Big losers - calories all that matters?

hmg90

For those of you who have successfully lost a lot of weight - can you confirm that staying within calorie target is really all that matters?

I'm eating 1300 a day (will up a bit when I start working out), I've been eating clean meats and vegetables and lots of eggs and now I'm a bit sick of it. It's evening here and I have 200 calories spare still.
It feels really wrong to have chocolate when dieting, it just does, I'm afraid the sugar or fat or carbs will stop me from losing even though I'm inside the calorie goal.

I know eating healthy is important but can some sign to that calorie intake is really what matters?

beachlover317

For me, it is the calories in/ calories out that is working. I could never give up all the foods that I love. I eat what I want within my calorie allowance. I have something sweet just about every day. This is why I have been able to do this for 19 months. I have a varied diet. It's about 80% healthy food. I don't deny myself anything.

The most important lesson I have learned over the last few months was moderation. I want to eat like a normal person when I have lost all my weight. I practicing that now. I eat all foods - nothing is off limits - just normal serving sizes.

hmg90

For me, it is the calories in/ calories out that is working. I could never give up all the foods that I love. I eat what I want within my calorie allowance. I have something sweet just about every day. This is why I have been able to do this for 19 months. I have a varied diet. It's about 80% healthy food. I don't deny myself anything.

The most important lesson I have learned over the last few months was moderation. I want to eat like a normal person when I have lost all my weight. I practicing that now. I eat all foods - nothing is off limits - just normal serving sizes.

Thanks, that's what I thought. Suppose I'm just so used to thinking it makes me gain weight..

It's not different depending on your overall goal though? Not looking to lose more than 22 lbs.

JesterMFP

It feels really wrong to have chocolate when dieting

That really makes it sound like you're doing enduring some temporary thing until you lose the weight, and then you're going to stop "dieting" and go back to "normal". This is not the way to be successful.

For weight loss, calories is all that matters. For health, fitness, body compostion, other things matter. Nutrition matters. However, there is a wide range of options between eating 100% "clean" and eating only chocolate and cake. You can eat the food you enjoy (all kinds) and still have a healthy, balanced diet. It's all about moderation, and having appropriate portion sizes. Chocolate is not bad. It actually has some useful nutrients in it. It's also very calorie dense, so yeah - you need to watch your portion size.

I personally have eaten chocolate nearly every day while losing my weight and continue to do so while maintaining. I also eat ice cream from time to time, cakes, pizzas etc... lots of foods considered "dirty" by some. But I also eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, cook most of my meals from scratch, eat nuts and seeds, and lean meat, and oily fish. I hit my targets for protein, fibre, fat, micronutrients. I get a lot of fluids. Once I've hit those targets, I generally have calories left over that I am more flexible with. I'll have some chocolate, maybe a glass of wine etc.

If you are cutting foods thay you enjoy out of your diet for no other reason than they seem "bad" to eat "on a diet" - then in my opinion, you're making it unnecessarily hard on yourself, and reducing your chances of attaining and maintaining a healthy weight. Try not to look at it as being on a diet, but as creating a lifestyle that will support you being healthy, and that you can maintain forever. Try not to look at foods as falling into "good" and "bad". Look at your overall diet, and how that works for your health and fitness goals, not each individual food item.

You might want to give these a read:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/817188-iifym

JesterMFP

It's not different depending on your overall goal though? Not looking to lose more than 22 lbs.

All the more reason to eat now the way you intend to eat for the rest of your life. Unless you intend to only eat meat, eggs and vegetables for the rest of your life.

sad0711

I eat whatever I want, but in small portions. Anything else is not something I can do the rest of my life. This is not my diet, this is how I am going to live. Most of the time I eat healthy stuff, workout 6 days a week. It's something that works for me.

twixlepennie

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lost over 50lbs while eating fast food, packaged 'processed' foods, diet soda all day long and cookies. Lots and lots of cookies. I also ate salads, green smoothies, whole grains etc. I'm now maintaining while still eating the same way. I don't label foods good/bad, 'clean/unclean' and I'm happy, healthy and rock a pair of size 2 jeans. Life is good :drinker:

Calories, calories, calories!

