Since the calculators give you estimates on how much you burn, and you're responsible for being honest about what you eat, and some of the numbers on food values are also estimates, it's not always easy to actually figure out how to *be* in a deficit.

WinoGelato

Wasting your time how exactly? What would the alternative be? Not being in a calorie deficit? Continuing to gain weight?

Mavrick_RN

Your futile search for guarantees is a waste time.

JeromeBarry1

@newphilly123 , First, give a damn about yourself. It's nobody else's job.

85Cardinals

What else are you gonna do if you want to lose weight? Guarantee, what is guarantee. It's probabilities. You could get hit by a bus tomorrow, no guarantees. Keep your calories down every day and your chances for losing weight are great.

AnvilHead

It's worked for millions of other people over the years, I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work for you too.

There's only one way to lose weight - over time, take in less calories than you expend. That's about as close to a guarantee as one can get.

3474449k

Yes, but if your only reason for doing this is weight loss, then I wouldn't weigh myself every day. Your body retains water or you don't have a BM for a couple days and your weight loss may not show right away. Sometimes I can wear something I couldn't the week before even though my scales aren't showing much loss. Other times my scales show loss but I don't look that much thinner. It's a long term commitment. Make sure you log everything you eat, weigh or measure your food at first. The only way you can lose weight is to eat less that you burn. One other thing, if you want to be successful you might want to upgrade your attitude. It would make this more fun, and a good challenge.

fitoverfortymom

I only have experiential Input, but every week since I started on MFP and have been tracking my calories, as long as I had a calorie deficit, I have lost weight. Every single week. Some weeks it was half a pound, some weeks a lot more, but it works and is the real deal.

Therealobi1

It's not a waste of time, keep going and you will see results
There are weeks I didn't lose weight but used test shorts to check the fit every few weeks. This helped me see what I was doing was working.

MelanieCN77

This isn't a diet plan, it's the science all diet plans are trying to disguise with gimmicks and workarounds to sell you things.

TavistockToad

Yes

Jokerz9

No guarantee because macros matters

kristikitter

How else do you think weight comes off? Do tell...

Off-topic slightly but the hostility of some people towards changing their eating suggests they're not ready to make the change.

SymbolismNZ

Diet is 80%, Exercise is 20% but both are equal in terms of importance

The benefits of exercise on your brain, appetite and metabolism are huge, so generally while a defecit in calories will definitely help you, ultimately the surefire approach at all times is diet + exercise

Ultimately, eat clean, don't consume too many processed foods/sugars and exercise for at least two hours a week and you'll drop weight.

seska422

SymbolismNZ wrote: »

Diet is 80%, Exercise is 20% but both are equal in terms of importance

The benefits of exercise on your brain, appetite and metabolism are huge, so generally while a defecit in calories will definitely help you, ultimately the surefire approach at all times is diet + exercise

Ultimately, eat clean, don't consume too many processed foods/sugars and exercise for at least two hours a week and you'll drop weight.

Or don't eat clean and don't exercise and you'll still lose weight in a calorie deficit.

If you want to avoid processed foods, that's your choice. However, you can still lose weight while eating them. Moderation is best but that's true about everything, really.

Exercise is great for many reasons but not required to lose weight.

stevencloser

Jokerz9 wrote: »

No guarantee because macros matters

Not for weightloss.

Nony_Mouse

SymbolismNZ wrote: »

Diet is 80%, Exercise is 20% but both are equal in terms of importance

The benefits of exercise on your brain, appetite and metabolism are huge, so generally while a defecit in calories will definitely help you, ultimately the surefire approach at all times is diet + exercise

Ultimately, eat clean, don't consume too many processed foods/sugars and exercise for at least two hours a week and you'll drop weight.

Not unless you're also eating at a deficit. It's entirely possible to eat 'clean' and exercise and not lose a thing, or in fact gain. Equally, you could live on twinkies, and so long as you're eating less calories than you're burning, you will lose weight. 'Clean' has absolutely nothing to do with it.

iofred

Initially probably, but I have been on maintenance for 18 months, use (many) more cals than I eat, and don't lose anything (which is intentional, but still, it is an answer to your question)

sbrandt37

iofred wrote: »

Initially probably, but I have been on maintenance for 18 months, use (many) more cals than I eat, and don't lose anything (which is intentional, but still, it is an answer to your question)

That's actually not possible. Laws of physics and such. Energy cannot be created from nothing. You are either eating more or using less than you think.

bossyfairy

You need to figure out what works for you e.g, are you motivated to / can you fit in exercise daily? Or is twice a week a better goal? What are your trigger points (e.g. Snacking in the evenings)

My mum has lost weight by calorie counting and cutting portion sizes. She hasn't really increased her exercising but amount of food was the issue. Not anything ridiculous but by not eating the same amount as my Dad and using smaller plates. Plates are bigger now than they were in the 70s and 80s (in the U.K. anyway, don't know about other places)
It's got to be a long term sustainable change so 'clean' eating won't be what everyone wants for a sustainable change.

