Calories in calories out myth ?

Tanie98

Today I was watching this video of this weight loss coach on yutube going on about how counting calories doesn't work long-term because your body eventually adjust to less food which why most people plateau after restricting calories for while. He gave an example of person who ate 5000 calories of lean protein and whole food and never gained a single pound yo support his argument of saying it has to do with the type of foods you eat when it comes to wright loss.

Then he said, someone who ate the same amount calories but ate refined carb , process foods and junk but gained 15 lbs. I was thinking how is that possible? Funny thing is he recommendeds interment fasting to lose weight instead of counting calories...I know counting calories isn't everyone style but I'vr always known that eating healthy will result into consuming less calories which why people will still lose weight without directly counting calories..looking for insights

AsthmaticHippo

Simple energy consumption says that if you put less fuel in than you use then the body will compensate by using fat stores.

Most people when they are eating processed foods do not calculate the actual consumption properly so are actually getting more calories than they think.

Likewise as you lose weight your metabolic rate reduces so the number of calories needed also reduces. If you don’t compensate for this at some point you do plateau.

Eating healthy is the way to lose weight as foods are generally less calorie dense. This helps achieve that deficit. But if you have an inactive lifestyle and consume 5000 calories you will gain weight if it’s ‘clean’ food or processed food, or there is something else going on

ninerbuff

Math doesn't lie. CICO is the basic formula for weight loss/gain/maintenance. Problem is many people count calories inaccurately many times.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

AndreaTamira

That guy is full of manure. CICO works.

Healthy food is good for you for other reasons than weight loss, people who are normal weight on horrible diets may do damage to themselves that is not easily seen from the outside. But that is different from his examples, which I would not believe in anyway without well-documrnted citations.

The reasons people often don't manage to loose weight or cannot keep it off have more to do with psychology than anything else.

rosebarnalice

Intermittent fasting is a strategy for reducing calorie consumption.

While eating whole foods is definitely better for your body than refined starches and sugars and will keep you feeling filler longer, 5000 calories is still 5000 calories.

What I want to know is what this guy was selling, and how he documented his examples, and what his qualifications were.

Anybody with a cell phone can record a video and claim to be an expert, so my rulenod thumb is to always ask the following
- what are this person's qualifications and can I verify them with a reputable organization?
- do they provide sources for any "facts" they use, and are they legit?
- SHOW ME THE MONEY: what is this person's incentive to put this out into the web-o-verse? Are they selling something? Making money from ad revenues or sponsors? Trying to make some sketchy business seem more legit?

cwolfman13

IF is a strategy to help reduce calorie consumption...calorie counting is another strategy...low carb and other diets are yet other strategies of reducing calorie consumption. The bottom line is that when you consume fewer calories than your body requires, you will lose weight...and it is the only way to lose weight.

So who was this 5000 calorie guy? What did he do? Once upon a time I could eat that much and wouldn't gain weight either, and it most certainly wasn't all protein or whatever. I worked landscape construction and was moving and lifting and moving gravel, etc 10-12 hours per day...I also didn't own a car and walked or biked everywhere. If he's just saying it's some guy who doesn't do anything but can eat 5000 calories, he's full of *kitten*.

Also...YouTube isn't really the best information a lot of the time...anyone can say anything...hell, my kids have their own YouTube channels and I certainly wouldn't be taking much advice from them on many things.

AnnPT77

How would a diet coach earn a living if losing weight were simple and practical for people to do on their own?

I got fat and then obese, mostly eating whole foods. (I've been vegetarian since 1974.) In about 2003, I started training and competing as a masters athlete, and stayed obese (it was super easy to eat those few hundred extra calories daily), though I did get a couple of sizes smaller (because muscle is more compact pound for pound compared to fat - but I still had plenty of fat.)

