eat right and no need to count calories
keziak1
Posts: 204 Member
I've read in a number of books and articles, one today, that if you are eating right (or healthy or clean or however you call it) then you don't need to measure food or count calories. Since this is a calorie-counting site I assume you have not found this to be the case? Is it likely one will continue to carry excess fat even when eating healthy, if calories aren't controlled too?
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All foods are healthy when eaten in moderation.
Processed and unprocessed foods can both lead to weight gain when eaten in a calorie surplus.
A surplus from apples or a surplus from Doritos… doesn't matter. One will still gain weight.
Therefore, it is important to weigh all foods.0 -
Intuitive eating. Many people can, quite a few can not. So, like many things you will see here, it depends.0
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sorry all foods are not "healthy" no matter how they are eaten. Generalizing like that gets people into trouble.-4
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Look up Freelee the Banana Girl, she'll blow your mind! If not for all seriousness then for fun. She's crazy.-2
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Not counting is pretty much what got me here in the first place.
You could eat 'clean' or whatever you want, but if you're consuming more calories than you burn, you're still going to gain weight.0 -
I have a number of friends both here on MFP and in person who are Vegan even mainly raw Vegan who are overweight, one would be classified as Obese. Yes a person can get fat on the so called healthy foods just as much as they can with the so called unhealthy foods. It may be somewhat more difficult, but it is just as likely.0
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Avocado very healthy ...but quickly hundreds of calories..... just one.
Weight loss is all about calories in vs calories out ( in deficit)
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There are several problems with this. First what is "right", or "clean", or "healthy"? Are nuts healthy? They are calorie bombs. How about avocados, are they healthy? Again calorie bomb. Eggs? 70 calories each. What about milk? 90 calories a cup for skim, even more for 1, or 2 %. Bananas? Roughly 110 calories a piece. No matter what you eat, if you eat too much of it, you will not lose weight.I've read in a number of books and articles, one today, that if you are eating right (or healthy or clean or however you call it) then you don't need to measure food or count calories. Since this is a calorie-counting site I assume you have not found this to be the case? Is it likely one will continue to carry excess fat even when eating healthy, if calories aren't controlled too?
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There are several problems with this. First what is "right", or "clean", or "healthy"? Are nuts healthy? They are calorie bombs. How about avocados, are they healthy? Again calorie bomb. Eggs? 70 calories each. What about milk? 90 calories a cup for skim, even more for 1, or 2 %. Bananas? Roughly 110 calories a piece. No matter what you eat, if you eat too much of it, you will not lose weight.I've read in a number of books and articles, one today, that if you are eating right (or healthy or clean or however you call it) then you don't need to measure food or count calories. Since this is a calorie-counting site I assume you have not found this to be the case? Is it likely one will continue to carry excess fat even when eating healthy, if calories aren't controlled too?
Said it so much better than me, lol ( one day i will learn proper English...promise)
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Let us know how that works for you.-1
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This thread inspires me to eat a bowl of broccoli...
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There are many good reasons to choose to eat organic and/or "natural" foods. Weight loss isn't one of them. Organic butter and heavy cream and honey and eggs from backyard hens are all wonderful and delicious and quite caloric.
I think that small farms add to the quality of life locally, and gardening and raising livestock are noble pastimes. That doesn't mean that they will make you lose weight. "Clean" (I hate that term) eating has its own virtues. Weight loss isn't automatically one of them. The people who keep asserting so are actually doing a disservice to the idea, because it's so obviously Woo and bro science.0 -
I've always eaten pretty healthfully--plenty of veggies, whole grains, "good" fats, grassfed meats. I just ate too much of all that good food. And we all know people who eat greasy fast food in modest quantities and stay thin.0
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Echoing what others have said...but it depends on what your goals are. If you are interested in fat loss you will need to be in calorie deficit and that gets very tricky if you are simply estimating. It's surprising how quickly calories can add up even with small portions and it is absolutely contingent upon the actual food item you're going to eat. If you are just eating better and including more nutrient dense rather than calorie dense food then you may not need to weight and count your calories....it's about your defining your goals and setting your course. Good luck ~!~0
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I've read in a number of books and articles, one today, that if you are eating right (or healthy or clean or however you call it) then you don't need to measure food or count calories. Since this is a calorie-counting site I assume you have not found this to be the case? Is it likely one will continue to carry excess fat even when eating healthy, if calories aren't controlled too?
