Stop Counting Calories

[RAE]

Pretty good explanation of why the old "calories in / calories out" explanation for weight loss simply does not work for most people: (short article)



https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/stop-counting-calories

 

[Sunset]

People often lie about how much and what they eat, especially between meals.
Then they only count the meal calories and find lots of reasons why they don't lose weight.

Even that article still refers to calories as an explanation of why people gain weight: "eating processed foods seems to spur people to eat more calories compared with eating unprocessed foods".

I do think the article has good advice: eat natural unprocessed food, sleep, exercise,.....

 

[braumeister]

I do think the article has good advice: eat natural unprocessed food, sleep, exercise,.....

Yes. But IMHO it also has some advice that is less good. Still, it's more reasonable on the whole than most similar pieces.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Counting calories has always worked for me but you have to count everything you eat and drink. One day a week I eat more calories to keep my body from thinking it’s starving.

 

[donheff]

I lost 35 pounds about 6 years ago by changing the food I ate and ignoring the calories. I initially used a LCHF diet and logged everything I ate to monitor the carbs. I didn't limit the amounts I ate, just the carbs. Since I was logging everything I was also able to measure the calories. I learned that, despite eating as much as I wanted, my total daily calories were fairly low. I assumed that eating good, whole foods allowed my body's homeostasis to limit how much I ate without any attention or conscious limits. Since then I have added carbs back into my diet without any weight gain and without any attention to calories. I continue to stay away from highly processed foods. YMMV.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Silly me, I tried eating as much as I want but healthier foods, and didn't lose any weight; then I started counting calories and logging everything, and lost 80 lbs. But somehow I must be doing it wrong!

 

[MRG]

My wife and I dropped 120 pounds measuring and logging our calories.

The biggest thing people do incorrectly is measuring their food. Measuring by volume was giving me 25% more than by a scale. YMMV.

 

[Letj]

Instead of counting calories isn’t easier to cut your portions?

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Instead of counting calories isn’t easier to cut your portions?

Not really, because then you don't know what you're cutting. Or, rather, how much of what you should cut. I mean, it seems obvious that cheese has more calories than lettuce, but what about hard vs. soft cheese? Beer or chips? Part of the idea behind the article, which has a little merit, is that you can eat more healthy, low-calorie foods like vegetables and feel fuller. But before I started counting I had no idea how high in calories pasta was (the same as semisoft cheese per ounce), or that one beer was almost exactly equivalent to one small bag of chips. Healthy or not, some days I'd rather have an ounce and a half less of pasta or cheese, and a beer instead. I wouldn't know those were equivalent if I didn't count calories.

 

[ElizabethT]

I found the article to be deliberately misleading. All advice given leads to a reduction in calories consumed, they just took the really, really long road to get there.

For sure it's easier to stop eating after a bowl full of broccoli that after a bowl full of ice cream, due to the difference in volumes, and the different effects on one's blood sugar.

Did anyone really learn anything they didn't already know before? I personally feel like folk are always looking for that magic pill to avoid the obvious changes that losing weight requires - i.e., consume less calories.

The only way to know for sure is to monitor what you eat. honestly monitor, not aspirationally.

 

[big-papa]

I've been following "The Math Diet" as described here:
https://sciencenordic.com/denmark-d...ctively-with-a-simple-math-based-diet/1441605

If you're an electrical engineer like yours truly, you'll appreciate the control-theory aspect of it. I've lost 15 pounds so far.

Even if you don't understand (or want to understand) control theory, it's still pretty simple. You're not counting carbs or calories. But you are weighing yourself and your food. So this ends up being a form of "portion control" in the end, except the portions are variable.

It starts with the idea that you can't gain any more weight than the weight of the food you put in your body.

1. Decide how much weight you want to lose per week. Divide that by 7 to get your daily weight loss. As most people know, for long term, maintainable weight loss, it's not recommended to target too much weight loss per week.
2. Start the process. Weigh yourself in the morning. Helps to have a set of scales with at least 0.1 lb granularity. Take the difference between your goal weight for the day and your morning weight. That will be the amount of food you are budgeted to eat for the day. I allot the weight to be 25% breakfast, 25% lunch, 50% evening meal.
3. Then eat your calculated amount for breakfast and lunch. Make sure you have a good food scale for this.
4. Just before your evening meal, weigh yourself. Take the difference between your target weight and your current weight. That is the weight of the food you actually get to eat for your evening meal. It should be more than what you originally budgeted because your metabolism has been running all day. This is where, in control theory "the loop is closed".

