The Everything In Moderation Myth

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  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
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    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/12/everything-in-moderation_n_953804.html

    Please read and discuss. I'd love to hear your thoughts. :)

    dokJE.gif

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10336790

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11883916

    If it's a myth then I must have been living in The Matrix for the last 20 years...
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
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    Oh yeah, and:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-energy-balance-equation.html
  • russellma
    russellma Posts: 284 Member
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    From my experience, as long as you're eating enough to convince your body to give up the weight, but not eating so much that it doesn't keep storing what you eat as fat, then eventually you will lose weight *unless* you have a metabolic/hormonal problem that requires medication or some tweaks in your macros. ( i.e. People with insulin resistance might need to lower their carbs to help their body break down what they eat.)

    Honestly, as a mommy of 3 young children, I wouldn't be able to sustain a lifestyle for the longterm that didn't include "normal" and yes, sometimes even "junk" food.
  • NiciS72
    NiciS72 Posts: 1,043 Member
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    Bump for later!
  • Stronger_Diva
    Stronger_Diva Posts: 149 Member
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    For weight loss all that is required is a calorie deficit, doesn't matter what the food choices are. Ideally you'd want to eat the majority of your foods from whole, minimally processed foods, but there is no reason you can't fit snacks or "bad" foods into your daily cals

    http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-nutrition/the-dirt-on-clean-eating/

    also look up discretionary kcal allowance

    Yep.
  • MaximalLife
    MaximalLife Posts: 2,447 Member
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    I know what is not a myth.
    My results.
    And I eat anything and everything I want.
    Sometimes I must delay my desires to my selected "free day", but I deny myself nothing.
    I try to feed myself mostly lean meats, low fat dairy, nuts, whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies.
    And every day I have room for special things I just eat, because I enjoy it.

    All things permitted - in moderation. It's no myth.
    I do it, and my results are stellar.
  • Stronger_Diva
    Stronger_Diva Posts: 149 Member
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    Based upon personal experience I must disagree. I was always under calories (and a healthy amount of calories-- no starvation mode here), but my sugar was out of control. I couldn't lose to save my life. I reduced my sugar intake and am losing again. Not all calories are created equal.

    If your sugar was out of control then, with all due respect that is not moderation.
  • FoxyMcDeadlift
    FoxyMcDeadlift Posts: 771 Member
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    This place needs a If It Fits Your Macros crew
  • Sl1ghtly
    Sl1ghtly Posts: 855 Member
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    Oh yeah, and:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-energy-balance-equation.html

    ...and http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/hormonal-responses-to-a-fast-food-meal-compared-with-nutritionally-comparable-meals-of-different-composition-research-review.html

    Feeling good, and happiness is as much a part of health as anything else. Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies make me happy, and of course they taste good. Therefore I will eat them. Only, I eat one and not everyday. I can easily fit these into my calorie/macronutritional goals. I see no problem with this.
  • TriforceRaven
    TriforceRaven Posts: 115 Member
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    .
  • kennethmgreen
    kennethmgreen Posts: 1,759 Member
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    As with everything, it really comes down to perspective/context.

    I'd bet that I can take almost any study/theory/rule of thumb, manipulate it somehow and prove it wrong. Why? Because the theory/rule is valid under a certain set of assumptions. Those assumptions are the determining factor.
    Agreed. Though I might add "word choice" and/or "clarity" to what it really comes down to. That is to say context isn't always enough if those discussing don't share a lexicon.

    In that article (as on MFP), the discussion shifts around from "healthy eating" to "weight loss" which are two completely different things. The people that state calories in/calories out aren't claiming that has anything to do with "healthy eating" - but a scientific principle based on units of energy/heat. And people that argue against this want to use their own stories as counterpoints, but almost never allow for similar calorie intake. In other words, if I say I tried counting calories and only lost weight when I removed brown gravy from my diet, that doesn't prove that cutting out brown gravy was the secret to my weight loss. In almost every case, it means that IN ADDITION to cutting out brown gravy, I also cut down calories (or changed the calories in/calories out equation in some way).

    Is it possible - even likely - that my body was reacting to brown gravy in such a way that it affected how I consumed calories. Personally, I think this is why carbs get labeled "evil" - lots of people change their eating patterns when they cut out carbs and assume the no/low carbs was the answer. But it was the eating patterns. It is highly unlikely that I consumed the EXACT SAME CALORIES but substituted bananas for brown gravy (keeping calories the same) and started to lose weight.

    How many articles that talk about weight loss (not health) and eliminating one particular food make a point of saying they controlled for calorie intake? I've seen lots of articles and none of the ones I've seen make this point. They list all this anecdotal evidence and correlation statistics. I believe a correlation exists if a person does behavior A and result N happens. But that does not mean A caused N. (Google correlation vs. causation). Eliminating one thing may have helped some people lose weight, but it wasn't the only change that happened if there were not losing weight before.
  • Silverkittycat
    Silverkittycat Posts: 1,997 Member
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    Oh yeah, and:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-energy-balance-equation.html

    ...and http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/hormonal-responses-to-a-fast-food-meal-compared-with-nutritionally-comparable-meals-of-different-composition-research-review.html

    Feeling good, and happiness is as much a part of health as anything else. Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies make me happy, and of course they taste good. Therefore I will eat them. Only, I eat one and not everyday. I can easily fit these into my calorie/macronutritional goals. I see no problem with this.

