Do I HAVE to count calories?

DEAR
SHMEREK:
IF ALL THESE STUDIES ARE NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU, LEARN TO SPELL G-O-O-G-L-E AND YOU WILL FIND HUNDREDS MORE....DUDE

I pay attention to calories, but actually pay more attention to portion sizes, sugar intake (was diagnosed as diabetic in Oct 2013 ~ 7.4/6 was what my A1C levels were back then & NOW as of 2 weeks ago it's down to 5.6 YAY), & protein intake. Also making sure that the MAJORITY of what I eat is actually healthy foods. For me, FRUIT is high in sugar & my body doesn't seem to make a difference between "healthy" sugars & junk food sugars. So I limit my fruit & actually make sure that when I do eat it ~ it's actually a treat AND that I have wiggle room in my daily SUGAR AND calories. Now, on the other hand... if I go over my calories but not my sugar on something... It's not much of a big deal. BUT I also have days where (for some crazy reason) trying to get 1200 calories in to my daily calorie intake... just doesn't happen. So I figure I'll make it up somewhere along the way. I WILL say this... when "they" say that "abs are made in the kitchen not the the gym" they are not kidding! I have found this out in spades! I AM off liquid sugar (have been since October) & have been making other changes along the way. Just make 1-2 changes at a time & you will get there! No since in making yourself crazy (or dizzy) trying to get it all right NOW... do a change or 2 a week. That way you will stick with it longer & you will see changes!

Na just use common sense when starting. After awhile you will though.

WOW I DON'T BELIEVE IT YOU THINK YOU CAN BREAK THE LAWS OF PHYSICS.

If you can, you deserve a Nobel prize and a time machine...

ETA: The posts didn't say a calorie deficit was ineffective, simply that there were ways OTHER than counting calories to lose weight. To do so, you still need a deficit, counted or not.

Low-calorie diets are useless since, as we reduce the amount of calories we consume, our bodies’ survival instinct automatically makes the best use possible of the energy we put at its disposal. Our bodies learn to optimize the amount of calories we feed them. This is why, when we go back to normal calorie consumption (something we necessarily have to do since we cannot under nourish our bodies forever) our bodies, which have learned to store fats, simply stock these ‘extra’ calories turning them into extra weight. Chances are that once we have taught our body to make do with low-caloric levels, it will gain even more weight when we go back to a more regular intake.

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Of the tragic, avoidable deaths across the country, one cause stands out well beyond all others.

Some advocates call it America's great, unnoticed public health menace, and it can hit any household in any neighborhood, inner city or suburban, rich or poor, black or white. It is the leading cause of deaths among Americans ages 1 to 34, and is the leading cause of long-term disability for all.

Many Americans fear becoming a victim of crime, but statistics show we are far more likely to be seriously injured or killed in a vehicle accident than to be harmed at the hands of criminal attackers.

And yet today and tomorrow and the next day, parents will subject themselves and their children to its danger with little concern.

"People don't generally think of driving as a risky task,"says Russ Rader, of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "They think that crashes happen to other people, not themselves. There is a researcher who calls it the illusory zone of immunity — when we do things day after day that are routine, we don't think of them as being particularly dangerous.

"But of course the statistics show that getting behind the wheel of a car is probably the riskiest thing any of us do on any given day."

Nationwide, an average of more than 41,000 have died in accidents each year over the past decade.

And yet, the deadly consequences of car crashes rarely lead TV newscasts or make it onto the front of the local news section of newspapers.

As the blogger Matthew Yglesias pointed out after a commuter train accident in Washington killed seven people and made national news: "One story you're not going to see leading tomorrow's newspaper is '97 dead in fatal car accidents.' "

That, the blogger computed, was the number of people killed every day on America's roads, although the Institute for Transportation Engineers estimates 120 people die every day from what it calls "vehicle-related crashes."That's like having four major airline disasters happen every week, the institute points out.

At the AAA Foundation Web site, chief executive officer Peter Kissinger repeatedly calls the epidemic of vehicle-related accidents a "public health crisis."

One Kissinger quote from a 2007 press release is typical of the message AAA is trying to spread: "Someone dies in a highway crash every 13 minutes. Where is the outrage? Why does our society accept so many deaths at the price of mobility? Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for Americans from ages 1 to 34, and they affect countless friends and family members whenever they occur. Yet, motorists, citizens, key stakeholders and our society in general, are complacent to these ongoing tragedies."

I was just trying to make a point that there will never be a cure for obesity in America because Americans will risk death to avoid any movement which, in itself is a major cause of obesity.

Just curious Bill---drive much?

I was just trying to make a point that there will never be a cure for obesity in America because Americans will risk death to avoid any movement which, in itself is a major cause of obesity.

I think it's fair to say a good amount of countries drive equally to the average American. Not all are obese countries. You're 15lbs overweight and don't drive, I'm on the low end of normal and drive. I agree it's dangerous, no doubt, but I don't think it's fair to place blame on our automobiles. Personally, with no research and about 5 minutes of thought (so don't pick) I'd place it on school lunches. It teaches you to eat extremely fast (depending on school size and lines), you can't hardly enjoy the food and it's certainly not long enough to register as full physically. And a child can easily eat 1000 calories just at lunch (estimating mentally, pizza slice, huge cookie, ice cream, soda, milk, vegetable, tots). Odd habits to teach young children that can potentially stick with them for life.

Since human beings were losing weight for eons before the calorie was discovered, no, you don't "have" to calorie count in order to create a deficit and lose weight.

I'm just beginning to try to lose weight, and I think that counting calories might just be more effort/more destructive or discouraging...thoughts?

You DO NOT NEED TO COUNT CALORIES. Eat as much as you can possibly stuff into yourself, just be sure that everything you eat is FOOD. You will be healthy beyond belief in several months. p.s. Doritos and Pepsi is not food. Stay out of bakeries, bakeries do not sell food. Candy stores do not sell food. 90% of your local supermarket shelves are filled with substances which are not food. People can never become obese by eating food.

:huh: Wut?