Explain diets that don't count calories to me
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Unless you know how many calories you are eating and using, I don't think you can really lose weight on any diet though.
This is not true. Many people lose weight without ever counting calories. They simply eat less than they were eating while gaining weight. It's possible to tell how many calories you need simply by whether you are losing, maintaining or gaining weight.
I kept my weight in check for many years without weighing anything (including myself) or counting calories. If my jeans got tight, I ate less until they fit right again.0 -
In THEORY you do not "need" to count calories in a paleo lifestyle - fruits, veggies, meat. Of course, if you eat a pound of bacon, it's not exactly the BEST idea. It's not really a diet, but a lifestyle though. Lots of info here - http://www.marksdailyapple.com/welcome-to-marks-daily-apple/#axzz2swMDKZ29
Of course, you can still count calories while doing it, it won't hurt.
Paleo or Primal (which I believe Marks Daily Apple promotes) are no different than the explanations above.
Both focus on high protein and fat (while many people think it is low carb, it does not necessarily have to be, its just more difficult to get higher carbs while eliminating grains and other carb rich sources). Fat and protein satiate you. You are also supposed to eat a lot of veggies which fills you up as well. On top of that, it also eliminates many of the foods people tend to overeat.
I don't think either diet promotes the idea of eating as much of the "approved" foods as you can, except maybe the veggies. Many people still gain weight on Paleo for this misconception. Ideally a meal should be a portion of protein, a portion of fat and the rest in veggies with some fruit.
It is not calorie counting but it is still calorie restriction. Pretty much the bottom line for any "no calorie counting" diet.0 -
I haven't been counting calories for a year and lost about 30 pounds on a low carb paleo type diet. It basically keeps you full, so in turn you eat less. Sometimes I would eat an entire pound of bacon and gain a little, and other times I'd eat sensible items like eggs and lose some. Instead of the stuff that got me big as I was like fast food, chips, and soda.. I cut out all of them and had less to choose from. I am diabetic and my blood sugar is controlled on the low carb diet, but I would not suggest not counting the calories and eating what you want. It doesn't work like that.0
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Unless you know how many calories you are eating and using, I don't think you can really lose weight on any diet though.
This is not true. Many people lose weight without ever counting calories. They simply eat less than they were eating while gaining weight. It's possible to tell how many calories you need simply by whether you are losing, maintaining or gaining weight.
I kept my weight in check for many years without weighing anything (including myself) or counting calories. If my jeans got tight, I ate less until they fit right again.
This^^^
People lost weight long before calorie counting websites existed. Eat a little less than you are used to. It helps to eat nutrient dense but lower caloric foods or foods that satisfy you and make you feel fuller longer. If you are going to eat calorie dense foods, then limit portions, because those are the ones easier to add up. It's not rocket science.0 -
Tons of people gain weight eating the Atkins/Primal/Paleo/LowCarb way.
The OP's question is malformed.0 -
Unless you know how many calories you are eating and using, I don't think you can really lose weight on any diet though.
This is not true. Many people lose weight without ever counting calories. They simply eat less than they were eating while gaining weight. It's possible to tell how many calories you need simply by whether you are losing, maintaining or gaining weight.
I kept my weight in check for many years without weighing anything (including myself) or counting calories. If my jeans got tight, I ate less until they fit right again.
I agree - my mum and brother have lost weight on Slimming World, without counting calories per se. Basically, in a calorie counting diet such as MFP, you find your own way to feel full on e.g. 1500 calories per day. You start from the very theoretical background to dieting, and work up. You tweak your own numbers until it works for you, and it's very trial and error. However, the SW, WW etc. do the hard work for you - they do the calorie counting and assesment of nutritional value etc., and offer you a diet structure, rather than a diet theory from which to build your own structure. Their structure leads to a diet that is broadly speaking in deficit, even if the dieter doesn't actually realise this is the case.
There is a caveat that of the people who attend slimming clubs such as SW and WW, only 16% reach and maintain their goal weight over a period of 5 years. The NHS view is that although slimming clubs and similar diets can be helpful and do offer structure that leads to a fairly balanced diet, without teaching about portion sizes and calories it is very difficult to maintain the weight once it has come off. On a personal note, I also think that some of the points systems are ridiculous: e.g. Bachelor's soup from a can is several SW syns fewer than Covent Garden soup, despite them both being the same calorific content.
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/loseweight/Pages/top-10-most-popular-diets-review.aspx
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-234630060 -
How do diets like Atkins work if you're not counting calories? I don't think everyone that has followed it has been a flat out failure - otherwise the products wouldn't sell. Since weightloss seems to be all about calories in < calories out, how does weightloss happen if you're not counting calories?