_John_

calories are ultimately what matter most, but there are lots of strategies for how we succeed in lowering our calories for sustained weightloss.

Escloflowne

I only counted calories, didn't bother with macros at all and lost 91 lbs 12 months

rabblerabble

Calories IN as well as calories OUT matter equally. I've been diligent about keeping my intake to the recommended levels and also been diligent about hitting the gym on a regular basis as well as getting extra exercise minute each day by walking whenever possible, taking the stairs at work, etc. About to go into a maintenance period now so I can start eating a bit more each day but will also keep up the exercise as I have very much learned to enjoy physical activity.

Cindyinpg

Yep. I am a big loser. 126lbs in 17 months and it's been calorie all calorie deficit. I have ice cream everyday and still enjoy all the foods I love, in moderation. The sexypants and IIFYM links have already been posted, so that my .02. :flowerforyou:

molonlabe762

Ive only been paying attention to calories and lost 35 pounds in a little over 2 months. I put about 5 back on over the holidays though, oops

action_figure

Calories in / calories out is most of it for me. There are some things: diet soda, pizza, loads of salt, etc. that will make me bloat up and retain water like crazy, masking any loss. Your mileage may vary. Thankfully, really good dark chocolate (72% cocoa content minimum) is not one of those things. Now, eating lower carbs (around 120 grams) mostly from complex sources, whole grains, fruits, veggies, getting lots of fiber, lean proteins (about 140 grams a day) and healthy fats (mostly olive, avocado, some dairy and coconut about 45 grams a day) and timing my meals about every three hours, being really good about not eating many carbs in the evenings, and making sure I have a post workout recovery meal and snack will OPTIMIZE my loss, meaning that I lose a bit more fat than when I'm just watching calories, but just hitting that calorie goal more days than not will keep me losing even though it may not be optimal. Does that make sense?

btsinmd

You have to eat what you like and enjoy, because you're never coming off this "diet", it's just what you eat now. That's my mindset and it makes it easier for me to get through periods where there is just tempting food everywhere. I try to balance daily, but accept that the weekly balance is what really matters to me. This weekly thing is important with my diet as I tend to be not as hungry on the days that I'm exercising and ravenous on the days that I'm not able to get the exercise in.

Actually if it's the end of the day and I'm not hungry and don't feel like eating the chocolate, I don't, because more than likely I will be hungry for it tomorrow and I'll eat it then. But, that is me, and I know that over the week I will eat my alloted calories and I haven't ever gone into an eat everything in sight mode.

NRSPAM

For those of you who have successfully lost a lot of weight - can you confirm that staying within calorie target is really all that matters?

I'm eating 1300 a day (will up a bit when I start working out), I've been eating clean meats and vegetables and lots of eggs and now I'm a bit sick of it. It's evening here and I have 200 calories spare still.
It feels really wrong to have chocolate when dieting, it just does, I'm afraid the sugar or fat or carbs will stop me from losing even though I'm inside the calorie goal.

I know eating healthy is important but can some sign to that calorie intake is really what matters?

Finally!!! What I've been trying to tell folks all along! Lol. When you eat at 1,200 cal's perday, you pretty much have to eat really healthy in order to keep from feeling like you're starving to death. You will undoubtedly get tired of eating like that after long. I guess if you were raised eating very healthy, and were never subjected to the American diet, then it can be done. Lol. Personally, I try to keep it healthy appx. 80% of the time, more or less. I'm no angel. I go over some days, I eat more than I'm supposed to, and I eat things I probably could do without. However, I eat much better than I used to, by far! I've lost over 100lb's alltogether, and 65 in about a year and a half. Been struggling to get those last few lb's off this year, but when I'm being good, I lose 1lb a week like I'm supposed to. All that being said, I do Zumba, and lift heavy about 3 x's/week, each. Usually I do 1hr zumba, and 1hr weights on the same day. Of course, I've worked up to that, didn't start out doing that. I also chase around a 2 yo, and have a house to take care of. I'm an RN as well, but I only work about once/week right now. I eat 1,700-2,000+ calories daily. I highly recommend a bodymedia device if you don't mind wearing it all the time. I love mine! It tells me exactly what I burn every day. With no "exercise" I burn around 2,300 cal's/day. Yesterday, after zumba and weights, I burned 2,777. If it's within my calorie goal, or I just have really bad cravings, and really bad willpower that day, I eat ice cream, chocolate, and other things that people have sworn off. Basically, what I'm trying to say, is that if you can't handle eating a certain way for the rest of your life, then you're just on a fad diet, and it's not going to last. I also try to shoot for 30g of protein at every meal. I usually don't make it, but if I can atleast get close to 100g for the day, that's about the best I can do. Often, I don't make it, but I try! Good luck OP! Sorry for the long post!

