Is counting calories a waste of time?
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Ho hum. How many times have I read this same article--well, for about four decades now? I believe Science is a good method for discovery, but not because they get the right answers: it's because they're continually finding out what doesn't work and asking new questions.
Like many others here, I've done it all diet-wise. Somewhere along the line, I adopted the Doctrine of Low-Carb Eating and kept the faith until it became a habit. By now, the only standard I aim for is good health and strength as I get older (and older...and older!) I'll never be 30 again, and I'll never be Martha Stewart in a bathing suit (with considerable cover-up) on the cover of Sports Illustrated (she had a lot of help with that photo!) Whatever environmental or genetic factors may be part of the "obesity epidemic," I'm convinced that calorie counting isn't the method to solve it. Nutritious eating is, and even that won't change the course of nature in your individual body. You might be a big and heavy person after all. I'm not giving anyone a free pass to be "fat." However, investigate the latest fad, whether surgery or injections or restrictive diet, and find out if it's a lifetime commitment you can make that keeps you healthy. Commitment over time will make the best of you. Over and out with the lecture. |
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Spoken like a true male of the species. :rolleyes: Reminds me of how my DH used to "cut back" on his ice cream intake for a week or two and lose 15 lb. He didn't cut out icecream - he merely cut back on it. Meanwhile, I could cut out ice cream altogether and not lose an ounce, because female bodies are geared towards maintaining sufficient fat to sustain a pregnancy and nurse a baby. Our female bodies fight us every step of the way in trying to lose weight. Quote:
I had to google to find out what custard creams are - looks like they're what we'd call cream filled cookies in the US. So he cut out 4 cookies by eating a finger of kit kat (I'm assuming a Kit Kat is the same as in the US - and that by a finger of kit kat he means one section of it) But if 4 cookies was 240 calories, then 1 cookie would be 60 calories, so his 52 calorie finger of kit kat instead of simply cutting back to one 60 calorie cookie. He could have "simply" controlled his cookie intake and eaten only one cookie, since the difference between a finger of kit kat and one cookie is only 8 calories. Quote:
Slightly less pasta or chips. SLIGHTLY less. :bash: Quote:
Oh there we go, my key to losing weight: I'll simply stop having sugar in my coffee... just as soon as I start drinking coffee. Quote:
He hasn't retrained his palate at all - he's changed his behavior by forcing himself to eat smaller portions of the carbs that he obviously loves since he won't give them up altogether. After being off carbs for nearly 2 decades, I absolutely hate the taste of sugar and starch of all kinds, and therefor avoid them, and I don't count calories. We call it low carb, and it is indeed sustainable. |
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I'm 2 decades in too, sustaining this unsustainable low carb diet. I do not struggle with temptation. It's become second nature. |
I have been logging my food in Cronometer for almost a year, not in order to keep calories at a particular level, but out of curiosity.
Most days I am hundreds of calories in surplus according to Cronometer opinion of what a woman of my size, age and activity level should eat. Yet I am at my ideal weight and BMI 21. At 70 I take digestive enzymes to ensure I extract the maximum nutrition from my food; but I am not suffering from a wasting disease. When I pig out, I gain a few pounds. If I kept pigging out week after week I would pile the pounds on like I have in the past (40 above where I am now). It is no coincidence that I am a few months away from my 10th anniversary of intermittent fasting/time restricted eating. CICO does not explain me. |
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I am also over by a few hundred the number of calories Cronometer thinks I should be eating. I use Cronometer for the nutrition info and ignore the calories. My BMI is in the "normal" range. |
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Ditto - I find these public service articles fascinating, as the identical message gets recycled every year by a different journalist replete with expert quotes providing different views. The reader is left with nothing of value. A finger of KitKat instead of four custard creams? I'm with Calianna and Jean, as cutting out sugars and starches is sustainable and a passport to improved health. Quote:
Couldn't have put it better than Spector. |
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