Doing one thing different
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| Sun, 04-25-2004 - 1:25pm |
Anyway, I've been counting calories and it is NOT working. I do well and get obsessive, then I get bingey and in the end (as with every diet) I end up gaining weight. So, I know I need to take a more behavioral strategy. So, I am hereby vowing to do only one thing different. From now on I am vowing to only eat when I am truly rumbly-tummy hungry. I know that making this one change will make a big difference to me. Even when I count calories or do ww or atkins I find myself eating when I'm not hungry because I have the calories or points or whatever. This behavior needs to end. So, I'm coming out here and stating that this is my new goal. Y'all can feel free to ask me how it's going because I probably need it.
Anyone else have one thing they really need to focus on?
Erin


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It's basic, really. What goes in must come off. It's up to you (as it is for every individual) to make room for the food you love by exercising and by practicing portion control. And again, it is all a matter of calories in and calories out. To lose weight anyone must burn off more calories than he/she consumes, and consume roughly the same amount of calories each day.
>>You obviously have no metabolic issues and your body is a perfectly efficient machine.<<
Nice of you to say, but that has nothing to do with it. Rather, I just don't give "I'll never make it" a voice in my life. I follow through on my commitment to try, and therefore I succeed.
The important thing to remember in weight loss (or gain) is that you hold all the cards. Just start shuffling and lay out your best hand. Make a plan and follow through, and you'll succeed. Don't, and you won't. It's elementary, really. And it all hinges on basic biology: every animal on this planet(and humans are animals) burns calories as fuel. So the objective is to take in no more calories than the body needs to function at peek performance. Eat too much, you gain. Eat less and/or exercise more and you lose. Very simple, very predictable, and you're completely in charge of outcome.
Wisdom is but choosing....wisely!
forte
Edited 5/5/2004 4:27 pm ET ET by forte10
It is because it's NOT just calories for every person. Metabolism obviously does have something to do with it, since that's how you burn the cals. I don't have an "I'll never make it" attitude. In fact, I KNOW I WILL, because I'm smart enough not to buy the calorie bull and to know that a low-carb plan, such as Atkins or SBD, is important if I AM to succeed, because I am smart enough to take my insulin resistance into account and act accordingly. I consider basing a plan around my own personal health and metabolism the key to success. Doing it your way did nothing for me. Doing it mine, does.
I HAVE made a plan, I AM following through, and I AM succeeding. But I don't count calories. How is it that I am succeeding? By your logic, I'm not.
I am, however, completely in charge of the outcome. And I am SO glad I'm doing it the right way, for me.
Forte10 is absolutely right, and you can understand that much with just a basic science course (biology). It IS all a matter of calories in, calories out. And nothing new has been discovered in that regard, well, ever. It is JUST calories for every person, and as the poster explained, for every living ANIMAL on this planet.
Sometimes people make excuses for why they gain, why they aren't losing. But in every case known to mankind......well, calories are the cause. If you want to gain weight, consume more calories than you expend. If you want to lose weight, consume less. So it's always been and always will be. And that's the facts.
No really.
Ever notice that people often use a unique sort of sentence structure? Perhaps their tendency to use commas in particular ways?
Oh boy, this is a funny one.
Erin
Mom
Really? The ONLY answer? When I first read her post, the first thing that popped into my head was that she was possibly eating TOO FEW calories for her activity level.
"but what you are saying just doesn't jive with scientific FACT"
Only if you believe that SCIENCE has discovered everything there is to know about metabolism. No reputable scientist claims that metabolism is fully understood. Do you? What are your credentials for making such a claim?
"and if indeed you were eating that amount, were obese and NOT losing, then you would have been a first for humankind and written up in science journals."
LOL. She wouldn't have been the first, and how silly of you to think otherwise! Lots of people experience plateaus in their weight loss that are broken by increasing (yes, increasing) caloric intake. The metabolic system has been shaped by several million years of evolution, and given the historic inadequacy of the food supply, humans have a built-in mechanism for maintaining their weight even when caloric intake is low.
"you can understand that much with just a basic science course (biology)."
Scientists with Ph.Ds understand that the metabolic system is far, far more complicated than they realize, and vastly more complex than the simplistic formula YOU describe. I'd be happy to read any cutting-edge research YOU'VE conducted on metabolism and caloric intake. Let me know what you've got.
"It IS all a matter of calories in, calories out."
And yet in small studies, those on low carb diets lost more weight eating more calories than those on traditional low fat/low calorie diets. Who knows yet whether these results can be duplicated in larger studies, but they do suggest exactly what I've been discussing here: that metabolism is a VERY complex internal mechanism for regulating body weight, and it's certainly not very simple.
Caloric needs vary dramatically from one person to the next. How many people truly understand how many calories they require to lose weight, gain weight, or maintain their weight? Every pound you lose or gain alters your caloric needs. Your caloric needs change as you grow older, as you become more or less active, when you build muscle, when you're pregnant, when you're nursing and so on.
Now, if you're of low mental capacity, saying "calories in vs. calories out" will suffice; it's like telling someone "a car engine runs when you turn the ignition key." Both statements are superficially true, but they demonstrate a marked inability to understand and explain interrelated and highly complex systems (the human body in the former and an automobile's internal combustion engine in the latter). Thus, the pomposity of your statements and tone is unwarranted given the relative simplicity of your insights.
So, do the scientific facts regarding insulin resistance and metabolism count?
I've never heard of that. I'll have to check it out.
Erin
Mom
Have YOU ever eaten when you weren't hungry ? Have you ever eaten out of happines, joy, sadness, stress or boredom ? Do you see food only as a fuel source and not something that nourishes you mind and soul as well?
I would be very interested in what input you have on this matter.
Thank You,
Amy
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