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Thank you! I never counted calories, also have found high protein/low carb to be the ticket......like the article says in the OP!
Quote:
Originally Posted by yellowsnow
I was a calorie counter for decades. And I was fat. I finally proved to myself that calorie counting doesn't work and all calories are not created equal by doing the Baskin Robbins diet that I invented myself. I ate one pint of Baskin Robbins per day and water. I did this for 30 days. The pint I ate equaled 1000 calories. And I took a good vitamin. I gained weight. That was the end of my slavish devotion to calorie counting. It wasn't working anyway!
What did work for me was Atkins. And I'm not fat anymore. That was the answer for me.
When used with some common sense counting calories can help people (or at least me! ) construct a proper meal plan. Any diet plan requires at least a minimum of common sense and knowledge.
Common sense means that a single 1500 calorie meal of french fries as your sole diet is a bad idea. Common sense means you shouldn't feel like you're starving at any point. A little knowledge will cue you in to the fact that a lot of carbs and fat are not the best idea.
I count calories (and carbs, protein, fat, etc.) using an app. I find that if I use common sense (3 meals a day, 3 snacks a day) and a little knowledge (eat veggies a couple times a day, include some protein with each meal), counting calories is a pretty reliable way of making sure I eat healthy.
My goal is to stay at about 1400-1450 calories a day. I find that even without specifically counting anything other than calories most unhealthy foods are high enough in calories to not fit into my goal without violating principals of common sense (i.e., not starving later in the day, eating a few meals and snacks). My experience is that it's natural to eat more veggies and lean meats because they keep you full without breaking your goal limit. If you really stick to your goals you'll HAVE to avoid most really unhealthy things (like sodas) unless you want to starve the rest of the day because you used up your calorie limit on a bunch of crap!
The idea of "counting calories" has also come a long way with technology. The app I use has a scanner so you can scan barcodes quickly, eliminating the note-keeping hassle. Also, it automatically counts carbs, protein, and fat so even though I say I'm "counting calories" you can tell if you're breaking the bank with too many carbs.
a peanut butter and jelly sandwich made with the recommended serving size of each ingredient (2 tablespoons peanut butter, 1 tablespoon jelly, 2 slices bread) has about 370 calories or pure deliciousness.
When used with some common sense counting calories can help people (or at least me! ) construct a proper meal plan. Any diet plan requires at least a minimum of common sense and knowledge.
Common sense means that a single 1500 calorie meal of french fries as your sole diet is a bad idea. Common sense means you shouldn't feel like you're starving at any point. A little knowledge will cue you in to the fact that a lot of carbs and fat are not the best idea.
I count calories (and carbs, protein, fat, etc.) using an app. I find that if I use common sense (3 meals a day, 3 snacks a day) and a little knowledge (eat veggies a couple times a day, include some protein with each meal), counting calories is a pretty reliable way of making sure I eat healthy.
My goal is to stay at about 1400-1450 calories a day. I find that even without specifically counting anything other than calories most unhealthy foods are high enough in calories to not fit into my goal without violating principals of common sense (i.e., not starving later in the day, eating a few meals and snacks). My experience is that it's natural to eat more veggies and lean meats because they keep you full without breaking your goal limit. If you really stick to your goals you'll HAVE to avoid most really unhealthy things (like sodas) unless you want to starve the rest of the day because you used up your calorie limit on a bunch of crap!
The idea of "counting calories" has also come a long way with technology. The app I use has a scanner so you can scan barcodes quickly, eliminating the note-keeping hassle. Also, it automatically counts carbs, protein, and fat so even though I say I'm "counting calories" you can tell if you're breaking the bank with too many carbs.
This is probably one of the best ways to explain it without getting too technical that I've seen.
Although I don't count calories, I've found eating higher calorie meals 1-2 days a week works better than shooting for the same amount of calories day in and day out. If you eat 1500 calories a day for months or years on end your metabolism will plateau.
Just so everyone knows, everyone burns a different amount of calories at resting. There are calorie resting tests offered in most cities and are accurate. That way you know how many calories you burn at resting. You can't just say I'm going to eat "X" amount of calories to loose weight, because you have no clue how much you burn at resting.
The nutritionist where I work says that a lot of overweight patients at resting only burn around 900 calories at resting because their muscle mass is so low from low activity levels. On the contrary, she has seen people that are active with a a good amount of muscle mass burn 1600 calories at resting. On average she says that most people burn about 1200 calories at resting. It's called metabolic calorie testing...usually runs about $60 at most places. Just FYI. Once you start building muscle, you have to increase your calories because your metabolism is increasing.
Although I don't count calories, I've found eating higher calorie meals 1-2 days a week works better than shooting for the same amount of calories day in and day out. If you eat 1500 calories a day for months or years on end your metabolism will plateau.
WW recommends getting a minimum number of calories (29 WW points plus) every day, and not shifting those points from day to day (you can shift your weekly points around) my wife and I follow this and we have been steadily losing weight. We have a friend who attends WW but will often eat too little one day, and too much the next - her loss has been much slower and spottier. Thats only anecdotal of course, but still.
I dont see why metabolism plateauing is a problem. As long as at that plateau you are eating less than you metabolize. While I think very low intake that causes the body to adjust by metabolizing less is probably bad, I would think that trying to manipulate the body with deliberately uneven calorie intake would be bad too - no studies, it just sounds unnatural to me.
BTW - I am now within 2.5 pounds of my original goal weight - yay!
Well all I can say is I count calories and have lost 35 Lbs since November. I write down everything I eat with the associated calories in a little book I keep with me. I can have 1,200 calories a day, and stick to that during the week; I allow my self to relax a little over the weekend, where I can have 1,700 calories. So far it's working for me. My wife is also counting calories
Calorie countimg has forced us to take a serious look at what we eat, and to maintain portion control.
Yeah, it's a little old fashioned writing in a little book, but as someone above noted, simply seeing those numbers has kept me honest and served me well.
Counting calories may not work for some, and some may say it's too difficult, but I am still counting calories and am now down 43Lbs. I also still use my little book to write down everything.
Calorie counting is not useless at all. It's useful in conjunction with reducing fat intake and exercise. If I'm 5'5", small boned, and weigh 230 pounds, and I'm eating 2800 calories a day, I know that reducing my calorie intake 1000 calories to a total of 1800 calories per day instead, is going to increase my chances of losing weight. I ALSO know that 230 pounds IS overweight, and that even if I am a professional weight-lifter, 230 pounds for a 5'5" small-boned frame is too much weight and that I need to lose.
ONE METHOD of losing - is to count calories.
ANOTHER method is to count carbs.
ANOTHER method is to count fat.
ANOTHER method is to increase exercise.
ANOTHER method is to eliminate all flour and sugar.
ANOTHER method is to eat only twinkies.
There are lots of methods, and they ALL result in weight loss. Whether the loss is short or long term, depends on whether a person changes their lifestyle after the loss. The weight doesn't magickally just show up again a week after losing 50 pounds by counting calories. It -will- show up again, if the person who lost it, returns to eating that 2800 calorie per day diet of Big Macs, fries, and nachos, and stops getting exercise.
In other words, the weight doesn't return because of the type of diet they were on. It returns because of what they did when they decided they were done with the diet.
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) construct a proper meal plan. Any diet plan requires at least a minimum of common sense and knowledge.
