Is it this simple?

Kegha

It is simple as you say but the diet and food industries have a big investment in the scale. Lowering calories and increasing physical activities is simple but if it fails there is only one guilty party ME. If I am honest about what I eat and do I can develop a method to see what my body needs and then I can have a life style that allows me to loose, gain or maintain.

I do not think that food is evil, it is fuel, but I beleive that making healthy choices will improve my quality of life and no diet that remove one food group or another is healthy or sustainable.

Lives2Travel

I think people are always looking for a magic bullet. They want to lose weight, but they want it to be quick and easy. And the diet "experts" prey on these people by shilling their latest/greatest book. No one is going to pay for the advise to "just create a calorie deficit", so they design unnecessarily restrictive programs so it appears they have THE ONE AND ONLY answer to losing weight. Not saying that people can't be successful on these programs, but they are nothing more than a calorie deficit wrapped in a fancy package that'll set you back $ 29.99. And IMO, the failure rate of these programs just fuels sales for the next snake oil salesman.

melimomTARDIS

I can eat nothing candy and lose weight, if I eat at a deficit.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

Yes. It really is that simple. Sort of. You have to eat a deficit. But sometimes it's easy to NOT eat at a deficit when you are trying to eat at a deficit. This is where accurate calorie counting comes in and consistency. If you aren't accurate or you take weekends "off", you could end up not seeing results.

ChriJMitch

See? Diet myths everywhere.

Our bodies don't need an evolutionary change to eat processed foods. People do it on a daily basis and the body has no problem processing it. But you gotta sell Paleo books somehow...

People trolling my post about paleo; I mentioned it because its basically a natural food diet. I don't follow a paleo diet, I like the convenience of supplements too much and I would need to eat so much meat to meet my protein goals every day that it would turn into a part time job.

My point was to show me somebody gaining weight eating mostly veggies, you will have a hard time. The gist is just to stick to the produce isle. Not a bad concept. And I'm sorry, but we truly aren't evolved to deal with some of the crap they put in processed foods. I have pretty bad digestive issues, and if you ask any gastro, they will tell you the digestive system is the least evolved of our organs.

debneeds2beskinny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY&feature=youtu.be

I found this interesting and was inbedded in the other article. It takes just little things to be over your calorie count.

Branstin

Yes, weight loss is as simple as creating a deficiency. Water and exercise will aid and promote good health as well. The fad industry is making billions each year based on the fact that people, for one reason or another, are not properly educated on the scientific facts about weight loss. The more people take the time to educate themselves with the facts, the less likely they will fall for the garbage gimmicks on the market. Unless there is a medical reason to restrict whole food groups then it isn’t going to happen with me. Nope! People just need to have patience and remain committed and the calories in/calories out process will work.

cebreisch

Yes. I really is that simple.

I have a fitbit and sync it with MFP. There's a monthly chart it can show you of calories in vs. calories out. If I make sure the burn line is above the consumed line, I lose weight. Always. (Every time unless I'm REALLY bloated getting ready for TOM)

DebbieLyn63

The answer to your question is not simple.

It really depends on the individual.

If you take a young, relatively healthy person, who just eats too much and plays too many video games, and tell them to simply eat at a X amount of calorie deficit, and go hit the gym a few days a week- if they comply, they will lose weight.

We have seen the numerous success stories of the guys who were eating 15-20K cals a day, drinking tons of beer, sitting on the couch watching football, and one day decided to make a change and lost 200-300 pounds in a year or two.
For THEM, it really is all about simply eating less food and moving around a bit.

But what about the numerous 50 yr old ladies who are menopausal, or premenopausal, have PCOS (which is WAY more common than people on here want to admit), and are Diabetic or pre-Diabetic? They are most likely eating way less than 2k cals a day, even if they are 100 lbs overweight. Many of them are very active at their job, and taking care of their house, husbands, kids, or even grandkids, and don't have the time and resources to go to the gym, but can get in a walk on their lunchbreak, or before work. They are struggling with the stresses of their lives. They are staying within their calorie limits, but the only way they seem to lose ANY weight is to restrict to 1200-1400 cals a day, and after a while, that stops working.

When they dare ask for advice on the forums, they get people telling them they are eating too little, or that they are lying about how much they are eating.They get tons of people in their 20s and 30s bragging about how they can eat so many calories and the weight just falls off. So no one is a special snowflake, and they must be doing something wrong. They usually end up frustrated after months of plateauing, and give up.

Or they end up eating at lower than 1200 to lose the weight, and can't say that on the forums because they will get reported.

Many of them, thru trial and error, find that different foods give them different results on the scale, and in their health.
For many people, simple, processed carbs actually do cause them to not lose weight at what should be an appropriate calorie deficit. They find that they can be more satiated, have more energy, and consistently lose weight at a moderate rate, if they do cut out sugar, processed grains, or even grains altogether, and eat more healthy fats and proteins, with lots of high fiber veggies.

More people have a sensitivity to gluten, then any of us realize, and many have seen a great improvement in their health and energy by cutting it out, which aids in being more active and helps stay within their calorie goals.

