Is Calorie Counting the real reason for maintaining weight loss?
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I'm back to tracking this time around. Years ago when I reached my goal I did not log for a long time and gained it all back. One important thing to keep in mind is that your calorie needs are less than someone of the same height, age, weight, that has never dieted before (learned that on 'The Weight of the Nation). I thought I could maintain without logging but I really want to maintain this time around so onward I log...
Why would my calories be less than someone who is the same height, age, and weight as myself? I
People do metabolize food differently. Much of the process is not understood. For two people who scrupulously tracked type of food intake, calories, and exercise, differences might emerge over time. What matters is that you do what you need to do to lose weight or maintain.0 -
I'm back to tracking this time around. Years ago when I reached my goal I did not log for a long time and gained it all back. One important thing to keep in mind is that your calorie needs are less than someone of the same height, age, weight, that has never dieted before (learned that on 'The Weight of the Nation). I thought I could maintain without logging but I really want to maintain this time around so onward I log...
Why would my calories be less than someone who is the same height, age, and weight as myself? I disagree with this statement because I've actually maintained for almost 4 years eating more due to my high activity level. If I were to eat less at this point I'd be losing weight which is something I don't need to do.
Maybe someone has a couple links. If not I'll see if I can dig them out tonight. It is scientifically validated with a statistically significant sample size. It's great for you that your experience is different from the norm.
ETA: The lower calorie requirement was observed for people who had lost significant weight (>50 lb, maybe?) vs. people who simply "dieted before."0 -
I've maintained for over 2.5 years without logging or tracking. In the process of losing weight I kept a diary which was beneficial in that it showed me what a balanced diet looked like and it taught me how to eat appropriately to my goals...I always looked at it as a teaching tool...once I learned what I needed to do, there was no need to keep logging. Basically like anything you learn...really, you shouldn't have to keep going back to the text book for every little thing once you've learned the material.0
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I'm back to tracking this time around. Years ago when I reached my goal I did not log for a long time and gained it all back. One important thing to keep in mind is that your calorie needs are less than someone of the same height, age, weight, that has never dieted before (learned that on 'The Weight of the Nation). I thought I could maintain without logging but I really want to maintain this time around so onward I log...
Why would my calories be less than someone who is the same height, age, and weight as myself? I disagree with this statement because I've actually maintained for almost 4 years eating more due to my high activity level. If I were to eat less at this point I'd be losing weight which is something I don't need to do.
Maybe someone has a couple links. If not I'll see if I can dig them out tonight. It is scientifically validated with a statistically significant sample size. It's great for you that your experience is different from the norm.
ETA: The lower calorie requirement was observed for people who had lost significant weight (>50 lb, maybe?) vs. people who simply "dieted before."
Oh thanks. I think this might explain the difference for me. I was thin up until about 8 years ago when a loved one became very sick. Due to frequent trips to doctors offices and hospitals we ate out a lot, and I didn't have time for my normal exercise that I was doing. Gained 26 pounds with 4 years. Long story short, after losing my loved one, I went back to WW as I had done after the birth of my 2 children. It only took about 3 months to lose the weight and then I lost more. I decided to come here to maintain as I like the support more. Maybe the fact that was normally thin before and didn't have much to lose is why I can eat more calories now and still maintain. Either way, I still eat out, but not as often, and I am more aware of the food choices that I make now, so maybe taking a break from counting will be a good trial run.
Thanks for all the replies everyone. It's nice to hear what others point of views are on this topic.
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I also eat what I log, instead of logging what I eat. I plan out a day ahead, including wine and chocolate. I need that mindful planning to maintain the healthy weight I've worked so hard to attain !!0
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riffraff2112 wrote: »I stopped counting for a year and stayed within my 6 lb window. I still count occasionally when I am chasing a fitness goal, but I learned some pretty good habits that I think I will be able to maintain for life.
This. I made a habit of checking my weight every two weeks and keeping a mind to how my clothes were fitting for several months when I wasn't tracking. I wouldn't be able to not calorie count AND not do those things -- I'd certainly regain. But overall, I also stayed in my weight range. (I wasn't yet at goal, just didn't track for a while.)0 -
reminds me of keeping up with my money, I am not rich so I have to keep up with it and cut back at times. Weight is the same way. Have to be cautious with both.0
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Well. I stopped logging for about 4 months, and in that time put on 20lbs. I didn't think I was consuming "that much" over my maintenance level - and it took 20lbs before my clothes started getting uncomfortable - I wasn't expecting to lose weight while I wasn't actively counting, but I really was surprised that I picked up 20 lbs before I started to really notice. I felt bloated here or there but thought it was from not drinking enough water.
