Explain diets that don't count calories to me

neanderthin

How do diets like Atkins work if you're not counting calories? I don't think everyone that has followed it has been a flat out failure - otherwise the products wouldn't sell. Since weightloss seems to be all about calories in < calories out, how does weightloss happen if you're not counting calories?

(No I'm not interested in trying Atkins. I need my carbs. This is just pure curiosity.)

I used to do REALLY well on low carb diets, I never bothered to stress about the calories and I pretty much ate whenever I felt like it. I would lose pretty quick and it was nice. But now, I recently tried to do that again and it doesn't work very well for me at all. I lost like 5 lbs in 2 months. That's just not normal for me. My body must have changed. So, while it seems odd, it might work for some people but then again, we change and at some point it may not work anymore, but it used to work wonders for me. Now I'm back to counting calories. The way the low carb diets are supposed to work is that if you don't have any carbs stored up, then your body goes straight into burning fat off of your body because it's forced to (no excess carbs being stored). ;o) Hope this helps!

Maybe your less active overall, maybe your food choices have more fat....fat is pretty much negligible in the satiety department. Low carb works because protein is more satiating then carbs and people eat less by default, not because the body is burning stored fat as fuel, that stored fat energy is used for energy and fuel regardless of what diet someone is on and is only used when someone is in a deficit.

Ambrodel

Maybe your less active overall, maybe your food choices have more fat....fat is pretty much negligible in the satiety department. Low carb works because protein is more satiating then carbs and people eat less by default, not because the body is burning stored fat as fuel, that stored fat energy is used for energy and fuel regardless of what diet someone is on and is only used when someone is in a deficit.

I think this article will help you understand how fat is stored and how to loose fat. Using more energy that you are consuming is one part of the equation, but not the whole equation. Carbohydrates play an important role in how the body uses stored fat.

http://www.musculardevelopment.com/articles/fat-loss/2197-the-science-on-fat-loss-lipolysis-and-fat-burning.html#.Uv1G9UJdX90

Acg67

Maybe your less active overall, maybe your food choices have more fat....fat is pretty much negligible in the satiety department. Low carb works because protein is more satiating then carbs and people eat less by default, not because the body is burning stored fat as fuel, that stored fat energy is used for energy and fuel regardless of what diet someone is on and is only used when someone is in a deficit.

I think this article will help you understand how fat is stored and how to loose fat. Using more energy that you are consuming is one part of the equation, but not the whole equation. Carbohydrates play an important role in how the body uses stored fat.

http://www.musculardevelopment.com/articles/fat-loss/2197-the-science-on-fat-loss-lipolysis-and-fat-burning.html#.Uv1G9UJdX90

I'm reasonably certain he understands both fat storage and loss, but since you brought it up, how come fat loss isn't significantly different between high and low carb diets holding protein and calories constant?

neanderthin

Maybe your less active overall, maybe your food choices have more fat....fat is pretty much negligible in the satiety department. Low carb works because protein is more satiating then carbs and people eat less by default, not because the body is burning stored fat as fuel, that stored fat energy is used for energy and fuel regardless of what diet someone is on and is only used when someone is in a deficit.

I think this article will help you understand how fat is stored and how to loose fat. Using more energy that you are consuming is one part of the equation, but not the whole equation. Carbohydrates play an important role in how the body uses stored fat.

http://www.musculardevelopment.com/articles/fat-loss/2197-the-science-on-fat-loss-lipolysis-and-fat-burning.html#.Uv1G9UJdX90

Thanks for the article. I think I'm missing your point, can you address exactly the passages your referring to and what they mean to you.

Iwishyouwell

Calorie counting is a very new phenomenon in human dietary history.

The vast majority of people, for the vast majority of history, didn't calorie count.

It really shouldn't be that much of a stretch to fathom how human beings can lose weight without counting calories.

Calorie counting is seen as more of a necessity now because we have such a plethora of deceptive, delicious man-made concoctions that are dense in calories, yet relatively low in volume. Most natural foods, as is, manage to bring volume and bulk, being filling without being particularly calorie dense. Calorie dense foods in nature are the exception, not the rule. Human beings formerly didn't really need to calorie count in order to find satiation and satisfaction thanks to a reliance on more natural, whole foods and recipes that were simpler and featured more natural foods. Also when most people had to work to produce their own food, portion control was inherent. Of course these are just a couple factors among several as to why we could easily get away with staying thinner, while not even knowing what a calorie was.

Counting calories are pretty imperative if your diet consists heavily of more dense foods that can easily add up calorically. It also is imperative if you've bought into the notion that you must eat every day, all throughout the day, which is another modern myth and very out of line with the eating patterns of years past.

When you do not have a diet overly rich in those foods and/or you do not gorge on food all day long, every dayt, as if it were a necessity, you don't have anywhere near the need to count calories.

- Signed someone who has lost close to a 130lbs...without counting a single calorie.

VelveteenArabian

It really shouldn't be that much of a stretch to fathom how human beings can lose weight without counting calories.

It is but it isn't.

I know that if I went on a low-carb diet and was told I could eat all the bacon I could stand, I would eat so many calories in bacon on a daily basis (and eat other things), that I have trouble imagining that I could possibly lose weight like that. Does not compute. I could easily down 2 pounds of bacon in one sitting and still be hungry a few hours later.

Stage14

Before I started counting calories, I could do a fad diet and lose weight because the fad diet changed my calorie intake without me really realizing it too much. Part of that was cutting out high calorie/low nutrient food and part of it was that when I was in the mindset of "I'm on a diet", I naturally ate less because I thought that being hungry/unsatisfied was simply part of the gig.

However, since I've been counting calories, I have tried low carb in addition and it made zero difference. Eating 1750 calories on a low carb diet and eating 1750 calories without counting carbs yielded virtually the same weight loss rate for me, but I enjoyed life a lot less on low carb, so I went back to not worrying about them.