Calories in calories out is it that simple?

dfwesq wrote: »

Rebecca0224 wrote: »

[I think people assume that if people don't eat "clean" they must be eating like a 5 year old in a candy store. It aggravates me when people act as if everyone is either eating lean meat and vegetables or donuts, candy, and chips.

Conversely, I've noticed that when people encourage healthy eating, other members often assume that means a strict "clean" diet - whatever "clean" means.

When I read "whatever," I see it as very open-ended. It could mean anything to anyone who posts it or reads it. It includes healthy diets, average diets, and very unhealthy diets. It's not a safe assumption that it means a healthy diet, though.

If you read back, this is about WinoGelato's point that janejellyroll's advice -- which DOES note that healthy eating is important for, well, health -- is exactly the kind of good advice that is normally given in these kinds of threads (and is consistent with explaining how CICO works) and yet some still seem to claim that people might be confused and think that eating only gummi bears is reasonable.

No one suggested that it was a bad thing to encourage healthy eating -- that seems to be your own strawman.

grmrsan wrote: »

Yes you can eat complete crap food only and still lose weight. You'll probably feel like garbage, and be hungry much sooner, but sure , you'll lose the weight.

This is exactly the point I was trying to make upthread. Why did you feel the need to point out that eating ONLY "crap food" would make a person feel like garbage? Do you think OP intends to only eat junk food?

I'm going to a little against the grain here. For me, it was a yes and no answer. Yes, you still need to be within your calories, however, there are other factors that can stall weight loss. I did very well losing a lot of weight by simply staying within my calories. It was when I got closer to a healthy weight range when staying within my calories was no longer as simple as it seemed to be. My weight would not budge anymore and stayed that way for several months. It fluctuated a little bit, but I could not get past this plateau even with everything that I tried. I was still within my calories and my weight would not budge. Then I tried changing the way I eat. I use to eat 3 meals a day, smaller in the morning and bigger at dinner time (dinner time is about 3:30 PM for me) because that's what helped me feel satisfied. Now I eat 4 meals a day close to equal proportions. I'm not diabetic, but I found out by eating several small meals a day it can manage blood sugar and insulin spikes, which can affect fat storage. After changing how often I ate, the weight began to fall off again. I was even able to lose weight during my time of the month, which is a huge deal because before, I could easily gain 5 pounds during that time. So yes, you still need to be within your calories, but if you stall, there could be something else that is affecting your weight loss.

WinoGelato wrote: »

dfwesq wrote: »

Rebecca0224 wrote: »

[I think people assume that if people don't eat "clean" they must be eating like a 5 year old in a candy store. It aggravates me when people act as if everyone is either eating lean meat and vegetables or donuts, candy, and chips.

Conversely, I've noticed that when people encourage healthy eating, other members often assume that means a strict "clean" diet - whatever "clean" means.

When I read "whatever," I see it as very open-ended. It could mean anything to anyone who posts it or reads it. It includes healthy diets, average diets, and very unhealthy diets. It's not a safe assumption that it means a healthy diet, though.

I've actually not seen anyone dispute the advice that a person should try to eat a "healthy diet", is that what you're saying?

I will say, that "healthy eating" is a subjective term as well. Advocates for LCHF, Ketogenic diets, and even Carnivore diets - feel their diet is "healthy" yet many eat limited (or even no) fruits and vegetables. Freelee the Banana girl feels her diet is "healthy" and eats almost the complete opposite. I eat things like frozen meals, fast food, and even (gasp) Hamburger Helper on occasion, and I believe my diet is healthy, yet many would suggest that eating convenience foods automatically means that I disregard nutrition.

"Healthy eating" is incredibly subjective, even professionals and experts can't come up with a definition accepted by all. That why I feel elaborating on it isn't necessarily helpful for people who are just getting started.

Some people do start their weight loss with a diet that *they personally* consider unhealthy. Some of those people may want, as part of their weight loss, to address the components of their diet that they don't consider healthful. They may want, for example, to eat more vegetables or reduce sodium or get more fiber or whatever fits in their definition of health. I am not going to second guess that (although I'm always happy to debate nutrition in other concepts).

Other people start their weight loss with a diet that they consider to be healthy (with the exception of consuming too much energy overall). I was in this group. I was happy with what I ate, I just needed to eat less of it. The only thing I needed to understand was that it was okay if I sometimes had potato chips or Skittles while I was losing weight -- it wasn't going to stop my progress for the day/week/month. The last thing I needed to hear was messages about how to eat more healthfully during my weight loss -- that was the mess that I was trying to escape from previous weight loss attempts.

I personally think it's very condescending for us to assume, automatically, that anyone asking OP's question (or a variant of it) is asking if they can survive on Red Bulls, Oreos, and Slim Jims. If someone asks about how they can tweak their diet to make it more healthful, I'm happy to try to help. But I am not going to assume that they need to hear that from me and I'm certainly not going to assume that what "healthy diet" means to me is what it means to someone else.

Nothing is simple, just do not obsess over calories. Just eat reasonably and exercise regularly & consistantly but do not fall into the trap of chasing the numbers on the scales or your fitness tracker.