Article from the Atlantic on Calorie Counting

lindsey1979

I hate how some people here try to decouple weight loss and health. They're both important, and directly affect one another. Your health will affect your weight loss as will your weight loss affect your health. To try and separate them out is just silly.

RHachicho

Nah sorry fact is our bodies are designed to pack on the fat if they can. We evolved in an environment where good was hard to come buy and hoarding fat for a rainy day is something our bodies do whenever we give them to chance to. However fact is .. as long as you calorie count the OCCASIONAL can of soda really isn't going to kill you just because it contains hfcs.

SezxyStef

The issue with these types of articles is this...

They confuse weight loss with Health.

weight loss comes from a calorie deficit...period. End of discussion.

They complicate it by adding in the healthy eating part to weight loss...macro/micros...

It is not complicated

calorie deficit for weight loss/macros for health

Not sure if you read the whole article, but they were not confusing weight loss and health. The article was about weight loss. While they do agree that a calorie deficit is needed, they do not agree that should be the end of the discussion.

I did

Tag line from the article

Counting calories is misguided. The focus belongs on real food.

Quote from Ludwig

LUDWIG: … Very few people can lose weight over the long term with low-calorie diets. And those who can't are blamed for lack of discipline and willpower.
.
.
cutting back on the foods that are over-stimulating our fat cells: the refined carbohydrates like grains, potato products, concentrated sugars, especially the refined grains. And by eating this way, we can basically ignore calories and let our body-weight control systems do the work.

NNAMDI: James, the last time you joined us we talked about the addictive power of foods, whether Oreos are really kind of maybe like crack cocaine.

But it’s just not a helpful way to think about food, given the fact that foods all around us are labeled with a calorie number that doesn’t fully tell us how that food will affect our metabolism and future hunger.
.
.
Eat real food, no added sugar, and you can really forget the numbers.

contradiction after contradiction

Inflamatory statements

With many references to Low Calorie diets...not "reasonable calorie deficits"...

rubbish article and I stand by what I say

weight loss is about calorie deficit end of discussion on weight loss...

Health start a new discussion without all the contradictions and inflamatory statements if you want to be taken seriously and not be called a quack.

@lindsey they can go together but they don't have to...for anyone who watches macros it comes into play but articles like this prevent others from getting educated...truely educated.

lindsey1979

The issue with these types of articles is this...

They confuse weight loss with Health.

weight loss comes from a calorie deficit...period. End of discussion.

They complicate it by adding in the healthy eating part to weight loss...macro/micros...

It is not complicated

calorie deficit for weight loss/macros for health

Not sure if you read the whole article, but they were not confusing weight loss and health. The article was about weight loss. While they do agree that a calorie deficit is needed, they do not agree that should be the end of the discussion.

I did

Tag line from the article

Counting calories is misguided. The focus belongs on real food.

Quote from Ludwig

LUDWIG: … Very few people can lose weight over the long term with low-calorie diets. And those who can't are blamed for lack of discipline and willpower.
.
.
cutting back on the foods that are over-stimulating our fat cells: the refined carbohydrates like grains, potato products, concentrated sugars, especially the refined grains. And by eating this way, we can basically ignore calories and let our body-weight control systems do the work.

NNAMDI: James, the last time you joined us we talked about the addictive power of foods, whether Oreos are really kind of maybe like crack cocaine.

But it’s just not a helpful way to think about food, given the fact that foods all around us are labeled with a calorie number that doesn’t fully tell us how that food will affect our metabolism and future hunger.
.
.
Eat real food, no added sugar, and you can really forget the numbers.

contradiction after contradiction

Inflamatory statements

With many references to Low Calorie diets...not "reasonable calorie deficits"...

rubbish article and I stand by what I say

weight loss is about calorie deficit end of discussion on weight loss...

Health start a new discussion without all the contradictions and inflamatory statements if you want to be taken seriously and not be called a quack.

@lindsey they can go together but they don't have to...for anyone who watches macros it comes into play but articles like this prevent others from getting educated...truely educated.

Well, I disagree with you Stef, I think that the calorie counting only mantra is an oversimplification and a dangerous one at that. But, for those that only care about the numbers on the scale, then it may be useful -- I'd just tell such people that that is a dangerous perspective and extremely limiting.

Overall, I thought the article was rather balanced and presented the issues with both quantity and quality in a good overall, practical way.

wonderwoman234

People need to stop demonizing the insulin response.
http://evolvinghealth.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/is-it-time-to-stop-blaming-insulin-for-fat-storage/

Agreed. The article is sound in my opinion. If you read it closely, they say:

1) Weight loss requires eating fewer calories than you burn
2) Exercise alone is not the most effective way to lose weight because most people don't burn enough through just exercise to make up for overeating.
3) Certain foods (refined carbs/sugar) impact hormones and insulin response, which can make people feel hungrier and result in people eating more. It makes it harder to control your hunger. I think many of us can agree that this happens!
4) By ONLY focusing on calories in/calories out instead of the QUALITY of those calories, we are missing a piece of the sustainable weight loss puzzle.

I agree with all of these points. Do I still enjoy a sweet treat on ocassion? You bet! But I make sure most of what I eat is clean, healthy and good for me.

beckytcy

I thought the article makes some good points, but ultimately, saying that you just have to eat healthy foods to maintain a healthy weight is simply not true. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. However, as we all know, eating lean protein, whole grains, veggies, etc makes us feel more satisfied than the same amount of calories in empty sugar form. But still, kind of a dangerous headline message there. I am disappointed in them.