Are calories really king?!
Replies
-
When you have a small deficit and only 1200-1300 calories to eat, you really cannot eat whatever you want, at least not every day. If you don’t maximize nutrient-dense foods you will run out of calories and end up really hungry and/or eating more than you should. I need my calories to be in foods that will keep me full as long as possible while meeting my macros. Maintenance will be a different story.7
-
When you have a small deficit and only 1200-1300 calories to eat, you really cannot eat whatever you want, at least not every day. If you don’t maximize nutrient-dense foods you will run out of calories and end up really hungry and/or eating more than you should. I need my calories to be in foods that will keep me full as long as possible while meeting my macros. Maintenance will be a different story.
True enough. I exercise to give me more calories to play with.3 -
When you’re lifting you don’t get many exercise calories, though.
I love hiking and intense cardio days. 2 -
I typically get about 100 for lower body days (30-40 minutes), 200 for upper body/core (55-65 minutes). I walk every day, shooting for 2 hours. Anything over 90 minutes is "good enough". If time gets away from me or the weather doesn't cooperate, 80 minutes on the glider.0
-
A few things that work for me. Nothing is off limits or I'll cave. Instead of telling myself what I can't have I try to find things i can have. I figured out i love carrots and cauliflower as well as cucumbers plain, but I hate broccoli so Im not wasting my time forcing myself to eat it. I like mixing frozen mixed veggies in my pasta to get a bigger bowl(bulking). I know to portion out my chips and put them on a plate and never just eat straight from the bag. I've realised my fidgeting/ pacing is good for my NEAT so I keep doing it. Also a major one for me is finding out what my maintenance calories are because sometimes I just can't be super strict, I know eating up ro my maintenance calories means I might not lose a lot but I won't gain any real weight ( except temporary water weight). Goid luck5
-
I'm eating a subway cookie right now (guess you would consider that 'unhealthy') but it's fine as it fits within my calorie goal and macros. So yeah, all about CICO (calories in, calories out).5
-
Back when I started this whole process I had to begin with where I was at, and that was eating a pretty 'unhealthy' diet full of regular soda, fast food almost every day, lots of 'processed' convenience foods, almost no vegetables and no fruit at all etc etc. So I continued eating similar to what I had been, but I learned what CICO actually meant and started eating at a calorie deficit. I switched out the regular soda for diet soda. I still ate fast food several times a week, but I stopped super sizing the fries. I still ate all sorts of convenience foods, but I started buying Lean Cuisines instead of the higher calorie frozen meal options. And I started adding frozen veggies to those meals, to make them more filling. Still no fruit though lol.
The result from doing this was a 50lb loss and improving ALL my health markers, including normalizing a prediabetic glucose number.
Now 6 years into maintenance I eat much differently than how I used to eat, but I needed to start where I did in order to get to where I'm at today. I had to learn how to manage my weight while still eating the foods that I enjoyed, to make this realistic for me-long term. I had to learn what correct portion sizes were. I had to learn what true hunger was vs eating because of other things like out of habit, because of a time on the clock, because i was at a social setting etc. I had to learn that I was in control of food, and I can eat what I like in a way that works with my weight and health goals.
Weight loss comes down to being at the correct calorie deficit for your weight loss goals.
7 -
I eat what I want when I want as long as it fits in but I am trying to be more mindful and I do want to eat more for health going forward so I'm making little changes as I go along but i will never force myself to eat something I dont want or like or upset myself by not eating something I really want. 28lbs down since Jan:)2
-
Calories are king for weight loss.
But remember that weight loss isn't the whole picture. You can be within a normal BMI and still be unhealthy. Your body requires the nutrients in foods like vegetables in order to function in the long-term. You don't have to subsist only on salads, but you do need to include leafy greens and stemmy veg somewhere in your diet in order to avoid the long-term health complications associated with not eating these things (from things as simple as vitamin deficiencies to things as serious as cancer).
If you're not keen on raw veggies (a la salad), try frying sturdy veg (like carrots, squash, sweet potato, and broccoli) in batter (like this tempura recipe) - they taste a bit like french fries, but with vegetables other than potatoes! They don't have to be boring, and the point is to make them in a way that you like them, so that you can give your body what it deserves to keep functioning for ya!15 -
Like others have said, calories are king for weight loss. What you eat may affect how satisfied you are, whether you are hungry, whether you find it hard not to overeat.
It's also important for nutrition/health (although you can lose weight without worrying about that and being a healthy weight is also important for health).
I wonder from your post if you have too narrow a definition of what a healthy diet is, though, or wrong ideas about what you are "supposed to" eat when dieting. There are no specific diet foods -- when I dieted I didn't really want people to know, and they didn't, since my meals looked just like normal meals.
I love salads and eat them almost every day, but they are not always low cal, of course, and you don't have to eat ANY salads to lose weight if you don't like them. I really strongly think vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet, but they are not essential to weight loss (I would urge you to experiment to find ones you like or ways to prepare them that you enjoy).
I rarely eat veggie burgers and probably didn't eat one when I was losing weight, and I wouldn't consider them especially healthy or not -- certainly no reason to eat them if you don't care for them.
