Errors With the Calories In of CICP

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robingmurphy
robingmurphy Posts: 349 Member
edited March 2016 in Health and Weight Loss
Interesting article about many ways that "calories in" can be wrong. It suggests that means counting calories may not be worth it.
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/problem-with-calorie-counting-calories-in

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  • Cyndiaquino
    Cyndiaquino Posts: 72 Member
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    Counting calories works for me, I'm down 53 lbs. I felt like they said certain things to scare you into buying what they're selling. At the bottom it has a link to be on their presale.
  • CooCooPuff
    CooCooPuff Posts: 4,374 Member
    edited March 2016
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    #5- This is why we should keep solids away from measuring cups. :p

    The weight on my food scale is an estimate
    My weight on my bathroom scale is an estimate
    The calories in everything I eat are just estimates
    The calories Fitbit gives me are estimates

    I just keep track of my overall progress and make adjustments as needed.
  • Cyndiaquino
    Cyndiaquino Posts: 72 Member
    edited March 2016
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    robingmurphy wrote: »
    Interesting article about many ways that "calories in" can be wrong. It suggests that means counting calories may not be worth it.
    http://www.precisionnutrition.com/problem-with-calorie-counting-calories-in

    Just curious, what do you do to lose weight?
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
    edited March 2016
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    While it's true that calories are imprecise, I disagree that it makes the measure useless. It doesn't have to be perfect to be good enough to help people manage weight. I think the many, many success stories with calorie counting demonstrate it's an effective tool.

    For that matter, not only are CI unknown, CO are unknown, too. Sure, we can estimate based on your height, weight, activity level, etc. - but that's an inaccurate estimate, too, that may work on the population level but not the level of the individual.

    That's why we track progress and adjust as necessary. The bathroom scale gives closed-loop feedback control, which is more than sufficient to correct for the errors in both CI and CO.
  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
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    I agree that it's all estimates... but the solution they are offering seems to be to use your palm or fist or "a handful" as a guide for how much to eat. Which is also going to be an estimate, just a different estimate.

    I don't agree with their conclusion that the errors are so huge that it's just "not worth it" or "hopeless" to count calories.
    I think calorie counting - or even their guidelines using your palm or hand - are a great way to get a feel for a reasonable amount of food to eat. And each of us is then able to judge our results and eat more or less if we need to.
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
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    Funny how I used calorie counting to lose 150lb. I hope these "scientist" get proven wrong soon, I don't want all the weight I lost through the placebo effect to pop back up once I stop believing.

    :tongue:

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