Using Calories!

I wonder that same thing sometimes...be interested in the responses!

Not if they are empty calories. For example if you eat a couple of candy bars a day that still allow you under calories, all the fats and sugars in that are counter productive. I watch sugars, fat and sodium along with calories.

In answer to your question I don't know! But I have a treat every day because my calories allow it or if they don't then I earn it by exercising. I put all my meals in at the beginning of the day and then work out what i can use my left over cals on after a month of doing this I looked at my snack box and it was full of junk now I only have one treat snack a day. but then I went to pizza hut today for tea my once a week take away I was still under my cals and I don't feel like I'm cheating cos for the first time in my life I don't feel like I'm on a diet and for the first time in my life I'm losing the weight. I think thats because I allow myself the treat every day so I don't crave it and over eat later x

It's always better to make 'healthy' choices and eat the right foods. Higher protein, high fiber makes you feel fuller longer - blah blah blah... Having said that - I say, if you never eat the foods you want, you'll never stick with a healthy eating pattern. As long as you're staying within your calories each day - go for it!

FYI - I changed my 'start weight' to reflect what I was at the beginning of 2011 - but I actually lost 55 pounds in 2010 - and yes, I ate every one of my calories

losing weight and being healthy is a life style change......of course it matters what you eat, you have to know that...dont you? you cant eat cookies, pies and pizza and expect to lose weight and even if you are under your calorie goal it isnt healthy at all, you can still end up getting diabetes or high cholesteral and many other things. I dont mean to say a treat every now and than is bad because its not but you cant eat junk all the time and expect to be healthy. To anyone that takes this the wrong way, dont im just being honest, anyone that asks a question like this is looking for a short cut and there are no short cuts. tough love, tough love good luck!!!

I guess what your saying is the same question I always ask.. I am a big treats eater and I tend to think I need to work out more just to have a treat.. And I guess it's ok to have something sweet once and a while.. right?

Sweets are my downfall. But I also need that little treat once a day or so. However, the longer I do this and the more conscious I become of what I put in my mouth, I have found that once I eat something sweet then I am yo-yo-ing all day long. If instead, I will eat a piece of cheese or meat, it stabilizes me. As the Bible teaches, "moderation."

I read this article about how this guy ate nothing but Twinkies and lost a TON of weight.

I won't go into detail about it - but the general gist of the article was that QUANTITY is the real kicker...you can eat fruit and veggies all day long til you feel like you're about to POP - and you won't lost much weight. however, he ate just to the point of satisfied...not FULL, but no longer hungry, so therefore he would eat little bits here and there to keep his tummy "happy". NOW, for long term health it's better to focus on the QUALITY of food as well. ALSO, snacking helps boost your metabolism.

so eat a small breakfast, then in about an hour and half later - eat a small snack. a little bit later eat another small snack. then have a small but filling lunch - something with substance. then later have a couple of small snacks then eat another small but filling dinner. Drink lots of water of course.

what this will do is shrink your stomach - then after a while - eating something small will actually make you feel Full! Then by eating smaller amounts of food - you're not putting a lot of food onto your body - so your body will actually start burning MORE of what is already on your body, and snacking like that boosts your metabolism so you'll burn fat even when you're not exercising.

Try to keep your calories down - that is important. but if you go over by a few that's okay - just try to do some exercise to counter act those. I'm also all for building and toning a little bit of muscle - muscle burns fats - so if you'll build up some muscle, then you'll burn even more!

so there are a lot of factors that go into losing weight. In my opinion the most important one is the quantity - get your stomach smaller by snacking. then change the food you're eating so that you're making more long term healthy choices such as high protein and fiber foods. Kashi cereals are very yummy!! also snack on fruits and vegetables. also drink water - in order to digest water you're body has to heat that water up to your body's temperature - so if you drink ice water - you're body has to burn calories to heat that water up. now of course you can keep up with all these calories you're burning and eating...but do your best to track the ones that are coming in, track the ones you are losing while exercising.

also calculate your BMR ( http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator ) << this is how many calories your body burns just to stay alive...so if you eat less than that amount - then that means your body will burn already existing fat to make up for the calories you didn't eat.

I know this is a lot of information - hopefully it's not overwhelming - if you have any questions - just message me! I'll answer to the best of my knowledge!!

Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate 70% junk food for 10 weeks, and was able to lose 27 lbs by counting calories.

Here's some excerpts from the article:

"His premise: That in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most -- not the nutritional value of the food."

"The premise held up: On his "convenience store diet," he shed 27 pounds in two months. "

"But you might expect other indicators of health would have suffered. Not so.

Haub's "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his "good" cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20 percent. He reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent."

"Haub's body fat dropped from 33.4 to 24.9 percent."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

Now that is in the extreme, and is not a recommended diet. But it does illustrate that if you are within your calorie goal, it is ok to have 'less-healthy' foods sometimes.

I read that too, it was really interesting!