Is counting calories really all it takes?

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  • katie12312
    katie12312 Posts: 1
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    Although calories in and calories out is important--too many calories will definitely mean more weight, there is more to the story than just that. Different foods affect metabolism and cause us to burn calories differently. I believe that balance is important, enough fiber and protein keep you feeling full and helps you to avoid the constipation that can often come with dieting. Counting calories can allow us to "choose" a snack that is more appealing without overdoing. So much of this is emotional, as most who want to lose weight know. What i like about Myfitnesspal is that it allows me to carefully monitor BOTH the calories and the balance.
  • wormy80
    wormy80 Posts: 64 Member
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  • TheDarlingOne
    TheDarlingOne Posts: 255 Member
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    but the biggest thing - if you make healthier choices, you can have a LOT more food for the same amount of calories.:laugh:


    ^this - thing i realized in the 1st two weeks - i'm a BULK over FLAVOR type person. i can eat 4 cups of baby spinach for only 20 cals - can i eat 4 cups of oreos for that? nope! - woohoo lol - mind set changed from "what tastes the best?" to - "what can i eat the most of and still stay under calories? - this has proven to be vegs and fruits - go figure haha.
  • retiree2006
    retiree2006 Posts: 951 Member
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    You could eat unhealthy items and stay within your calories...however, there are many bad side effects that just aren't worth it. You're trying to lose pounds to be healthier, too, I would think. And to sabotage it by poor food choices doesn't make sense. I still have my chocolate every now and then and other items that aren't necessarily "healthy"...but I count them in and just enjoy them so I can stay on track at other times without feeling deprived. Go for some balance.
  • 366to266
    366to266 Posts: 473 Member
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    lol, I asked my mum this too!!! She said it's about the fat and the sugar in those foods, that are bad for your body...I think the fat would cling to you...just my understanding but I have no idea tbh :p

    Yep - you do have no idea LOL.

    Eating fat does not create fat on the body.

    If you ate nothing but fat -- by which I mean a lump of lard for breakfast, a pint of olive oil for dinner, etc, you would not gain weight, regardless of how many calories you ingested. In the absence of insulin, your body CANNOT store anything you eat as fat.

    Eaten fat does not turn into bodyfat. There is a complex metabolic process that causes a person to become fat. It's all on Youtube!
  • nekoxvampyx
    nekoxvampyx Posts: 163
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    sure u can eat all that crap and lose the weight, but ur body will be hurting by that cause there's no nutrients in it. and your body wont look nice and toned it'll just look saggy. eat the right stuff and keep within your calories, and you'll look and feel great.
  • 366to266
    366to266 Posts: 473 Member
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    To add: fat does not make you fat. My fat is set at 30%.


    I eat 65% fat. That means 65% of the calories I eat are from fat.

    I cook in lard, butter and olive oil. I put double cream in my soup. I smother my salads in mayonnaise.

    On this I have lost 19lb in 5 weeks.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,080 Member
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    You would be so hungry on four Mars bars. Just sayin. Eat real food and you'll actually be able to lose weight and feel good at the same time, and not be hungry. Win.
  • nasoj007
    nasoj007 Posts: 35 Member
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    You will lose weight but there is a caveat, you will likely be so hungry that sticking to those 4 mars bars is just about impossible and the extra snacks will sabotage you :P ... In all seriousness though it's do-able just not very healthy, and you will likely lose the weight at a slower pace as well. If you look at my diary nearly have of my calorie intake is crap (chips, chocolate etc) but I try to make sure the other half is real food(and most of the time healthier foods). I've lost 33lbs and can't remember the last time I felt this good, that being said I'd likely feel better if I was eating a bit healthier. Now that I'm nearly at my goal weight my next goals are to up my exercise and cut down the crap foods even further. Its all about a lifestyle change at a pace you can handle... do too much too fast and you may get frustrated and quit.
  • WinnerVictorious
    WinnerVictorious Posts: 4,735 Member
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    Of course, I have definitely seen results by watching my calorie intake, but something about this method worries me as it can encourage you to eat ANYTHING as long as it comes under the calorie goal. For example, my calorie goal is 1200.

    I could eat about roughly 4 mars bars, and then reach that goal. Obviously that's not sustainable, but what if you met your calorie goals just eating utter crap like that? :laugh: Would the weight still come off?

    What if you only ate microwave meals or McDonalds but it didn't go over your calorie goal? Just a thought...!

    the answer is YES, but you won't meet your nutritional needs with 4 Mars bars.

