All calories may not be equal

earthakin66 wrote: »

I don't mind hearing criticism, I just wonder why everyone feels the need to offer that. Thanks for the tip, I'll look over in groups.

Because so very many of us were just like you when it comes to trying to lose weight. Looking for that magical answer that's out there, reading a book and saying "Aha! So that's what is wrong with me, that's why I can't lose weight. This is what I need to do! I need to eat low carb or low fat, I need to eat healthy, I need to cut out refined sugars, or processed foods. I need some raspberry keytones, or I'll do the military diet. The problem is I have to calm down my fat cells, I need to jump start my metabolism.
I tried it all for twenty years. So did a lot of people on here. I tried Atkins, South Beach, Phen Phen, over the counter pills, I read books and magazine articles, some written by scientists and Dr's.
Please listen to the people on here, Calories in/ Calories out. That's what causes weight loss.

I haven't read Ludwig's book and I don't follow any specific program but eating a low carb, high fat diet was the turning point for me. Simply counting calories and eating the healthywholegrain-leanmeat-fruitandvegetable-everything-in-moderation-diet was a struggle for me every single day. After six months I was hanging on by sheer willpower alone and there would have been no way I could have sustained my weight loss -- it was getting harder as time went on, not easier. I was hungry and food obsessed.

Four years later and I still to this day describe the change to a low carb diet as miraculous - macro distribution (and food quality if your diet is poor) can have a tremendous impact. If you've been struggling please don't let anyone discourage you from trying something new.

All calories are equal, all foods are not. What foods keep a person sated differs from person to person. I would love to see Ludwig explain how I need starches for satiety and how I need over 1000 calories of kebab (high fat low carb) to feel full and then I'm hungry an hour later, but a baked potato for lunch (high carb low fat) often causes me to skip dinner. Or how I got fat as a result of overeating nuts and olive oil (high fat), and lowering my fat to a more normal level helped me lose a lot of weight without being "always hungry" or going into "starvation mode", or how my attempt at a low carb diet made it extremely hard for me to regulate my appetite and calories and made me feel deprived. I guess my cells are special and tend to "relax" and release the fat when I eat the foods I like and "tense up" holding on to the fat when I force unnecessary food restrictions.

Some people DO find eating low carb/high carb/low fat/clean/paleo/vegan/whole30/[insert any other style of eating] makes dieting easier for them. The staggering number of people advocating their often polar opposite ways of eating as the only solution to hunger only proves what's obvious: different people respond differently to different approaches and no amount of sciency sounding extrapolations apply equally to everyone.

xjessicaxrx wrote: »

Sounds like Slimming world to me, and people lose massive amounts of weight on that not weighing or counting most of the foods they eat?

Not according to the people who start Slimming World threads here...

gonetothedogs19 wrote: »

Just a thought on my previous post.

If there are newbies who want to start counting calories, it should be strongly suggested to them, at least for the first month or so, that they only purchase foods where there can be no possible way of screwing up the calorie count.

A can of tuna fish, two eggs, pre-packaged frozen burgers on a bun, a can of soup, an ice cream bar (as opposed to scooping ice cream from a container), a pre-packaged burrito, etc. Just about anything where you can "leave your brain at home" when counting.

I have never read ANYBODY suggest this incredible simplification of the process.

This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how to count calories though, and frankly throws doubt onto the many points you try to make against CICO, since you've revealed that you don't really understand it.

Do you truly think that every single egg is the exactly same weight, down to the grams? Have you looked into the labeling laws that allow mislabeling on caloric content within a certain range? Have you ever weighed a prepackaged item to see how different the weight actually is from what's mentioned on the package? You seem to think cereal should be measured in cups - do you honestly think that the same amount of cereal settles into a cup measure the exact same way every time, thus creating an exact caloric measurement?

The most basic, fundamental part of accurate calorie counting is "weigh all solids, measure all liquids". The reason people don't start with "eat prepackaged things" is because that's a fundamentally incorrect understanding of how this all works.

gonetothedogs19 wrote: »

bethannien wrote: »

gonetothedogs19 wrote: »

hjlourenshj wrote: »

gonetothedogs19 wrote: »

Bottom line - if you are counting calories, weighing, measuring and logging religiously, and cannot lose weight (a common complaint on this site), try this approach. Why not? And why would you continue doing something that is not working?

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Its just impossible to not lose weight when you are in a deficit. So the common complaint on this site is 100% the cause of mistakes in counting. Its that simple. Don't spin it towards something else

How hard is it to count calories? One ounce of cereal with skim milk (the amount is stated on the cereal box) for breakfast. Two cans of tuna fish and whatever the portion of mayonnaise is on the label for lunch. 100-calorie pre-packaged snack. A couple of pre-made burgers on a bun for dinner with a salad and a low-cal dressing.

This is not exactly rocket science.

It's not rocket science but if people are using the 1 cup or 1/4 cup suggestions for the measurement instead of weighing it, they're almost definitely eating more than they think. For example. I have some granola I mix into my Greek yogurt. The Greek yogurt says a serving is 1 cup (227 g) and the granola says a serving is 1/4 cup (27g). That's what the packaging gives as a serving size.

I put my 1/2 cup on my scale to eat half a serving and I filled it about 2/3 full before I reached 113 g. If I had filled it to the top, I'd be eating more than I thought. And when I weighed the granola, 1/4 cup was 1.5 servings.

So it may not be rocket science but if people are using measuring cups and wondering why they aren't losing weight, it's not what they're eating. It's how much.

This is exactly what most newbies SHOULD NOT be doing.

I am eating a Chobani yogurt right now. It contains 140 calories. Not 150 calories and not 130 caloires. There is nothing to weigh and nothing to measure. Forget about weighing granola. It just makes life difficult

And Chobani has some product where you mix in things (one of them may be granola) into the yogurt. That may contain 200 calories. Not 210 calories and not 190 calories.

I say KISS (with affection) to all newbies - Keep It Simple Stupid.

Packaged foods are allowed to have a margin of error of something like 10-20%. Which means your Chobani yogurt cup could have more like 154 calories in it. So, with respect, newbies should absolutely be weighing their food.

The whole point of this is establishing good habits so that we're not losing the same weight again in 5 years.