(No I'm not interested in trying Atkins. I need my carbs. This is just pure curiosity.)
Say your height/weight require 2,000 cals to maintain. You've been eating 3,000 cals and have been slowly gaining weight. 100 of those calories are from carbs. You decide it's time to stop gaining and try a carb free diet, so you've now cut out the 100 cals of carbs. You are still eating 2,900 cals. 900 over maintenance. You will not lose weight. You will continue to gain.
Say somebody else with the same stats also eats 3,000 cals per day but the difference is that they get 1,500 cals a day from carbs. If they try a carb free diet, they are now eating only 1,500 cals (a 500cal deficit) and will begin to lose weight.
It's not reducing the carbs, per se, that is causing the weight loss. . . it is the reduction of calories. In the second example, those calories just happen to be from carbs.
Or. . . you know. . . can just be my mother, try a low carb diet and think that you can seriously increase your consumption of cheese, bacon, sausage and start to use massive amounts of creamy dressings on your many salads and wonder why you're now gaining weight. Because again: it's not the reduction of a particular food group, it's the reduction or calories that causes weight loss.0 -
Count me in as one who gained weight on South Beach (not even Atkins!) I was so unsatisfied I ate mounds of almonds and spoonfuls of peanut butter. AND I was still unsatisfied! No low carb for this girl.0
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To lose weight you need to eat less than you burn off. Counting calories (accurately!) is the most reliable way to ensure you're really eating at a deficit, so long as you get the maths right.
there are other ways to create a deficit, and restrictive diets like low carb, paleo, stuff like that create a deficit by banning foods with high calorie density that are easy to overeat on. These work for a lot of people for the simple reason that they create a deficit, i.e. make them eat less than they're burning off. They won't work for everyone though, because it's kind of hit and miss whether you're *actually* at a deficit or not, because you're not actually counting the calories. So these kinds of diets will work for some people but not others. Some people will fail to lose, or even gain weight, on these diets, if they end up eating more than they burn off.0 -
You can find ways around nearly any restrictive diet. Depends on how creative you want to get and how desperate you are for whatever it is you crave.
Counting calories is just one approach to weight loss. Restrictive diets is another. I personally like cheesecake, pie, cookies, donuts, potato chips, etc. If I was on a diet that restricted/eliminated those a good 40 to 60% of my caloric intake would be gone.
I recently went without added sugar for a couple weeks (as a test) and found it hard to hit my calories. I've since gone back on the sugar and find it hard to hit my calories, but over not under =P0 -
I lost 30 pounds on Atkins within several months, and did minimal amount of exercise. It was easy. No calorie counting, just carb counting. And, I felt fine. At first, I peed on a stick once in a while to see if I was in "ketosis" -- burning fat for energy. Atkins professes this happens due to the loss of carbs in your diet, and the body has to burn fat for energy. After a while, I knew when I was in ketosis, because your breath smells a certain way. My coworker was sure I was killing myself with the diet. I haven't see any studies to tell me this is dangerous (though I haven't looked since I quit Atkins several years ago). I stopped Atkins because ... I don't remember why. I think I just slowly started eating more and more carbs, and then I started gaining the weight back.
So, while I don't think the Atkins diet is bad, I also don't think it taught me how to eat a proper portion. I could literally eat whatever I wanted as long as it wasn't a carb, and I was fine. You have to be really strict, though, if you want to burn fat through ketosis. I don't know about the calorie deficit thing. Maybe I was running a calorie deficit, but man, I was eating a lot of high-fat stuff -- all the cheese and salami and eggs and bacon I wanted. I'd have a HUGE salad almost every day for lunch, with eggs, salami, lots of high-fat dressing. I'd have to say if I ate that same way now, I'd easily go over my calorie goal.0 -
Low carb diets work simply because it is harder (though absolutely not impossible) to eat a calorie surplus on one plus the high protein and fat helps with satiety which helps stick with the diet.It's not reducing the carbs, per se, that is causing the weight loss. . . it is the reduction of calories. In the second example, those calories just happen to be from carbs.
Or. . . you know. . . can just be my mother, try a low carb diet and think that you can seriously increase your consumption of cheese, bacon, sausage and start to use massive amounts of creamy dressings on your many salads and wonder why you're now gaining weight. Because again: it's not the reduction of a particular food group, it's the reduction or calories that causes weight loss.
This is a prime example of why low-carb diets tend to not be sustainable. Either people give in and go back to the foods they miss or they substitute calorie-dense low-carb foods for the calorie-dense high-carb foods they no longer eat.
Trust me - a whole rack of baby-back ribs with no BBQ sauce is like 1200 calories. That is like 70% of my deficit calorie load.0 -
Unless you know how many calories you are eating and using, I don't think you can really lose weight on any diet though.