Also you might find that you lose inches (e.g. If you do the 30 day shred) but the scales won't move much so like a person above said you can use an item of clothing to measure progress. I do this as I just get an issue / obsessed with weighing myself which isn't healthy either.

SymbolismNZ

Nony_Mouse - You're of course 100% correct, but I find for myself personally and a lot of other people that solely looking at the intake of calories isn't a sustainable lifestyle choice; I also find that once you do eat properly clean (i.e goodbye added sugars, goodbye calorie rich pastas, potatos and breads, goodbye processed fruit juices and sodas) - it's a pretty hard thing to consume more than you'll burn if you're exercising regularly.

The key thing here is not what works for a couple months, it's what can you make work for your entire life - speaking as someone who has rollercoastered between 180lb and 310lb my entire adult life, I've had countless times crashing 50lbs off my frame after three months of restricting calories, only to flood it back on because it's not changing the way I viewed food long term.

seska422

SymbolismNZ wrote: »

Nony_Mouse - You're of course 100% correct, but I find for myself personally and a lot of other people that solely looking at the intake of calories isn't a sustainable lifestyle choice; I also find that once you do eat properly clean (i.e goodbye added sugars, goodbye calorie rich pastas, potatos and breads, goodbye processed fruit juices and sodas) - it's a pretty hard thing to consume more than you'll burn if you're exercising regularly.

The key thing here is not what works for a couple months, it's what can you make work for your entire life - speaking as someone who has rollercoastered between 180lb and 310lb my entire adult life, I've had countless times crashing 50lbs off my frame after three months of restricting calories, only to flood it back on because it's not changing the way I viewed food long term.

Crash dieting doesn't generally work long term for most people.

My n=1 is that I've lost 120+ pounds in 22 months eating processed foods/sugar (in smaller quantities than I used to eat them because I've reduced my portions overall) and without exercise. This is basically how I ate/exercised before I started so it's a sustainable way of living for me. It's not a struggle so I'm much less tempted to fall off the wagon.

I've rollercoastered before by making large changes. That's not sustainable for me.

paperpudding

SymbolismNZ wrote: »

Nony_Mouse - You're of course 100% correct, but I find for myself personally and a lot of other people that solely looking at the intake of calories isn't a sustainable lifestyle choice; I also find that once you do eat properly clean (i.e goodbye added sugars, goodbye calorie rich pastas, potatos and breads, goodbye processed fruit juices and sodas) - it's a pretty hard thing to consume more than you'll burn if you're exercising regularly.

The key thing here is not what works for a couple months, it's what can you make work for your entire life - speaking as someone who has rollercoastered between 180lb and 310lb my entire adult life, I've had countless times crashing 50lbs off my frame after three months of restricting calories, only to flood it back on because it's not changing the way I viewed food long term.

I agree that for many people eating no added sugars, rich pastas, potatos, bread, juice, soda (regular sort) and exercising regularly would create a CICO equation in which it is hard to consume more than you burn.

But thats not because there is anything terrible about those foods or anything commendable about avoiding them - it is just because they are all high calorie staples of many peoples western diets.

One can just as easily create a CICO equation by eating them in appropriate portions - as indeed one can with any food or combination of foods.

Speaking as someone who has lost weight and then maintained for 3 years - I ate all of the above 'to avoid' foods. Some more than others (eg very rarely drank regular soda, but ate plenty of certain added sugar foods, like chocolate) and by no stretch of anyone's definition did I eat clean.

Sure, your dietary intake worked for you - and mine worked for me - and both worked regardless of individual food choices, purely because of CICO.

SymbolismNZ

I don't see it as a large change, I see it as being more mindful of what you're consuming which I actually don't think calorie counting alone helps (from experience)

I'm highly dismissive of the paleo style of diet, equally as dismissive on the low carb style of diet because neither are feasible long term; but for instance, not having french fries every time you eat a meal, not smothering your food in sauce, not drinking soda by the gallon, not having three milky coffees a day, not thinking twice before having that second slice of cake, etc.

I see more a large change the whole "Well I want to get to 1200 calories a day consumed so I have enough of a defecit to lose a pound a week"

seska422

SymbolismNZ wrote: »

I don't see it as a large change, I see it as being more mindful of what you're consuming which I actually don't think calorie counting alone helps (from experience)

I'm highly dismissive of the paleo style of diet, equally as dismissive on the low carb style of diet because neither are feasible long term; but for instance, not having french fries every time you eat a meal, not smothering your food in sauce, not drinking soda by the gallon, not having three milky coffees a day, not thinking twice before having that second slice of cake, etc.

I see more a large change the whole "Well I want to get to 1200 calories a day consumed so I have enough of a defecit to lose a pound a week"

Well, you do you.

The beauty of it is that everyone can experiment and find what works for them. What you dismiss may be the exact thing that works for someone else.

It doesn't matter how you get to a calorie deficit in order to lose weight, just that you do get to a calorie deficit.

TonyB0588

newphilly123 wrote: »

Wanna make sure I ain't wasting my time

Not wasting your time. It works for me. You will have good days and bad days, but in the long term it works.