In 2015, I lost from obese to a healthy weight (50ish pounds) in less than a year, eating pretty much the same foods I'd been eating for decades, just in different portion sizes, proportions, frequencies. I didn't do anything like intermittent fasting, low carb/keto, paleo, blahblahblah. I just counted calories, and adjusted my eating to keep nutrition, calories, satiation, and overall happiness where I wanted them. (I didn't significantly change exercise activity, though I no longer compete.) Since then, I've stayed at a healthy weight . . . you guessed it, eating pretty much the same foods I've been eating for decades.

Nutritious food is very important. An overall nutritious diet can be more sating than a poor quality one. Whole foods can be more sating than highly processed foods. Feeling full (sated) helps a person stick with a reduced calorie level. Some people may eat fewer calories when they feel full on fewer calories. Some people may eat fewer calories if they strictly limit their eating to a few hours a day (IF). Some people may burn more calories if they become much more active, but their increased activity doesn't prompt them via appetite to eat more (people vary in that).

One need not calorie count in order to lose weight. Lots of different methods can help different people, as long as the method results in the person consuming sufficiently fewer calories than they burn, for a sufficiently long period of time. It's still all about the calories, counted or not.

P.S. I never plateaued while calorie counting, either, unless you count reaching a healthy weight and staying there as "a plateau". 🤣

sijomial

Selling dreams to dreamers is a big part of why the diet industry is such a lucrative business. whereas telling fat people to eat less is a hard sell.

I ate healthy food to gain weight, lose weight and maintain weight - the amount of food and calories I ate changed though.

Illusions20

I have read a few interesting studies that suggest there is a little more to it than CICO. Hormones and circadian rhythm play a part as well. I believe these things are still under investigation but if I remember right calories eaten during the day are less likely to be stored because the the body is more metabolically active. Eating right before bed on the other hand was associated with higher weight.

janejellyroll

Illusions20 wrote: »

I have read a few interesting studies that suggest there is a little more to it than CICO. Hormones and circadian rhythm play a part as well. I believe these things are still under investigation but if I remember right calories eaten during the day are less likely to be stored because the the body is more metabolically active. Eating right before bed on the other hand was associated with higher weight.

Many people who eat right before bed are eating MORE throughout the day, which can account for the difference in weight. If you're overall in a deficit, or consuming the amount you need to maintain your weight, then your body won't have anything to store. We're actually processing calories all the time, even when we're sleeping.

AnnPT77

Illusions20 wrote: »

I have read a few interesting studies that suggest there is a little more to it than CICO. Hormones and circadian rhythm play a part as well. I believe these things are still under investigation but if I remember right calories eaten during the day are less likely to be stored because the the body is more metabolically active. Eating right before bed on the other hand was associated with higher weight.

Any research on timing I've seen so far, that didn't have material problems in methodology**, showed either no effects, or effects so very small that they would not outweigh compliance factors****, as a practical matter.

If you've seen something more substantial in terms of research results, please post a link to the studies.

** Such as unmonitored self-reported consumption
**** By compliance factors, I mean things like personal satisfaction's effect on sticking with a diet long enough to lose meaningful amounts of weight; the impact on sleep for people whose sleep quality is poor if their stomach's empty; and that sort of thing.

VeryKatie

Thats actually not really why people plateau. They plateau because they aren't diligently counting any more. The count but don't weigh their food as much or eyeball portions they used to not. Or they fail to reduce their calories as they lose weight.

Maybe if they ate WAY too little for an extended period that youtube person would be right but this is not the recommended way to "count".

JBashkoff

CICO is always true. What can change is the CO based on metabolism and how your body burns calories. It doesn't change that much though at rest. You change it with movement and exercise and of course you control the CI part by what you eat. A calorie in is a calorie in but a calorie of fiber may take more for your body to metabolize than a calorie of refined sugar, not enough more to make a difference overall though in my opinion. You also have to consider nutrition and satisfaction. A calorie that brings you nutrients like a vegetable is going to have larger volume and keep you full longer versus just a calorie of of oil which has no nutritional value and no volume to keep you full.