Yes.
It does not matter whether clean, grubby or positively filthy - if you eat at a surplus you will gain weight.
Many people find it easier to stay within their calorie goals however by eating a least a reasonable amount of whole-foods.
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It's actually not a terrible question.
Billions of people in the world maintain a healthy weight without ever counting calories. Most of them just intuitively don't eat too much.
However, if you're here because you're overweight (and by your profile, I see that you're trying to lose 87 pounds), then the simple truth is that the reason you got to be overweight -- the reason we all got to be overweight -- is that we consumed more calories than we burned. Maybe not a lot more. Maybe there were medical or other reasons for it. But that's what it comes down to: Calories In exceeding Calories Out. And that means that, for most of us, simply eating intuitively doesn't work.
There's a saying that "nobody ever got fat on broccoli". But you might be surprised at how easy it is to overeat on so-called "clean" foods if you're not mindful. And if you're already overweight and trying to lose weight, then eating too many calories -- whether those calories come from cookies or broccoli -- will prevent you from being successful at weight loss.
Is counting calories the only effective way to lose weight? No, of course not. There are lots of methods that people can and have used successfully. But, whether you count them or not, to lose weight, Calories In have got to be less than Calories Out. That's just how it works. So counting them is a useful tool for many of us to effectively take off the extra pounds -- and to keep them off once they're gone.
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When I began, I was advised to eat healthy, exercise and not worry about anything else. I had special restrictions in addition to that, but could eat all the fruits and veggies my little heart desired.
Without logging, counting, weighing myself or doing any of the things that are so common for weight loss, I lost my first forty pounds. I was shocked when I found out how much I'd lost. Since my clothes got bigger and too big, I knew I'd lost, but was FLOORED by forty pounds. I literally got off and back on the scale and considered that I might've been weighed wrong in the first place, but it would've required like a dozen people doing it wrong in six or eight different places, so there was no error.
If you eat only the healthiest of foods - all healthy, all the time - it's really hard to overeat. You'll see people here asking about how to get to 1200 eating only the healthiest of food. While it's theoretically possible, it would be very difficult to gain weight eating All Healthy, All The Time.0 -
I'm sure you could lose weight without weighing/counting/logging if you ate the same relatively low calorie dense foods every day in the same small bowl. <snooze>0
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I completely disagree with this. There are too many high calorie choices that could be considered "healthy". If I ate grass fed steak, eggs, almonds/almond butter, milk, avocados, coconut oil, bananas, natural peanut butter, oats, granola, etc I could easily eat above my maintenance, and my maintenance is over 3000 calories. Someone with a smaller maintenance could do it even easier.When I began, I was advised to eat healthy, exercise and not worry about anything else. I had special restrictions in addition to that, but could eat all the fruits and veggies my little heart desired.
Without logging, counting, weighing myself or doing any of the things that are so common for weight loss, I lost my first forty pounds. I was shocked when I found out how much I'd lost. Since my clothes got bigger and too big, I knew I'd lost, but was FLOORED by forty pounds. I literally got off and back on the scale and considered that I might've been weighed wrong in the first place, but it would've required like a dozen people doing it wrong in six or eight different places, so there was no error.
If you eat only the healthiest of foods - all healthy, all the time - it's really hard to overeat. You'll see people here asking about how to get to 1200 eating only the healthiest of food. While it's theoretically possible, it would be very difficult to gain weight eating All Healthy, All The Time.
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When I began, I was advised to eat healthy, exercise and not worry about anything else. I had special restrictions in addition to that, but could eat all the fruits and veggies my little heart desired.
Without logging, counting, weighing myself or doing any of the things that are so common for weight loss, I lost my first forty pounds. I was shocked when I found out how much I'd lost. Since my clothes got bigger and too big, I knew I'd lost, but was FLOORED by forty pounds. I literally got off and back on the scale and considered that I might've been weighed wrong in the first place, but it would've required like a dozen people doing it wrong in six or eight different places, so there was no error.
