This verge article says calorie counting is bad science?

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  • jymmeh
    jymmeh Posts: 33 Member
    Bump to read later. At work now :-(
  • IbelieveinAmerica
    IbelieveinAmerica Posts: 2
    I didn't read the article, but this website which does use calorie counting seems to be very helpful for many people. It's my second day so far and I find it really useful to keep track of my calorie count and also the foods I eat. It's really like a food journal online, but it does all of the counting for you. :)
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    Counting calories is what I have done for 420 days, I'd say it's worked rather well dont you think? Haha

    You just cant bother listening to every "scientific" article about what's good or bad, over the last 30 years science has changed its mind 100 times about what food is bad for you and what isn't! I grew up being told that eggs were bad for you, a few weeks ago a lady at work was showing me this article talking about how fruit can "ruin your diet", because SHOCKINGLY - fruit actually has calories! So that's why my mentality has just been to try and eat better overall, some days I eat junk, some days I eat super healthy, but every day I am eating healthier than how I ate before I started.

    Also a random note about late night calories - just log them as part of the next day, that way you are still accounting for them but you dont have to go back and change your diary for that day and its still possible to stay under your calorie goal for both days :)

    That was my response to the article as well. "Tell it to the people who have lost considerable amounts of weight through calorie counting."

    Also, while gadgets carry their own amount of error, it does not render them useless anymore than calorie counting is rendered useless by a certain degree of error. Personally, I have found the FitBit to be a very helpful tool, though it UNDERESTIMATES my calories burned slightly because I carry less body fat and more muscle than the average woman of my height and weight. But it still gives me a good ballpark estimate of output, just like calorie counting gives me a good ballpark estimate of intake. From there, you have to use your brain (what a concept!) to make the necessary adjustments.
  • marklpotter
    marklpotter Posts: 11 Member
    The only way to lose weight, period, is to take in less fuel than you expend. The debate about calorie counting isn't new and there are plenty of studies on both sides that can be trotted out to prove points. The article in question has both seemingly reliable and questionable resources. The cite a nutritionist, which is not a protected term, as an authority which is always questionable, I don't have time ti check the actual qualifications of the other experts this morning but since anyone can call themselves a nutritionist those citations, in an of themselves, carry no weight at all.

    As far the science goes, counting calories isn't an exact science but calories in/calories out is. If you underestimate then you're not going to lose weight and you can make changes. Devices aren't an exact science either but they're getting better and better and the amount of information we have about food and how it affects us is at an all time high.

    I, personally, think that counting calories is a good start to shedding excess poundage but it's just a start. For folks like me, in an entirely sedentary job there are issues with needing to work the body so you are adding muscle while gaining fat and so on. I think that articles, like this one, do more harm than good. Most "science" reporting is crap and if you go read the actual papers you find that "science" news gets about half of it right. People will take the headline as gospel, not read the article, and decide counting calories is a bad idea and end up not having a starting point to find out how much they really eat or how bad their food actually is for them. If I was eating a 4k calorie diet and dropped to a 3lk calorie diet as a sedentary person my diet would, very likely, still be unhealthy but I'd have cut 1/4 of my daily intake!

    As far as different types of calories being different, the science on that is really too new to make any sort of call. Every diet around latches on to these claims and in turn claims their diet has the right kind of calories. I bet that the type of calories matters less than it's made out to by some corners of the fitness world. I'd wager that balancing protein/fats/carbs is much more important than actually worrying about the type of calories your eating. Shooting for a healthy lifestyle should be the overall goal.

    Devices are a different story. They are getting better and better but there is also a lot of snake oil out there in the device market. With the sheer amount of information we have about our bodies, devices can't help but get better. I personally see no reason to go beyond an HRM for working out and counting calories, at least for now. I'm not sure what I'd do with the information overload some devices offer. Always research your devices heavily before purchasing but if you want , for instance, a FitBit then there's really no reason not to get one.

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