It is NOT that simple.

There is such a thing as a "skinny fat" person--who may not be "obese" but is still extremely unhealthy.

I really hate this term and think it needs to stop. It's used way too much to shame otherwise healthy women who just happen to not be muscular. I don't believe you have to be muscular in order to be healthy.

glad you lost weight but you seem very angry..at least thats what I got....

I really hate this term and think it needs to stop. It's used way too much to shame otherwise healthy women who just happen to not be muscular. I don't believe you have to be muscular in order to be healthy.

I didn't intend it that way. If you look at the context, I was referring to people who were unhealthy but were not obese. That's all I meant by that.

glad you lost weight but you seem very angry..at least thats what I got....

I am angry because there is an awful lot of shaming and pretentiousness coming from the cals-in/cals-out crowd who look down their noses at anyone who doesn't agree with their oversimplification of how weight loss works. Well, it doesn't work that way for everyone, and overall health is found in eating healthfully, which means a lot more than simply eating less. Otherwise anorexic people would be the epitome of health, no? It does make me angry that when someone posts something that might be useful to someone pursuing health, and when they post something that is different from the mainstream view of health/weight loss, then they get jumped on and called idiots because of course the answer is fewer cals... And that's not the whole picture. That's one tiny piece of the puzzle.

i eat pizza, pop tarts, and Reese's peanut butter cups and i lose weight.

what sort of magic is responsible for that if not "calories in vs. calories out", may i ask?

i eat pizza, pop tarts, and Reese's peanut butter cups and i lose weight.

what sort of magic is responsible for that if not "calories in vs. calories out", may i ask?

Including those types of foods in a calorie-restricted diet is doing a serious disservice to your body. It will almost certainly catch up to you. How long will you keep it off?

Can I ask a serious question?

I do buy the calories in/calories out thing, however, I notice that I do SIGNIFICANTLY better losing weight when I cut my carbs and up my protein. Why is this, if I'm eating the same number of calories? (note: I eat 1500-1600 cals, usually around 100g of carbs & 160g protein).

Wouldn't this somewhat defy calories in/calories out? I'm not arguing, genuinely curious.

Can I ask a serious question?

I do buy the calories in/calories out thing, however, I notice that I do SIGNIFICANTLY better losing weight when I cut my carbs and up my protein. Why is this, if I'm eating the same number of calories? (note: I eat 1500-1600 cals, usually around 100g of carbs & 160g protein).

Wouldn't this somewhat defy calories in/calories out? I'm not arguing, genuinely curious.

When you say you notice a better weight loss, how long is the period that you cut the carbs for before making that assessment?

No. You have to consider how much energy is expended to burn food into energy.

Protein's TEF (thermic effect of food) to be digested is 25-30%. That is to say it takes 25-30% of total energy per gram of protein to be converted to glucose and used as energy. Carbs 6-8% and fats 2-3%.

To quote Layne "For example, diets higher in protein are less “energy efficient” as the conversion of alanine to glucose during gluconeogenesis (production of glucose from amino acids and other substrates) requires 6 ATP molecules and the conversion of pyruvate to glucose also consumes 6 ATP molecules (2-3). Furthermore, 4 molecules of ATP are required to dispose of the nitrogen as urea (3)." This is the science behind it.

A higher protein diet, when everything is the same and regularly eaten that way, may well indeed cause greater weight loss.

Thanks, this makes sense. I think I'm a bit of a nerd who gets off on knowing the science.

Sarauk2sf, I'm talking like a 6 month - 1 year period, not a couple weeks. I'm also not talking about ketosis, just taking like 25% of my calories in the form of carbs, not 50%.

Calories in, Calories out IS how it works.

The problem with a 1100 calorie diet is that it is too low. You've tricked your body into thinking it is starving, so it lowers your metabolism. You gained weight because 1100 is just under the 1200 minimum needed to prevent that, so while you dropped your intake you were still eating more than you were burning. If you adjusted your diet to match what you burned in starvation mode, you would probably be diagnosed with an eating disorder.

Eating that little bit more, raised your metabolism allowing your to burn more than you ate again.

This happens to a smaller degree on a normal diet which is why people plateau, but adding exercise will keep the metabolism rate up and allow continued weight loss.

This calories in calories out equation..............

If it were THAT simplistic, then she should have been losing weight effortlessly. See where this logic is a myth and doesn't work that way?

She was moving more and eating less. According to the equation, should have lost weight. She didn't.

Explain that brainiacs, since YOU ALL know SOOOOOOOOOOOO much more than the Doctors that have been studying the Endocrine and Metabolic systems for years and years and heads up a research center???????

You can't explain it because it is far too complex to be able to explain away with some simple equation. GTFOH

I eat healthy, I eat junk. I eat whatever the *kitten* I want. I drink water, beer, tequila, rum. I cook my own meals, but also go out. I have a fcuked up sleep schedule due to work, I hardly work out due to a back injury where I am not allowed to. But, I log everything I eat. I am losing weight. 9 lbs since the first of the month. I have more energy than ive had in a long time. I count calories and it works, FOR ME. Don't come in, and vomit your views all over and throw articles around and declare there is only one way! If it works for you, that us awesome and I wish you continued success, but don't tell those of us who have found something that works for us that it won't work. Why are you on a calorie counting website if you don't believe in calorie counting, even better why are you on the forums? Maybe a paleo(so) based website would be a better fit for you?