_jayciemarie_

Honestly--yes, it is all about calories in vs calories out. If you eat healthy and have 200 calories left--eat a little chocolate. I think the problem with people thinking they can't have certain foods they love is because the foods ARE high in calories. I mean--I can pretty much blow an entire day's worth of calories at Mcdonalds. That is ONE meal. Would I rather eat lower calorie food throughout the day than one meal of (basically) tasty crap? Depends. Most days I'm going to want more food for my calories, but occasionally I'm going to want the crap. It all is based on your calories in/calories out. Eat them however fits your life and needs.

hmg90

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Finally!!! What I've been trying to tell folks all along! Lol. When you eat at 1,200 cal's perday, you pretty much have to eat really healthy in order to keep from feeling like you're starving to death. You will undoubtedly get tired of eating like that after long. I guess if you were raised eating very healthy, and were never subjected to the American diet, then it can be done. Lol.
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Yeah I've never eaten extremely unhealthy. When I've gained weight it's mostly been down to too many carbs (loove pasta with lots of parmesan and pizza), alcohol and some overeating.
I've never been obese or actually overweight, I'm Scandinavian and grew up on a lot of seafood. When I lived in France when I was younger I stay super slim with little effort. Then I moved to the UK and the kilos have been adding on...for some reason it's harder to be healthy here.
If by "American diet" you meet processed food / fast food, then sure, I've never been eating that way. Carbs are my vice though, even if they're home prepared they're unhealthy, and I can't stop with just one bowl of pasta or one glass of wine.

lacroyx

For the most part yes. I am not anywhere near "clean" or healthy. I still eat pizza, cheeseburgers with bacon and beer. I just don't do it all the time like I did before in the past and I watch my intake. I try my best to hit my macros and calorie goals.

hmg90

Calories in / calories out is most of it for me. There are some things: diet soda, pizza, loads of salt, etc. that will make me bloat up and retain water like crazy, masking any loss. Your mileage may vary. Thankfully, really good dark chocolate (72% cocoa content minimum) is not one of those things. Now, eating lower carbs (around 120 grams) mostly from complex sources, whole grains, fruits, veggies, getting lots of fiber, lean proteins (about 140 grams a day) and healthy fats (mostly olive, avocado, some dairy and coconut about 45 grams a day) and timing my meals about every three hours, being really good about not eating many carbs in the evenings, and making sure I have a post workout recovery meal and snack will OPTIMIZE my loss, meaning that I lose a bit more fat than when I'm just watching calories, but just hitting that calorie goal more days than not will keep me losing even though it may not be optimal. Does that make sense?

Yes
Next grocery shop I'll get some dark chocolate and some others goodies that are not outrageously unhealthy, but still treats.

waldo56

Yes. For weight loss/gain.

For body composition protein intake matters though. Too little protein (MFP's default goals are way too low) will tend to have unfavorable body composition results; muscle loss instead of fat loss when losing, fat gain instead of muscle gain when gaining.

I've lost 75 lbs and have gone through 3 bulk/cut cycles with additional leaning out; you can pretty much draw straight lines on a chart of my weight through every period coinciding exactly to my MFP settings (the size of my deficit or surplus).

Health food is a myth, clean eating is a load of horse manure.

Francl27

My diary is open. I eat a lot of 'junk', lol (ok the last few days are a bad example).

miratime

Adding myself to the list. I eat plenty of junk but try to at least make a minimal effort at macros (40/30/30 C/F/P). So far so delicious!