To be fair, I really upped my wine intake more than my food intake during that time. Sometimes I had 4 glasses a night....way too many nights. LOL. But I was still riding my bike and walking, and I really thought I was "taking a break" from the "losing" and "maintaining" for a bit. Let's just say I have put a stop to that mindset....
And with that in mind - no, I am never going to stop calorie counting. I may not log everything I eat every day but you bet I'm going to tally in my head, and I'm not going to wait till my clothes feel "tight" again - no matter what I will weigh myself at the very least, 1x a month....probably 1x a week. I do NOT want to keep this up and down crap going on the rest of my life. I want to be at my goal weight before 2016 is out - and I want to stay there or within 10 lbs of it - for the rest of my life. I have wasted 15-16 years of my life being obese - I can't do it anymore.0 -
I'm back to tracking this time around. Years ago when I reached my goal I did not log for a long time and gained it all back. One important thing to keep in mind is that your calorie needs are less than someone of the same height, age, weight, that has never dieted before (learned that on 'The Weight of the Nation). I thought I could maintain without logging but I really want to maintain this time around so onward I log...
Why would my calories be less than someone who is the same height, age, and weight as myself? I disagree with this statement because I've actually maintained for almost 4 years eating more due to my high activity level. If I were to eat less at this point I'd be losing weight which is something I don't need to do.
They explained it as two people the same exact age, weight and sex. The difference was one of them had dieted in the past and one did not ever diet. They had two different calorie needs for each day. It's a good documentary if you ever get the chance to check it out. Even with being active you still have a particular base calorie need in order to maintain your current weight. You just eat back your exercise calories so that you don't lose but maintain.0 -
I'm back to tracking this time around. Years ago when I reached my goal I did not log for a long time and gained it all back. One important thing to keep in mind is that your calorie needs are less than someone of the same height, age, weight, that has never dieted before (learned that on 'The Weight of the Nation). I thought I could maintain without logging but I really want to maintain this time around so onward I log...
Why would my calories be less than someone who is the same height, age, and weight as myself? I
People do metabolize food differently. Much of the process is not understood. For two people who scrupulously tracked type of food intake, calories, and exercise, differences might emerge over time. What matters is that you do what you need to do to lose weight or maintain.
Well put!0 -
Maybe someone has a couple links. If not I'll see if I can dig them out tonight. It is scientifically validated with a statistically significant sample size. It's great for you that your experience is different from the norm.
ETA: The lower calorie requirement was observed for people who had lost significant weight (>50 lb, maybe?) vs. people who simply "dieted before."
The documentary is available to watch online for free: 'The Weight of the Nation' http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/
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I'm sure it's totally possible to maintain without counting and logging anymore. Though, that depends entirely on how you changed your eating habits I suppose.
For me, I'll be logging for the rest of my life, or at least until I don't care anymore. I don't weigh or are concerned with perfect accuracy, but just the act of putting down what I eat, even if it's just a best guesstimate, helps me resist habit snacking, which was my big downfall. It's not perfect, but it's more a way for me to account to myself and keep an eye on where I'm at.0 -
Hey thanks for the link. I'll check it out when I'm home tonight.
Maybe someone has a couple links. If not I'll see if I can dig them out tonight. It is scientifically validated with a statistically significant sample size. It's great for you that your experience is different from the norm.
ETA: The lower calorie requirement was observed for people who had lost significant weight (>50 lb, maybe?) vs. people who simply "dieted before."
The documentary is available to watch online for free: 'The Weight of the Nation' http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/
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Why would my calories be less than someone who is the same height, age, and weight as myself? I disagree with this statement because I've actually maintained for almost 4 years eating more due to my high activity level. If I were to eat less at this point I'd be losing weight which is something I don't need to do.
*need to remember to hit POST when I'm done typing*
Someone your same age, height and weight won't have the same activity level or body composition as you. There's probably other factors with genetics or certain conditions that can make things different. We're all built differently. For example, someone my height, weight and age might have a much higher energy output. They'll need to eat more calories than I do because they burn more. Or they might have better muscle composition, which means what they eat will need to be different than me to maintain it. You can't compare yourself to others in your height/weight/age bracket and expect all of you to have the same nutritional needs. All you can do is get an estimate and learn how to apply it to yourself.0 -
I went many months without logging and did ok. I've decided to go back to logging however, and will do it for the foreseeable future. But I'm not strict with it, but I like seeing how I'm doing and keeping things in check.0
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I've no doubt that some people can maintain without continuing to count calories. In fact, many people do. But, not everyone can or even desires to.
