Is it really just calories in calories out?
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ladydark2018
Posts: 6 Member
Yo-yo dieter here and I am overwhelmed with Information on various diets. I have gained 40 pounds on an antidepressant, and can’t get off them due to anxiety issues. So I’m trying to figure out a way of eating and stick to it. I always self sabotage and jump from one diet to another and I decided I finally need to find something and stick with it. I have done keto (don’t last for more than a few days) ... fasting.... ONe meal a day.... but does it really only boil down to calories in calories out? Any help I can get will be appreciated
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Replies
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Just takes motivation and will power. I have yoyoed for the past few years. Gotta stay active. I just bought a Samsung watch to track my steps. I did not know how inactive I was when I am in my office. It is motivating me to be active right now.2
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Yes. It really is. Stop dieting and focus on balancing your calorie "check book." Calories are dollars, and you need to be on a fixed income. You earn extra dollars by exercising. Don't spend more than you earn. It's that simple.45
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No it doesn't. Might be worth having a hormonal pannel done, especially your thyroid. But first be sure about the actual calories you consume.
And excercise frequently, weight lifting boosts metabolism quite a bit and cardio burns fat.55 -
ladydark2018 wrote: »Yo-yo dieter here and I am overwhelmed with Information on various diets. I have gained 40 pounds on an antidepressant, and can’t get off them due to anxiety issues. So I’m trying to figure out a way of eating and stick to it. I always self sabotage and jump from one diet to another and I decided I finally need to find something and stick with it. I have done keto (don’t last for more than a few days) ... fasting.... ONe meal a day.... but does it really only boil down to calories in calories out? Any help I can get will be appreciated
For weight loss? 100% calories in-calories out. Now, for nutrition, health, satiety, making the process feel as painless as possible, what you eat plays a role. But it's still calories in, calories out.
(Example: I personally don't find fat satiating, so keto would be wrong for me. I feel fullest on higher carbs, moderate protein. If I don't get enough protein, I'm constantly hungry. But macros for satiety vary from person to person. That being said, if I'm eating in a deficit, even if I'm not getting enough protein, I will lose weight. But I'll be hungry and miserable and probably lose more muscle tissue while I do.)24 -
yes and no. yes it's basically CICO. and fad diets - just don't go there.
some tips - work out your maintenance calories then drop by not too much - don't go gung ho for losing 2 kgs a week or whatever while you're starving because it's too hard to adhere to anything that is too uncomfortable.
Feeling a bit peckish is one thing - you can trick yourself to stop feeling peckish by drinking some herbal tea or eating some diet jelly or something. You can't trick yourself to stop feeling like there is a massive hole in your stomach and you're about to eat the couch.
slow and stead is the way to go.
Now, the no part of my answer is that as well as CICO, other things can help such as more exercise, looking at hormones and if they are out of whack taking the right supplements/eating the right foods to help fix that.
Also - making choices that will help you feel full - if you can get a massive volume meal in but it's only like 300 calories, it feels like you've eaten heaps but it's not much. For example, I always have a gigantic salad in a fruit bowl. it's always around 300 grams. some sort of meat and a bunch of stuff like carrots and whatever else is around. it takes me ages to eat becuase there is so much volume and therefore I think I ate heaps. if i'd had a sandwich for example, at the same calories, i'd think I was hungry again in 2 seconds. But that's just me - so it's a strategy i've come up to help me.
And everyone is different so you need to find what works for you. Lots of small meals? 3 big meals? fasting until a certain time and then eating?
At the end of the day the calories in vs calories out is the main player in your weight loss and you can make it work for you without too much pain or starvation.
And don't just settle on the 1200 that MFP seems to spit out for everyone. try something like https://tdeecalculator.net/
Good luck with your journey!!9 -
Cahgetsfit wrote: »yes and no. yes it's basically CICO. and fad diets - just don't go there.
some tips - work out your maintenance calories then drop by not too much - don't go gung ho for losing 2 kgs a week or whatever while you're starving because it's too hard to adhere to anything that is too uncomfortable.
Feeling a bit peckish is one thing - you can trick yourself to stop feeling peckish by drinking some herbal tea or eating some diet jelly or something. You can't trick yourself to stop feeling like there is a massive hole in your stomach and you're about to eat the couch.
slow and stead is the way to go.
Now, the no part of my answer is that as well as CICO, other things can help such as more exercise, looking at hormones and if they are out of whack taking the right supplements/eating the right foods to help fix that.
Also - making choices that will help you feel full - if you can get a massive volume meal in but it's only like 300 calories, it feels like you've eaten heaps but it's not much. For example, I always have a gigantic salad in a fruit bowl. it's always around 300 grams. some sort of meat and a bunch of stuff like carrots and whatever else is around. it takes me ages to eat becuase there is so much volume and therefore I think I ate heaps. if i'd had a sandwich for example, at the same calories, i'd think I was hungry again in 2 seconds. But that's just me - so it's a strategy i've come up to help me.
