Calories in calories out

How does this work when we have all known a 300 pound person who eats healthy and works an active job but still cant lose ? Like for example I have a friend who is an overweight nurse, she does zumba, eats salads and has a very active job (always on her feet) yet she is still large and has been since a child. Yet I have another friend whos a stay at home mom, 28 years old, eats nothing but fast food and is like 110 soaking wet. So if we accept the fact that there are super skinny girls who cant eat whatever they want and not gain a pound why cant the reverse be true? Why cant someone eat healthy, have a deficit and NOT lose? If a skinny girl can eat 4000 calories a day of fast food with out the calories in calories out applying why does it always 100% apply to overweight people? The bigger people I know that are 300 pounds dont eat ANYWHERE near 3000 plus calories a day like the internet says it takes for them to maintain that weight....
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Replies

  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
    http://www.channel4.com/programmes/secret-eaters

    Unless you are with them 24/7 you don't how much they eat.
  • eats nothing but fast food and is like 110 soaking wet.
    I regularly eat pizza and fast food and lost 50+ lbs using MFP.
    Eating "healthy" != counting calories.
  • http://www.channel4.com/programmes/secret-eaters

    Unless you are with them 24/7 you don't how much they eat.

    Clearly. People always say that

    You are weighing your food wrong/portions wrong
    You don't know how much you are eating
    You are eating too little.

    Could it be that this doesn't work on everyone? Clearly people have all kinds of health problems and ailments also from preventing this from always working.
  • MelissaPhippsFeagins
    MelissaPhippsFeagins Posts: 8,063 Member
    How does this work when we have all known a 300 pound person who eats healthy and works an active job but still cant lose ? Like for example I have a friend who is an overweight nurse, she does zumba, eats salads and has a very active job (always on her feet) yet she is still large and has been since a child. Yet I have another friend whos a stay at home mom, 28 years old, eats nothing but fast food and is like 110 soaking wet. So if we accept the fact that there are super skinny girls who cant eat whatever they want and not gain a pound why cant the reverse be true? Why cant someone eat healthy, have a deficit and NOT lose? If a skinny girl can eat 4000 calories a day of fast food with out the calories in calories out applying why does it always 100% apply to overweight people? The bigger people I know that are 300 pounds dont eat ANYWHERE near 3000 plus calories a day like the internet says it takes for them to maintain that weight....

    I am NOT maligning your friend, but I've never met a single 300lb non-athlete who accurately logged their calories in. (I do know some young men who football players and friends with my kids who are 300lbs on purpose and they know what they are eating to get/stay there) And I don't know a single SAHM who has a sedentary lifestyle. Chasing kids, cleaning house, fixing lunch, putting toys and laundry away and chasing kids some more burns the calories whether you are logging them or not.

    If you have a deficit AND you are not losing anything over time, then you have a medical problem of some kind. (And one of the 300lb people I know is my punk kid sister; she ate healthy but she ate 3000 calories easily without even knowing she was doing it. She's on MFP now and paying attention. I haven't asked her weight recently; I just care that she's trying to get healthy.)
  • Cranquistador
    Cranquistador Posts: 39,744 Member
    math and stuff.
  • jeslaughter
    jeslaughter Posts: 131 Member
    http://www.channel4.com/programmes/secret-eaters

    Unless you are with them 24/7 you don't how much they eat.

    this^^^ I have been know to tell the same tale! Unfortunately, it has only hurt me!
  • YesIAm17
    YesIAm17 Posts: 817 Member
    How does this work when we have all known a 300 pound person who eats healthy and works an active job but still cant lose ? Like for example I have a friend who is an overweight nurse, she does zumba, eats salads and has a very active job (always on her feet) yet she is still large and has been since a child. Yet I have another friend whos a stay at home mom, 28 years old, eats nothing but fast food and is like 110 soaking wet. So if we accept the fact that there are super skinny girls who cant eat whatever they want and not gain a pound why cant the reverse be true? Why cant someone eat healthy, have a deficit and NOT lose? If a skinny girl can eat 4000 calories a day of fast food with out the calories in calories out applying why does it always 100% apply to overweight people? The bigger people I know that are 300 pounds dont eat ANYWHERE near 3000 plus calories a day like the internet says it takes for them to maintain that weight....

