Is it this simple?

BryonyKate

Hi everyone

Is losing weight really as simple as a calorie deficit? We have all been lead to believe that to lose weight we need to follow a strict diet. Atkins advocates very low carb and high fat, 80/20/20 advocates very high carb, Dukan advocates very high protein, South Beach allows for legumes and wholegrains which so many diets restrict. The one "diet" I do think is great is paleo/primal, as that really is essentially eating "properly" with minimal processed foods. And a lot of people on paleo follow the 80/20 rule so 20% of the time they can indulge in non-paleo foods to make it a bit more realistic long term.

So if the answer to losing weight is to eat within a deficit, why do so many people opt for such radical diets? Why limit yourself to only getting your carbs from leafy greens, or on another diet limit yourself to not fat all, or on another, eat 70% of your intake from protein? If all it takes is careful calorie watching?

So often when I watch "weight loss" videos on youtube, people aren't following any specific diet (unless you are looking for "weight loss low carb" or something specific) but most of them, the people in the videos seem to just eat sensibly. By this I mean watch portions/calories, but enjoy their favourite things in moderation. If they over indulge a bit one day, they make up for it the next by being more mindful of calories. Things like Atkins seems to allow no room for "treats" without the fear of weight gain or feeling like crap.

One girl I really like on youtube is Anna Saccone. She has a fabulous body and isn't a hard-core fitness type. She exercise for 30minutes at the gym 3-4 times a week, so nothing extreme. The first thing I noticed with her diet was how high in carbs it was. Breakfast is nearly always oatmeal and a banana. Lunch is something like a bagel or a wrap and then a piece of fruit. Dinner she often eats pasta/potato/rice dishes and she says she always allows herself a dessert. At first I thought "how is she so slim eating like that?" but I roughly added up her calories and from what I can gather she seems to only eat 12-1600 calories on most days. So although she's eating a fair amount of carbs and sugar, is she staying slim because of the calorie deficit?

Does a simple calorie deficit not work for everyone? I understand if there are health issues (insulin resistance, diabetes etc) why low carb may be best. But for the majority of people, is it really necessary to go to such "extremes"? And if not, why do we?

CMB1979

It is that simple. Cals in vs cals out. A very tiny % of the population does have a metabolic disorder or hormone imbalance which may cause issues -but probably 97% chance that isn't you (or anyone you know).

People don't want to believe it because they want the quick fix or magic formula. They're just not ready to put in the work or sufficiently limit their food intake for significant results over the long-run.

JustSomeEm

Having done a million (okay, maybe not quite so many) fad diets, losing the weight and then gaining it back right away, I can with pretty good confidence say that many of these are money making schemes. Others are just philosophies on the way nutrition should be for optimum health. Either way, they can be hard to stick to.

Losing weight is as simple as calories in/calories out. Eat fewer calories than you burn, and you will drop weight.

sadrithmora

Personally when I started losing weight I just had no idea how it works and got confused by all the extreme diets you're talking about. Also it was very hard for me to shake off that deep ingrained idea that dieting and losing weight IS, in fact, that extreme. Like not eating anything nice really. It was quite a shocker to me when I went paleo as well, and realised I can still have my damn bacon and maple syrup and whatnot, and lose weight.

Also might wanna consider that a lot of those so-called diets are fad diets or quick 'fixes'. People are kinda lazy so if you tell them 'with this diet you can lose 100lb in a month' and then say 'with sensible eating you will lose the same in a year', they'll probably try the first one. I've tried my share of quick diets. But for people who come up with them, they are a mixture of publicity and preying on people's desire to make a quick change and go back to eating junk.

As for the 'is it that simple' question... yeah, it is that simple

gypsy_spirit

A sensible calorie deficit is simple. It is the way to lose weight.

However, it takes something that people are unwilling to invest in - time. Time to learn new habits. Time to retrain their brains to eat in a different, healthier way. This is why they grasp at lose weight quick schemes. Enterprising people know how to exploit this to make money.

Delayed gratification. Moderation. Discipline. These are the 3 things that are hard. Worth it - but hard. Skip them and you will be grasping at the next lose weight quick scheme to come down the pike.

CMB1979

This really helps if you read all of it.

http://www.acaloriecounter.com/blog/why-am-i-not-losing-weight/

BigGuy47

In general everyone wants a quick fix. They have a wedding to go to in 3 weeks or summer is coming up and they want to look good at the beach. There are plenty of threads on MFP asking, "How long will it take to lose xx lbs.?

Losing weight by tracking calories is a long slow process. It works really well, but it requires patience. Patience is hard to come by in a world of instant gratification.

SezxyStef

Yes it is really that simple.

Why do people try to complicate it...??? I think it's a form of self punishment for getting fat/overweight...might not be done on a concious level but yah they are into self punishment.

ChriJMitch

Simple? Yes. Fast? No.

Most people chase fad diets looking for the quick fix, when the only real way to lose weight is to eat less calories than you expend, and exercise. Its just simple science. The irony of the fad dieters is they end up wasting more time losing and gaining back weight than if they had just stuck with watching calorie intake.