And everyone is different so you need to find what works for you. Lots of small meals? 3 big meals? fasting until a certain time and then eating?
At the end of the day the calories in vs calories out is the main player in your weight loss and you can make it work for you without too much pain or starvation.
And don't just settle on the 1200 that MFP seems to spit out for everyone. try something like https://tdeecalculator.net/
Good luck with your journey!!
That's actually part of CICO. Exercise increases the CO part of the equation. Hormones may increase or decrease it.
As far as the 1200, MFP generally spits that out for 1) people who are very short and close to goal or 2) people saying they want to lose 2lbs/week when that's too aggressive a target. It has me on 1360 to lose 1/2lb/week (I'm 5'3 and within 10lbs of a healthy BMI). When I started, 107lbs ago, I told MFP I wanted to lose 1lb/week and it gave me 1710.21 -
Short answer ...yes
Try it5 -
Long answer....yesssssssssssssss23
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Pretty well covered in this thread, exact same question a few days ago: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10705095/is-it-really-calories-in-vs-calories-out/p15
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Is it really just calories in calories out?
Yes.9 -
Yes. yes it is. But you must weigh and measure accurately using grams/ml - never cups, average portion etc.5
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Pretty well covered in this thread, exact same question a few days ago: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10705095/is-it-really-calories-in-vs-calories-out/p1
damn you, i was going to link that thread!!!5 -
Yes. But it requires you to stick with it.
There's no point doing something for a week, not seeing results that you want, and then changing to something else. Give it some time and trust the process. If you're truly eating in deficit the weight will come off.
And manage your expectations. Some days the scales will go up, some days they will go down. As long as the general trend is down that's all that matters. The scales going up does not always mean you're doing something wrong. It might just mean you're retaining fluid. You need weeks worth of data to be able to adequately assess how it's going. So whatever you do, just stick with it!8 -
Yes of course as others have said it is CICO. BUT... You have to find what you can stick with. Forget magic programs, forget losing 4 lbs. a week. Eat food you can live with for the rest of your life in reasonable amounts and track and log it. As others have said it isn't very interesting or sexy but it works. I'm another who lost 100+ pounds just reducing my intake and walking daily. I also changed some of my types of food to lower calorie versions but the main thing was learning I didn't need as much food as I thought. For years I ate quantities that would be appropriate for a burly male farmer instead of a 5'5" older woman. I did Atkins, I did Bernstein, I did Weight Watchers and I even had a lapband installed none of it worked. I just had to find a lifestyle I could live with for life.11
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No. Hormones play a huge part and anyone who woes isn't struggling in menopause.53
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Yes, it is about calories in and calories out. But also, yes, hormones play a part. I put weight on with Lexapro despite never eating fast food (vegetarian for 25 years), no soda, nothing fried - basically healthy eating AND training to run a full marathon. The only thing that took the weight off was switching to Wellbutrin. I’ve been taking it for a couple years now and it works for me. The Lexapro helped too but then added depression over gaining weight no matter what I did. So for me, I couldn’t lose weight on certain antidepressants, when I was breastfeeding, or before I ovulate and before I menstruated. It’s like that for a lot of people.19
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estherdragonbat wrote: »Cahgetsfit wrote: »yes and no. yes it's basically CICO. and fad diets - just don't go there.
some tips - work out your maintenance calories then drop by not too much - don't go gung ho for losing 2 kgs a week or whatever while you're starving because it's too hard to adhere to anything that is too uncomfortable.
Feeling a bit peckish is one thing - you can trick yourself to stop feeling peckish by drinking some herbal tea or eating some diet jelly or something. You can't trick yourself to stop feeling like there is a massive hole in your stomach and you're about to eat the couch.
slow and stead is the way to go.
Now, the no part of my answer is that as well as CICO, other things can help such as more exercise, looking at hormones and if they are out of whack taking the right supplements/eating the right foods to help fix that.
Also - making choices that will help you feel full - if you can get a massive volume meal in but it's only like 300 calories, it feels like you've eaten heaps but it's not much. For example, I always have a gigantic salad in a fruit bowl. it's always around 300 grams. some sort of meat and a bunch of stuff like carrots and whatever else is around. it takes me ages to eat becuase there is so much volume and therefore I think I ate heaps. if i'd had a sandwich for example, at the same calories, i'd think I was hungry again in 2 seconds. But that's just me - so it's a strategy i've come up to help me.
And everyone is different so you need to find what works for you. Lots of small meals? 3 big meals? fasting until a certain time and then eating?
At the end of the day the calories in vs calories out is the main player in your weight loss and you can make it work for you without too much pain or starvation.
And don't just settle on the 1200 that MFP seems to spit out for everyone. try something like https://tdeecalculator.net/
Good luck with your journey!!
That's actually part of CICO. Exercise increases the CO part of the equation. Hormones may increase or decrease it.
As far as the 1200, MFP generally spits that out for 1) people who are very short and close to goal or 2) people saying they want to lose 2lbs/week when that's too aggressive a target. It has me on 1360 to lose 1/2lb/week (I'm 5'3 and within 10lbs of a healthy BMI). When I started, 107lbs ago, I told MFP I wanted to lose 1lb/week and it gave me 1710.
