"calorie counting will get you no where"

...the body controls BOTH Calories IN and OUT no matter how much you try to win that battle.

So physiology is 'magic' and the human body will simply decide to use less calories for the same exact actions to keep/make people fat? Yeah, that makes sense. Also, I hear that if the gremlins that live in my car feel like it they can give me 50 MPG instead of the 28 that I get now.

I'm sure she did, it's just her opinion. Don't let it get you down. Make sure you're FULLY committed to tracking everything, period. I actually am on my second try with MFP, the first time didn't work because of me. I psyched myself out, and now I'm doing it as I should (with a better/more positive outlook on it) and I'm loosing. They're right, part of it is numbers: watching your calories, making sure you're getting the right foods, etc. The other part if mental: not beating yourself up when there's a slip, staying positive, avoiding negativity when you can, see if you can find some friends who are supportive.

well, you can always look at it the other way, not counting calories has brought us all to where we are today so apparently not knowing what you are consuming is not working either so something has to change.

Thank you for this statement! I was getting depressed and starting to feel defeated reading some of the comments on here.. and then I read your post.. WA-LA.. Thank you for bringing everything back into the light!

It's "Voila!" ... lol . It means 'There it is!' or 'There you have it!' Just FYI, not trying to be a nazi.
Calorie counting definitely does work. If you stop, and get distorted again with your calorie intake/portion size/food quality, you'll gain it back

Once you realize it's just math, the whole 'diet' phenomena that seems so elusive comes into perspective and you realize it is totally possible to lose weight, just by doing the math "calories in vs calories out" .... Voila!!

Unfortunately, most people hate math.... that's what MFP is for!

I just want to say how nice it is to see people here shooting down the negative nellies, and being encouraging and kind. I did WW years ago, and while I lost about 12 lbs, their message boards and groups were HORRIBLE! People were so mean to one another - they were all very cliquey. The support here is awesome to see.

Counting calories and exercising does work, obviously. Yes, you need to find the deeper reason you overeat in order to sustain it. It does have to be looked at as a lifestyle change, and not a diet, or you will go directly back to your old habits, if and when you lose the weight. I realized this morning that I had been eating THREE servings of shredded wheat, just be being mindless and not looking at the package to see how large a serving size actually is. And you know what, this morning, I was surprised to find that the actual one serving size DID fill me up, if I eat slowly and mindfully. Who knew?

Don't be discouraged. We can all do this, and obviously, we are not alone. I am 40 and I use this app, and my son is 22 and living in Japan, using the same app. Weight issues are universal.

I hear you on the emotional ties to food. I've had one ever since I could remember. I finally got to the point on monday after years of trying every diet imaginable and failing horribly. I have a wonderful support group with friends and family just nothing seemed to work.

So far in two days I have been doing great. Taking note one day I was sick. But I finally broke down and came to the realization that I am not going to let my depression and my connection to food hold me back any longer. I never thought calorie counting would work either and many of times I had tried it in the past it didn't. I've bounced back and forth between 265lbs for years. Then I finally bounced up to my highest at 275lbs. I looked at myself in the mirror and realized I no longer liked what I saw.

Speaking from experience its something that has to happen inside of you, you have to want to make it happen. Something has to happen to make you see that you no longer have to rely on food to get you through. Me I started doing this....whenever I feel that urge or need to eat I turn and do something else I love to do, I pull out a good book or put on some music and start to dance the pain away, I'll go for a walk or ride my bike if the weather is nice, or if I really can't get over the urge for the food I will grab something healthy like celery sticks, carrot sticks or one or two strawberries.

Its slow but the best thing to do is not get discouraged if you fall backwards a few times, just keep in the mind set that tomorrow I will not let myself slide I am bigger than this and I can do it. I'm struggling with it myself and if you need someone to talk to to help you through it by all means add me and I'll help you. Another good thing is to have someone help you or someone to talk to when those urges come on.

The key thing to remember is it will work if YOU want it too....just like with any other addiction or thing...it will only work if you want it to.

Good luck and again if you need someone to talk to by all means send me a message or email me @ fleshntears@aol.com I'll respond as soon as I can.

~Amanda

To the original poster- I apologize if this was mentioned somewhere in this thread, but I didn't want to spend time reading through tons of posts of people arguing over calorie counting.
I wanted to bring something up regarding what you identified with emotional eating. I used to do psychiatric assessments for bariatric patients looking to get the bypass surgery, and we screened for emotional eating. If someone did struggle with this habit, we would refer them to counseling to help them unlearn the unhealthy habits and change their relationship with food. The therapist that we refered them to used "The Beck Diet Solution" book by Judith Beck, who is the daughter of the founder of Cognitive behavioral therapy Aaron Beck. I don't know if it acutally has a DIET persay in the book, but the tools to address the emotional connection are very helpful. The idea of CBT is that you take a look at your automatic thoughts when hit with a triggering situation (like that roomate of yours) and underlying core beliefs, and how this leads to unhealthy behaviors of coping like overeating or comfort eating. I would recommend taking a look at it, I believe they also have a website where you could get some info on how CBT can help.