If you eat only the healthiest of foods - all healthy, all the time - it's really hard to overeat. You'll see people here asking about how to get to 1200 eating only the healthiest of food. While it's theoretically possible, it would be very difficult to gain weight eating All Healthy, All The Time.
You bring this on yourself. You know that, right?0 -
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Thanks for all the interesting replies. I purposefully did not venture an opinion in my original post. I wanted to see what others had to say. For myself, I put on tons of weight eating neurotically too much and too crappy a diet. I'm working hard on turning this around. I believe that shifting most of my diet to healthier foods will help me lose weight, but I still need to be conscious of how much I am actually eating.
For example I have put a bowl of walnuts on my kitchen table so I will remind myself to have a few a day for the Omega-3s. But I know I won't be able to get a bowlful every day! Same with rice. I am switching from white to brown, but I am also eating small portions, if any.0 -
I completely disagree with this. There are too many high calorie choices that could be considered "healthy". If I ate grass fed steak, eggs, almonds/almond butter, milk, avocados, coconut oil, bananas, natural peanut butter, oats, granola, etc I could easily eat above my maintenance, and my maintenance is over 3000 calories. Someone with a smaller maintenance could do it even easier.When I began, I was advised to eat healthy, exercise and not worry about anything else. I had special restrictions in addition to that, but could eat all the fruits and veggies my little heart desired.
Without logging, counting, weighing myself or doing any of the things that are so common for weight loss, I lost my first forty pounds. I was shocked when I found out how much I'd lost. Since my clothes got bigger and too big, I knew I'd lost, but was FLOORED by forty pounds. I literally got off and back on the scale and considered that I might've been weighed wrong in the first place, but it would've required like a dozen people doing it wrong in six or eight different places, so there was no error.
If you eat only the healthiest of foods - all healthy, all the time - it's really hard to overeat. You'll see people here asking about how to get to 1200 eating only the healthiest of food. While it's theoretically possible, it would be very difficult to gain weight eating All Healthy, All The Time.
I guess, but really, who's going to have a steak-egg-avocado-peanut butter sandwich?
Most people tend not to eat as much when all they eat is home-cooked meals.
Fact is, when people mostly ate nothing but home-cooked meals, fewer people were overweight. Fact is, wherever the fast food industry takes hold, obesity rates rise in previously normal-weight populations.0 -
I actually DID find this to be the case.... but only when I also paired that with 6 hours a week of cardio and/or making sure I limited my calorie-dense food intake. I got from 195 to 140ishlbs in 6 months that way.
But I regained. That method of eating and 6hrs cardio a week were not sustainable. I now have more specific body composition goals though, and I am now conceding to the fact that I probably won't get to my goals until at least another 6 months or longer even though I only want to lose about 15-20lbs.0 -
I don't have a steak, egg, avocado, and peanut butter sandwich, no. But is it that crazy to have eggs for breakfast, a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, avocados and almonds for snacks, and steak + sweet potato for dinner? Depending on portions that could be too many calories for me to lose weight. All of those foods are typically considered "healthy". Add in some vegetables cooked in extra virgin olive oil, and banana, and apple and the calories have really started to add up. No one is saying that eating minimally processed foods isn't a good idea or that it doesn't usually lead to eating fewer calories. The statement was made "If you eat only the healthiest of foods - all healthy, all the time - it's really hard to overeat." The fact of the matter is, that it isn't always really hard to do. I could do it easily.
I completely disagree with this. There are too many high calorie choices that could be considered "healthy". If I ate grass fed steak, eggs, almonds/almond butter, milk, avocados, coconut oil, bananas, natural peanut butter, oats, granola, etc I could easily eat above my maintenance, and my maintenance is over 3000 calories. Someone with a smaller maintenance could do it even easier.When I began, I was advised to eat healthy, exercise and not worry about anything else. I had special restrictions in addition to that, but could eat all the fruits and veggies my little heart desired.
Without logging, counting, weighing myself or doing any of the things that are so common for weight loss, I lost my first forty pounds. I was shocked when I found out how much I'd lost. Since my clothes got bigger and too big, I knew I'd lost, but was FLOORED by forty pounds. I literally got off and back on the scale and considered that I might've been weighed wrong in the first place, but it would've required like a dozen people doing it wrong in six or eight different places, so there was no error.