    A good place to start would be in not accepting that "fact".

    If you take in more calories than you burn, then you store it.

    If you burn more calories than you take in, then you burn what you had previously stored.
  • dbarnese
    dbarnese Posts: 8 Member
    It doesn't take 3,000 calories a day to maintain being overweight. I'd venture a guess that they can eat much less than that to maintain their weight if their basal metabolic rate is low. There are ways to rev up your metabolism, but truth is that some people have a harder time losing or keeping weight off and they have to be more vigilant. However, they are not in "deficit" and maintaining that weight. The only way to truly know how much you are taking in is to record every single thing that goes into your mouth, through a tool like MFP.

    If you watch your day to day reports of "If every day were like today you would weigh XXX in six weeks" - you will see that even going 20 calories over your limit will cause you to gain weight over time. (This is over your maintenance level of calories, not the amount you have set for losing).

    So if your friend should normally be eating, say, 1800 calories a day to maintain her weight, but comes in at 2000 and exercises as well, she is still going to be over and will maintain her weight quite easily. People often over-estimate the number of calories burned during exercise and then reward themselves by eating those exercise calories back. We need to be realistic with ourselves.
  • eats nothing but fast food and is like 110 soaking wet.
    I regularly eat pizza and fast food and lost 50+ lbs using MFP.
    Eating "healthy" != counting calories.

    Yeah you could eat 1200-1500 calories of fast food crap and still lose weight. But look at the size of the food, for example I like taco bells Loaded potato grilles they are 470 calories for one, those things are tiny I could easily eat 2-3 of them and then eat again 5-7 hours later,. But that is 940 calories for 2 tiny fast food burritos, I could make 5 times that amount of healthy food for that many calories. A hamburger meal with fries and a coke is easily 800-1200 calories depending on the burger (I used to go to carles junior). That is a waste of calories in my opinion.
  • How does this work when we have all known a 300 pound person who eats healthy and works an active job but still cant lose ? Like for example I have a friend who is an overweight nurse, she does zumba, eats salads and has a very active job (always on her feet) yet she is still large and has been since a child. Yet I have another friend whos a stay at home mom, 28 years old, eats nothing but fast food and is like 110 soaking wet. So if we accept the fact that there are super skinny girls who cant eat whatever they want and not gain a pound why cant the reverse be true? Why cant someone eat healthy, have a deficit and NOT lose? If a skinny girl can eat 4000 calories a day of fast food with out the calories in calories out applying why does it always 100% apply to overweight people? The bigger people I know that are 300 pounds dont eat ANYWHERE near 3000 plus calories a day like the internet says it takes for them to maintain that weight....

    A good place to start would be in not accepting that "fact".

    If you take in more calories than you burn, then you store it.

    If you burn more calories than you take in, then you burn what you had previously stored.
    Well since I have seen it over and over again first hand I will accept it.
  • YesIAm17
    YesIAm17 Posts: 817 Member
    How does this work when we have all known a 300 pound person who eats healthy and works an active job but still cant lose ? Like for example I have a friend who is an overweight nurse, she does zumba, eats salads and has a very active job (always on her feet) yet she is still large and has been since a child. Yet I have another friend whos a stay at home mom, 28 years old, eats nothing but fast food and is like 110 soaking wet. So if we accept the fact that there are super skinny girls who cant eat whatever they want and not gain a pound why cant the reverse be true? Why cant someone eat healthy, have a deficit and NOT lose? If a skinny girl can eat 4000 calories a day of fast food with out the calories in calories out applying why does it always 100% apply to overweight people? The bigger people I know that are 300 pounds dont eat ANYWHERE near 3000 plus calories a day like the internet says it takes for them to maintain that weight....

    A good place to start would be in not accepting that "fact".

    If you take in more calories than you burn, then you store it.

