Calorie Restriction

Wolfena

I watched this show on television last night where a woman was talking about keeping herself healthy and planned to live a long life with "calorie restriction" - where she claimed she used an online site like this to track her calories and that she limited herself to 1600 per day.

Um - is that really restriction?? My maintenance calories aren't much more than that! Just because I try to eat healthier and track my food - does that mean I (we - all of us here) have an eating disorder??

She had other people arguing that she had an eating disorder, that she was going to cause harm by restricting her caloric intake so much - WHA???? :noway: At one point in the show she was eating at a restaurant with friends and only ate half her meal and took the other half home, they said she was depriving herself! :laugh:

I kinda thought that what we do here is MONITOR our calories in order to stay healthy and eat what we're SUPPOSED TO be eating instead of all the crap we don't need!

I found myself getting irrationally annoyed at the person who was arguing with her about her habits and trying to prove her wrong, yet at the same time I found it annoying that she was calling it "restriction" - because I don't see it that way!

I suppose if she was restricting herself to some super low number I'd feel differently, but 1600?? I don't think that's super low - she wasn't even a super thin woman! She looked to be average weight to slightly overweight, so it's not like this woman was underweight and needed to eat more!

What do you think of this?

I can't believe there was a whole hour long show on this topic (and I watched it!) I wish I could remember what channel it was on - or what it was called!

Wolfena

I watched this show on television last night where a woman was talking about keeping herself healthy and planned to live a long life with "calorie restriction" - where she claimed she used an online site like this to track her calories and that she limited herself to 1600 per day.

Um - is that really restriction?? My maintenance calories aren't much more than that! Just because I try to eat healthier and track my food - does that mean I (we - all of us here) have an eating disorder??

She had other people arguing that she had an eating disorder, that she was going to cause harm by restricting her caloric intake so much - WHA???? :noway: At one point in the show she was eating at a restaurant with friends and only ate half her meal and took the other half home, they said she was depriving herself! :laugh:

I kinda thought that what we do here is MONITOR our calories in order to stay healthy and eat what we're SUPPOSED TO be eating instead of all the crap we don't need!

I found myself getting irrationally annoyed at the person who was arguing with her about her habits and trying to prove her wrong, yet at the same time I found it annoying that she was calling it "restriction" - because I don't see it that way!

I suppose if she was restricting herself to some super low number I'd feel differently, but 1600?? I don't think that's super low - she wasn't even a super thin woman! She looked to be average weight to slightly overweight, so it's not like this woman was underweight and needed to eat more!

What do you think of this?

I can't believe there was a whole hour long show on this topic (and I watched it!) I wish I could remember what channel it was on - or what it was called!

songbyrdsweet

Well, first of all, the studies that illustrated extended lifespan were using VLCD's. 1600 calories wouldn't be VLCD for most people, so she's sort of headed in the wrong direction on that. :laugh:

Secondly...for a lot of people, any type of moderation is considered deprivation. Very few people monitor calories or even serving sizes, so when they see someone else practicing moderation they assume it's deprivation in some way. I get it ALLLLLL the time at work...that I'm starving myself because I'm hungry sometimes, or I'm depriving myself because I only eat one cookie--even if I only want one cookie.

Third, yes it is restriction if she burns over 1600 calories per day. I eat 1600-2000 calories per day depending on how many times I train and for how long, whether I run or have a lower versus upper body day...some days I'll cycle and run, and that really burns up the calories. So 1600 for me is restriction. On days I have less time, I'll eat more like 1400. If she was a heavy woman, she'd be able to eat more calories and still be in a deficit because it takes a lot of calories to move more weight around.

cbrooks66

Most people do not monitor their intake so have no concept of what and how much they are eating. Do what is best for the better health of you and keep rockin and rollin!

Dave198lbs

like earlier the post about negative calorie food and stuff like you watched on TV, the misinfomation that is out there is actually scary when you realize that (myself included) people are buying almost anything they are told...sometimes all you can do is shake your head and hope that the person buying the baloney deosn't screw themselves up too much

as a carpenter would say- measure it twice and cut it once...before you beleive anything, feel comfortable with the source