Why counting calories indefinitely perceived as bad thing?

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  • goal06082021
    goal06082021 Posts: 2,130 Member
    alisdairsmommy wrote: »
    goal06082021 wrote: »
    alisdairsmommy wrote: »
    pfeiferlindsey wrote: »
    But but but....the dancing "Intuitive Eating Registered Dietitian" on TikTok tells me that calorie counting is evil!!

    Here's the thing...this will be long term for me. My prior behaviors show that when I come off counting calories, I gradually slip back into bad habits. The weight slowly creeps on and before I know it, I'm back here starting over for the ????th time. I'm tired of that, so here I am to stay.

    Yep!

    I had to swallow my pride and learn that eating "intuitively" just isn't likely for me. My mind is weird about food, for a variety of reasons, so I have to be more intentional about it. I don't have to worry about that for other substances or behaviors that aren't very tempting to me.

    My husband can eat intuitively - he's never done any other way. And he's never had a problem with weight. But he has to be more intentional about other things that are more difficult for him, that I don't struggle with at all.

    I think it's a mistake when we assume that everything that is hard for us is hard for everyone else, or everything that is easy for us is easy for everyone else (the latter seems to be at the root of a lot of judgment).

    Agree, agree, agree. Everyone has things that are easy for them and things that are hard for them, and sometimes the hard things are really hard. The moral value that gets ascribed to certain behaviors or abilities doesn't help, either. Your husband is not a better person than you are just because he can eat intuitively. You're not a better person than your husband for having a functioning sense of time (or whatever his particular struggle is that is a strength of yours, I just used time as an example). We all have different strengths and it's well past time we stopped demonizing those differences.

    You must have been reading my mind, because time management was actually exactly what I was thinking of! :D

    When I dug out my scale (and now that I've bought a new one with a higher capacity), he didn't judge me although I could tell he thought what I was doing was odd. I have weights listed on my dry erase board in the kitchen so I can log them on MFP at a convenient moment (we usually use that for our ongoing grocery list). A couple of years ago I ranted at him about how hard it was to lose weight and he rubbed my back and said, bless him, "well...can't you just...eat less?" The poor man. I wanted to throttle him.

    He's doing well now though. He will keep a plate in the kitchen for me and I assemble my plate in there before sitting down at the table. When the kids inquired about the change he told them, "Mommy is doing a science experiment." Which is true, I suppose - I'm the test subject. :D

    Oh, a dry erase board is brilliant. I keep a notepad and pen right beside the food scale, he knows that's where they live and not to put them "away" somewhere when he cleans the kitchen counters.

    The OP of this thread was worried about, I guess, being judged by her BF when she moves in with him and he sees her weighing food or whatever. I would treat that as just part of "the mystique" that necessarily dies when you start sharing a space with an intimate partner - making a bowl of cereal should be as mundane and unremarkable as tweezing your eyebrows or brushing your teeth. Surely he didn't think OP just plugs into a charging station as-is or packs herself into a storage box in maximum-glamour mode when they aren't together. I hope her BF realizes he's dating a human woman who occasionally has to do the unsexy work of maintaining the meat suit her brain pilots and doesn't make it weird when he sees her doing that.
  • NVintage
    NVintage Posts: 1,463 Member
    The controversy surrounding his ideas is making him more interesting to me, haha...I'm looking into that more! Most of the debunkers, I've found, are debunking issues that I haven't heard from him or that I comprehended differently than the debunkers...For instance, I took what he said about calorie restriction not working as less a statement for individuals and more of a statement to health professionals and the medical community. Personally, I think it can work for individuals, but in treatments for obesity it is a failure so far because such a high percentage of people regain the weight back...
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    NVintage wrote: »
    This explains so much!
    https://youtu.be/5F5o0a4p_3U
    Explains what Jason Fung believes. He's been debunked by several other medical experts.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    NVintage wrote: »
    The controversy surrounding his ideas is making him more interesting to me, haha...I'm looking into that more! Most of the debunkers, I've found, are debunking issues that I haven't heard from him or that I comprehended differently than the debunkers...For instance, I took what he said about calorie restriction not working as less a statement for individuals and more of a statement to health professionals and the medical community. Personally, I think it can work for individuals, but in treatments for obesity it is a failure so far because such a high percentage of people regain the weight back...
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    NVintage wrote: »
    This explains so much!
    https://youtu.be/5F5o0a4p_3U
    Explains what Jason Fung believes. He's been debunked by several other medical experts.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png

    Ya - keep going - you will absolutely find his info being stated to individuals, not some Medical Conference presentation video (would they actually let him in for a presentation?) that was to health pro's.

