Check out this "expert" advise! "Counting calories is bad!"

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menotyou56
menotyou56 Posts: 178 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
7 eating habits you should drop now
By Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD
Published December 18, 2014

Counting calories
Aside from the fact that the quality and timing of the calories you consume is critical for weight loss success, the practice of counting calories can backfire. One study found that even without limitations, calorie counting made women more stressed. Nobody wants that. Plus, an increase in stress can cause a spike in cortisol, a hormone known to rev up appetite, increase cravings for fatty and sugary foods, and up belly fat storage. Also, the calorie info available on packaged foods or on restaurant menus isn’t a perfect system. I’m not saying that calorie info is meaningless, but I do think there are more effective and less cumbersome ways to shed pounds.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/12/18/7-eating-habits-should-drop-now/?utm_source=zergnet.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zergnet_384234

4 Downsides of Weight Loss Nobody Ever Tells You About
Posted: 02/25/2015 11:23 am EST

It's surprisingly easy to get obsessive. I started losing weight just by eating more intuitively and trying to forge a better connection with my body; I would listen carefully to my hunger and fullness signals and eat accordingly. Slowly, the pounds started coming off, and I felt healthy and happy about the way my body was changing. A few months later, I hit a plateau and started counting calories to break through it. That's when I stopped feeling healthy and happy and started feeling anxious, controlling, and obsessive instead. I spent way too much time frantically crunching numbers and feeling guilty and panicked when I'd gone over my daily allotment or eaten the "wrong" kind of food. I'm a pretty laid back person who had never really dieted before, so this obsessive streak came as a total surprise to me.

After talking to other friends who had lost weight, every single one of them said they'd experienced similar phases of obsession that had been hard to kick, even years later. If you're going to count calories, I highly recommend using it as a loose guideline to follow rather than a strict rule, and if you find yourself fixating on numbers, take a break and just listen to your body instead. Losing weight is never worth losing your sanity.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ravishly/4-downsides-of-weight-loss-nobody-ever-tells-you_b_6733512.html
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Replies

  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
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    Nope. Not fair to paint us all with such broad strokes. I find calorie counting a positive way to enhance my health. I hear a lot of "strict" and "right/wrong" food language in that article. That can be a huge issue, i.e. demonizing foods and unnecessary rigidity--that's not the fault of calorie tracking.

    Calorie tracking is a TOOL; how one uses it can make us successful and empowered or stressed, obsessed, and set-up to fail. It's harsh but true--it's user error.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    calorie counting made women more stressed.
    Lemme guess, they were eating <1200 calories? Eating lettuce and broccoli all day? Gotta love that they don't even mention which study - just "a study." Try eating 10-20% below your maintenance needs only, sure doesnt' cause all that much stress. Nor does eating things you love, just less of it.

    I lost weight by "eating clean" and not tracking cals. Also had to work out 7+hrs a week. That's more cumbersome than just tracking my intake, yo. This way I don't have to cut out calorie-dense foods in order to eat intuitively, which is the only way eating intuitively has worked for me. And I'd rather track eating food I love than not track avoiding food I love.

  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    edited February 2015
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    FauxNews...why am I not surprised.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    Fox news. yeahhhh. right. Calorie counting is so much easier now that we have an app for that. I had to check what MPH stands for. I believe it is "Master in Public Health". RD is for Registered Dietitian.

    My Registered Dietitian pointed me here. As I was scheduled for radical surgery, the only meaningful way she and I could have a conversation about what I was eating was to use a calorie diary. After surgery it became critical as I had to make sure I was eating enough daily to prevent complications.
  • myfatass78
    myfatass78 Posts: 411 Member
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    Being overweight or obese is much WORSE !!!
  • lisawinning4losing
    lisawinning4losing Posts: 726 Member
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    Calorie counting is the only thing that has ever worked for me, and I've tried just about everything else. So I personally don't care what this says. The Fox News article says some things that don't even make sense.

    "quality and timing of the calories you consume is critical for weight loss"

    I don't know what this means by "quality", and I also don't know why timing would matter. It doesn't explain, and it doesn't offer any scientific evidence to back up this claim.

    And saying that calorie counting might cause you to gain weight because of stress? Lol. Now that's reaching.

    In terms of the Huff Post article, of course I agree that it's not good to obsess over it, but it doesn't seem to me like most calorie counters are being obsessive. I don't obsess, and I don't freak out if I go over my goal sometimes. It doesn't have to be that serious. Also, if your weight loss plan is based on calorie counting, then there really is no "wrong" food. If you really want something, you can make it fit into your calorie budget. It's called moderation. If she chose to ban certain foods, then that was her decision.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    Fox News and Huffington Post? Yeah, no, not buying it. As others have said, Calorie Counting is a tool. It doesn't have to be any more stressful than learning how to apply any new skill, whether that be a new piece of software for work, cooking a complex recipe, or building a woodworking project. At first there may be some discomfort and anxiety but as time goes on, familiarity with the process will go up, the results will improve, and ultimately stress will decrease.

  • KHaverstick
    KHaverstick Posts: 308 Member
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    Calorie tracking isn't stressful for me. Of course, I don't obsess about any aspect of it. And I'm fairly close to maintenance now, so I'm even more relaxed than I had been at one time. But it has never been a source of stress for me. I wonder what her ideas are for "more effective and less cumbersome ways to shed pounds."
  • lisawinning4losing
    lisawinning4losing Posts: 726 Member
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    Wow, a Registered Dietician wrote the Faux News article? smh
  • sherbear702
    sherbear702 Posts: 649 Member
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    Hornsby wrote: »
    FauxNews...why am I not surprised.

    Ha! Yep. My thoughts exactly.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    menotyou56 wrote: »
    Aside from the fact that the quality and timing of the calories you consume is critical for weight loss success

    .......

    funny-gif-man-jump-out-the-window.gif

  • jenncornelsen
    jenncornelsen Posts: 969 Member
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    i totally agree with kruggeri's post. ive counted calories before to lose weight and its the only time the weight loss stuck or lasted more than a month. i've recently gotten back into it though to lose the last 20 and the first couple weeks there is some anxiety as i realize how many calories were in certain things i was eating, and just how many i could eat in one sitting. its a wake up call. and ya that can be unpleasant, but also needed
  • gardensneeze
    gardensneeze Posts: 44 Member
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    jgnatca wrote: »
    Fox news. yeahhhh. right. Calorie counting is so much easier now that we have an app for that. I had to check what MPH stands for. I believe it is "Master in Public Health". RD is for Registered Dietitian.

    An MPH is a very highly regarded public health academic. It might not count for much in your world, but this person would have undertaken at least six years of academic study and research in the field of public health. A dietitian only understands diet and even then, they don't seem to have the answers!
  • sw33tp3a11
    sw33tp3a11 Posts: 4,646 Member
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    I find calorie counting useful. I'm not sure if is something I want to do forever but for now it's a tool I am finding to be effective. Everyone is going to have an opinion on what works and what doesn't. I go with what works for ME!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    It can be bad for a lot of people...I see the bad everyday here on MFP with a lot of people.
  • pjcfrancis
    pjcfrancis Posts: 121 Member
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    Yes, calorie counting can become an obsession and stressful for some people. But I have a speedometer on my car to tell me when I'm going too fast. It's just a measurement system to help me get to where I want to get to safely. What I've noticed is that I mostly eat quite well. By counting calories, I'm becoming more aware of which foods pack the most calories in me, and making choices more intelligently. I'm trying to use my calorie counting as a basis of developing better habits, not as a new source of stress.
  • scorpiophoenix
    scorpiophoenix Posts: 222 Member
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    I have seen some people get really obsessive (shaving food down to the last gram for accuracy), but by and large I believe that's a small minority. I find calorie counting very liberating! It gives me something tangible to use in conjunction with "eat what you want, just less of it".
  • Ellaskat
    Ellaskat Posts: 386 Member
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    The source is Fox News. Need I say more?
  • natacha305
    natacha305 Posts: 117 Member
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    ive always believed that counting calories is not THE ONLY way to loose. look up Jonathan Bailor's Book " The Calorie Myth"

    basically our bodies do not work like simple math (calories in, calories out) we cant put a number of how much food we should eat. All of us are different and burn calories differently. this one system of eating 1200 per day cant work for everyone.

    I Urge you all just to watch his short video, i eat all the food i love and im not limited to "eating clean" I wasnt put on this earth to never eat things that actually taste good, i add butter and FLAVOR to my food, i just choose my foods wisely.

    I definitely believe that we should eat more to loose more, not eat less and exercise more? that doesnt make sense. If we are exercising more we must fuel our bodies more.

    http://sanesolution.com/

    He makes a good point but I actually follow Mark Sission from www.Marksdailyapple.com he encourages eating a high fat diet which is what I do and it works... and im not starving. feel free to add me.

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