TIPs
- How to put this delicately... Be consistent with regards to when you weigh yourself and when certain bodily functions tend to occur for you.
- Also be consistent with regards to when you weigh yourself relative to when you drink liquids. For the evening weigh-in, I usually wait at least an hour since I had my last glass of water, for example.
- Also be consistent with regards to weigh-ins and exercise. I exercise late afternoon (cycling), so I do my evening weigh-in just before I go out and cycle to avoid any distortions due to losing water weight due to sweating. The calorie burn due to exercise will then show up as a lower weight the next morning anyway.
- OK, we're basically using weight as a (poor) proxy for calories and/or carbs. I've found that when the food I eat over the course of the day is lower carb and unprocessed, I get to eat quite a bit for the evening meal. Go figure.

Anyway, I find this to be pretty easy and over time I'm already getting a pretty good feel for how much I need to eat. Even if it didn't, I could still use this for overall long term weight management.

One of the main advantages I see for this is that I lose *exactly* the amount of weight per week that I want to, no more, no less.

Your mileage, of course, may vary.

 

[braumeister]

Trying to convince another person that your personal weight loss technique is the right one is like trying to convert them to your religion. It's possible, but very, very difficult and probably not worth your time.

 

[ElizabethT]

BTW- I also rolled my eyes at the advice to 'sleep soundly.' Um, OK, so short of taking drugs how does one actually effect that after reaching a certain age?

I hike/bike/kayak/walk/run six days out of seven, for hours and hours at a time, so I generally fall asleep within minutes. Staying asleep, however, is a whole other baililwick.

 

[big-papa]

Trying to convince another person that your personal weight loss technique is the right one is like trying to convert them to your religion. It's possible, but very, very difficult and probably not worth your time.

Or that your personal investment choices are right for everyone. In either case, YMMV always applies...

 

[Rianne]

I weigh myself every morning when I wake up. My weight varies by 1-2 lbs based on what I ate the day before. I weigh 132, 131, 133 and it rarely varies. I can tell if I have a milkshake, a heavy load of pasta, or an out of the ordinary meal by my weight the following morning. I"m a strong believer in a healthy microbiome. Whole fruits with the skin, vegetables lightly sauteed to keep nutrients, nuts and seeds, variety. Make sure bread and pasta are whole grain. I do not count calories but do follow portion size.

IMHO there is no one healthy diet. I eat cheesecake and junk food every so often but rarely. I do intermittent fasting everyday. So I eat between 7 am - 3 pm and nothing after that. 16 hours of only water or tea, no sugar or sugar substitute.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/hea...ttent-fasting-what-is-it-and-how-does-it-work

"Here are some intermittent fasting benefits research has revealed so far:

• Thinking and memory. Studies discovered that intermittent fasting boosts working memory in animals and verbal memory in adult humans.
• Heart health. Intermittent fasting improved blood pressure and resting heart rates as well as other heart-related measurements.
• Physical performance. Young men who fasted for 16 hours showed fat loss while maintaining muscle mass. Mice who were fed on alternate days showed better endurance in running.
• Diabetes and obesity. In animal studies, intermittent fasting prevented obesity. And in six brief studies, obese adult humans lost weight through intermittent fasting.
• Tissue health. In animals, intermittent fasting reduced tissue damage in surgery and improved results."

 

[sengsational]

The calories in, calories out idea is logical. It's easy to understand. There's no other idea that is as simple and as logical to take it's place. Too bad it's wrong

Not trying to change anyone's opinion, though. I was convinced something was wrong with the theory since I was a kid, and my parents were dieting. Then when Taubes' book came out, that was the stake through the heart.

The article said that when you restrict food quantity, metabolism decreases. I can attest to that. My normal overnight pulse rate is 47. When I'm fasting, it's 42. So I'm getting more "miles per gallon". It's no wonder people can't loose weight when their body goes into "EV mode" when food is scarce.

Overweight is a metabolic disease.

