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I would be much more enthusiastic about keeping this type of journal instead of counting anything. Have you lost weight doing this?
I've been into working out my entire life (or for as long as I can remember) but I have known people who have used this as a sort of jumping off point for weight los....it is sooo important to know where, when and when you are eating unhealthy, so yes, I really think this is an awesome excersize for beginers! I know that counting calories is sooooo boaring and time consuming but knowing you DCI (daily caloric intake) is so important if you are trying to loose weight. DCI + DCE (Daily calories expended) = weight loss. I have a great site for you too, might help a bit.
Is there a free online support group for people who are counting calories? Too bad City Data doesn't have a forum just for that...I certainly visit this site often enough!
For those of you who have done Weight Watchers, what was better about counting points instead of calories?
Something might be low in calories but also low in fiber/nutrition and thus about as effective and nourishing as sawdust. On the other hand, there are plenty of other foods that are actually higher in calories/fat but are nutritious and sustaining---like avocado---and are excellent for diets.
Totally agree... I try and make sure I eat the right amounts of fiber/protien/fats... The more fiber you eat the better... TOO much Protien and Fats are not healthy on the kidneys or heart....I worry about Cals after I have made sure of the other three...but if it is way too high I pass it by... I also do not drink my calories... I find that wasteful... I would rather have an ice water and EAT something- it gives me so much more satisfaction to actually CHEW something.... LOL
Body fat systems operate over a year or more. Not meal to meal, day to day or month to month.
Weight watchers manages weekly consumption. While I sometimes get an odd result in a given week (zero loss in a week when I didnt eat my weekly extra points, over a pound lost in a week when I did eat them) over time the loss has been steady. AFAIK the vast majority of people who do WW and STICK with it, manage to lose, and to do so steadily. I someone people who regained after leaving WW - but she not only wasnt tracking any more, she was avoiding looking at a scale
Calorie lables themselves are off by as much as 25 % (potato chips) to 80 %(cheese cursl) in certain cases.
As i have always said when counting WW points - look, sometimes I will estimate high, sometimes low - it will all wash in the end. And by not eating all my weekly extra points, or all my exercise points, I have slack anyway. Im not real worried about a minor error in a label.
I can see this WOULD be a problem if you only ate ONE food all week. I can't consider that a healthy or sustainable approach though.
Well all I can say is I count calories and have lost 45 Lbs since November. I write down everything I eat with the associated calories in a little book I keep with me.
At my weight 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
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.
My doctor said I was the poster child for weight loss, and asked me how I was doing it on a consistent basis; I told him writing down everything keeps me honest. If you cheat, you are only cheating yorself, and in reality nothing will work then.
While I may have started my diet (hate to use that word) by Counting calories, overall, counting calories has forced me to relook what I was eating and my eating habits.
Some folks challenge or do not agree that counting calories works, but in the end, I am not just simply counting calories, I have transitioned to a better life style.
Bottom line: It works for me and my wife, and that's all we are concerned with.
I would be much more enthusiastic about keeping this type of journal instead of counting anything. Have you lost weight doing this?
You still have to know the values of what you're putting into your journal. You won't lose even half a pound..
if all you're doing is putting in:
Breakfast: 2 pieces of wheat toast with butter, a mug of coffee, sugar and milk
Lunch: cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato, side salad with balsamic vinegrette, diet coke.
Dinner: boneless chicken breast, brown rice, lemon water, scoop of ice cream.
You need to know about the sauce you put on that chicken breast. Was it made with olive oil? Did it have fatback in it? If it's from a jar, did it have sugar/corn syrup in it? How much was on there?
Writing down what you eat, doesn't tell you whether or not you're eating enough, too much, not enough, or all the wrong kinds of food. You need SOME measurements. Even if they're near estimates. You need to know approximately how many calories. OR how many grams of fat. OR how many carbs. Or a combination. That salad dressing? You might be using WAY too much, and it could be sabotaging your entire attempt to get to a healthy weight.
But if all you're doing is writing down how many teaspoons you put on the salad, you won't know if it's too much or not, because you don't know how much each teaspoon is worth, in dietary language. If a teaspoon of your special balsamic vinegrette contains 30 calories and 5 grams of fat each, then you know that IF you want to cut back on fats, then cutting back 1 teaspoon of the dressing, will reduce your daily intake by 5 grams.
Even then, it won't help if you don't know how many grams it takes to add another pound of fat to your body, given your current exercise regime, your metabolism, your current weight/height/bone structure, and overall health.
So there's more to it than simply writing down what you eat. You have to know what those notes MEAN.
Weight watchers is helpful because it gives point values to foods; it does all the calorie counting for you. It says something like: You're allowed 6 points of this, 3 points of that, and 4 points of that every day. - That chicken parm is worth 2 points of meat, 1 point of veggies, 1 point of sugars/fats. All you have to do is make sure that you don't go over the points.
Last edited by AnonChick; 05-17-2011 at 06:25 PM..
Weight watchers is helpful because it gives point values to foods; it does all the calorie counting for you. It says something like: You're allowed 6 points of this, 3 points of that, and 4 points of that every day. - That chicken parm is worth 2 points of meat, 1 point of veggies, 1 point of sugars/fats. All you have to do is make sure that you don't go over the points.
just to clarify
WW hasnt been doing "protein exchanges" "veggie exchanges" etc for years. Now its just points (actually Points Plus TM) And veggies (other than starchy tubers) are zero points. They encourage you to get a mix of food groups/macronutrients, but you no longer have to track them (it seems that complexity in tracking has been the biggest obstacle, and AFAICT most of the recent changes have been to make tracking easier)
And while its not the WW approach, I would suggest that even journaling WITHOUT estimating calories/points can be helpful, at least in the more extreme cases. You may not be sure how many calories are in a scoop of ice cream - but you sure will say "OMG! I had a whole CONTAINER of ice cream!" When I was at my peak weight, I was eating in ways that even simple journaling with no numbers would have hinted was a bad idea. I did change that (without journaling though) and lost a good bit of weight - but then I plateaued while still overweight.
Of course if somone cant tell that a huge bowl of salad is less calories than a huge bowl of ice cream, I guess that approach wouldnt help.
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LOL