Honestly, however, your post has a few red flags. What specifically makes you think this time will be different? Are you going to implement specific strategies to keep you on track? What makes you think you won't experience the same fear of overeating this time?0 -
Why would my calories be less than someone who is the same height, age, and weight as myself? I disagree with this statement because I've actually maintained for almost 4 years eating more due to my high activity level. If I were to eat less at this point I'd be losing weight which is something I don't need to do.
*need to remember to hit POST when I'm done typing*
Someone your same age, height and weight won't have the same activity level or body composition as you. There's probably other factors with genetics or certain conditions that can make things different. We're all built differently. For example, someone my height, weight and age might have a much higher energy output. They'll need to eat more calories than I do because they burn more. Or they might have better muscle composition, which means what they eat will need to be different than me to maintain it. You can't compare yourself to others in your height/weight/age bracket and expect all of you to have the same nutritional needs. All you can do is get an estimate and learn how to apply it to yourself.
Thank you. This makes perfect sense. I do understand that everyone is different in their nutritional needs. However, I just didn't agree with the fact that I would have to eat less simply because I had to count calories in the past. It is reasonably possible that I might need more due to my activity level VS someone who didn't calorie count, but also isn't as active.0 -
jennifer_417 wrote: »I've no doubt that some people can maintain without continuing to count calories. In fact, many people do. But, not everyone can or even desires to.
Honestly, however, your post has a few red flags. What specifically makes you think this time will be different? Are you going to implement specific strategies to keep you on track? What makes you think you won't experience the same fear of overeating this time?
Not sure how this time will be different other than I plan on eating more and not worry about it. Also, from reading other posts in here, it seems like a good idea to have a Weight range instead of the one set number that I go by now. I think + or - 5 pounds sounds good at this point. Because of my Celiacs disease I don't eat a lot of high calorie foods like cakes and pies, so I've been eating more ice cream to help prevent weight loss. I guess if I did start losing and had to track again, it won't be that bad since many others here do it everyday and seem to not be bothered by it. I would just like to maintain on my own at this point, that's all.0 -
In a similar thread, someone once said that once they hit maintenance they began practicing "lazy logging." That's more or less what I do, unless I hit the ceiling of my range. Then I get stricter for a little while. I'd do the same thing if I hit the bottom of my range by accident, but I've been maintaining for a year now and that's never happened, and I kind of doubt it ever will.0
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rankinsect wrote: »Since logging in MFP almost never stops me from eating things I was going to anyway, and I'm always under, I am pretty sure I could maintain without logging.
I do the reverse - I don't log what I eat, I eat what I log. I use MFP as a way to plan my next day's meals out and then I just eat what I planned. So in that sense, I have no idea what I would otherwise be eating - MFP is my meal planner.
I also do this daily!
Not only has it saved so much time and decreased on the spot meal planning in which I'd normally over-eat; it's also taught me to stick to routine and pay closer attention to my macros.0 -
Regarding why there may be a difference in energy expenditure between someone who has dieted down vs someone of equal stats who hasn't -- it's something termed "Adaptive Thermogensis" and it's precisely the difference in energy output that isn't accounted for by changes in body mass.
Yes many people can learn how to maintain without logging. But at the same time I also believe that many people attempt it by not logging and then fail at it and assume that this means they can't do it, whereas a more accurate statement could be they just haven't learned how to do it yet.
In some ways it's a skill/learned behavior.0 -
I have lost 45 lbs and don't plan on packing it on again. Needless to say, I will probably track forever! LOL It works for me...0
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However, I just didn't agree with the fact that I would have to eat less simply because I had to count calories in the past.
It is possible.
The main reason for this is in how the body actually metabolizes food. Your mitochondria extract energy from protein, fat, and carbohydrate through the Krebs cycle and use this to create an electrochemical proton gradient (essentially, they pump hydrogen ions across a membrane). Then they extract energy from this gradient (hydrogen moves back the other way through special ion channels) to add a phosphate to ADP or creatinine to form ATP or CP.
However, this process isn't perfectly efficient. Mitochondia are "leaky" in that the H+ ions can move backwards across the membrane without going through the ion channels that are coupled to ATP synthesis. This dissipates energy as heat instead of storing it as fuel for the cell. Brown adipose tissue does this a lot, and has special uncoupling proteins that increase the "leakiness" of the mitochondria in order to raise your body temperature at the cost of less efficient metabolism (they are called uncoupling proteins because they uncouple the Krebs cycle from ATP synthesis).
