Anybody surprised how well calorie counting works?

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Losingthedamnweight
Losingthedamnweight Posts: 535 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Man. Another week and another 2 lbs lost doing absolutely nothing besides a little walking and counting calories (and wearing Fitbit) and i was just remembering back to before I started using fitness pal and how hard I thought it was to lose weight.

I seriously starved and dehydrated myself because I thought it was the only way to lose weight and that if I ate even a little bit, I would balloon up and my life would be over. The media and everyone always pumped into me the idea that to lose weight you have to eat non tasty "healthy" food and get ridiculous amounts of exercise. Ever since I discovered this little free app everything changed. I eat what I want, when I want. I have a great relationship with food and my weight loss is almost entirely predictable based on simple math. Burned 7000 calories this week? Say goodbye to 2 lbs. it's as simple as that! And it shocks me to this day how simple it is. I dont even need to exercise. If I'm sick or can't go out and do anything special, I can simply eat at a deficit and lose weight. It's amazing how much I used to over complicate things
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Replies

  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    Anyone ever tell you that you look a little like David on 90210? :)

    I lost a bunch of weight before I started logging. I could keep losing without logging.

    I like watching the trends. I never paid much attention to Fiber and now I do, I can keep a good eye on sodium, that kind of thing. All the trends are fun to watch! :)
  • vsheetz1
    vsheetz1 Posts: 18 Member
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    It truly Isa numbers game. Calories in vs. Calories out. A 3500 calorie deficit is a pound lost. But it fan be a very difficult game to play well long term.
  • SomeGirlSomewhere
    SomeGirlSomewhere Posts: 937 Member
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    I'm not really surprised at how well counting calories works because I always knew it did even though I didn't bother to do it. What DOES surprise me is how satisfied I feel on so much less food. I am actually LESS hungry now than I was when I was eating 5 times as much food.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    I'm not surprised at all. I actually eat very well I'm just more conscientious on snacking.
  • icrushit
    icrushit Posts: 773 Member
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    Its a handy tool alright when in pursuit of a weight-related goal. The big benefit for me is accountability, as its easy for the little things to add up when not keeping track in some way, and when I put on weight over the past 18 months it was very much in that fashion. I will say though I knew it was happening, but just chose to ignore it. Something like calorie counting or other tools help keep things on the radar, and can be useful when needed :)

    Glad to hear you've had a few small victories, stick with it and I'm sure you'll reach where you want to :)
  • fitasacello
    fitasacello Posts: 34 Member
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    Yes! I was genuinely amazed that I lost over a pound a week for 3 months. I was one of those people that thought my body had a natural weight point that it gravitated towards. But it had just been me gravitating to the beer and hoagies.
  • Lonestar5775
    Lonestar5775 Posts: 740 Member
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    I could have written your post. I thought I was condemned to get overweight as I aged and that was that. MFP is so empowering, I plan to log for the remainder of my life!
  • buzz3d269
    buzz3d269 Posts: 87 Member
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    It's amazing how much I used to over complicate things

    Yes! I was just thinking about this this morning. I keep expecting it to get harder, but so far the kgs keep coming off, just by watching the calories. It really is a numbers game! I still overthink things when I eat out (where I can't control the calorie counts so much), but I'm working on it.
  • JennyJiggle
    JennyJiggle Posts: 46 Member
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    I was surprised because for some reason to me it seemed old fashioned - don't you know the diet industry is all about complicated point systems and syns now? Well, calorie counting disguised as such at least.
  • GFON
    GFON Posts: 8 Member
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    I guess it is not surprising because technically it does come down to a mathematical equation. Like someone else here said, I think it really helps my accountability. The snacking is kept in check and also I drink almost nothing but water. It is so easy to drink your calories especially when you hate diet sodas like I do.
  • kjm_723
    kjm_723 Posts: 66 Member
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    Yes, amazed. Everyone I saw in my life trying to lose weight made it seem impossible and so awful. I was simply amazed at how simple (not easy!) it turned out to be.
  • SlimMe37
    SlimMe37 Posts: 133 Member
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    I love being able to eat normal foods and still lose weight. Its brilliant ????
  • jessicapk
    jessicapk Posts: 574 Member
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    I'm a math and numbers geek so it amazed me that there was such an "easy" way to lose weight. I treat my calories like a bank account. If I don't have enough left, I can't "afford" to eat anything. I lost 40 lbs over the course of a few months last year doing it and, since starting back this year, the pounds are dropping off. It's simply accounting and accountability. What truly amazes me is seeing other people starving themselves trying to lose weight. They look unhappy, they deprive themselves, and they don't have nearly the success I have had and that I've seen with other people on MFP. Love this site and I love calorie counting!
  • doriharvey
    doriharvey Posts: 89 Member
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    I have to agree also. I've been in maintenance for about a year. I do wear a calorie counting device on my arm and track food so religiously it's second nature to me now. It's a numbers game, I have days I burn over 3000 calories and eat 2500, I still slowly lose pounds just like the numbers say.
  • Mexicanbigfoot
    Mexicanbigfoot Posts: 520 Member
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    I'm not really surprised at how well counting calories works because I always knew it did even though I didn't bother to do it. What DOES surprise me is how satisfied I feel on so much less food. I am actually LESS hungry now than I was when I was eating 5 times as much food.

    ^this!! I have completely changed my relationship with food and I feel better than I ever have.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    Yes. At 55 I had never tried to lose weight (I'd been in the 'healthy' range until the last year and a half). Went on MFP and yes, following directions works! Went from the top of the healthy BMI to my college weight (30 pounds less) and have kept it off now for 2 years.

    My sister, who went from skinny, skinny to 150 pounds overweight the year after she left college started MFP two months ago today. She has logged everything and exercised every day and has lost 31 pounds! Really impressive. I am SO happy for her.

    Like the person above, what I learned from MFP was which foods had a lot of calories and I didn't care about and which didn't. That's made it easy to stick to things. A little knowledge goes a long way.
  • Jennifer10723
    Jennifer10723 Posts: 374 Member
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    I honestly don't think it is all calories in vs. calories out. Obviously on one level it is, but if you notice .. there are A LOT of "I'm doing all the right things and it isn't working" posts out there. There is a ton of advice on drink more water, exercise less your cortisol is too high, its your time of the month, you are gaining muscle .. etc etc etc. I just did a DietBet that is ALLLLL about the scale and that final number. If I didn't eat enough, my body didn't lose weight, if I had too much sodium my body held onto water. I had 1200 calories a day and exercised 250-300 calories 6 days a week and didn't lose anything for 3 weeks and then only dropped 1.5 pounds. I weighed everything and counted meticulously .. didn't eat my exercise calories.. used an HRM for exercise.

    So .. while yes it is on some level calories in vs. calories out, it isn't always that simple.
  • rjmudlax13
    rjmudlax13 Posts: 909 Member
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    Not really surprised.

    I think why people would be surprised is because the "experts" and media rarely talk about calorie counting. Calorie counting is not sexy. It's not cool. It's not trendy. It's not "revolutionary." All it is -- is effective. You can't make too much money telling people that they should count calories.
  • Elvenhearted1
    Elvenhearted1 Posts: 38 Member
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    I'm not so much surprised at how well it works. The logic was always obvious to me. What does surprise me is how easy MFP makes it :happy:
  • jaggerjia
    jaggerjia Posts: 51
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    I'm not really surprised at how well counting calories works because I always knew it did even though I didn't bother to do it. What DOES surprise me is how satisfied I feel on so much less food. I am actually LESS hungry now than I was when I was eating 5 times as much food.


    That is such a good (and awesome) point! Completely opposite of what I expected.

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