This is not true. Many people lose weight without ever counting calories. They simply eat less than they were eating while gaining weight. It's possible to tell how many calories you need simply by whether you are losing, maintaining or gaining weight.
I kept my weight in check for many years without weighing anything (including myself) or counting calories. If my jeans got tight, I ate less until they fit right again.
I agree - my mum and brother have lost weight on Slimming World, without counting calories per se. Basically, in a calorie counting diet such as MFP, you find your own way to feel full on e.g. 1500 calories per day. You start from the very theoretical background to dieting, and work up. You tweak your own numbers until it works for you, and it's very trial and error. However, the SW, WW etc. do the hard work for you - they do the calorie counting and assesment of nutritional value etc., and offer you a diet structure, rather than a diet theory from which to build your own structure. Their structure leads to a diet that is broadly speaking in deficit, even if the dieter doesn't actually realise this is the case.
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I wasn't really refering to WW or SW either. I know nothing of SW, but WW is calorie counting of a sort. It just uses points instead of the actual calorie count.
I was refering to people who don't use any formalized system for weight control. Who just use nothing other than their body, the mirror and clothing as a guide.0 -
How do diets like Atkins work if you're not counting calories? I don't think everyone that has followed it has been a flat out failure - otherwise the products wouldn't sell. Since weightloss seems to be all about calories in < calories out, how does weightloss happen if you're not counting calories?
(No I'm not interested in trying Atkins. I need my carbs. This is just pure curiosity.)
Low carb diets are very satiating for many people. If you only eat when you're hungry and you're only eating satiating foods, you naturally tend to consume fewer calories throughout the day. Compare that to someone who's used to snacking on sweets and candy which spike their blood sugar, triggering their appetite a couple of hours later. It's very possible to feel more satiated on less calories and that's what low carb diet plans rely on.
Of course, even programs like Atkins recognize that not everyone can lose weight this way and suggest that, if that's the case, you should be counting your calories in addition to your carbs each day. But many people find they can lose weight simply by switching to more satiating foods.0 -
i didn't read all the responses. to the OP, there is a thing called mindful eating. you don't count calories or anything else. you listen to your body and what it is telling you. you eat until you are satisfied, then stop eating until the next time you are hungry. It is the way babies eat and most kids. you eat whatever you want, you just need to make sure to pay attention to your body's hunger and satisfaction signals.0
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i didn't read all the responses. to the OP, there is a thing called mindful eating. you don't count calories or anything else. you listen to your body and what it is telling you. you eat until you are satisfied, then stop eating until the next time you are hungry. It is the way babies eat and most kids. you eat whatever you want, you just need to make sure to pay attention to your body's hunger and satisfaction signals.
This does work for some people, however, hunger signals are more complex than just signalling when you are really hungry. Hormones play a role in hunger. Timing plays a role. Even what you eat plays a role. Exercise can play a role.
Eating too little can affect hunger signals. Often people suffering from anorexia do not feel hungry even though they are literally starving. Some people who are obese are constantly hungry even though they do not need to eat.0 -
i didn't read all the responses. to the OP, there is a thing called mindful eating. you don't count calories or anything else. you listen to your body and what it is telling you. you eat until you are satisfied, then stop eating until the next time you are hungry. It is the way babies eat and most kids. you eat whatever you want, you just need to make sure to pay attention to your body's hunger and satisfaction signals.
Babies and children can become overweight from overeating. Usually from being fed as consolation. Humans can learn to take comfort from food at a very young age.
This is also not the description of mindful eating that I am familiar with, which probably means it's just another diet term that has lost meaning.0 -
How do diets like Atkins work if you're not counting calories? I don't think everyone that has followed it has been a flat out failure - otherwise the products wouldn't sell. Since weightloss seems to be all about calories in < calories out, how does weightloss happen if you're not counting calories?
(No I'm not interested in trying Atkins. I need my carbs. This is just pure curiosity.)
Instead of burning calories it makes your body burn fat. Your body usually burns carbs for energy. When you cut your carbs then your body has to find a new source of energy. It starts burning fat instead. If you google it I'm sure you could get a better understanding of how it works.0 -
Something I found really interesting about Atkins is that in the mid-2000s when it first became really popular many people lost a lot of weight on it. Then food companies cottoned on to the opportunity to provide Atkins-compliant foods and it stopped being the miracle diet. The thing that changed was that the available range of foods for people on Atkins increased, therefore so did calorie intake, and the success of the diet overall rapidly declined.
Even on Atkins it is still calories in vs calories out that is the main reason you see weight loss.0
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