Why calorie counting is ridiculous

ZombieEarhart

People absolutely counted calories before the 1970s, where is this idea that they didn't coming from?

brianpperkins

Don't count calories ... let her do it for you (at a premium of course). All of her programs have "nutrition guidance" .

Jruzer

Cui bono?

FXOjafar

It seems to me she is forgetting that people are WAY less active today than they were "pre-1970s". Technology is wonderful but it has made us lazier. Sure the people hunting the wild boar are not going to worry about the calories, but that is because they probably don't spend 9 hours a day glued to a computer. That's my take...

While activity helps general health and well being, diet is the only way to sustainable weight loss and good health. It is right not to starve yourself. Eat natural, cut unnecessary carbs, eat healthy fat and adequate protein to lose and stay healthy!

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

OUT for corsets. At least in the context of everyday wear. :noway:

aemp93

Couldn't even be bothered to read all of that as the first few lines irritated me. What a tit, we all have our own methods so someone should tell her to shut up.

likitisplit

It seems to me she is forgetting that people are WAY less active today than they were "pre-1970s". Technology is wonderful but it has made us lazier. Sure the people hunting the wild boar are not going to worry about the calories, but that is because they probably don't spend 9 hours a day glued to a computer. That's my take...

While activity helps general health and well being, diet is the only way to sustainable weight loss and good health. It is right not to starve yourself. Eat natural, cut unnecessary carbs, eat healthy fat and adequate protein to lose and stay healthy!

I'm really beginning to think that diet is essential to maintain weight and fuel activity...but it's the activity that stimulates good health. For example, there's this and that conflicting evidence about this and that dietary influence on cholesterol...but running has been shown to help the body self-regulate cholesterol pretty consistently.

chapklc

well regardless of her opinion and what she believes, calorie counting has only made me AWARE! I'm a snacker, and a junk food fiend...well at least I used to be... i'm really trying to behave...as well as counting out...making me work harder at making my body the potential is has to be... :::sigh::: We all do must what we can in life to succeed~

Blue801

Also, no fat animals??? Never seen a UK native pony then, unless their grass intake is restricted they get really fat, to the point where they are ill as a result and still stuffing their faces, even the ones in Wales on the moors with no addtional food whatsoever.

And my dog would be fat if I let her eat as much as she wanted.

Well clearly that grass is processed toxic crap.

:flowerforyou:

Umm, processed grass . . .

GMO grass no doubt!

Go_Mizzou99

Weight Watchers Points Plus is a partial throw-back to the pre-1970's then...zero points (aka calories) for fruits and veggies. Hmmm...think I will have 5 apples today (450 calories).

On a side note - A single Points Plus point is actually 35 to 45 calories...depending on it's category.

chapklc

The History of Calorie Counting

People haven't been counting calories forever (though some days it may feel as if you have). The idea became popular around the turn of the 20th century, according to Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS, a board-certified nutritionist and author of Living the Low Carb Life: Choosing the Diet that's Right for You from Atkins to Zone, and The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What You Should Eat and Why. At that time, scientist Wilbur Atwater noticed that if you put food in a machine, called a "bomb calorimeter," and burned it, you could measure the ash and heat to find out how much "energy" was released and therefore how much "energy" was in the food. The idea caught on, and people began counting calories -- that is, calculating exactly how many calories were consumed when eating particular foods, and "burned" when engaging in different activities. "A spate of diet books in the early part of the century popularized the notion that it's all about the calories -- and it's been with us ever since," Bowden tells WebMD.

Interesting: http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/dos-donts-counting-calories

This I didn't know... Learn something new every day )

anniekin_skywalker

I think calorie counting kind of gives people a place to start when they nee that motivation. More often than not, you're going into it with only the final number in mind - the goal weight - but what about the numbers or goals you need to meet along the way? It can turn ugly very quickly but it serves a purpose as well.

Quasita

If you are counting calories in order to moderate your otherwise out of control calorie consumption, as many overweight people are doing due to issues with portions, emotional eating, medical conditions and more, it's completely different. Calorie counting isn't about restriction to the point of illness or severe hunger, it's about gaining control over an otherwise out of control situation. People that utilize the information as a way to essentially punish themselves are setting themselves up to fail and regain... and that's a lot of what we see with The Biggest Loser contestants, in the end.

Personally, I wouldn't take advice from someone that has wrecked an engine like she described. If she can't manage it with a car, where the information is pretty straightforward and readily available as well as understandable, how are we supposed to trust what she says about something so complex as the human body?

Obesity is not new to the human race. It is just newly epidemic.... Though really, the 70s is a terrible turning point to choose, as my mother was hounded for being overweight back in the 50s as a child, and her mother before that. If obesity didn't exist before the 1970s, there wouldn't be antique ads for weightloss. One of the most famous weightloss machines of all time, the vibrating belt machine, is from the 1950s.

