Is really just as simple as calories in, calories out?

[Easterfunbun]

To lose weight?

Honestly I’ve just read so much conflicting information now that I just don’t even know what to believe in.

I have just finished reading “why we eat too much” written by Dr A.Jenkins. It certainly did resonate, but upon further reading he is coming from an insulin model, not a calorie deficit model. He doesn’t totally advocate cutting carbs, however he does say we should reduce them. Okay, goes without saying but then he also says it’s not just as simple as calories in and calories out.

Yet, that is all I hear. So, is it really the only way to lose? If I do this, will I mess up my metabolism long term?

Horribly, horribly confused and I’ve totally lost the ability to eat intuitively. I know people say food is food, but there is a hierarchy isn’t there? I don’t think we can deny that. Sadly.

Send help!…. This is seriously impacting me now. I just want to be healthy.

First off, discipline needed, and the right mindset to go with it.

But secondly, you don't need to be perfect, fast from it. Just accountable.

Start tracking calories obsessively for 3 months. You'll fine tune yourself into what calories are in things without having to with everything.

Get yourself lifting weights if you can. As much as you can up to 4 times a week. Once or twice will do if that's all you can do. Commit to walking. As much as you can, but prioritise lifting.

80% of the results comes from the kitchen. But, the 20% in the gym makes the kitchen easier.

Consider though- a bariatric surgeon.

someone whose job is performing surgery to reduce stomach size so people eat less.

if the diet theories in the book really work, and work that easily, why aren’t all his patients simply following that advice rather than undergoing surgery to lose weight?

there’s a lot of theories about diet and metabolism. Most are very reductive and sound like they make sense, but in reality it’s too complicated to be that easy.

insulin isn’t as simple as the “lower carbs, lower insulin, lower fat storage” idea. Insulin’s main action is to facilitate glucose uptake into cells. If there is more glucose than the cells need for fuel, then insulin converts the excess into fat. If there is no excess, there is no fat storage, whatever your insulin levels are doing. If there is a deficit, then your body breaks down fat for energy.

I’m 34, I have three children, youngest is 8 now. Snapped back into shape fairly quickly after following diets such as “3 bowls of cereals a day” interspersed with some
periods of normal eating/over eating. Now I seem to be struggling to lose. In that, my cravings and hunger seem to have increased so I’m finding it hard to reduce my calories. I don’t want to go back to the days of ridiculous fads and I also don’t want to damage my metabolism like this book has told me 🤦‍♀️.

I’ve just got myself into a bit of a rut.

No it doesn't. The human body doesn't act like a central heating boiler. Trying to apply thermodynamics just doesn't make sense.

How accurate do we think these Fitbit’s are in terms of calories burnt?

Pretty good, within 5%. I checked it in several different ways. You need to give the fitbit honest info about your birthdate, current mass, age, sex. Obviously your mass could decrease.

@lljkk

Ahh okay, yes I’m definitely honest. Should I aim for a 500 a day defecit and see how I get on?

The ableist bollox comes in when they try to get you to naturally self regulate. Fine, when your hormones are all in good order. Absolutely not happening for many of us. When mine are correctly medicated I naturally lose weight. When they aren't I put it on so fast it defies the laws of physics. Therefore I advocate calorie counting - measuring and recording your food - for a period of time to keep you in touch with the nutritional content of your food. Also a six month controlled calorie diet will often help with insulin resistance and lepton resistance.

Calorie counting helps you take control of your body. If you use a proper guidelines formula for calorie allowance plus if you exercise use a decent heart rate monitor, you can get what you consume to line up with what you lose (or put on). Lots of work, but I'd rather put in the work than rely on the magic thinking of diet clubs and dieticians -, mine made me fatter for sure.

Yep. But finding what works for you to do this is the key. Also it's the maintaining part that's difficult, that's the part you need to figure out, losing weight is relatively 'easy', keeping it off it the hard part.

I know what you mean OP. I get confused by it all too.

If I have a lovely healthy bowl of porridge, with flaxseed, chia seeds and pumpkin seeds at 7am, I am hungry again at 10. By 11 I am so hungry I am HANGRY and have to eat lunch.

Full of fibre, full of protein. So why am I hangry three hours later?

This morning I had halloumi and egg scramble and I was still so full at 1pm I had a bowl of tomato soup and that was all I could manage!

Calorie wise I have done so much better today than usual due to the breakfast I had.

I don't think the porridge is protein heavy, it's mostly carbs. The eggs definitely has more and so accounts for feeling fuller.

Focus on calories you put in. You can actually lose weight without exercising at all. If you are then exercising for fitness it’s a bonus.

@TwitTwooTooYou

Yep do love to exercise just currently knee deep in a Uni dissertation so not been moving much. Also mindless eating whilst at the computer. I do have a Fitbit that I wear everyday and my stats are accurate so I’m going to aim for a 500 a day reduction in my total expenditure and see how I get on. I do think I need to take back some control and I think this is the way to do it. Despite really enjoying the book 🤦‍♀️.