    Cosmic Brownies? I like the name of this food.
  • Sl1ghtly
    Sl1ghtly Posts: 855 Member
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    Oh yeah, and:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-energy-balance-equation.html

    ...and http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/hormonal-responses-to-a-fast-food-meal-compared-with-nutritionally-comparable-meals-of-different-composition-research-review.html

    Feeling good, and happiness is as much a part of health as anything else. Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies make me happy, and of course they taste good. Therefore I will eat them. Only, I eat one and not everyday. I can easily fit these into my calorie/macronutritional goals. I see no problem with this.

    Cosmic Brownies? I like the name of this food.

    They're heavenly.
  • abby12490
    abby12490 Posts: 4
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    I don't understand why people can't just learn to enjoy healthy foods? After eating clean for a few weeks, my body completely rejects any kind of burger or fries. Whenever I crave a treat, I crave something like a smoothie or homemade granola bars.

    Anyway, I guess I could agree with this article. I've lost weight from just restricting calories but eating junk. When I restrict calories AND eat healthy though, I feel much better about myself, which makes me choose healthy rather than junk. I guess it's just personal experience/opinion.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
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    I came across this article today and was floored, because it basically established what I had already kind of thought. (Ya, I know, I'm so smart.)

    I've had a lot of discussions about this as of late and I guess I just thought and accepted that I was kind of obsessed and too much into the fitness world as opposed to "real" living.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/12/everything-in-moderation_n_953804.html

    Please read and discuss. I'd love to hear your thoughts. :) Oh, and if you have articles to prove the opposite, that anything in moderation is A-okay, then please post those as well.

    I'd love to eat a donut. ;)

    "Though David admits there are useful aspects to the theory, he believes that it oversimplifies the understanding of weight" That pretty much sums up my thoughts on it.

    There's a reason why there's 'magic pills' that make you drop weight that do work on people (my sister has repeatedly done it while eating all the unhealthyness she eats now). She eats lots of calories (probably about 3000 a day). I really think they only work on those who have specific diets, because I've heard they've worked out horribly on some people...Pretty sure it's based on different types of fibers and if you're eating foods that help you use and get rid of them plus lots of water? So I also liked their statement "(wrongly) assuming that all calories are created equal. ".

    "he results showed that, when it comes to losing weight, it’s actually more about quality than quantity when it comes to what you put in your mouth." - Exactly! I made a thread the other day about 'healthy snacks' and everyone started filling it with things like jello, whipped cream, etc with responses like but they're 'low calories'. 'low calories' != 'healthy snacks'

    “For example, if you consume too much sugar it changes your protein structure for the entire life of that protein, which is 180 days -- so that means that the protein stops doing its job for 180 days." That's something I didn't know, neat!

    Great article, thanks for sharing!
  • yesthistime
    yesthistime Posts: 2,051 Member
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    Oh yeah, and:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-energy-balance-equation.html

    ...and http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/hormonal-responses-to-a-fast-food-meal-compared-with-nutritionally-comparable-meals-of-different-composition-research-review.html

    Feeling good, and happiness is as much a part of health as anything else. Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies make me happy, and of course they taste good. Therefore I will eat them. Only, I eat one and not everyday. I can easily fit these into my calorie/macronutritional goals. I see no problem with this.

    Cosmic Brownies? I like the name of this food.

    They're heavenly.

    Are these the ones with the multi-colored sprinkles? I need one of these before I start my clean-eating diet. Between this article and that show "My 600 LB. Life," I need to change my processed food-eating ways STAT!
  • Silverkittycat
    Silverkittycat Posts: 1,997 Member
    Options
    Oh yeah, and:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-energy-balance-equation.html

    ...and http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/hormonal-responses-to-a-fast-food-meal-compared-with-nutritionally-comparable-meals-of-different-composition-research-review.html

    Feeling good, and happiness is as much a part of health as anything else. Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies make me happy, and of course they taste good. Therefore I will eat them. Only, I eat one and not everyday. I can easily fit these into my calorie/macronutritional goals. I see no problem with this.

    Cosmic Brownies? I like the name of this food.

    They're heavenly.

    May I have one, please?
  • hsnider29
    hsnider29 Posts: 394 Member
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    This place needs a If It Fits Your Macros crew

    It also needs to cite the definition of a macromolecule because the other day someone was saying that they were within their sodium macro!
  • missikay1970
    missikay1970 Posts: 588 Member
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    this is great. my husband and i were just discussing nuts/pecans last night b/c they have such a high calorie count, and he was concerned. i said it was far better to eat them at 160 cal than a piece of pie for 100 cal.
  • Silverkittycat
    Silverkittycat Posts: 1,997 Member
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    this is great. my husband and i were just discussing nuts/pecans last night b/c they have such a high calorie count, and he was concerned. i said it was far better to eat them at 160 cal than a piece of pie for 100 cal.

    :noway:

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