If you eat only the healthiest of foods - all healthy, all the time - it's really hard to overeat. You'll see people here asking about how to get to 1200 eating only the healthiest of food. While it's theoretically possible, it would be very difficult to gain weight eating All Healthy, All The Time.
I guess, but really, who's going to have a steak-egg-avocado-peanut butter sandwich?
Most people tend not to eat as much when all they eat is home-cooked meals.
Fact is, when people mostly ate nothing but home-cooked meals, fewer people were overweight. Fact is, wherever the fast food industry takes hold, obesity rates rise in previously normal-weight populations.
As to eating at home vs eating fast food, that is a completely different topic and not entirely relevant to this discussion. The discussion is about counting calories or just "eating healthy". Home cooked meals can contain more calories then fast food meals. It depends what you cook, vs what you'd order and in what portion.0 -
I don't have a steak, egg, avocado, and peanut butter sandwich, no. But is it that crazy to have eggs for breakfast, a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, avocados and almonds for snacks, and steak + sweet potato for dinner? Depending on portions that could be too many calories for me to lose weight. All of those foods are typically considered "healthy". Add in some vegetables cooked in extra virgin olive oil, and banana, and apple and the calories have really started to add up. No one is saying that eating minimally processed foods isn't a good idea or that it doesn't usually lead to eating fewer calories. The statement was made "If you eat only the healthiest of foods - all healthy, all the time - it's really hard to overeat." The fact of the matter is, that it isn't always really hard to do. I could do it easily.
I completely disagree with this. There are too many high calorie choices that could be considered "healthy". If I ate grass fed steak, eggs, almonds/almond butter, milk, avocados, coconut oil, bananas, natural peanut butter, oats, granola, etc I could easily eat above my maintenance, and my maintenance is over 3000 calories. Someone with a smaller maintenance could do it even easier.When I began, I was advised to eat healthy, exercise and not worry about anything else. I had special restrictions in addition to that, but could eat all the fruits and veggies my little heart desired.
Without logging, counting, weighing myself or doing any of the things that are so common for weight loss, I lost my first forty pounds. I was shocked when I found out how much I'd lost. Since my clothes got bigger and too big, I knew I'd lost, but was FLOORED by forty pounds. I literally got off and back on the scale and considered that I might've been weighed wrong in the first place, but it would've required like a dozen people doing it wrong in six or eight different places, so there was no error.
If you eat only the healthiest of foods - all healthy, all the time - it's really hard to overeat. You'll see people here asking about how to get to 1200 eating only the healthiest of food. While it's theoretically possible, it would be very difficult to gain weight eating All Healthy, All The Time.
I guess, but really, who's going to have a steak-egg-avocado-peanut butter sandwich?
Most people tend not to eat as much when all they eat is home-cooked meals.
Fact is, when people mostly ate nothing but home-cooked meals, fewer people were overweight. Fact is, wherever the fast food industry takes hold, obesity rates rise in previously normal-weight populations.
As to eating at home vs eating fast food, that is a completely different topic and not entirely relevant to this discussion. The discussion is about counting calories or just "eating healthy". Home cooked meals can contain more calories then fast food meals. It depends what you cook, vs what you'd order and in what portion.
True, true, all true. But man, look at France. Their cuisine is a calorie monster, super high fat. Butter, cheese, steak, wine. It IS hard to eat a lot of it. They're still reportedly "thinnest in Europe", but even they're gaining weight, thanks to (some think) more intake of fast food and less consumption of traditional (home-cooked) foods.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9612225/Number-of-obese-people-in-France-doubles-to-seven-million.html
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Not counting leads me to "one more spoonful won't hurt" (and then the spoonful becomes ten spoonfuls). When I do count, I realize that most of the times, when it doesn't fit my calorie allowance anymore, I'm usually already satisfied and I would just be eating for the sake of it0
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I think when you are eating healthy foods, and lots of high fiber veg, it is tougher and less appealing to overeat than with a bag of calorie dense potato chips or ice cream or pasta. That being said, log your 'clean eating'(which can be interpreted so many diff ways) and see where it puts you calorically. Information is good, even if you don't want to log the rest of your life, get a baseline and that helps you assess meals on your own at least a little more accurately.0
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