Did you all see this in "Healthy Eating"?
It is a long read - but interesting.
1843magazine.com/features/d...
Many of us here find that what works (without counting calories) is a combination of The Low Carbohydrate, High-Fat (LCHF) diet (see the forum here on Health Unlocked) and Not Eating All Day AKA Intermittent Fasting (IF). See:
Thanks for sharing that - an excellent piece
Great read, thank you 
x
Very long article! But very interesting. I think many of us know this now. Just a shame the powers that be have no appetite (no pun intended!) for further research.
Most "research" is just looking for experimental studies on the internet... but, when they do some actual experimental research, they always test for one parameter, e.g. LCHF or IF... when what works best is a combination of both IF and LCHF.
Very interesting read. How many of us have felt that we are complete failures when it comes to dieting? I can’t help counting calories, even though I want to follow the LCHF ethos. I’m going to be brave and ditch the calorie counting app and just write (paper and pen) down what I eat and how I feel, how much energy I have and what sort of sleep I get.
I have decided to do the same. I was leaning towards that this past week as I have become slightly jaded with the calorie counting. I have put on 2lbs this week but I'm not upset. I think my week of meals out and celebrations for a relative's birthday have finally caught up. No surprise there.
I have been counting calories since my 20’s and I’m 63 now and I’m heavier than when I started! In the article it says that Weightwatchers are the only ones who don’t use calories but I don’t agree. I’m sure their ‘points’ are based on calorific values. 🤔
I'm sure you are correct. How else could a point system work otherwise?
If everyone who has realised this keeps banging on maybe eventually the "Powers that be" will HAVE to take notice!
The "Powers that be" now try to only react to large peer-reviewed double-blind studies... and still base "all advice" on Ancel Keys' biased observational study... from nearly 50 years ago.
Technically, a counted calorie is no more harmful than one you have not counted? Counting calories does no harm - but I think it does not do much good either.
I will take the time to read this. I find the whole calorie thing very distressing.
Me too Hidden . A couple of days ago my OH remarked that things he was told to be true as a child seem to have been a lie. Trust your doctor he knows what’s best for you (seem that big Pharma companies have been feeding doctors misinformation for years!). Eat less move more and you will be guaranteed to lose weight. Politicians are there to serve their constituents- don’t get me started on that one 😂.
Oh me neither. I feel utterly hoodwinked
Interesting article, although it does seem still rather fixated on the idea of calories, and pays no attention at all to the fact that a human body is designed to regulate its own energy intake and storage. Given the chance to do so, it will. It's only the onslaught of fake foods and poor advice about "low fat" eating that causes it to become confused.
I've noticed that a lot of people kicking back against the "a calorie is a calorie" nonsense are engineers and physicists (ie., people who actually grok what a calorie is). Ivor Cummins and Gary Taubes are probably the best known, but there are several others blogging, writing, and posting on YouTube.
If anyone's interested, I did a rant on precisely this subject last week on the LCHF group.
Just made it through the article. Fascinating stuff.
It seems to me that there are two separate concepts at play in the article:
1. Weight loss = calories in - calories out.
2. All calories are equivalent.
I kept wondering throughout the article which is baby and which is bathwater.
I've never counted calories. I don't have the discipline and, for the many reasons given in the article, I don't think it's practical for most people to count calories accurately enough to make a difference. Most people undercount which probably does more harm than good.
And yet, I think there is an important message that's lost if you throw out the whole concept of calorie intake as a way of monitoring what you eat.
I've never followed a formal diet plan and don't claim any particular expertise. I can only talk about what has worked for me. When I first started trying to lose weight thirty pounds ago, I taught myself to be aware of which foods had a lot of calories and which foods I really enjoyed. I had never paid any attention to the calorie counts on nutritional labels before.
For example, chips and crisps have a lot of calories but I don't love them. I don't love cakes or biscuits or chocolates. Bread and rice…meh. I can take them or leave them. Two sugars don't make my tea taste any better than a half a teaspoon. I've never liked processed foods and cook from fresh most days so cutting those out was no problem either.
I was able to cut out a LOT of calories that were giving me no pleasure simply by being aware of what I enjoy versus where the calories are. I was eating those things out of habit or some weird sense of social obligation. My wife bakes a lot and there is always fresh bread and scones and cake on our table. I used to eat them because they were there. I'm more mindful now.
The flip side of noticing calories is that I learned that many of the foods that I love, and had always been told were fattening, did not actually have that many calories after all. I love bacon and eggs! I was shocked to discover they have less calories than that slice of chocolate cake that I don't even like.
I still believe in the fundamental truth of calories in minus calories out and being mindful of which foods have a lot calories has helped me decide which foods I really want to eat. Yay calories! I'm in fairly good shape and — when I can resist the delicious siren song of my favourite hoppy malt beverage — I find it fairly easy to stay in shape.
One thing from the article that resonated for me was the effect that different kinds of foods have on weight gain. If I eat a burger or a pizza (hard to avoid with teenage children), I will instantly gain weight but I can eat cheese omelettes or lamb steaks with vegetables every day (moderate portions!) and still lose weight.
One episode in the article had me shaking my head. When our hero was counting the calories of his pepperoni pizza and his cheeseburger, I felt like the author was pulling a fast one. If that's the reality of calorie counting then no wonder people fail but…surely that's not what people in the real world do, no?
If I eat a slice of pizza or — my favourite — a chilli burger, I know that the scales are gonna suffer the next day whatever the calorie count says because I don't trust the manufacturers to tell the truth and I don't trust myself to have just one slice. Better to keep those temptations out of the way entirely, in my opinion.
I don't know where this leaves me. Where Camacho ended up is pretty much where I started. But was calorie counting the cause of his previous failures? Or was it his unhealthy habits and lifestyle and calorie counting was just a convenient scapegoat for his unwillingness to eat more healthily?
I'm not a fan of calorie counting at all. It's not for me, at least. But I find that being mindful of my calorie intake is key. If I don't pay attention to calories, I gain weight. If I am mindful, I lose weight.
Hi, RaggedClown ... I am glad you made it to the Fasting and Furious forum.
The "Calories in less calories out" calculation is (very) basic physics.
If you have a log-burner that you use to heat your house, the mass of logs in-store is original mass less mass used.
The energy output of the log-burner depends on the quality of the fuel - and the energy required to heat the house depends on the ambient temperature, the temperature you heat the house to - and many other factors.
...and if you put less fuel on the fire - the house gets cold!
I had fish and chips and cheesecake sml piece. I only ate what I wanted had plenty, then biscuits came round had 1. I weighed myself today, I have lost 1lb.
Calorie counting to lose weight 
Are all calories the same?
Are we accurate when counting calories?
How many Calories per day?
Calorie range - why is MyFitnessPal different to the NHS calculator
