Anyone lost weight with calorie counting alone?

jaygirl3

Hi all.

So I recently gained 50lbs after the baby plus developing hypohyroidism. I have been trying different diets but isnt working. I have gained on keto. I lost 17 lbs on low fat diet but wasnt sustainable.

So looking for motivation. Has anyone lost successfully with cico, if yes what was your daily intake and deficit? I currently weigh 220lbs

livingleanlivingclean

Eating in a deficit is how everyone loses weight.... Working out what foods help you consistently stick to your deficit the easiest will help you lose weight and get to your goal. Not being overly aggressive with your deficit will probably help too, eating too little can lead to you feeling deprived and wanting to eat everything in sight (which can happen, meaning you eat your way out of a deficit...)

Machka9

jaygirl3 wrote: »

Has anyone lost successfully with cico

Yes ... of course. I've lost all my weight with CICO.


Enter your information into MFP ... that's what it is here for!
Select sedentary as your activity level.
Select the amount you want to lose each week (1 lb/week).
See the calories MFP gives you.
Eat those calories.

You can eat whatever you want to make up those calories ... just be meticulous in your food weighing and logging so that you are as accurate as possible. And you may find certain foods are more worth it than others.

Exercise.
Log your exercise ... I chose the low, light, or slow options to log more accurately.
Eat half your exercise calories back.


And this:

kommodevaran

CICO is calories in/out, the process by which weight loss and gain works.

Calorie counting, keto, different diets and meal schedules, are all methods one can use in order to make calories in consistently lower than calories out.

Nothing works unless you have a sustained calorie deficit over time. Anything will work if you have a sustained calorie deficit over time.

Motivation is overrated. What you need is education, willingness to eat less, a good plan, and discipline to stick to it.

People who have been successful with weightloss, have had a calorie deficit/intake appropriate for their height, weight, age, sex and activity level. MFP will give you a good ballpark number if you go to setup and enter your stats, and pick a weekly weightloss goal of no more than 1% of your bodyweight.

sugarlemonpie

Yes. I don't work out aside from walking about 45 mins a day. I'm on 1200 calories and I've stuck to that for the past year to lose over 60lbs. I'm now 148lbs and thinking of adding in some strength training for toning. You can definitely do it! Just start with getting your nutrition down so you feel satisfied and form a habit. I find it's best to keep a balanced diet and eat a mix of fats, carbs, and protein. Heart disease and diabetes both run in my family, so I don't find it makes sense for me personally to just put emphasis on one type of macronutrient. I also find I'm fuller longer if I have a good ratio of fats to carbs and protein. But every body is different, that's just my experience!

sschauer513

kommodevaran wrote: »

Nothing works unless you have a sustained calorie deficit over time. Anything will work if you have a sustained calorie deficit over time.

Motivation is overrated. What you need is education, willingness to eat less, a good plan, and discipline to stick to it.

Perfect answer that almost everyone that posts I can't lose weight need to understand. This is the magic to weight lose that nobody want to hear. It's not a pill or exercise.

psuLemon

You definitely can lose weight without exericse but there are significant benefits to adding exercise to your routine. More specifically, it can improve body composition, maintain or improve metabolism, increase energy output which makes it easier to get into a deficit, improve body and heart health, and much more.

Also, i'd recommend stop looking at diets and understand which foods fill you up the most, that you enjoy the most. If your satiated by proteins and fiber (like most of us), focus on those foods. If you are satiated by carbs, have a higher amount of carbs in your diet. Ultimately, I aim for high protein, high fiber, high carb.

ceiswyn

I lost my first 4 stone with calorie counting alone.

...the reduction in weight seriously improved the health of my ankles, so since then I've been exercising as well and much happier for it

toxikon

Yup. I've lost most of my weight sedentary. I sometimes go for walks or do yoga, but not regularly enough to consider myself very active.

WinoGelato

31shines wrote: »

I counted calories for a long time barely lost anything. Now I carb count I'm down 19 pounds in a month and a half

Congrats on your success - you found a way to create a calorie deficit by tracking carbs - but the weight loss still comes down to the calorie intake...

tammie614

sschauer513 wrote: »

kommodevaran wrote: »

Nothing works unless you have a sustained calorie deficit over time. Anything will work if you have a sustained calorie deficit over time.

Motivation is overrated. What you need is education, willingness to eat less, a good plan, and discipline to stick to it.

Perfect answer that almost everyone that posts I can't lose weight need to understand. This is the magic to weight lose that nobody want to hear. It's not a pill or exercise.

All of this!!

WinoGelato

OP as others have said - everyone loses weight with CICO. It isn't a diet, a way of eating, and doesn't mean counting calories. CICO (Calories In Calories Out) is a fundamental energy balance that governs whether you lose, gain, or maintain weight - so no matter what your weight is doing, CICO is still in play.

A lot of people like the structure of a named diet or having a specific plan to follow, and they have success losing weight doing that, whether they track and count calories or not. But no matter what plan you follow - weight loss comes from creating a sustained calorie deficit over time.

Personally, I don't like being told what I can and can't eat. I quickly realized after joining MFP that if I cut out foods I loved, I wouldn't stick with it. So rather than cutting things out, I focused on what I could add to my lifestyle - more protein, more vegetables, more whole grains, more exercise, more sleep. I found that by focusing on the positive additions to my diet and fitness plan - I left just enough room to keep the things I really loved in moderation - things like pizza, wine, ice cream, etc. I lost the weight I set out to lose and then some (>30 lbs) and am now in maintenance for several years and never felt deprived, never got off track, etc.

My standard advice on MFP is to:
1. Enter your stats, activity level and reasonable rate of loss in MFP and let it calculate a calorie target for you. With about 50 lbs to lose, 1 lb/week is an appropriate goal rate of loss for you.
2. Log everything you eat as accurately and honestly as possible, ideally using a food scale.
3. Build your day around foods that provide nutrition (macro and micronutrients), satiety (fill you up) and enjoyment (keeps you motivated while losting).
4. When you exercise, log and eat back at least a portion of those calories.
5. Be patient, monitor and adjust after 4-6 weeks.

Good luck!

Angierae75

Walking, and counting calories. 46 pounds so far.

Iamnotasenior

Counting calories with almost zero exercise (sedentary due to back issues and work a desk job). I have lost 46 pounds since beginning to count calories a year ago. I'm a vegetarian so my diet is high in carbohydrates.

callriter

I haven't exercised and have lost over 60 pounds in the last year. I log everything I eat and try to get lots of fiber and no added sugar - type 2 diabetes - Calories in - Calories out really worked for me. I'm not in a rush. I just want to feel healthier.

cmriverside

I lost 70+ pounds in 2007-08 and I've kept it off by tracking my body weight and my calories in/out on this site.

There is one way to lose: eat fewer calories than your body uses so it will be forced to use your body fat as fuel. Pretty simple -

• Eat what you want in the right quantities.
• Get a little exericise.
• Repeat consistently.

SilverRose89

jaygirl3 wrote: »

Hi all.

So I recently gained 50lbs after the baby plus developing hypohyroidism. I have been trying different diets but isnt working. I have gained on keto. I lost 17 lbs on low fat diet but wasnt sustainable.

So looking for motivation. Has anyone lost successfully with cico, if yes what was your daily intake and deficit? I currently weigh 220lbs

I started at 217 and have lost 26lbs this year through diet alone. I have chronic fatigue syndrome which makes exercise a bit of a *kitten*. I do swim, but lightly and more for health and relaxation than anything, not for weight loss.

A calorie deficit is all that is needed - A sensible one otherwise you will end up feeling deprived and giving up. This is not a quick process, but it's the one that works.