Anybody surprised how well calorie counting works?

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: 9,603 Member
    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
    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
    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: 15,151 Member
    I'm not surprised at all. I actually eat very well I'm just more conscientious on snacking.
  • icrushit
    icrushit Posts: 773 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    I love being able to eat normal foods and still lose weight. Its brilliant ????
  • jessicapk
    jessicapk Posts: 574 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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: 900 Member
    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
    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
    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.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Not really...when you understand energy balance and you understand that a calorie is a unit of energy, it's not surprising at all. Of course, 5th grade math isn't going to equate to a billion dollar diet and fitness industry, so it's not going to get much play...nothing to sell. The diet and fitness industry at large is built on ignorance and desperation.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    I was also thinking the same thing, I'm glad you brought it up. I've forever hovered around 140lbs. and did years of cardio with no real budge in weight loss. Because I thought I could eat anything it never occurred to me that I may be over eating. I guess I was and now I'm down 15lbs. my lowest since high school. Yea MFP and yea for me!!!
  • onefortyone
    onefortyone Posts: 531 Member
    I love MFP and how well it works! The diet industry demonises 'calorie counting', and so do a couple of my overweight friends. I stopped trying to change their mind about it. But I find it easy, and weighing my food is something I actually enjoy (didn't anyone always wonder how much they were actually eating, while gaining weight? I always did, and never owned scales so I couldn't even check out of interest).

    I feel like I lucked out though - I put in my height and weight and goals, MFP gave me a set number of calories to eat, I log my exercise and eat them back. I lose pretty steadily. I don't have to fiddle with figuring my BMR and TDEE and calculating percentages to find my number, I don't have to worry about only eating 83.6% of my exercise calories back. MFP gives me a green number, that's how much I'm allowed to eat!

    I know every body is different so I'm not judging, just happy to be one of the 'average' people like their forumulas are based on I guess lol.
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
    I always knew that calorie counting worked, so it never really surprised me in that way.

    But, when I'm not counting calories, I never really think that I'm eating that much food and it always surprises me how much I used to eat without even realizing it.
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    Yes. I was surprised at how not-hungry I felt when I had a reasonable calorie goal. I was surprised at how much "nutritious" food I actually needed to meet my RDA (not as much as I'd thought). I was surprised at the effects of "only" 30 minutes of walk/running 3 days a week. I was surprised at how little time logging my food actually took.

    I'm really surprised at how difficult we make it for ourselves when there is literally no reason.
  • AskTracyAnnK28
    AskTracyAnnK28 Posts: 2,817 Member
    I tell my friends, family and coworkers that it's just "old school calorie counting" and they're usually surprised because there are so many fad diets out there. :bigsmile:
  • sandraeward
    sandraeward Posts: 28 Member
    Yes and no. Basic math logic. If you burn more fuel than you have in the main tank, then you will dip into your reserves to keep going.

    I am surprised at how quickly I began losing weight. I lost 10 pounds in 20 days with very little effort, which surprised me
    I was expecting weight loss but not that quickly with no added exercise.
    I did add a little exercise the past few days, but not a HUGE effort. Just walking the dog and riding my bike a little

    Keeping a record of my diet has caused me to be aware of my healthy and not so healthy food choices. I am drinking much less coffee because I could see that I was getting a small meal worth of calories with each coffee. (I like sweet coffee) So I am instead choosing to have a small 150-200 calorie meal of real food. That one action has changed everything about my weight loss.
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
    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.
    Because when someone says they are "doing it right", it must actually mean they are doing it right.
  • Jennifer10723
    Jennifer10723 Posts: 374 Member
    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.
    Because when someone says they are "doing it right", it must actually mean they are doing it right.

    Well I don't know about all the somebodies .. I just know me and I know how I did it. It wasn't as simple as calories in vs. calories out.
  • sakuragreenlily
    sakuragreenlily Posts: 334 Member
    Bump to share with some of my friends who are still stuck in the "overly complicating things" mode!

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