@daffodilandtulip that is so true 😫

@bumpytrumpy I track everything on Nutracheck and it clocks up to 17g of protein with the flaxseed, which I thought was pretty decent! But yes, way more carbs than the eggs and very similar calorie count.

Yes it is that simple. To put it at its basest level in famine situations people starve to death. If you consume less calories than your metabolism uses you will lose weight. If you are not losing weight, you need to either have less calories or burn more. Eat less, more more.

Definitely not. Weight gain and loss has been shown to be affected by the amount of sleep you have, whether the calories are from ultra-processed or unprocessed food, and many other things.

I have been looking at diet from a health perspective and concluded that the more I minimise ultra-processed food the better. Since I've been doing this I've lost weight although that wasn't my goal.

I don't know if it would help you but how I'd deal with the hangry is I'd have had a cup of tea with one small teaspoon of sugar in at 10am and an apple at 11am, lunch at 12.30pm then there'd be no hangry and hardly any hungry. 3hrs is about the longest I go without eating once I've started.

OP if I'm wanting to lose weight I do 1/2lb to 1lb weekly by skipping breakfast.

I'd still have my snacks because I'm not into depriving myself: 2 biscuits, 1 piece fruit, 1 small packet crisps, cup of tea with that one sugar in, full glass of fruit juice that's been mixed 50/50 with water. I'd space the snacks/meals out more to account for no breakfast.

The rest of the drinks are water, squash, herbal tea. The other two meals whatever, but always something healthy-ish. Eg not takeaway or cake, it would include carb, protein, vegetables.

Once I've lost the weight I can add in breakfast again and maintain where I am. If I put on weight it's because I've been eating more crisps, biscuits and cake. Being tired and having a sweet tooth is my downfall. I keep track of my weight by the tightness of my clothes, I don't buy the next size up I lose the excess weight it's only ever half a stone max

In a word: yes.

If your body takes in more energy than it expends, then it stores the excess as fat.

If your body takes in less energy than it needs, then the extra energy has to come from somewhere, so stored fat is converted to energy.

That's it.

@Easterfunbun

I've been following the Jenkins plan for a couple of years and it's been brilliant. I eat lots of cheese, very little sugar, don't miss it, and have lost 10 lbs. bmi of 22. So happy.

I'm convinced that while in a certain sense it's obviously calories in minus calories out, you have very little control over calories out and only limited control over calories in.

A bit more reading around suggests to me that he is definitely onto something in the following areas;

1. the body clearly has mechanisms for controlling its own weight, though it makes changes very gradually.

2. sugar may mess with this process because insulin and leptin (the hormone that tells your body it's fat) compete for receptors. This seems speculative but plausible.

3. you can't control calories out (read Burn by Herman pontzer for some powerful evidence of this).

Yes it is.
obviously it’s more complicated because the reasons people overeat are varied and it’s not easy to overcome these reasons sometimes. I do think hormones can make you feel hungry or crave calorie laden food. Which on it’s own would be ok but chocolate on top of meals and other snacks is just too much.

Im an unhealthy example. From childhood all the way to mid 20s, even after I’d had dc, I was stick thin. Not healthy but thin. I ate very little and survived off chocolate and pasta. I ate very little but what I did eat was basically sugar and carbs.
I put weight on as I entered my 30s, I started a different office based job and was being cooked more nutritious but larger meals by my dh. I struggled to shift the weight for about 3 years despite going to the gym and walking every day. I recently returned to my unhealthy eating ways, chocolate and pasta but very little of it, and I have not exercised at all in a few months. I have lost 2 stone in less than a month ! I’m not saying this is healthy at all but it shows me and others that it literally is the amount we eat not what we eat.

I’m just a bit exhausted by all the information.
It all just heavily conflicts so much and there’s a lot of theories, experts, advice, I’m just honestly so exhausted with it all.

It heavily depends on what you're trying to do and what your goals are.

Weight loss and fat loss are two very different things, and I think this is where a lot of confusion derives from.

Anybody can lose weight if they stay within a calorific deficit. You can eat McDonalds every day and still lose weight if your in a deficit. You will be lighter on the scales, but your body composition isn't going to change and you will become 'skinny fat' as a result. Of course, if you're happy to do a bit of exercise, eat healthily, keep in a deficit to drop weight to be lighter on the scales, fit into your clothes better and feel healthier, then that's fine.

BUT

If you want to change your body, i.e. - get lean and build muscle, then pick up a weight and start training properly. Keep in a deficit, and focus on your macros (carbs, fats and protein).

You must first decide on what you want to do.

I’ve done it all. Over 40 has been impossible. I run a lot but exercise increases my cortisol =25kg increase. I’m trying to balance that with an anti inflammatory diet. Might be my last year running. I’m gluten, sugar and dairy free and exercise a lot. Was an under water for a long time so you can also get fat under eating. So calories in and out isn’t always as simple as that.