    And while he sometimes starts with a few facts on basic human physiology (and even there he get's it wrong like many with diet plans unless he is talking about unstated people with specific health issues) - where he takes it is way out there.
  • charmmeth
    charmmeth Posts: 936 Member
    pfeiferlindsey wrote: »
    Here's the thing...this will be long term for me. My prior behaviors show that when I come off counting calories, I gradually slip back into bad habits. The weight slowly creeps on and before I know it, I'm back here starting over for the ????th time. I'm tired of that, so here I am to stay.

    Exactly this!

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    NVintage wrote: »
    The controversy surrounding his ideas is making him more interesting to me, haha...I'm looking into that more! Most of the debunkers, I've found, are debunking issues that I haven't heard from him or that I comprehended differently than the debunkers...For instance, I took what he said about calorie restriction not working as less a statement for individuals and more of a statement to health professionals and the medical community. Personally, I think it can work for individuals, but in treatments for obesity it is a failure so far because such a high percentage of people regain the weight back...
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    NVintage wrote: »
    This explains so much!
    https://youtu.be/5F5o0a4p_3U
    Explains what Jason Fung believes. He's been debunked by several other medical experts.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png

    He isn't talking to health officials...and calorie restriction "not working" pretty much right there puts him in the woo gang. Calorie restriction is the only way weight loss happens...you can't eat maintenance calories or a surplus and lose weight...calories have to be restricted. Every single diet plan on the planet involves calorie restriction.

    "Calorie restriction doesn't work" is enough all by itself for me to never pay attention to anything that dude has to say given the absurdity of the statement. If he's going to start off with something that absurd, no telling how far down the stupid hole it goes.

    I don't think he's quite on the Dr. Oz level of bogus doctors...but he's pretty damn close. If he's not a quack, he's definitely quackish.
  • darlindaisymay
    darlindaisymay Posts: 3 Member
    psychod787 wrote: »
    Tanie98 wrote: »
    After losing and gaining back the weight over and over..I now decide that counting will be part of my life..I realized too that my maintenance calories won't be that much higher than what I'm eating right now as i'm only losing 0.5 lb per week. I only had 10 pounds to loose.

    However, I was showing my boyfriend the myfitnesspal app and how i track my calories. And he said hopefully you will be able to know how much you need without having to check all the time..the problem is , when I don't have anything to keep accountable its easy to start over eating without realizing it. So counting will keep me on check

    I can't help to feel that people might find me weird for constantly track and might have to track calories behind his back if we do move in together. Not to mention they're countless of videos on yutube of people encouraging people not to count calories and giving tips such as avoiding looking at food nutrition labels and that counting calories is unnatural and it's not way anyone should be living...And some give tips to stay in shape without counting but they all involved some type of restriction and interment fasting

    I personally don't think feel like it's big deal having to track if that will prevent weight creep up. And people already have other things we have to do everyday as part of our routine without having second thoughts.

    Have you been looked weird for counting calories?

    Sure I have been looked at as "weird". I could care less. I don't have tattoos and don't want any myself, but are people who have them "weird"? If you are wanting to keep your body weight below the homeostasis weight for your lifestyle and genetics, then calorie counting is a good tool.

    That's a really good way to look at it... Staying healthy, physically, emotionally and mentally, isn't an easy task for any human, and what works to balance the things we struggle with isn't for anyone to decide but ourselves. Sure, we can either use calorie counting as a temporary or permanent tool in our lives, but I personally worry about way too many things in life as it is. It's nice to not think about how well I ate today.
  • wendyswords4240
    wendyswords4240 Posts: 5 Member
    I feel like once I reach my goal I will have to do the same thing for the same reasons. Since I have Crohn's Disease, adopting this permanently will be another reason to keep journaling. My kids are fascinated by the way I can log foods by scanning the UPC code.
  • ouryve
    ouryve Posts: 572 Member
    I find counting to be a faff. I avoid it when I can. I generally maintain without counting because I know what I need to do but if I do find myself slipping eg after too many pre-Christmas mince pies, I jump back into counting for a while before it becomes a big deal.

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