Write down everything you eat and drink and how many calories you are consuming daily.
Then find out how many calories a day you need to consume for your hight and build.
Consume more calories daily than you need, and you will put on weight.
Consume less calories daily than you are “burning” and you loose weight.
It really is that simple, the rest is just conversation.
If only it was as simple as that! Everyone's metabolism is different, sometimes weight loss stalls or plateaus, sometimes you have to shake things up, eat more calories, eat less calories, take more exercise, just to get things moving again. It's whatever works for you. This is why the 'conversation ' is important, because sometimes you believe you are doing all the right things but it's not working. That's why this forum is so important. If there was one size fits all it would be easy peasy.
Hi FitGym,
Losing thoes 28lbs is simple maths then. 😁. Good luck with the 12 week plan , I know many people who have had great success with it.
Need any moral support we're all here to help.
Jopo
I'm not saying Calorie counting doesn't work as It does and this is how the majority of people have lost weight and your advise is good.. but saying it's 'simple'... well it isn't !
We all know the rule of "you need to reduce your food intake" but it really isn't that simple and if it was we wouldn't need this forum !
Everyones metabolism is different and BMI measurement should only be a guide as they don't take into account the amount of muscle a person has or whether they are taking any medication.... etc
like a lot of people i've tried every diet going for most of my life and they were all about reducing calories and some worked and some didn't but none of them were sustainable for life for me...... So our bodies react differently to different diets..
Me...I'm following low carb for the 1st time ever and I'm fealing great and in control of my food intake... . and I dont calorie count at all and I'm still losing weight.
So I think it's all about the type of food you eat and what works best for your body and for me cutting out bread/pasta/rice seems to be the best thing for my body type .. I used to suffer a lot from bloating & bad stomachs everyday but since cutting out the carbs it is so much better and that is probably why this type of diet works well for me as I don't feel uncomfortable anymore.
This is obviously what works for me at the moment and is my opinion only on my body type... So i think people should experiment and find the diet that works best for their bodies & lifestyle and not be pigeonholed to the same number on a calculator because of their weight, age, gender & height.
Good luck to you with starting your diet x
Counting calories and keeping within a certain range does work, it's true. I did exactly as you suggest for 9 months; I noted down everything I had to eat and drink and I did lose a considerable amount of weight. However, I did get quite obsessive about it, checking everything and I probably bored the pants off everyone! I now just try to eat what I know is healthy, fresh fruit & veg etc and never cake, sweets or chocolate etc. Time alone will see how well that works.
Good luck to you whatever way you choose to shed those unwanted pounds, if it suits you that's all that matters.
I agree with writing everything down and being accountable but agree with others in that it's not simple! !! The 'conversation' is essential, ☺
Hi FitGym,
I think you are missing the point of this forum. There's another forum I could mention where every other post is a CICO lecture (calories in calories out) - and I've also seen them mock people for spelling mistakes - not somewhere I'd like to post! This forum is about friendly support.
I think most of us are aware that in order to lose weight energy out must be more than energy in. Calories are a measure of energy in food and the calorie content of a food is determined by burning it under laboratory conditions and measuring how much heat is given off. That's a scientific measure but our bodies are more complex than a laboratory, and CICO does not take into account variables such as genetic differences, age, illness (just to name a few)
I'm not knocking calorie counting, it's a very useful guide and the best we have and it works! But there are going to be some individual differences. Biology does not always equal simple maths.
Basing weight loss purely on CICO whilst theoretically do-able also has some other limitations e.g. It doesn't take into account:
all the many psychological reasons people have gained weight and struggle to stick to it,
the people who have a medical condition which might make weight loss slower and more difficult who might need more moral support to not get discouraged
the people who are seeing weight loss as one part of becoming generally healthier and are interested in the quality of the calories they eat not just the sum total.
This is where all the "conversations" come in and many people find them extremely important. And I wouldn't want this forum to change its ethos where everyone is welcome if they have respect for others 😀
I get what you say and I like the directness. It seems to me that my mind finds a meaning in every situation and then I believe it; it is what my mind does. And a conversation is what my mind creates. How I deal with it, is the hard work. :))
This wonderful website is full of helpful people, emotional support, practical suggestions and accurate information to deal with the 'conversation'.
ps any comments about diet + exercise?
Balancing calories in versus calories out is a necessary process to stay the right weight. For ever. But long term, in maintenance, you can decide whether to carry on counting calories or just learn to "estimate" by portion size, or exercise like crazy ...whatever it takes to balance the maths.
Through forums like this lots of people are learning new ways to approach a healthier way of living and sometimes we need to try (and fail) at one method before we find the right way.
All I can say is that it took me until my early sixties to fully understand about calories in/out, to abandon gimmick diets, and to measure and record my intake properly. I reached my target BMI of 22.5 in 2015 and have maintained it for the past 18 months ....I still weigh myself weekly and record what I eat most days, because at my age/size I have to stick to about 1500-1600 to maintain, and I don't think I'd ever manage that by guesswork 😊
Thank you FitGym for provoking conversation. You are as amazing as everyone else on this website and I wish you well.
Yes a good debate! Some foods keep you fuller for longer, making keeping to a calorie controlled plan easier, plus obviously you need to eat the right things to keep yourself healthy.The group support on here is helpful and friendly. Creating healthy eating habits and a new sustainable lifestyle takes time and any info picked up on how to do that on here is valuable.
What is loosing weight as opposed to losing weight?
People use both lose and loose on this forum to mean exactly the same thing; it's just the spelling that is different.
As far as the dictionary goes, loose is the opposite of tight (my clothes are a lot looser now than they used to be) and to lose something means that you cannot find it (personally I don't want to find my surplus weight ever again!) , but as long as we all agree that, in this context, both "lose" and "loose" are being used to mean "get rid of" - as in weight - that is fine. x
I can see that the CICO method really works for some people, but I just can't get motivated to calorie count. Fortunately I have a broad idea of what calorie value most foods have simply from years of on/off weight-watching, and it is a simple fact that when I eat cakes, chocolate and cheese daily I put on weight, and when I don't I lose it! Okay, so the losing is aided by upping my exercise, eating more fruit and veg, watching portion sizes and drinking less wine too, but it's not far from the truth. So for me, a long-term sustainable way of eating will mean being to be able to enjoy those things from time to time without feeling "well, I'd better have the last one or two now, because I'm not going to have any more for ages"!
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