During weight loss, some of this activity decreases, and mitochondria become more efficient at converting energy into ATP, with less heat produced. This means your body temperature drops a bit, your body tries to conserve heat via other methods such as changing your circulation to keep more of your blood near your body's core compared to near the skin, and you gain more usable energy out of each calorie you eat. These metabolic changes in mitochondrial efficiency can persist even after weight loss ends - this is what the phrase "adaptive thermogenesis" means.
According to one study, the difference can be about 250-300 calories per day.0 -
I plan/track my meals, mostly because I live alone and it helps me have a varied diet without wasting food, and I weigh certain foods, but I don't count calories anymore. I learnt from 18 months of MFPing how much I need of everything, so I know that if I stick to the plan, I'm always in the ballpark, even without counting. I weigh every day and see the weight creep up if I sneak in items, and that it goes down again when I adhere strictly.
Calorie balance is what keeps your weight stable, calorie counting is just a tool to ensure calorie balance. There are lots of other tools one can use, as others have pointed out, and I really do believe that being mindful and honest about one's intake (and outtake, if that's a word, lol) is the key to maintaining weight long term.
When you stumble in your crutches, it's time to throw them away
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I think that I will probably at least loosely log and track calories forever. The main reason being that I have hypothyroidism, and I'm always hypervigilant for signs and symptoms that my medication needs adjusting. Weight gain w/o a calorie surplus can be one of those signs. And the only way I know of to keep tabs on that with some degree of certainty is to log.0
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When I was young, I lost weight and kept it off- and then some- without tracking or ever giving my diet a thought. Now that I'm older, I suddenly found I needed to lose weight again, lost it, and am struggling to maintain even *with* tracking. So I don't think there is one answer for everyone. I don't know why it's different for me now, but I need to find a different approach than when I was young...or find my old approach!0
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Since logging in MFP almost never stops me from eating things I was going to anyway, and I'm always under, I am pretty sure I could maintain without logging. (I've been maintaining 4 years.) But it's a habit and it helps keep me mindful. And I still learn things are more or fewer calories than I thought.
Strikes me that December is the worst time not to log though. Too many oddball things to eat. January is a more stable month. Why not start then?
I have Celiacs disease so I can't eat most of the high calorie foods that tend to be the cause of holiday weight gain. I plan on continuing to weigh in one a week, so I can make adjustments early if need be. Congrats on maintaining for 4 years. I'll be at that myself in 2 months.
My husband and son don't have celiac (my sister-in-law does) but are extremely gluten sensitive and the whole family does gluten/dairy/egg free. It does cut down the calories. My son doesn't have a big appetite and is chronically ill from migraines (which hopefully the diet will enventually help). So he's had to really work to keep his blood sugar high enough to not trigger headaches.
Congrats on maintaining for such a long time! (I weigh every day but only so I don't worry about oddball fluctuations - it makes it easier to see what's really going on and not worry about that one bad day.)0 -
Or can everyone maintain lost weight without ever tracking food again? After reading some very good articles recently about why calorie counting isn't necessary, I have decided to give up calorie counting for the whole month of December and see if this is true or not. Thanks to Weightwatchers and MFP, I haven't gained any weight back that I lost for a few years now. I've tried to stop tracking in the past but always ended up losing weight. I believe this was due to actually not eating enough out of fear that I would end up gaining weight because I wasn't calorie counting. So in the end I went right back to calorie counting again. However, this time will hopefully be different and I will eat enough so I don't lose weight and never have to Track again.
For all those who are maintaining. Have you given up Tracking for good or just on a trial basis? Were you still able to maintain without tracking? Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Eileen
I think everyone has the capability to maintain or even lose without logging or counting calories, but they have to have a decent idea of the calorie counts of foods, understand nutrition reasonably well, etc. And really if a person just gets on a scale now and then they can adjust where needed.
I lost over half my current loss without logging anything in terms of food, or for that matter even getting on a scale other than at the doctors office. But staying at maintenance might be harder in the respect, since it needs to be more precise in a way. It's easy to eat at a deficit if you have discipline really.
I actually joined MFP to track my nutrition more than calories. I knew I could lose weight without it, but at times also suspected that nutrition deficiencies might happen when I was exercising a lot and eating light.0 -
Look at it this way...people who log or otherwise keep a food diary are very much a minority...there are millions upon millions of people who are able to manage their weight without logging in a food diary.0
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riffraff2112 wrote: »I stopped counting for a year and stayed within my 6 lb window. I still count occasionally when I am chasing a fitness goal, but I learned some pretty good habits that I think I will be able to maintain for life.
This is a good idea. Maybe if I set a weight window, I won't be so worried about gaining because of not Tracking.
Seems like a smart approach to me. 0
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