Do we take weight loss far too seriously??

Life is certainly for living!
However some of us on here have a lot of weight to lose and the only way to do it is to be meticulous about calorie counting. Once I get to a normal weight (150lbs for me, 29lbs to go) I will ease up a bit and allow myself the odd treat. But right now, I'm happy to log every mouthful and watch the scales go down.

I think it is because you are not far from your ideal weight. For people like myself, who found this website and found the answer to weight loss, which is as simple as counting calories and exercising it's a very serious thing, and I do take it very seriously. I do religiously add every single thing I put in my mouth. But I also dont deprive myself of anything. I dont have cheat days, I just eat what I want anytime I want as long as it's within my calories, and I havent found this to be difficult at all.
I enjoy getting on here every morning and seeing how everyone else is doing, learning from questions people ask on the boards, and knowing that there are people here that support you and care about how your doing. :flowerforyou:

But if you have lots of pounds to lose, because you want to be healthier then it's a good thing if you're being very strict to yourself and count everything you eat. Little treats might just be the thing to push you over the edge again...

So true IngeSnethen, when I allow myself treats (Godiva) I go overboard (the whole box)! So I must stay strict until I reach my goal. I'm rethinking my cheat days as well. Because I've indulged in my favorite fattening, unhealty treats for so long it's robbed me of my confidence and I've stopped living. But counting every bite that goes in my mouth and staying focused on my goals is getting me back to living and it makes me happy! :bigsmile:

Considering the obesity epidemic plaguing this country, it seems like we as a nation don't take weight loss and fitness seriously enough. Every person that you see on here that seems a bit too "hard core" is one less person who will not die from obesity related issues like heart disease, diabetes, etc. When I see the die hards, I see hope for our future generations.

i tend to agree with both sides...with mfp i have been able to get to a weight that i didn't think possible and my confidence has improved because of that i find myself much more accountable and tracking calories has made me MUCH more aware of what i eat and helped me to make exercise a huge priority in my life again (hopefully for good this time)...i've learned a lot from the message boards but i have also been surprised by the extremes people take! i try to be open-minded though and aware that everyone has a different journey...i have lost 15lbs but i've done it my way...i still eat what i want, mostly in moderation, but i know that if i want a bag of hot tamales or a yummy brownie from the teacher's lounge, i need to run a bit longer or spend more time on the elliptical..occassionally i feel guilty but for the most part i remind myself that i want to enjoy my life and for me restricting too much is a recipe for disaster!

I'm split. Let me preface this by saying I help people lose weight for a living. I've been doing so for a decade now. I can say without a doubt that for some, a rigid approach is optimal. By rigid approach, I mean keeping food logs, counting calories and nutrients, following meal plans, etc.

On the flip side, many of my clients do better and prefer a looser approach. I literally outlay some simple rules they need to follow the majority of the time (the old Pareto's 80/20 principle). Then it's about finding ways to hold themselves accountable to said rules consistently. This indirectly controls calories without ever counting.

Some claim that keeping food logs and counting calories is their accountability. They know if they have to log then they'll behavior will follow suit. This begs the question in my mind, though, "Is this the only way to find accountability?"

Most of my clients have a simple spreadsheet listing out their individualized "food rules." There's a box for each day of the week where they either place a check or an X for compliance or not. This, for most, is enough. Of course I'm constantly reinforcing why they came to me in the first place, which seems to get lost in the shuffle after the novelty of starting out on a "lifestyle" subsides.

I'm of the opinion it's silly to needlessly muddy the waters unless you have to because some people do seem to take it too far. Everyone lashes out about not being "on a diet" and this is a "lifestyle" for me. But being fanatical about calories to a degree where you won't even a surplus 1 damn day is about as rigid as you can get... and that's what dieting is all about. Not living.

Besides, in my experience, it's the people who get fanatical about rigidity who rebound and yo yo time and time again. We're physiologically and psychologically hardwired to rebel after too much rigidity is imposed on our systems nutritionally.