It sounds like you are making good choices to cut calories and improve your overall diet nutritionally while losing weight, and just making these kinds of incremental changes as you go on is a great idea.
And if by "healthy" foods you mean the most nutritionally dense for the calories, almost no one eats 100% healthy foods. You can definitely fit in the foods you love.5 -
I'm eating a subway cookie right now (guess you would consider that 'unhealthy') but it's fine as it fits within my calorie goal and macros. So yeah, all about CICO (calories in, calories out).
Oatmeal raisin, I hope. Oh, man, now I'm drooling.
I also lost by just focusing on calories. I'd say I eat about 80% "healthy" and 20% "treats".2 -
Calories for weight loss/gain.
Macros for satiety and adherance.
Food choices for physical and emotional health.
Exercise for health and fitness.
How dare you break down a multi-billion dollar industry into four simple ideas?
^^^^^ This is all there is to it ^^^^ The rest is details.13 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »I'm eating a subway cookie right now (guess you would consider that 'unhealthy') but it's fine as it fits within my calorie goal and macros. So yeah, all about CICO (calories in, calories out).
Oatmeal raisin, I hope. Oh, man, now I'm drooling.
I also lost by just focusing on calories. I'd say I eat about 80% "healthy" and 20% "treats".
the subway cheesecake raspberry cookies - yum!5 -
deannalfisher wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »I'm eating a subway cookie right now (guess you would consider that 'unhealthy') but it's fine as it fits within my calorie goal and macros. So yeah, all about CICO (calories in, calories out).
Oatmeal raisin, I hope. Oh, man, now I'm drooling.
I also lost by just focusing on calories. I'd say I eat about 80% "healthy" and 20% "treats".
the subway cheesecake raspberry cookies - yum!
Second best!2 -
When you have a small deficit and only 1200-1300 calories to eat, you really cannot eat whatever you want, at least not every day. If you don’t maximize nutrient-dense foods you will run out of calories and end up really hungry and/or eating more than you should. I need my calories to be in foods that will keep me full as long as possible while meeting my macros. Maintenance will be a different story.
While that may be true for many, it's not true for everyone. I don't get hungry easily and only start eating at 1pm usually. Some days I'll eat a toasted sandwich, some sweets and then a small snack when I get home at night. Those foods arent really healthy but its still around 1200 cals. I think it's about the person and what keeps them satiated.0 -
Has no one posted a link to this thread yet?
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10348650/cico-still-skeptical-come-inside-for-a-meticulous-log-that-proves-it
I hope it's just that I missed the link on a repeat skim-through, because . . . jeesh.2 -
ShaeSweetness wrote: »So, what the opinion here about eating whatever you want as long as it fits in your calories, orrrr actually trying to fill your day with only healthy options. This is tough for me because i absolutely despise salads and most vegetables. I hate veggie burgers and whole wheat breads and just a lot of stuff your technically supposed to eat while "dieting". But i saw a light at the end of the tunnel when i started hearing about eating within your calorie range and still losing weight. Anyone have experience with this style of dieting (still eating mainly what you want instead of dying with salads). Ive made some better choices like cutting fast food out (for the most part) as well as soda and limiting my juices but i just cant do salads and veggie burgers and letttuce boats instead of tortillas for my tacos..i just don't have it in me! Right now im eating mac and cheese and a pork chop which is a small portion and fits within my calories and this makes me happy! so if this is still a way to lose weight, ill be stoked.
Calories are what matter for weight management. That is not to say that nutrition isn't important, but there's far more to good nutrition than endless salads, and I've never heard that you should only eat veggie burgers when losing weight. There's absolutely nothing wrong nutritionally with getting some good ground beef and making it into a patty and throwing it on the grill.
I rarely eat a salad, haven't had a veggie burger ever except for black bean burgers, never had a "lettuce boat"...and living in NM routinely have burritos with actual tortillas (which there isn't anything inherently unhealthy about a tortilla). I eat pork chops pretty regularly as they are a good source of lean protein.
Nutritious doesn't have to be as myopic as you're making it out to be...it can be nutritious and also delicious. I eat an overall pretty healthy diet that includes a variety of different kinds of meats, vegetables, grains, starches, fruits...and we have pizza night a few times per month.7 -
Eat what you like, eat less of it, lose weight. You may be surprised how your tastes change as you move forward.4
-
Double chocolate every time. I had another 2 todayquiksylver296 wrote: »I'm eating a subway cookie right now (guess you would consider that 'unhealthy') but it's fine as it fits within my calorie goal and macros. So yeah, all about CICO (calories in, calories out).
Oatmeal raisin, I hope. Oh, man, now I'm drooling.
I also lost by just focusing on calories. I'd say I eat about 80% "healthy" and 20% "treats".
2 -
deannalfisher wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »I'm eating a subway cookie right now (guess you would consider that 'unhealthy') but it's fine as it fits within my calorie goal and macros. So yeah, all about CICO (calories in, calories out).
Oatmeal raisin, I hope. Oh, man, now I'm drooling.
I also lost by just focusing on calories. I'd say I eat about 80% "healthy" and 20% "treats".
the subway cheesecake raspberry cookies - yum!
Yessss, those are my favorite too!3
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 388 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.4K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 909 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.2K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions