GrannyMayOz wrote: »

My weight stayed stable, but I had seen all of the recipes using almond flour and xylitol to make cakes and desserts, and over used those too. I think that's why, on LCHF, I have avoided *anything sweet*. I'm afraid of my own addictive and over-consuming nature, so I suppose that has a bearing in all of this too. Well, for me it does. Not stating anyone else's journey.

your calories will take care of themselves.

• Letter on Corpulence (1869) -- William Banting

  I am thoroughly convinced, that it is QUALITY alone which requires notice, and not quantity. This has been emphatically denied by some writers in the public papers, but I can confidently assert, upon the indisputable evidence of many of my correspondents, as well as my own, that they are mistaken.
  
  I apprehend that people of larger frame and build may require a proportionately larger quantity of the prescribed diet, but they must be guided by their own judgment in the application of the principles laid down.

  http://www.lowcarb.ca/corpulence/corpulence_full.html
  
• Eat Fat And Grow Slim (1958) -- Richard MacKarness, M.B., B.S

  The beauty of this method of slimming is that once you have got the hang of the proportions of fat, protein and carbohydrate in the foods you choose to eat, you can afford to ignore calories altogether.
  [. . .]
  The much publicised diets with emphasis solely on calories are fallacious. It is excess carbohydrates and not calories only that make a fat man fat. The tiresome business of totting up daily calories, on which most modern reducing diets are based, is a waste of time for an obese person. Because, as Professor Kekwick and Dr. Pawan showed, a fat man may maintain his weight on a low-calorie diet, if it is taken mainly as carbohydrate, but he will lose weight on a much higher calorie diet provided he eats it mainly in the form of fat and protein.

  http://www.ourcivilisation.com/fat/chap2.htm
  
• Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution: The High Calorie Way to Stay Thin Forever (1972) Robert Atkins

  The Rules of Original Atkins
  
  The Diet Revolution Rules (Level One)
  1. Don’t count calories

  http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=430644
  
• Jeff Volek (author of Art and Science of Low Carb Living/Performance)

  I’ve effortlessly maintained my weight over 20 years without counting, I never count calories.

  http://www.truehealthunlimited.com/blog/q-a-with-jeff-volek-phd-rd-the-nations-leading-low-carb-expert-scientific-researcher
  
• Peter Attia, M.D. The Eating Academy

  “Should I be counting calories?” In a word, no.

  http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/do-calories-matter
  
• The Calorie Myth -- Johnathan Bailer
  http://youtu.be/e5ewexMZ1-o
  You'll note, he stresses that calories do count. He even says you could gain weight on a high-fat, no carb diet (drinking 10k calories of liquid butter a day). Although, no one would ever do that. And, really that's the whole point. You're not going to want to eat more than your body is able to use. Low Carb is not a denial of the existence of calories. They're there and you'll need to burn off the excess ones you have stored to lose fat.
  
  LowCarbHeart Summed the points up well.
  • If you focus on the quality of what you eat, the quantity will take care of itself
  • It is truly impossible to accurately track calories in and even harder to track calories out
  • Changing the quality of what you eat will cause you to burn more calories than any exercise ever will
  • Sugar is more addictive than cocaine
  • Calorie counting only works for 4.6% of the population
  • Exercise is also about quality not quantity
  • Eating fat doesn't make you fat, it makes you full
  • You burn more calories in the process of burning protein vs carbohydrates
  • Become Fat Adapted vs Sugar Adapted
  • Sometimes the pursuit of health can become unhealthy. If you just stick to eating non-starchy vegetables, nutrient dense protein, whole fat, and low fructose fruits, in that order, you will be fine.

Calories matter, but you don't [shouldn't] need to count or restrict calories. Hydration also matters, but you don't need to count or restrict water intake. Your body, when operating correctly, will take care of caloric balance without conscious intervention on your own part. Are there possible complicating factors which may prevent your body from operating correctly? Sure. You already found one of them. In the presence of carbs, many people's hormones and metabolic signals get messed up and your body fails to operate correctly. Some medications, medical conditions, and other factors could also hinder proper functioning.

If you eat more calories than your body needs, your body will deal with those calories in some way. They will be stored as fat or burned off (there are many ways they can be used up). You don't really get to choose which one happens. You can decide to exercise more, but if you don't it won't prevent your body from burning them in other ways.

Frankly, I ignore all calorie calculations and advice. I've tracked them all, and found the resultant data to be so full of error as to be useless. Years ago, when I lost weight by restricting, I weighed more and was younger. I was also working out. By all accounts, I should have had a higher TDEE (daily calorie burn). But, if I ate 1,700-1,800 calories a day, I would gain weight. It drove me crazy. These days, I am lighter and older than I was. I rarely work out. I have the same job as before. By all accounts, I should have a lower TDEE. All the calculations say my current TDEE should be about 350 calories a day fewer than before. Instead, I am eating ~2,400-2,500 calories a day and still losing weight.

That's right. I have a lower [estimated] TDEE... I am eating ~700 calories more... by all accounts, if the numbers made sense, I should be gaining more than two pounds a week now or I should have been losing more than two pounds a week then.

Truth is, before I had deprived myself to the point where my body metabolically adapted to the amount I had been eating and it had adapted to the exercise level I was doing. Now, it's almost the opposite.

Anyway, long story short... calories matter, but a lot of things you don't need to control matter. We could say that weight loss was simply a matter of carbon balance. If you lose more carbon each day than you take in, you will lose weight (this is true, btw... the fat you burn becomes carbon-dioxide and water). Good luck trying to count the carbon molecules you consume through food and compare them to the amount you lose through the many ways it leaves your body. Calories are the same basic thing. You may have one easy way they come in, but there are many possible things that can happen to them after that and not all of those are under your conscious control.

I found a large component of low carb was retraining myself to eat the correct amount. I actually had minimum calorie goals, that I would hit, and no maximum calorie goals. Before I hit maintenance, I would eat at least 1,900 calories a day (on average). Below that was only acceptable if the day before had been well over and I truly wasn't hungry. Usually, I would hit a little more than that.

Will you see some weight fluctuations right at the start? I did. You'll have to give your body time to settle and trust that it will.

For me, calories matter much less than carbs. When I add nuts, tons of veggies (particularly non-green ones), fruit, most dairy, sugar-alcohols, artificial sweeteners, etc. I find my calories rise. I can avoid that by tracking every item I eat, which is just not how I choose to live. The other option, for me, is to just avoid them on a general basis. It may be similar for you, except that you want to include a certain amount of calories that aren't filling to get you up to the range you need to eat to stop losing weight.

1. "Good Calories Bad Calories" By Taubes
2. "Why We Get Fat" By Taubes
3. "The Calorie Myth" By Bailor