That said, I do feel that counting calories, at least for a short while, is great. It provides insights regarding energy density and portion size that you'll never get otherwise.

I agree that how serious people take weight loss is directly proportionate to how much they have to lose.

This may be the case many times... but I know PLENTY of people who in my opinion don't need to lose more weight yet live life by one calorie count at a time.

I call them perpetual dieters and they're really a byproduct of our society's need to reinforce dieting, ridiculous body images, etc. In fact, dieting for some folks regardless of their weight is the norm.

It's very unfortunate and more times than not leads to health problems.

Dieting in itself is a stress. Just as exercise is a stress. And our bodies have finite capacities to manage the stress that's place upon it. Add in life stresses and many of these folks I speak of wind up driving their bodies to a point where they're plateaued, injured, sickly, demotivated, etc.

Let me also add (sorry for so many posts!) that it's a false dichotomy to say, "you either count or you don't."

Take myself for instance. I never count calories, fat grams, carb grams, etc. What I do count is protein grams. Why? Well, for starters, I have a target I like to hit for muscle maintenance. More importantly, and this goes for the majority of my clients as well, I've found that if you meet your protein target it becomes increasingly harder to overeat calories. Protein is the most satiating nutrient.

And this is partly why "low carb" diets "work" for many folks. It's not the low carbs per se... rather it's the concomitant increase in protein consumption that typically goes with eating low carb. It controls hunger, slightly elevates metabolism, etc.

Just one trick of the trade to indirectly control calories without actually tracking every single variable. Not saying it's The Way. It's simply a tool that has proven effective for a broad range of people.

Great points

All I can add is...tracking soothes my type A personality.

And that's sort of my point. There isn't a one-size-fits all approach. That's for sure. Some will fare better with tracking than others. I do believe that many are tracking, however, that shouldn't be. Their personalities don't mix with it and they wind up taking it to a degree that's "unhealthy."

The MFP program allows an individual to structure his/her weight and fitness goals on an individual basis. Making changes in our diet and activity level takes focus. No two of us are following the exact same "diet.". There is no MFP "diet.". This is a personal program for each. I find the need to "focus" on the details of the program a positive thing. But I've only been following the program less than two months. I, personally, need to take the program seriously at this time in order to make balancing my daily calories and nutrients an easy habit.

I don't think anyone out there is saying there's a MFP diet. We're talking about meticulously tracking vs. not meticulously tracking. MFP is merely one avenue that helps people meticulously track. That doesn't make it good or bad. It's just a tool. A tool that will fit some better than others - even if they're aware of this fact or not.

And I agree with you... more often than not it's the novice clients I have that I will have track meticulously. It gets them off on the right foot. I simply promote it as a means to an end though. Most of them won't be tracking as long as most folks I see on the web. But some will.

I think the only appropriate (and obvious) answer is that different things work for different people.

I don't count calories because I DO get too obsessed with it and am too hard on myself about it. Not everybody is like that, though.

I agree with you a lot.
BUT I also understand that I really can’t put myself in the shoes of a lot of people here, so I can never fully understand the struggles that some people go thru. What may seem like such a simple concept to me, could be next to impossible for someone else to achieve.

That said, I do think many times people over complicate things by attempting to adhere to an ultra strict diet plan or methodology and the change is so drastic in such short time, they fail and repeat the cycle with a different methodology hoping that that’s the one.
I wonder if more people would be more successful if they kept realistic goals, and gradual implementations?
Start slow, reduce or cut out things you know are bad, pull things into your diet that are healthy. Gradual just might help a lot more people. I also think pulling from different diets also helps. I buy into a lot of the raw eating principles. But to think I could immerse myself completely is absurd in my situation. So I fit it in where I can. I don’t really care for breads, pasta or rice, but I love fish, chicken & meat. So I tend to eat high protein and tons of veggies as my carbs with smaller amounts of coming from rice & grains.

All that to say, I realize some people need an ultra structured plan to succeed, but for those who continuously fight the cycle from plan to plan, they might be better off trying to blend in aspects that suit their tastes, while still helping them reach their goals.