What she is saying here does not answer to the reason why SO MANY PEOPLE have been able to achieve their goals while allowing themselves to eat for pleasure on occasion.

The current food economy is such that everything short of growing and manufacturing your own food is going to bring "junk" with it. We have to be able to adapt and adjust to the environment we're living in in order to be successful.

Honestly? She sounds like she is bitter. Also, in light of the fact that there are so many rebound weight gain cases from The Biggest Loser series, I would hesitate to take any advice from them, honestly.

RoseGoldDinosaur

I'm very disappointed with the number of gifs on this thread. I expected more from you guys :grumble:

Yea you're in the wrong place if you doing like calorie counting...

likitisplit

Also, no fat animals??? Never seen a UK native pony then, unless their grass intake is restricted they get really fat, to the point where they are ill as a result and still stuffing their faces, even the ones in Wales on the moors with no addtional food whatsoever.

And my dog would be fat if I let her eat as much as she wanted.

Well clearly that grass is processed toxic crap.

:flowerforyou:

Umm, processed grass . . .

GMO grass no doubt!

It's because, in the Eocene epoch, horses did not eat grass. Or something. If they really did eat grass then, it's because the grass has been modified in the last 50 years to be easily stored and the horses haven't yet adapted.

lthames0810

I know I dating myself, but I remember my mother dieting in the 1960's and she counted calories. She had this little chart she carried in her purse.

nancyluckhurst3

AMEN. This article is ridiculous. Fine to eat all those natural foods if you can afford them. They are only twice as much as regular. Some of us are not made of money not to mention counting calories does work and you don't have to be deprived in the least or eat boring food. Just look through my Diary and it proves it. I have been eating like this for 18 months. Lost 43 lbs 9 of those months I wasn't even trying. Since I got serious about counting the calories and doing the Body Reset the first week in January I have lost 18 lbs. By the way tonight I am going to have a nice piece of Lemon Meringue pie and will still be at a deficit with my calories.

Great, another fitness coach spouting nonsense. I wish there was a minimum intelligence requirement for becoming a fitness coach.

Quasita

It seems to me she is forgetting that people are WAY less active today than they were "pre-1970s". Technology is wonderful but it has made us lazier. Sure the people hunting the wild boar are not going to worry about the calories, but that is because they probably don't spend 9 hours a day glued to a computer. That's my take...

While activity helps general health and well being, diet is the only way to sustainable weight loss and good health. It is right not to starve yourself. Eat natural, cut unnecessary carbs, eat healthy fat and adequate protein to lose and stay healthy!

I'm really beginning to think that diet is essential to maintain weight and fuel activity...but it's the activity that stimulates good health. For example, there's this and that conflicting evidence about this and that dietary influence on cholesterol...but running has been shown to help the body self-regulate cholesterol pretty consistently.

Agreed. Diet is the essential part of the equation, but exercise has documented benefits for not only physical, but also mental well-being. Both of these health states can drastically affect food intake. Even if a person eats as healthy as can be, if they don't participate in some kind of activity, they are subject to circulation issues, atrophy, lethargy and more due to the lack of demand. "staying healthy" also implies that we're healthy to begin with :P

wonderwoman234

I am counting calories for now but eventually I want to just eat when I'm hungry and stop when I am satisfied.

I think we as a society have become disconnected from our natural hunger cues. Part of that is the amount of processed food we eat in the US, the billions spent on processed food advertising, focus on gluttony (just turn on the Food Network....c'mon now!), "value portion" distortion in restaurants, and the vast variety of foods that we enjoy in this country that is basically unheard of in most other countries. Even in Rome, you can't get red, ripe tomatoes in the winter and they don't offer them on restaurant menus except in the summer. They eat seasonally. In this country, we can have whatever we want, whenever we want, and studies have show that people eat more when they have more variety. We are also way more sedentary as a society. So it makes sense that we have lost our ability to figure out what and how much we should be eating.

Counting calories is a attempt to provide clarity around "normalized" eating for millions of Americans who have lost their way.....including me. People started doing it for a reason and it's probably better than the alternative - staying overweight.

Eleonora91

Now, short term this may be true in SOME (not all) people. But telling someone who is overweight to eat less and exercise more is like telling someone who is depressed to frown less and smile more. It demonstrates a complete and utter lack of any understanding of the intricate marvel that is the human metabolism, or, in the case of depression, biochemistry.

I agree with her on this. Nutrition is way too complicate to be simplified with calories in / calories out.
But since the major reason of obesity IS actually eating more than our body would need to, that's why counting calories work. It obviously wouldn't work if you were eating 4000 kcals everyday and still logging it. It works because once you realize how much you're eating and how much you actually need to eat, you simply try to eat less. So it's not actually counting calories that works - it helps, but what really works is eating less. I could eat 40 bananas in a day and it would be too much for me, I'd gain weight. But bananas are healthy...