    1) calories in < calories out
    2) IIFYM

    that's all you need for weight loss and nutrition. take a multivitamin as well.

    ignore the orthorexics who have a mental illness that forces them to assign labels to some foods and to make them off limits. as long as you don't have a real medical condition, you can eat anything and lose weight and be healthy so long as you follow 1) and 2) above.

    figure out what foods you want to eat to achieve that, pre-plan your meals, log it all, and still stick to your goals (i.e., reasonable goals) and you'll be fine.
  • joshperna
    joshperna Posts: 2
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    You can loose weight eating anything as long as you burn off more calories than your body needs. Its a simple as that. You will be lacking certain vitamins and minerals, and will probably feel like crap, but you will loose weight.
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    Of course, I have definitely seen results by watching my calorie intake, but something about this method worries me as it can encourage you to eat ANYTHING as long as it comes under the calorie goal. For example, my calorie goal is 1200.

    I could eat about roughly 4 mars bars, and then reach that goal. Obviously that's not sustainable, but what if you met your calorie goals just eating utter crap like that? :laugh: Would the weight still come off?

    What if you only ate microwave meals or McDonalds but it didn't go over your calorie goal? Just a thought...!

    Any reduced-calorie diet will cause a reduction in the number on the scale over time. That part is true. HOWEVER (and this is a very big however) what composes those calories can make the difference between health and disease (and even has an influence on what is burned---body fat or lean tissue). As you rightly pointed out, a diet composed of Mars Bars does not a healthy body make. Basically, a diet of 1,200 calories has no room AT ALL for the empty calories represented by sugar and starch, if health is to be maintained (and if binging and regain is to be avoided). Body builders can afford empty calories because of the huge number of calories that they take in (sometimes 5,000 to 6,000 calories a day). But I can guarantee that if that 5,000 to 6,000 calories was composed entirely of Mars Bars, they would not be able to keep up their high level of training for long, without suffering a breakdown in their health (actually, they would likely lose their taste for Mars Bars before that happened).

    You must eat right to get desirable results from your body. That understanding is one of the best things to come out of modern athletic training. I listened to a broadcast recently that concerned a cross-country bicycle race. One of the men interviewed, said that he now understood the importance of eating right. He said that, at first, he would eat whatever appealed to him and he had an appetite for a LOT of junk food. He went on to say that he got very ill after about the third day of racing and eating a lot of empty calories. He kept to the race anyway and one day, just fell off his bike and lay by the side of the road until another contestant came along and helped him to the rest station. His helper was a seasoned long-distance bicycler and asked what the ill participant had been eating. When he told the seasoned rider, the older man laughed and said, "Well, that's your problem. Watch me and see what I eat---and then you eat that--not the junk you've been eating."
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    lol, I asked my mum this too!!! She said it's about the fat and the sugar in those foods, that are bad for your body...I think the fat would cling to you...just my understanding but I have no idea tbh :p

    Actually, fats have gotten a bad rap. Even "bad fats" (saturated fat) that comes from natural sources like, meat, fish, dairy and eggs have a place in a healthy diet. Because they are easy sources of high quality protein. these foods would be greatly missed in some program to eliminate fat. Butter is a source of nutrients that are not very available in other foods. Sugar, on the other hand, delivers essentially no nutrients other than calories. One must be VERY judicious about what one spends calories on in a calorie-restricted diet. Every bite must be considered in terms of its health-building potential. Not as much fun as eating whatever appeals to one, but there it is.
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    To add: fat does not make you fat. My fat is set at 30%.

    me too - but i managed to hit 65% fat one day last week :/

    not planning on doing that everyday but i still lost 2lb this week - a LITTLE of what you fancy does you good now and then.

    i like this site better than others as you can see what you should be hitting for your macros - of course you can lose weight only eating (1200s wortth of) mars bars but you won't feel or look very good imo.

    Actually, I'm guessing that you discovered that you didn't have much taste for fat the next day or so after your OD on fat the one day? As long as they are "good fats" (no hydrogenated vegetable oils or trans fats) you will probably notice that your fat intake rises and falls naturally from one day to the next. Our bodies are master self-regulators if we don't mess them up by eating junky foods. The fructose component of sucrose (sucrose is 50% fructose) appears to be one of those substances that "fools our body" into thinking that it is not full, according to researchers. http://www.foodaddictionsummit.org/foodaddiction.htm

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