Some recent numbers I have heard are that we are reaching 30% of the population that are Diabetic or preDiabetic, possibly even more than that. Around 20% of women have PCOS, where they do not process carbs and sugar in the same way as one without PCOS. That number is getting higher and higher as well, as the population in general gets heavier.

For some people, it is easier to have a definite plan to follow, because they have no nutrition education and don't understand how they should eat. So it is easier if someone tells them what to do. This can work for some, but if they are going to keep the weight off, they really need to be educated on nutrition. But for the interim, this will work to get some weight off, and help their self esteem and motivation to keep going.

Most people who are severely overweight, have a problem with moderating certain foods. For them, cutting those foods out for awhile may be the answer for them. Once they have lost some weight and feel more in control, they may be able to add those foods back in moderation.

So yeah, I understand that some people may get confused by all the various diet plans and give up. But you know, those are the people who are not going to stick with ANY calorie restriction, because they don't have the motivation to do what they need to do to lose the weight. They want a quick fix, a magic pill, or a magic cleanse that will do the work for them, and make them lose 100 pounds in 2 months.

For those who are struggling and doing what they think is right, but still not losing the weight- they might need to eat in a different way than just CICO, and we as a weight loss/fitness community, need to offer them all the education that we have learned by our own experiences, and accept that we are NOT all the same when it comes to diet and nutritional needs.

cwolfman13

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

Because people can't believe it is as simple as 3rd grade math...also human propensity to over complicate anything and everything...also, big money in the diet and fitness industry selling bull ****.

Outside of medical conditions, this is just 3rd grade math.

ValGogo

It is that simple. I totally believe that.

I'm going to prove it to myself starting today.

msf74

Is losing weight really as simple as a calorie deficit?

Simple, yes.

Easy, not necessarily.

rodduz

Body composition wise it doesn't matter what you eat, processed or not but from a health perspective I'm in the boat that it does matter.

It's no coincidence that the rises in cancer etc correlate with the increase of the Western Diet, which is truly terrible!

An awesome book on it is 'In Defence of Food' I'd recommend everybody to read it, at least once!

Lots of studies done also on, for example, aborigines that health has deteriorated when they've moved away from places where they ate natural food and started consuming processed food. Simply moving them back to their native places had positive affects on their health. Makes sense. We evolved and our enzymes evolved to get the nutrition out of foods. This took hundreds of years! We evolved to consume natural things as that's all there was.

Why make white bread. Take all the folic acid, all the good stuff out of it by removing the grain? Then look on the back of a loaf of breads ingredients and they've gone and added folic acid to it! Lol. Why?!

That's another study done to. How the rich, back in the day didn't like the colour of granary bread so engineered it so that the grain was removed, taking with it all the goodness. These rich people got ill, lack of folic acid etc. What got them better? Eating foods high in folic acid again.

Eat natural, if you can. If you can't try a little but it's not the end of the world but we did evolve to live off the fat of the land, not to eat processed stuff. Our body is playing catch up.

Food synergy is another one... breast milk babies ALWAYS do better than bottle fed. Do they know exactly what is in breast milk? Yes, can they engineer a powder that rivals it? No! Why? Food synergy... vitamin solubility... loads of things.

Food is more than a breakdown of it's macro and micro nutrients... from a health perspective, at least. Body composition wise, eat what you like, but don't expect to be healthy.

My gripe though with paleo is basically this:

http://tryandstaypositive.wordpress.com/2014/05/11/the-problem-with-paleo-part-1/

DebbieLyn63

It is that simple. I totally believe that.

I'm going to prove it to myself starting today.

Good for you. Check back in with us in a few months and let us know how it is going!

skinnyzanne

Bravo DebbieLyn63! I appreciate your response soooooo much. CICO may work for some, it may even work for most. But it certainly is not true for all. Thanks for reminding me why I tend to stay off of the community side. Glad I popped over here this morning to see your response - I'm signing off now so I can keep working on figuring out what works for ME.

nomad1000

In a word, Yup.

I still can't believe the success I have been having by just tracking what I eat. Weighing and measuring everything I put in my mouth (with some exceptions when eating out).

I try to eat more fruits and veggies and protein to keep me full. I make my meals from scratch whenever possible. I also eat snacks regularly. Heck, last night my dinner was comprised entirely of snacks - goldfish crackers, pita chips, string cheese and carrots. I haven't cut a single thing out of my diet, just reduced size and frequency.

I exercise a bit, should do more, but mainly through working in my yard and garden at this time of year. Toting bags of soil and spreading mulch is a work out.

Have I had weeks that I haven't lost anything, yes. But the trend is down so I am happy. Slow and steady wins the race.

Rowan813

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

Excellent article. Thank you for sharing.

Nobody wants to hear that they are eating too much. It is easier to believe that you are eating the wrong foods at the wrong time or in the wrong combination. That way it isn't your fault. I know for sure that if I am not losing or even gaining and it is not water retention that it is totally my fault for eating too much. It is harsh but true.

yopeeps025

I would recommend with calories in calories out that you research increase metabolism because as you lose weight you have to eat less and less to maintain weight. It will make a difference to be able to eat like your old weight with your smaller weight.