Look up Samatha and 30 day challenge blog......5 min at home....easily doable everyday.....put out an SOS on here when you feel yourself wanting to eat poorly.....everyone here is so supportive. Just don't give up! Check out some of forums on eating more calories to lose weight..you may not be eating enough. Good luck!

Have you considered asking someone to hold you accountable? Maybe send them a text when you're feeling down, and you know that it could lead to emotional eating? Once you recognize the emotion(s) that can trigger the behavior, it becomes easier to prevent it.
Afterwards,think about how you were feeling, and promise yourself when it happens again you will call your accountability buddy and tell them that you might overeat. Especially if it's someone who understands how important your diet is to you (I wouldn't recommend your roommate ha...). Let go of the guilt! And just look at it as a challenge for the net time it happens.

I personally do this all the time with my mom, because she gives good support and encouragement and she is counting calories too so I know she understands ^_^

As far as exercising goes.. trust me I know how hard it can be to have time for it!! Sometimes I feel like my grades are suffering bc I spend a lot of free time going to the gym when I should be studying.. but what I've found are the best times to workout are when you have five or ten minutes here and there. Like, in the morning before breakfast do some ab workouts and push ups, whatever floats your boat. That takes no time at all! I think the only way to effectively lose weight AND stay motivated is by counting calories and exercising. I couldn't imagine just doing one or the other.

Wow im new here. This is my 1st day so not to good with it yet but Ive been reading some post and im excited. I had a major surgery last year and put on 30lbs. I thought it was hopeless but this whole calorie counting thing seems to be working for most of you:) im siked!

I am usually not ugly to anyone on this site and try to be very helpful. But if you believe these so called facts you are writing about then you are an idiot plain and simple and need to find another forum to post on. There is no place for that kind of negativity and just false information here.

Directed at Grinch031

Again someone criticizing me with absolutely no counter-arguments.

I'm negative about rubbish posts that are unhelpful. Do you really think a candy bar diet is a good way to lose weight and improve health?

The problem is much of the content of this thread is not grounded in any science. Unwanted weight gain is not a psychological disorder, it is a physiological disorder caused by the modern foods most commonly consumed. I already said my solution, which is to eat foods better for the body (ie. more natural, less processed), and not just thinking in terms of calories. Even that isn't good enough, because once someone is obese, they are metabolically damaged such that the lower their weight becomes, the harder it is to maintain. But that's about the best they can do right now.

Um NOOOO I don't think a candy bar diet is a good idea...Duh!! But neither is beating down people who are trying to improve their lives and their bodies. Of course eating natural, unprocessed food is best, any 8 year old could tell us that!! And NO ONE, obese or not, is "damaged" beyond repair! Everyone is capable of change. You are helping nothing, and you need to do one thing to make the world a better place... GO....AWAY!!!!!!!

This is my first post, as I've only been a MFP member for about a week. I apologize that I haven't yet read all the replies. However, I feel compelled to share that calorie counting has already made a tremendous difference for me. I've discovered that it's just like any sort of budgeting -- you prioritize, and you decide how to "spend" the calories you are allotted. I used to squander my daily calories on foods that had little to no nutritional benefit; now, I am mindful of how I distribute and allot my calories throughout the day. I'd much rather spend 100 calories on a banana than on a candy bar, for instance.

So yes, calorie counting is definitely extremely beneficial, because I think it makes us accountable for the wholesomeness (or lack thereof) of the calories we consume. In addition, I believe that a person's mindset needs to be fully ready to make the emotional changes necessary for the physiological ones to occur, if that makes sense. I know in my own life, I used to be terrible with budgeting money. Until I was emotionally ready to be better at budgeting, saving, and prioritizing, I didn't make any progress in my bank account. In the same way, until that switch "flipped" and my emotional response to food changed for good, I knew I would make little to no progress in my weight loss and my quest for a healthy lifestyle.

I have taken off 5 lbs. so far (much of that water retention, I'm sure) and I have never felt better. There is something so gratifying about "budgeting" my calories each day. I love filling out the food log, just like I now love filling out my checkbook ledger and being mindful of where my hard-earned money goes. Sorry if I'm driving that comparison in to the ground, but it has been in the forefront of my mind since I began this journey.