MFP also gave me a suggestion of 1700 calories initially but I upgraded to Premier so that I could reset it down to 1350 calories, which is where my doctor wants me to be.2 -
CindyJNC1963 wrote: »estherdragonbat wrote: »Cahgetsfit wrote: »yes and no. yes it's basically CICO. and fad diets - just don't go there.
some tips - work out your maintenance calories then drop by not too much - don't go gung ho for losing 2 kgs a week or whatever while you're starving because it's too hard to adhere to anything that is too uncomfortable.
Feeling a bit peckish is one thing - you can trick yourself to stop feeling peckish by drinking some herbal tea or eating some diet jelly or something. You can't trick yourself to stop feeling like there is a massive hole in your stomach and you're about to eat the couch.
slow and stead is the way to go.
Now, the no part of my answer is that as well as CICO, other things can help such as more exercise, looking at hormones and if they are out of whack taking the right supplements/eating the right foods to help fix that.
Also - making choices that will help you feel full - if you can get a massive volume meal in but it's only like 300 calories, it feels like you've eaten heaps but it's not much. For example, I always have a gigantic salad in a fruit bowl. it's always around 300 grams. some sort of meat and a bunch of stuff like carrots and whatever else is around. it takes me ages to eat becuase there is so much volume and therefore I think I ate heaps. if i'd had a sandwich for example, at the same calories, i'd think I was hungry again in 2 seconds. But that's just me - so it's a strategy i've come up to help me.
And everyone is different so you need to find what works for you. Lots of small meals? 3 big meals? fasting until a certain time and then eating?
At the end of the day the calories in vs calories out is the main player in your weight loss and you can make it work for you without too much pain or starvation.
And don't just settle on the 1200 that MFP seems to spit out for everyone. try something like https://tdeecalculator.net/
Good luck with your journey!!
That's actually part of CICO. Exercise increases the CO part of the equation. Hormones may increase or decrease it.
As far as the 1200, MFP generally spits that out for 1) people who are very short and close to goal or 2) people saying they want to lose 2lbs/week when that's too aggressive a target. It has me on 1360 to lose 1/2lb/week (I'm 5'3 and within 10lbs of a healthy BMI). When I started, 107lbs ago, I told MFP I wanted to lose 1lb/week and it gave me 1710.
MFP also gave me a suggestion of 1700 calories initially but I upgraded to Premier so that I could reset it down to 1350 calories, which is where my doctor wants me to be.
You didn't have to get premium to change your calorie goal, you can do that in the free version17 -
CindyJNC1963 wrote: »estherdragonbat wrote: »Cahgetsfit wrote: »yes and no. yes it's basically CICO. and fad diets - just don't go there.
some tips - work out your maintenance calories then drop by not too much - don't go gung ho for losing 2 kgs a week or whatever while you're starving because it's too hard to adhere to anything that is too uncomfortable.
Feeling a bit peckish is one thing - you can trick yourself to stop feeling peckish by drinking some herbal tea or eating some diet jelly or something. You can't trick yourself to stop feeling like there is a massive hole in your stomach and you're about to eat the couch.
slow and stead is the way to go.
Now, the no part of my answer is that as well as CICO, other things can help such as more exercise, looking at hormones and if they are out of whack taking the right supplements/eating the right foods to help fix that.
Also - making choices that will help you feel full - if you can get a massive volume meal in but it's only like 300 calories, it feels like you've eaten heaps but it's not much. For example, I always have a gigantic salad in a fruit bowl. it's always around 300 grams. some sort of meat and a bunch of stuff like carrots and whatever else is around. it takes me ages to eat becuase there is so much volume and therefore I think I ate heaps. if i'd had a sandwich for example, at the same calories, i'd think I was hungry again in 2 seconds. But that's just me - so it's a strategy i've come up to help me.
And everyone is different so you need to find what works for you. Lots of small meals? 3 big meals? fasting until a certain time and then eating?
At the end of the day the calories in vs calories out is the main player in your weight loss and you can make it work for you without too much pain or starvation.
And don't just settle on the 1200 that MFP seems to spit out for everyone. try something like https://tdeecalculator.net/
Good luck with your journey!!
That's actually part of CICO. Exercise increases the CO part of the equation. Hormones may increase or decrease it.
As far as the 1200, MFP generally spits that out for 1) people who are very short and close to goal or 2) people saying they want to lose 2lbs/week when that's too aggressive a target. It has me on 1360 to lose 1/2lb/week (I'm 5'3 and within 10lbs of a healthy BMI). When I started, 107lbs ago, I told MFP I wanted to lose 1lb/week and it gave me 1710.
MFP also gave me a suggestion of 1700 calories initially but I upgraded to Premier so that I could reset it down to 1350 calories, which is where my doctor wants me to be.
You don't need to upgrade to manually set your calorie goal, you can do it even with the free version.9
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