    If you burn more calories than you take in, then you burn what you had previously stored.
    Well since I have seen it over and over again first hand I will accept it.

    So you know for a fact exactly how many calories 300lb girl was consuming vs burning? and exactly how many calories skinny girl was burning vs consuming? Really?
  • It doesn't take 3,000 calories a day to maintain being overweight. I'd venture a guess that they can eat much less than that to maintain their weight if their basal metabolic rate is low. There are ways to rev up your metabolism, but truth is that some people have a harder time losing or keeping weight off and they have to be more vigilant. However, they are not in "deficit" and maintaining that weight. The only way to truly know how much you are taking in is to record every single thing that goes into your mouth, through a tool like MFP.

    If you watch your day to day reports of "If every day were like today you would weigh XXX in six weeks" - you will see that even going 20 calories over your limit will cause you to gain weight over time. (This is over your maintenance level of calories, not the amount you have set for losing).

    So if your friend should normally be eating, say, 1800 calories a day to maintain her weight, but comes in at 2000 and exercises as well, she is still going to be over and will maintain her weight quite easily. People often over-estimate the number of calories burned during exercise and then reward themselves by eating those exercise calories back. We need to be realistic with ourselves.

    All the person would have to do that needs 1800 calories and eats 2000 is work out like 400-600 at the gym on the treadmill.
  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
    How does this work when we have all known a 300 pound person who eats healthy and works an active job but still cant lose ? Like for example I have a friend who is an overweight nurse, she does zumba, eats salads and has a very active job (always on her feet) yet she is still large and has been since a child. Yet I have another friend whos a stay at home mom, 28 years old, eats nothing but fast food and is like 110 soaking wet. So if we accept the fact that there are super skinny girls who cant eat whatever they want and not gain a pound why cant the reverse be true? Why cant someone eat healthy, have a deficit and NOT lose? If a skinny girl can eat 4000 calories a day of fast food with out the calories in calories out applying why does it always 100% apply to overweight people? The bigger people I know that are 300 pounds dont eat ANYWHERE near 3000 plus calories a day like the internet says it takes for them to maintain that weight....

    A good place to start would be in not accepting that "fact".

    If you take in more calories than you burn, then you store it.

    If you burn more calories than you take in, then you burn what you had previously stored.
    Well since I have seen it over and over again first hand I will accept it.

    Then I doubt we have anything more to say to you.

    Enjoy your "facts" :noway:
  • How does this work when we have all known a 300 pound person who eats healthy and works an active job but still cant lose ? Like for example I have a friend who is an overweight nurse, she does zumba, eats salads and has a very active job (always on her feet) yet she is still large and has been since a child. Yet I have another friend whos a stay at home mom, 28 years old, eats nothing but fast food and is like 110 soaking wet. So if we accept the fact that there are super skinny girls who cant eat whatever they want and not gain a pound why cant the reverse be true? Why cant someone eat healthy, have a deficit and NOT lose? If a skinny girl can eat 4000 calories a day of fast food with out the calories in calories out applying why does it always 100% apply to overweight people? The bigger people I know that are 300 pounds dont eat ANYWHERE near 3000 plus calories a day like the internet says it takes for them to maintain that weight....

    A good place to start would be in not accepting that "fact".

    If you take in more calories than you burn, then you store it.

    If you burn more calories than you take in, then you burn what you had previously stored.
    Well since I have seen it over and over again first hand I will accept it.

    So you know for a fact exactly how many calories 300lb girl was consuming vs burning? and exactly how many calories skinny girl was burning vs consuming? Really?

    Yes these are people I know very well.
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,301 Member
    Some poor souls are salicylate sensitive and doing all the "right things" does not, will not, can not, work for them. The medical profession do not recognise its possible association with manhy health issues this can contribute to. Anything from joint pain, ME, fibromialgia, breathing related problem, urinary tract infections, blood pressure, thyroid, diabetes, gynecological problems. It seems there is noting it is not capable of making worse. I was at a very low ebb when I discovered my problem and I am on my way to being the person I should always have been.