Our bodies have not evolved to eat processed food, it typically just confuses our body as to what to do with it all; it is the same reason those on paleo diets have really outstanding results.

rodduz

Thing is what the diets of that kind do is exactly the same as a deficit. It's not the diet that is making you lose weight it is the underlying deficit as a result of it.

Take Atkins, completely removes carbs, that's one whole food group. Go about your day and try to overeat whilst not eating one whole food group, it's much harder. So as a result the majority lose weight and then think, 'woah how awesome is Atkins, I lost loads on it!' But the basis is they lost because they eat at a calorie deficit.

Same for them all, they all lower calorie intake but in fancy ways that people get roped in by and the company makes money.

Lets face it nobody would make money if they all sold books on how eating at a calorie deficit loses you weight! They'd all be the same!

And people like being told what to eat. I see many PTs training plans given to their clients with the most boring diet plans known to man, but their client follows it. They can't go it alone, they don't know enough about nutrition. I have a diet plan off a PT and it's calorie limits and macro numbers, I have the knowledge to fill those up in the best way possible. My PT is there as more of a motivator and he changes things along the way too, not one calorie allowance for weeks on end. Things like time off the diet, reverse diet & mini-fasts. Keeping things interesting.

The fitness industry is HUGE money and all diet fads are basically fancy ways of limiting the amount of calories that people consume.

ktmac5501

It really IS that simple! I don't follow any 'special' diet as I don't think they are maintainable. If you just eat sensibly & exercise regulary & watch your daily calorie intake, you WILL loose weight. I have lost 5lb in the last 4 weeks. I only needed to loose half a stone in total as my weight had just crept up after Christmas then again over Easter. I have been sticking to a daily intake of around 1400-1500, doing 30 mins of cardio a day, with one day off a week. I have a treat or two every day, but am just careful with portion size and snacking as my food log highlighted to me this is where I can needed to be careful.

It works form me as I'm not depriving myself of any one thing, I'm not slogging myself in the gym for hours, and I'm not dramatically cutting back my intake.

BigGuy47

Our bodies have not evolved to eat processed food, it typically just confuses our body as to what to do with it all; it is the same reason those on paleo diets have really outstanding results.

Wait.... Wut??? :huh:

You're saying it's simple, but you should follow a paleo diet and restrict all process foods.

I don't think you understand the OP's question or the concept of simplicity.

dmenchac

Simple? Yes. Fast? No.

Most people chase fad diets looking for the quick fix, when the only real way to lose weight is to eat less calories than you expend, and exercise. Its just simple science. The irony of the fad dieters is they end up wasting more time losing and gaining back weight than if they had just stuck with watching calorie intake.

Our bodies have not evolved to eat processed food, it typically just confuses our body as to what to do with it all; it is the same reason those on paleo diets have really outstanding results.

Lol'd

MegE_N

In general everyone wants a quick fix. They have a wedding to go to in 3 weeks or summer is coming up and they want to look good at the beach. There are plenty of threads on MFP asking, "How long will it take to lose xx lbs.?

Losing weight by tracking calories is a long slow process. It works really well, but it requires patience. Patience is hard to come by in a world of instant gratification.

I have a wedding to go to! But it's in 18 months, which is why I started trying to change my lifestyle LAST month. Because it's not too hard and it's doable, but it takes TIME.

Calliope610

So if the answer to losing weight is to eat within a deficit, why do so many people opt for such radical diets

I believe people opt for the various trendy "diet of the day" is that if they fail at weight loss, they can blame the diet. (I'm special; Adkins/paloe/primal/South Beach/et al didn't work for me). That is much easier on the ego and self esteem than to admit that I failed at weight loss because I have no self control, discipline and commitment required to eat less than before and/or move more than before, thus creating a deficit.

Nulia

This really helps if you read all of it.

http://www.acaloriecounter.com/blog/why-am-i-not-losing-weight/

Great article thank you so much for sharing - made a lot of sense!

Calliope610

Simple? Yes. Fast? No.

Most people chase fad diets looking for the quick fix, when the only real way to lose weight is to eat less calories than you expend, and exercise. Its just simple science. The irony of the fad dieters is they end up wasting more time losing and gaining back weight than if they had just stuck with watching calorie intake.

Our bodies have not evolved to eat processed food, it typically just confuses our body as to what to do with it all; it is the same reason those on paleo diets have really outstanding results.

I have plenty of people on my FL who have 50-100lb weigh losses without paleo. Mediocre results at best, I guess? BTW, I've lost 47lb. I guess that's not even worth mentioning.

I also love the notion that over thousands of years, the human body of evolved, changed and adapted in amazing ways, except for our poor digestive systems, which are still stuck in the stone age.:huh:

Angylisis78

Honestly we're all overweight, or were for a reason right?
And taking responsibility for that is hard.
Making losing weight complicated means shifting responsibility from "Im fat because I [insert habit here]" and puts the responsibility on something else, which is how hard it is, so when we fail, well, obviously we failed not because we're not taking responsibility, but because losing weight is "just too hard".

"Well it's hard to lose weight because [insert reason here]" and this is easier than making that first giant step.

If losing weight were easy (mainly emotionally and mentally, because physically it is easy) then there would be no overweight people.