Losing weight

I believe what you eat matters. If you eat 1500 calories of cookies and soda and burn 2000 calories, your body over time will become sick. jmo

LaMisha1 wrote: »

Is it that easy to lease weight, just eat fewer calories than you burn? It sounds like there should be more too it. Like it should be combined with diet, right?

It is that simple (not necessarily easy ). Of course, what you eat can make it easier or harder to stick to your calorie goal. And what you eat can positively or negatively affect your health in other ways. But weight loss/gain/maintenance comes down to calories.

Yes & no. @Fitnessflexibility has a good point. The quality of the calories matter. If you’re not able to make drastic changes overnight, just take one thing each week or so to change. So, say you’re drinking 3-5 sodas a day. If all you do is change that to one soda a day and replace the other 2-4 with water, that’s saving you hundreds of calories a week just doing that!

ccrdragon wrote: »

ErnestineBorgnine wrote: »

Yes & no. @Fitnessflexibility has a good point. The quality of the calories matter. If you’re not able to make drastic changes overnight, just take one thing each week or so to change. So, say you’re drinking 3-5 sodas a day. If all you do is change that to one soda a day and replace the other 2-4 with water, that’s saving you hundreds of calories a week just doing that!

Not for weight loss - strictly for weight loss it is the quantity and not the quality. For NUTRITION and HEALTH the quality matters.

Thanks for the clarification.

My experience with myself was if I eat the same number of calories but it’s crap I’ll maintain, but if it’s high quality I lose. If I ate a few fewer calories of crap, I suppose I’d still ultimately lose. You did a better job of phrasing it.

ErnestineBorgnine wrote: »

ccrdragon wrote: »

ErnestineBorgnine wrote: »

Yes & no. @Fitnessflexibility has a good point. The quality of the calories matter. If you’re not able to make drastic changes overnight, just take one thing each week or so to change. So, say you’re drinking 3-5 sodas a day. If all you do is change that to one soda a day and replace the other 2-4 with water, that’s saving you hundreds of calories a week just doing that!

Not for weight loss - strictly for weight loss it is the quantity and not the quality. For NUTRITION and HEALTH the quality matters.

Thanks for the clarification.

My experience with myself was if I eat the same number of calories but it’s crap I’ll maintain, but if it’s high quality I lose. If I ate a few fewer calories of crap, I suppose I’d still ultimately lose. You did a better job of phrasing it.

Unfortunately, human history has shown us repeatedly that humans do lose weight in a calorie deficit even when they're eating a low quality diet that isn't meeting their nutritional needs (if that is what you mean by "crap"). We can't run our bodies on nothing, energy has to come from somewhere.

Yes, eat less move more. Do that for 12 months and then step back on scale.

janejellyroll wrote: »

Unfortunately, human history has shown us repeatedly that humans do lose weight in a calorie deficit even when they're eating a low quality diet that isn't meeting their nutritional needs (if that is what you mean by "crap"). We can't run our bodies on nothing, energy has to come from somewhere.

Yes, thanks. Next time I’ll change my wording to “junk food” 😄

How about some links to illustrate the point:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10348650/cico-still-skeptical-come-inside-for-a-meticulous-log-that-proves-it/p1

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

http://abc7.com/health/teacher-loses-60-pounds-while-eating-nothing-but-mcdonalds/705916/

calories manage weight
nutrition manages health
exercise manages strength

wmd1979 wrote: »

Fitnessflexibility wrote: »

I believe what you eat matters. If you eat 1500 calories of cookies and soda and burn 2000 calories, your body over time will become sick. jmo

How many people do you know that only eat cookies and soda AND stick to just 1500 calories daily? Its such a tired argument, of course nutrition is important, but CICO is the only thing that matters for weight loss.

You may feel like it's a tired argument which is your right and your feelings are valid. However, there are people who don't know enough about proper nutrition and end up trying to lose weight through less than optimal nutrition while maintaining a deficit. That's the crux of the argument but it's easier to say "cookies and soda."

I don't know what OP knows and I'm not going to try to assume. In getting the responses she got, if her knowledge is limited, she may decide to find the information. Or someone stumbling across this post may have that aha moment.

LaMisha1 wrote: »

Is it that easy to lease weight, just eat fewer calories than you burn? It sounds like there should be more too it. Like it should be combined with diet, right?

Diet: simply means what a creature consumes. A Blue whale's diet is mostly krill, a bull shark's diet is pretty much anything that moves. A human's diet is what they eat.

Eating few calories is a diet. That's the 'diet' I am on. So far I'm down 190lbs by simply eating at a calorie deficit (took some years, but time passes regardless).

Also, dieting by purely CICO is often part of IIFMM dieting (If It Fits My Macros). Basically, eat whatever foods you prefer with the only restrictions being total calories. In other words: you don't have to eat stuff you don't like, you don't have to give up stuff you do like, just portion food in order to fit your calorie budget.

So, yes, it is as simple as eating fewer calories.

Fitnessflexibility wrote: »

I believe what you eat matters. If you eat 1500 calories of cookies and soda and burn 2000 calories, your body over time will become sick. jmo

Which is the same as eating nothing but kale and quinoa..... Terrible analogy as no one eats a diet that monotonous without being forced to.