New to calorie counting
 

I started my diet today:carrot:and I feel I did quit well. I did 30 minutes of aerobics and only ate 1205 calories and had tons of water and I am not dying from hunger like I feared I would.

I decided to calorie count so my food choices would not be so restricted, making my odds of sticking to this diet greater, but I have a question that has been bothering me all day, does it really matter what I eat as long as I stay within my calorie allowance, can I eat snickers bars all day as long as I stay within 1200 calories. I am very confused about this:?:

In theory, you could lose weight eating 1200 calories worth of candy and nothing else. I had a roommate in college who lost weight on a diet of raisin bran and beer. (She looked like death sucking on a cracker to begin with, and by the end of the diet smelled like it too.)

BUT... it would be extremely difficult, because your body would complain bitterly about not getting the nutrients it needs. You'd never feel satiated, and the cravings would be intense.

Even if you could overcome the cravings, an all-snickers diet would also be extremely unhealthy. I'd guess that the first thing you'd notice would be a severe bout of gastrointestinal distress. And you'd be tired all the time.

I'm using "you" in the abstract, incidentally, because I realize that you're not contemplating an all-snickers diet, but are just curious.

Good luck with calorie-counting. It works for me, and I suspect for a lot of people on the boards, but not for others because of the constant attention and focus on food that it requires.

Kim

Originally Posted by Tay72:

I decided to calorie count so my food choices would not be so restricted, making my odds of sticking to this diet greater, but I have a question that has been bothering me all day, does it really matter what I eat as long as I stay within my calorie allowance, can I eat snickers bars all day as long as I stay within 1200 calories. I am very confused about this:?:

Congrats on having such a good first day! Keep it up! :carrot:


Kim already stated how unhealthy being on a Snicker's diet would be. I don't personally buy into the theory that you can eat whatever you want as long as you keep the calories in range.

This is about a lifestyle change that you have to keep with for the rest of your life. That means retraining ourselves to eat like healthy people. I count every calorie I eat along with trying to make the very best choices for my body that I can. Now that doesn't mean I'll go the rest of my life not having a Snickers. But, they will be counted and they will be rare occurrences.

I like to eat and I like to get the most from my calories. I could have a 100 calorie prepackaged snack bag of cookies or I could have 3 cups of stir-fry veggies for 100 calories. Add the additional calories of a drizzle of healthy olive oil and we are talking good eats that make our bodies sing. :)

Thanks guys for answering my question. I dont want you to think that i would even dream of eating 1200 calories worth of snickers(I dont even like them) or any other type of food I love for my daily calorie allowance, I just dont understand the difference in calories. I know somedays I am going to crave nothing but my confort foods and nothing else will do, so before I give in to a binge or drive myself insane I wanted to know do the calories from certain foods matter.

Not to mention 1200 calories worth of snickers would be, what, one bar? haha.

I agree with everyone else obviously. I combine calorie counting with a whole foods diet (at least 80% of the time). I have completely cut out all processed food for the most part and try to eat all natural. I feel like this is the healthiest way to go about calorie counting, but obviously everyone is different!

It sounds like the real question you're asking is something like: Will one day of eating pizza and ice cream (but keeping calories in check) kill my diet? The answer is NO. That's fine, especially if it's only once in a while. It would be hard to maintain a diet like that over the long run, though.

I don't know how effective it would be for weight loss, but you sure would be hungry and miserable! The great thing about calorie counting, imho, is that it gives you plenty of flexibility along with a very strong incentive to eat healthily. Two snickers before lunch for someone on a 1200 calorie diet will leave them starving by the end of the afternoon with no calories to spare. On the other hand, a lovely big egg white omelet packed with veggies will make you happy and full and healthy without breaking the calorie bank. :)

I know you didn't ask for suggestions on this, so you're welcome to ignore me completely. But you might want to consider the possibility of starting with a higher calorie allotment. I bet you could easily lose on far more than 1200 calories a day. And really, why restrict calories unnecessarily? :) Here's the math: at your weight and height, depending upon your age, you can maintain your weight somewhere on between 2000 and 2300 calories a day, even if you spend all day sitting at a desk. One pound of fat is 3500 calories, so to lose one pound in a week, you'd eat 500 calories less than maintenance a day (so, 1500-1800 calories a day). If you exercise, this will increase the calorie deficit, so you'd probably lose between 1.5 and 2lb a week on a 1500-1800 calorie diet with regular cardio. Those extra 300-600 calories could be used on fiber and protein, both of which will help you to feel full and happy, contribute to your general health and increase your chances of staying on your diet.

The other reason not to start out with a 1200 calorie diet is that it leaves you nowhere to go when you inevitably reach a plateau. If you eat 1600 calories a day for a couple of months and then plateau with 10lb still to lose, then you can drop your cals down to 1200 or 1300. If you're already eating only 1200, you can't drop them any further and it will be frustrating.

Just a thought :)

1200 is the lower end of the calorie counting scale...if you are just starting, and with your current weight, you can start out eating more than that. You want to leave room to drop down when your weight loss stops. You could probably lose eating 1600 a day starting out-then you will have room later to drop it to 1500, etc. when the losses stop.

Thanks everyone for letting me know that 1200 calories was too low I did'nt realize, I dont know if I got that amount from a magazine or someone at work but I am glad you told me. This web site is great. I really need to research and get more information on calorie counting, and exercising. I really want to do this the right way. I want this to be a life style change not just a diet. Anymore information you can give me will be greatly appreciated.

You're welcome! I say there's no point in starving if you don't have to :)

You might want to check out the article linked in a thread further down the page: Great Intro For New Calorie Counters. It has lots of basic info on counting calories.

Good luck!