 

[jollystomper]

Did anyone really learn anything they didn't already know before? I personally feel like folk are always looking for that magic pill to avoid the obvious changes that losing weight requires - i.e., consume less calories.

I agree with this to a certain degree. I do think a lot of people are of the mindset "I just want to do ONE thing to lose weight", when in reality it is a number of things. Because it is not just about losing weight, but also being fit. Because IMHO the combination is what will truly help you reach AND stay at your desired weight.

The article did allude to that by summarizing the several things one should work on. No, not new news. But, sometimes it has to be repeated to help people get it.

It is good to count calories if you never have, just to get a handle on what you are consuming. When I first did it, it was an eye opening. Particularly, as what was mentioned above, the calories consumed between meals. Realizing that I was consuming over 1000 calories a day just in soft drinks and candy was an eye opener. Not even my relatively high level of exercises could not justify that. I do not count calories now, because I now understand what type and/or volume of foods I have to avoid, as well as the type/volumes of food I can enjoy without limit. That, in conjunction with the other items mentioned in the article, has help me. But as was also said, it is a personal thing, so YMMV.

 

[braumeister]

a lot of people are of the mindset "I just want to do ONE thing to lose weight", when in reality it is a number of things.

No, not at all.
I just saw a great article the other day that said a local mom discovered you can make your belly fat melt away by just following this one simple trick. Surely it must be true if it's on the internet?

 

[youbet]

Silly me, I tried eating as much as I want but healthier foods, and didn't lose any weight; then I started counting calories and logging everything, and lost 80 lbs. But somehow I must be doing it wrong!

Similar story here. Working with a dietitian and using the free version of the My Fitness Pal app, I lost 70 lbs by counting calories and logging everything I ate. A side benefit is that you also keep track of other inputs such as sodium and your protein/fat/carbs ratio.

Counting calories is really the same thing as portion control.

 

[youbet]

I lost 35 pounds about 6 years ago by changing the food I ate and ignoring the calories. I initially used a LCHF diet and logged everything I ate to monitor the carbs. I didn't limit the amounts I ate, just the carbs. Since I was logging everything I was also able to measure the calories. I learned that, despite eating as much as I wanted, my total daily calories were fairly low. I assumed that eating good, whole foods allowed my body's homeostasis to limit how much I ate without any attention or conscious limits. Since then I have added carbs back into my diet without any weight gain and without any attention to calories. I continue to stay away from highly processed foods. YMMV.

I certainly congratulate you on the weight loss and healthier life style, but when you say your emphasis was on not paying any attention to calories, it seems that actually you did. Didn't the foods you chose to consume in whatever quantities you desired turn out generally to be foods with fewer calories?

Like many of our discussions here on the forum, semantics seem to often be the differentiator. You consume fewer calories because of your food choices. I eat "healthier" foods because calorie counting pointed me in that direction (along with a few hits from the dietitian).

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Similar story here. Working with a dietitian and using the free version of the My Fitness Pal app, I lost 70 lbs by counting calories and logging everything I ate. A side benefit is that you also keep track of other inputs such as sodium and your protein/fat/carbs ratio.

Counting calories is really the same thing as portion control.

Exactly. To me, counting calories is INFORMED portion control, like tracking your spending and saving instead of just hoping it works out.

I'm not saying everyone needs to or even should count calories, but I need to in order to not compulsively eat whatever I want.

 

[SecondCor521]

BTW- I also rolled my eyes at the advice to 'sleep soundly.' Um, OK, so short of taking drugs how does one actually effect that after reaching a certain age?

I hike/bike/kayak/walk/run six days out of seven, for hours and hours at a time, so I generally fall asleep within minutes. Staying asleep, however, is a whole other baililwick.

