Has anybody lost weight by just setting one goal: eating less calories then you burn?
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mjcongleton
Posts: 9 Member
I'm on day 39 of what I'm calling the "worlds slowest diet" I only have one goal: To eat less calories then I burn each day. I've reached my goal 39 days in a row now.
My TDEE is about 1870 so I try to eat around that number, sometimes forcing food into my system so I'm not too low. But on days when I want a bit more, or know I have something going on for a certain meal I'll just plan to make sure I stay under my total calories burned for the day.
By doing this I'm finding that I'm eating better overall, and even on a 'binge' day I'm still net negative 100 calories or so. The process gives me an opportunity to practice better habits while still making my goal on days I eat poorly or eat too much.
Anybody have success taking this less rigid approach? I am losing weight, albeit a bit slowly.
My TDEE is about 1870 so I try to eat around that number, sometimes forcing food into my system so I'm not too low. But on days when I want a bit more, or know I have something going on for a certain meal I'll just plan to make sure I stay under my total calories burned for the day.
By doing this I'm finding that I'm eating better overall, and even on a 'binge' day I'm still net negative 100 calories or so. The process gives me an opportunity to practice better habits while still making my goal on days I eat poorly or eat too much.
Anybody have success taking this less rigid approach? I am losing weight, albeit a bit slowly.
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Replies
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Sounds good to me, maintaining your weight loss will be easy for you.3
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Everyone has "their" gosl, i chose to slowly lose weight it works for me.
Patience ....big word when dieting
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mjcongleton wrote: »I'm on day 39 of what I'm calling the "worlds slowest diet" I only have one goal: To eat less calories then I burn each day. I've reached my goal 39 days in a row now.
My TDEE is about 1870 so I try to eat around that number, sometimes forcing food into my system so I'm not too low. But on days when I want a bit more, or know I have something going on for a certain meal I'll just plan to make sure I stay under my total calories burned for the day.
By doing this I'm finding that I'm eating better overall, and even on a 'binge' day I'm still net negative 100 calories or so. The process gives me an opportunity to practice better habits while still making my goal on days I eat poorly or eat too much.
Anybody have success taking this less rigid approach? I am losing weight, albeit a bit slowly.
Hell yeah, that was my whole plan, and how I lost 80lbs and reached my goal weight. Now I've kept it off 2 years 7 months by staying AT my maintenance calorie limit.
All the rest about "diet" is personal preference.
As you get closer to goal, accuracy in logging takes a very important part, and the longer you've been in a deficit, the more important it is to have maintenance breaks, but you've got the most important part spot on.4 -
Yup! Along the way I started paying more attention to protein and iron, and keeping desserts to 200 calories, but that's been experimentation to find out what's the easiest way to stick to it.2
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Has anybody lost weight by just setting one goal: eating less calories then you burn?
Isn't that the essence of everyone's approach?20 -
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The only thing I don't agree with is the forcing food part. It is fine to eat a little bit less sometimes9
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So far I'm down about 200lbs by just eating less. Over time I've developed healthier eating habits, but never felt deprived because I never gave up any foods. Much less stressful.3
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Pretty much yes. That's how my weight loss has progressed.
I have my overall goals, but my true goals are to be in deficit. Most days I make it, occasionally I'm a little bit over, but week on week I'm always at a deficit, even if it is only 200kcals for the week. And the weight is slowly coming off. Some weeks significantly less than others, but it's coming off.3 -
Right.
However, if weightloss does occur with any of those diets, it is because a calorie deficit has taken place.
For me, simply counting calories is the easiest and most flexible way to go.9 -
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mjcongleton wrote: »I'm on day 39 of what I'm calling the "worlds slowest diet" I only have one goal: To eat less calories then I burn each day. I've reached my goal 39 days in a row now.
My TDEE is about 1870 so I try to eat around that number, sometimes forcing food into my system so I'm not too low. But on days when I want a bit more, or know I have something going on for a certain meal I'll just plan to make sure I stay under my total calories burned for the day.
By doing this I'm finding that I'm eating better overall, and even on a 'binge' day I'm still net negative 100 calories or so. The process gives me an opportunity to practice better habits while still making my goal on days I eat poorly or eat too much.
Anybody have success taking this less rigid approach? I am losing weight, albeit a bit slowly.
I am with @Machka9 here. Isn't that the essence of what we are doing here? To eat less calories CI < then I burn each day CO?
I don't see how that approach is LESS rigid than balancing the CI CO equation over a week for example. I would think thinking about it on a weekly basis rather than daily would be LESS rigid not more.
But I wouldn't force feed myself if I wasn't hungry.5 -
Runaroundafieldx2 wrote: »The only thing I don't agree with is the forcing food part. It is fine to eat a little bit less sometimes
I agree with you! I often see people on these forums talking about forcing themselves to eat more if they are under their goal and I dont get it. I mean yes you should aim for your calorie goal but if you happen to be under it, why not see that as a bonus? I do it all the time and it also allows me to eat more on other days where I do happen to be hungrier6 -
When I stopped drinking soda only, I lost about 15lbs, and I hadn’t made any other changes to my diet. I wasn’t even counting calories back then.2
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Yes, that is exactly what I did. Just day after day of making sure I was in a caloric deficit. Not magic, not glamorous but it works! It’s definitely slow but in the long run it’s the best way, in my opinion. I’m down 43 pounds since January.1
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When I stopped drinking soda only, I lost about 15lbs, and I hadn’t made any other changes to my diet. I wasn’t even counting calories back then.
That was a big part of when I lost weight in my 20s. The look how many calories I’m consuming with soda and iced tea. I also stopped eating fast food and brought lunch.
It came back over the time but I had to really log and hop on the stationary bike because I can’t move around at work.
I shudder to think how worse I be if I still drank full cal soda and Snapple all the time.
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Pretty much yes. That's how my weight loss has progressed.
I have my overall goals, but my true goals are to be in deficit. Most days I make it, occasionally I'm a little bit over, but week on week I'm always at a deficit, even if it is only 200kcals for the week. And the weight is slowly coming off. Some weeks significantly less than others, but it's coming off.
Exactly this! ^0 -
Runaroundafieldx2 wrote: »The only thing I don't agree with is the forcing food part. It is fine to eat a little bit less sometimes
I agree with you! I often see people on these forums talking about forcing themselves to eat more if they are under their goal and I dont get it. I mean yes you should aim for your calorie goal but if you happen to be under it, why not see that as a bonus? I do it all the time and it also allows me to eat more on other days where I do happen to be hungrier
I agree with this- the annoying part though is that MFP won't let you log a day that they consider is "too low" and then it won't count towards my overall weekly totals (which is how I track). Is there a way around this?0 -
Runaroundafieldx2 wrote: »The only thing I don't agree with is the forcing food part. It is fine to eat a little bit less sometimes
I agree with you! I often see people on these forums talking about forcing themselves to eat more if they are under their goal and I dont get it. I mean yes you should aim for your calorie goal but if you happen to be under it, why not see that as a bonus? I do it all the time and it also allows me to eat more on other days where I do happen to be hungrier
I agree with this- the annoying part though is that MFP won't let you log a day that they consider is "too low" and then it won't count towards my overall weekly totals (which is how I track). Is there a way around this?
it logs it, it just doesn't do a notification on your feed.3
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