    Contact me if you would like to know more
  • lol at everyone acting like they haven't had a close relative or friend that ate crap all day long, sat around and never gained a pound. Well clearly it can be reversed.
  • Some poor souls are salicylate sensitive and doing all the "right things" does not, will not, can not, work for them. The medical profession do not recognise its possible association with manhy health issues this can contribute to. Anything from joint pain, ME, fibromialgia, breathing related problem, urinary tract infections, blood pressure, thyroid, diabetes, gynecological problems. It seems there is noting it is not capable of making worse. I was at a very low ebb when I discovered my problem and I am on my way to being the person I should always have been.

    Contact me if you would like to know more

    Well clearly, some people try the calorie in calorie out thing for months or even years before going to the doctor and figuring out that they are not losing weight because of a health condition. Even though people will just constantly tell them they are doing something wrong.
  • YesIAm17
    YesIAm17 Posts: 817 Member
    How does this work when we have all known a 300 pound person who eats healthy and works an active job but still cant lose ? Like for example I have a friend who is an overweight nurse, she does zumba, eats salads and has a very active job (always on her feet) yet she is still large and has been since a child. Yet I have another friend whos a stay at home mom, 28 years old, eats nothing but fast food and is like 110 soaking wet. So if we accept the fact that there are super skinny girls who cant eat whatever they want and not gain a pound why cant the reverse be true? Why cant someone eat healthy, have a deficit and NOT lose? If a skinny girl can eat 4000 calories a day of fast food with out the calories in calories out applying why does it always 100% apply to overweight people? The bigger people I know that are 300 pounds dont eat ANYWHERE near 3000 plus calories a day like the internet says it takes for them to maintain that weight....

    A good place to start would be in not accepting that "fact".

    If you take in more calories than you burn, then you store it.

    If you burn more calories than you take in, then you burn what you had previously stored.
    Well since I have seen it over and over again first hand I will accept it.

    So you know for a fact exactly how many calories 300lb girl was consuming vs burning? and exactly how many calories skinny girl was burning vs consuming? Really?

    Yes these are people I know very well.

    Glad you "know" them very well. That's nice. Back to the relevant part... did you personally monitor and log all of their calories consumed vs calories burned? Didn't think so.
  • maryjaquiss
    maryjaquiss Posts: 307 Member
    Someone posted this a bit ago - it seems that in most (and I stress most) of these cases, it isn't anything to do with metabolism/any weird medical conditions - it's just one is eating more calories and not burning them, and one is eating less. Nothing more than that.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTr1JUvEiUU
  • YesIAm17
    YesIAm17 Posts: 817 Member
    lol at everyone acting like they haven't had a close relative or friend that ate crap all day long, sat around and never gained a pound. Well clearly it can be reversed.

    lol @ OP ignoring all the science and drawing unshakable conclusions based on hearsay supported by no documentation whatsoever.
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
    post-25067-And-Here-We-Go-Joker-gif-Imgur-x71M.gif
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    How does this work when we have all known a 300 pound person who eats healthy and works an active job but still cant lose ? Like for example I have a friend who is an overweight nurse, she does zumba, eats salads and has a very active job (always on her feet) yet she is still large and has been since a child. Yet I have another friend whos a stay at home mom, 28 years old, eats nothing but fast food and is like 110 soaking wet. So if we accept the fact that there are super skinny girls who cant eat whatever they want and not gain a pound why cant the reverse be true? Why cant someone eat healthy, have a deficit and NOT lose? If a skinny girl can eat 4000 calories a day of fast food with out the calories in calories out applying why does it always 100% apply to overweight people? The bigger people I know that are 300 pounds dont eat ANYWHERE near 3000 plus calories a day like the internet says it takes for them to maintain that weight....

    A good place to start would be in not accepting that "fact".

    If you take in more calories than you burn, then you store it.

    If you burn more calories than you take in, then you burn what you had previously stored.
    Well since I have seen it over and over again first hand I will accept it.