I'm 51 and male, and have struggled with sleep the past two years or so. There are lots of things that can help. Here's what I've noted as things that work for me:

1. Hard exercise early in the day that tires me out, like weight lifting or sweaty cardio. Sounds like you've got that one figured out.
2. Have a sleep schedule. When I consistently went to bed at a certain time and got up at a certain time, the number of times I got up at night decreased basically at a logarithmic (?) rate: 8 times, 4 times, 2 times, 1 time, zero times. Took about a week though.
3. Cold bedroom. For me this means 69 degrees F or colder. I open my window at night.
4. Avoid caffeine. Although lately I'm doing Earl Grey tea in the morning for hydration reasons and it doesn't seem too bad.
5. Avoid any stimulating medicines. Check what medicines or supplements you take - many are known to interfere with sleep.
6. Hydration. For a while I was waking up at night because I was thirsty. Of course you may need to cut off liquids an hour or two before bedtime, so this is a bit of a scheduling issue.
7. Eating. Don't eat right before bed. Digestion seems to keep one's body somewhat awake.
8. TV/computer/blue light. Don't watch TV or use the computer late at night. Alternatively, use your electronics' blue light filters. Blue light is stimulating.

I also like to read in bed for a while before sleep, which is good for winding down mentally. Although now that I think about it, I may be creating a conflict - you're only supposed to use a bed for sleep and sex according to articles I've read. Hmm.

If you're getting up to go to the bathroom, there could be medical issues that need sorting out there.

It doesn't apply to me since I don't drink alcohol except on very rare occasions, but alcohol can also cause people to wake up at night. So if you're drinking alcoholic beverages, especially in the afternoons or evenings, that could be the culprit.

Some of what I've written above is from my BIL who is a sleep doctor. The rest of it though: not an expert, YMMV, this is just what worked for me.

...

As far as weight goes, I've cut out gluten entirely, and have eliminated added sugars / high sugar food. Down about 12 pounds so far, and with a stable blood sugar the cravings and eating urges (sometimes even when I was full!) are gone, which makes it easy to lose weight. I've also found that weight lifting helps, because muscle burns more calories than fat. Clothes fit better too.

 

[Chuckanut]

Trying to convince another person that your personal weight loss technique is the right one is like trying to convert them to your religion. It's possible, but very, very difficult and probably not worth your time.

Very true. Mostly because what works for one person doesn't work or isn't sustainable for another. I know people who calorie count, eat low fat and it works great for them. For me, it failed.

One odd thing I have found is that food I prepare from scratch seems to cause less weight gain than prepared foods I buy at the store. For example, the bread I make at home does not seem to put on the weight that bread bought at stores does. Maybe it's my own prejudices affecting my judgement. Or maybe my bread (flour, water, salt, yeast) is better than store bought bread with added sugar, dough conditioners, preservatives. etc.

I can't help but notice that Subway got burned in Ireland for selling bread that wasn't legally bread. Ireland says no more than 2% added other stuff (by weight). Subway was about 10% more.

The clincher was the act’s strict provision that the amount of sugar in bread “shall not exceed 2% of the weight of flour included in the dough”.

"Subway’s bread, however, contains five times as much sugar. Or, as the supreme court put it: “In this case, there is no dispute that the bread supplied by Subway in its heated sandwiches has a sugar content of 10% of the weight of the flour included in the dough.”

IOW, Subway's bread was more like cake. What's next, bread slicers that look like the guillotine?

 

[jim584672]

Counting calories works as long as you don't cheat and care about accurate counts. After a while you can get a measure on how many calories you burn in a day.

 

[Katsmeow]

The article has some truths in it. However, it is ultimately misleading in my opinion.

The article is arguing to not count calories for weight loss but to make some behavioral changes. For most people, avoiding ultraprocessed foods will result in less calories eaten.

Calories do matter. If you don't have a calorie deficit (more calories burned then calories consumed) the you won't have lasting weight loss.

The best plan is to pay attention to calories consumed and do the other things she suggested. But, many people (probably most) are terrible at counting calories. And, she is simply reflecting that. I use MyFitnessPal to count calories and haven't missed a day of recording in over 6 years. I am very careful and weigh food at home, etc.

The ultraprocessed stuff is important. What it basically found that people being given ultraprocessed food to eat ate about 500 calories a day more than than people being given less processed to eat. Participants rated the food equally palatable. The big difference was that the ultraprocessed ate their food much more quickly. Also ultraprocessed food does not increase satiety as much as less processed foods.

I recently read Fast Carbs, Slow Carbs by David Kessler which makes this point and discusses this study. He makes a pretty compelling case for limiting ultraprocessed foods because they are usually fast carbs. However, he also makes the unsurprising point that, to lose weight, you still need to cut how much you eat.