In the week I've been a member of MFP, I have been incredibly impressed with the intelligence, motivation, and support of the other members. Best of luck to you, OP... you definitely have a solid support system in the people here, myself included!

Grinch my counter argument is everyone on this site loosing and maintaining their weight with what you say is something that will not work and is doomed to fail.
And as far as loosing weight slowing your metabolism. The more muscle you have the more calories you burn so if you are exercising and toning and building muscle while doing your calorie counting then your metabolism will most definetly work better. I really believe you have no idea what you are talking about and are just on here trolling to get people pissed off and I am going to request that you be removed from the forums.

Look now you're putting words in my mouth. I never said it won't work and is doomed to fail, what I'm basically saying is that people need to do it the right way and stop thinking that calories are the only thing that matters because of one simple physics equation. The more people understand about how it really works, the better chance they have of long term success.

I have been on here a few months and while I bump heads with people on the science behind dieting, I am by no means a troll. My opinions are completely relevant to the thread BTW.

You can go ahead and try to ban me for having a difference of opinion (how childish), but you are making judgements about me that are completely baseless.

I like this approach because nothing is off limits.
In the past 2 weeks (I've been at this 11 days), I have eaten out way more than usual (off for spring break, things came up, etc.) Sometimes I splurged, sometimes I didn't.
If I splurge, I can either work out more, OR I can be really sensible on my other meals of the day.'
Luckily, I really enjoy healthy foods, so my splurges are often guacamole, or sour cream, or pizza (with veggies). Or bread with butter...

Yesterday I wanted wine with friends, so I walked for over an hour and kept my other meals really sensible.

I also like CHOCOLATE. Diana's Banana Babies are GREAT. Chocolate dipped bananas, 150 calories.
I think they are best if you let them sit 10-15 minutes before eating them, so the banana is creamy, cold and soft.

Hot chocolate is also GREAT. I found some Blue Diamond Hazelnut crackers, which I am going to put with a little nutella and banana slices, I'll let you know how they turn out.

Frozen yogurt is good, too. We have a place that sells theirs by weight (Orange Leaf), so if you ask, they will weigh JUST your yogurt, no toppings to make it easier to put in the diary. I try to have a TON of fresh strawberries on mine, that way I see the full bowl... but a bunch of what is IN my bowl is fruit.

This is the first time i have dieted and have not felt EXTREME guilt about having "non-diet" foods... I think because I am trying to make every thing I do sustainable.. things I would eat, workouts I would do for the rest of my life. I am also sort of a fan of having a REAL brownie if you really want one... because a lot of the time imitations don't cut it.

If I can, you can too!

...the body controls BOTH Calories IN and OUT no matter how much you try to win that battle.

So physiology is 'magic' and the human body will simply decide to use less calories for the same exact actions to keep/make people fat? Yeah, that makes sense. Also, I hear that if the gremlins that live in my car feel like it they can give me 50 MPG instead of the 28 that I get now.

Where did I say "same exact actions"? It is scientific fact that people who lose weight actually have slower metabolisms than people who are naturally at the lower weight. It is part of the 'starvation response' where your body is defending its fat storage because leptin levels have decreased to deficient levels. Also changes to Calories OUT can be subtle. You can feel unmotivated and lazy, but in reality its your body trying to reduce its caloric expenditure. Also people who are resistant to obesity (ie. teenagers who can eat seemingly unlimited amounts of food) will be highly motivated to be physically active whenever they over-eat as a way for their body to compensate.

So Cals IN and OUT are not indepedent variables. Both are highly influenced by the body.

And who cares? You still need to maintain a deficit to lose weight, regardless of where your metabolism is functioning. Those studies you're referring to only showed a very small difference between the TDEE of the people who lost weight when compared to the people who were light all along. I don't recall the exact figure, but it was somewhere around 5%. Whoopdee freakin doo.

Counting calories is a valuable tool for almost everyone who wants to lose weight. If you managed it without counting, congratulations, you get a gold star. You were still maintaining a caloric deficit, whether you tracked anything or not.

:flowerforyou: Calorie counting has worked for me. It can't be a Monday-Friday thing either. A nutritious diet and exercise is the 'secret' to weight loss. Basically someone who posted here wants us to believe that once we are fat we will always be fat. Not true, don't be discouraged by them or your roommate. I've lost 114 pounds with no pills, shakes or surgery. Keep track of what you eat and what you do, be dilligent and don't give up.:flowerforyou:

Haters keep on hatin':explode:
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Fighting on the internet is like a screen door on a submarine: pointless
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