    So you know for a fact exactly how many calories 300lb girl was consuming vs burning? and exactly how many calories skinny girl was burning vs consuming? Really?

    Yes these are people I know very well.

    People would say the same thing about me. They would be wrong.
    I also have the tendency to severely underestimate how much I have eaten even after almost 2 years on MFP. I have had a number of weeks where I have been not losing or gaining and not understanding why, I'm active, I eat well most of the time. One of the things I find so helpful about logging is I can look back on the week and realize that the one or two large calorie meals I've had here and there (usually not while I am with someone else) was, in fact, more than just one or two.

    The funny thing is, when I did a strict meal plan, logging/weighing everything, I lose weight.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    http://www.channel4.com/programmes/secret-eaters

    Unless you are with them 24/7 you don't how much they eat.

    Clearly. People always say that

    You are weighing your food wrong/portions wrong
    You don't know how much you are eating
    You are eating too little.

    Could it be that this doesn't work on everyone? Clearly people have all kinds of health problems and ailments also from preventing this from always working.

    Have you ever heard of the laws of thermodynamics...you're basically suggesting that there are magical people who are not subject to the laws of thermodynamics...

    If someone is gaining weight they are consuming a surplus of calories...it matters not that they eat "healthy" or that they exercise...neither of those things guarantee a calorie deficit. In fact a lot of exercise and actual training can be counterproductive to weight loss in that when you're really training you're really hungry and tend to eat all the foodz.

    There are medical conditions which can slow metabolism but it's still calories in/out...it's just that their metabolism would fall outside of the statistical averages that are used for these calculators. They'd have to have their metabolism medically tested.
  • emilyisbonkers
    emilyisbonkers Posts: 373 Member
    How does this work when we have all known a 300 pound person who eats healthy and works an active job but still cant lose ? Like for example I have a friend who is an overweight nurse, she does zumba, eats salads and has a very active job (always on her feet) yet she is still large and has been since a child. Yet I have another friend whos a stay at home mom, 28 years old, eats nothing but fast food and is like 110 soaking wet. So if we accept the fact that there are super skinny girls who cant eat whatever they want and not gain a pound why cant the reverse be true? Why cant someone eat healthy, have a deficit and NOT lose? If a skinny girl can eat 4000 calories a day of fast food with out the calories in calories out applying why does it always 100% apply to overweight people? The bigger people I know that are 300 pounds dont eat ANYWHERE near 3000 plus calories a day like the internet says it takes for them to maintain that weight....

    A good place to start would be in not accepting that "fact".

    If you take in more calories than you burn, then you store it.

    If you burn more calories than you take in, then you burn what you had previously stored.
    Well since I have seen it over and over again first hand I will accept it.

    So you know for a fact exactly how many calories 300lb girl was consuming vs burning? and exactly how many calories skinny girl was burning vs consuming? Really?

    Yes these are people I know very well.

    are these "salads" covered in mayo and cheese? lol
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
    How does this work when we have all known a 300 pound person who eats healthy and works an active job but still cant lose ? Like for example I have a friend who is an overweight nurse, she does zumba, eats salads and has a very active job (always on her feet) yet she is still large and has been since a child. Yet I have another friend whos a stay at home mom, 28 years old, eats nothing but fast food and is like 110 soaking wet. So if we accept the fact that there are super skinny girls who cant eat whatever they want and not gain a pound why cant the reverse be true? Why cant someone eat healthy, have a deficit and NOT lose? If a skinny girl can eat 4000 calories a day of fast food with out the calories in calories out applying why does it always 100% apply to overweight people? The bigger people I know that are 300 pounds dont eat ANYWHERE near 3000 plus calories a day like the internet says it takes for them to maintain that weight....

    This is what is referred to as a straw man argument (Aunt Sally for those in the UK). If the basis of your argument is a fallacy to start with, how can any debate after be anything less than drivel.

    We do not accept the fact that there are super skinny girls that can eat whatever they want unless whatever they want just happens to be always within their caloric limit for maintaining weight. The 300 lb man and overweight nurse are eating more calories than what needs to be eaten to maintain a healthy weight.

    They are eating too much. Trying to prove otherwise (medical conditions excluded) is just creating an excuse of eating at a surplus. Those sorts of excuses only help people give up instead of trying to actually solve the problem of being overweight.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    lol at everyone acting like they haven't had a close relative or friend that ate crap all day long, sat around and never gained a pound. Well clearly it can be reversed.

    These folks usually started with a slightly higher than expected metabolism, they retained their LBM by not actually sitting as much as you would think, and when they do eat more in excess their metabolism is more willing to rev up to burn it and body is less efficient at dealing with the food, because it's a plenty.

    You can leave the crap and healthy food aspect out of it. They may cause other stress with mineral or vitamin deficiencies, but in general doesn't matter.

    And yes you can easily reverse the person sitting around skinning to being moving around and big, slowly over time.

    Sadly the person that allowed themselves to get overweight and has always been doing some sort of diet and exercise routine, has likely lost LBM, and their metabolism isn't what it could be anyway, so they would have to eat even less than expected to actually lose weight.

    And they will likely NOT be able to reverse that down the road, even at maintenance. They'll always have to eat less than their skinny friend that was always that way.
  • YesIAm17
    YesIAm17 Posts: 817 Member
    How does this work when we have all known a 300 pound person who eats healthy and works an active job but still cant lose ? Like for example I have a friend who is an overweight nurse, she does zumba, eats salads and has a very active job (always on her feet) yet she is still large and has been since a child. Yet I have another friend whos a stay at home mom, 28 years old, eats nothing but fast food and is like 110 soaking wet. So if we accept the fact that there are super skinny girls who cant eat whatever they want and not gain a pound why cant the reverse be true? Why cant someone eat healthy, have a deficit and NOT lose? If a skinny girl can eat 4000 calories a day of fast food with out the calories in calories out applying why does it always 100% apply to overweight people? The bigger people I know that are 300 pounds dont eat ANYWHERE near 3000 plus calories a day like the internet says it takes for them to maintain that weight....

    This is what is referred to as a straw man argument (Aunt Sally for those in the UK). If the basis of your argument is a fallacy to start with, how can any debate after be anything less than drivel.

    We do not accept the fact that there are super skinny girls that can eat whatever they want unless whatever they want just happens to be always within their caloric limit for maintaining weight. The 300 lb man and overweight nurse are eating more calories than what needs to be eaten to maintain a healthy weight.

    They are eating too much. Trying to prove otherwise (medical conditions excluded) is just creating an excuse of eating at a surplus. Those sorts of excuses only help people give up instead of trying to actually solve the problem of being overweight.

    I like you!
  • Gkfrkv
    Gkfrkv Posts: 120
    I see I'm late to the game, but really watch secret eaters.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-96SbD_7n0&list=PL85231D0F6E025D19&index=1
  • Cindyinpg
    Cindyinpg Posts: 3,902 Member
    I see I'm late to the game, but really watch secret eaters.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-96SbD_7n0&list=PL85231D0F6E025D19&index=1
    Yep, when I was 300lbs, undoubtedly I had friends and family who thought I ate very little, but they weren't there 24/7. And I have a fairly active job as well. It takes a lot of calories to maintain that weight and activity level. Probably 4,000 cals + a day. :blushing:
  • silverteacup
    silverteacup Posts: 46 Member
    I would hazard a guess and say that your 300 lbs friend if she is as active as you say may actually be eating too little. She may not even have much of an appetite. Skipping meals and skimping even when eating healthy food is a good way to lower your metabolic rate and cause you to not lose even when leading an active life.

    You become fuel efficient the problem is fuel efficiency is great if you are a car but for people its maybe better to be a sports car that burns a lot of fuel.

    Another thought is how well does she sleep? Poor sleep habits also contribute to weight gain and retention. So really there is no way to know which single thing is keeping her from losing weight. It's probably a combination of habits and behaviors that have to change before she can really start to lose weight.

    All this is based on my personal experience and yes you can lose but you have to look at the whole picture and change things across the board.
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