Worried about calories? Don't be

(Marie Dantoni) #23

I ef and if so thats in the mix

#24

I’m not talking about counting calories. I’m not a scientist, so I’m not an authority on CICO. I’m only providing a data point on the impact that eating over TDEE has on weight gain/loss.

(Marie Dantoni) #25

I lose weight when I keep calories around 1400 , but I worry that this may ultimately slow my metabolism.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #26

How do you know what your total daily energy expenditure is? And how do you bring it into balance with what you’ve eaten for the day? Or match your eating to your energy expenditure? And how do you know how much of the expenditure needs to come from diet, and how much your body plans to use from stored fat?

Such questions baffle me, whereas my experience is that eating fat to satiety, while keeping protein moderate and carbohydrate as low as possible, allows my body to determine how much energy to ingest and how much it is going to contribute from my stored fat. That way, I don’t need to know how much energy I am expending, or how to balance that with what I eat, and so on; the whole process becomes automatic.

To put it another way: I have a couple of teenagers in the house right now. Are they growing because they are eating like bottomless pits, or eating like bottomless pits because something in their bodies is causing a growth spurt? And likewise, how do we know we’re putting on weight because we’re overeating? Couldn’t we be eating more because something in our body is making it put on weight? In other words, why are we so certain we know which way the causality runs in the Second Law of Thermodynamics?

Personally, I find that the hormonal regulation hypothesis makes much more sense than the energy-balance-out-of-whack hypothesis. Perhaps that’s because I have lost 60 pounds so far by replacing the carbs in my diet with fat, not worrying about calories, and doing not an erg of exercise.

(Allie) #27

The hormone regulation idea makes more sense to me too @PaulL, even more so with people who have deranged metabolisms. The idea of restricting calories in a person whose metabolism has already been damaged by long-term calorie restriction & “yo-yo” dieting just doesn’t sound healthy. How would the body even be able to start repairing itself when it is still being subjected to the same type of restriction that caused the problem in the first place? :confused:

(Michele) #28

This is not so much about the calories as the effect of what you eat. (Will add in I have just finished an EF of 5-6 days yesterday.) So tonight dinner was salad greens, capsicum/pepper, avocado, slivered almonds and dressing (walnut oil, white wine vinegar) tinned tuna mixed with sushi ginger, blue cheese. Delicious, pleasurable and filling. 30 minutes later that feeling that something is missing. Look through the keto cookbooks at desserts. Couldn’t be bothered with fussy effort. Got out frozen strawberries (50g) and whizzed them to a pulp. Beat some cream until thick and folded one into the other. Divine. Also hit the spot perfectly. I really needed the fat. This has happened a few times in the past and a fat bomb always does the job. I don’t buy the suggestion that this need was psychological. I do believe the need was physical/physiological. I have enough experience from the past (pre keto) with needing something and trying all the possible susposed healthy options and nothing hitting the spot.

#29

Ditto. 55 here and post menopause. Although I will say that eating ZC does afford me a few hundred calories more per day than carbs.

(Marie Dantoni) #30

Ive got about 12 years on you Mel so that is why I’m sceptical. What is your experience ?

#31

I gained 24 pounds of fat by eating more than twice the amount of calories my body was used to. 1350 cals per day to 3000. I was doing ZC and not counting macros.

I then lost 18 pounds by counting calories and macros, and doing IF/EF. Still doing ZC. Right now I’m doing an experiment to see if I gain weight by increasing my protein (about 1.5 g per pound of lbm) but keeping the same daily calories. I’ve been doing it for two weeks and haven’t gained or lost. I’m keeping salt intake high to prevent the sore toes/feet.

(Marie Dantoni) #32

Oh boy, that was loud and clear. The thing that keeps me thinking that it’s possible to eat to satiety and still lose weight (even with the slowest metabolism on earth) is that getting the carbs out of the way has for the first time removed cravings. I also think that the psychological impact of life long caloric vigilance is partly what drives my overeating later. I’m going to try building some muscles stoke the metabolism. We’ll see.

(Rob) #33

Wow, that’s a lot of Fat!

I always seem to struggle to get enough fat in my meals. What are your main sources?

(jilliangordona) #34

Butter (I literally will just eat a slice off the kerrygold bar)
Fatty “dip” with everything
BPC in the morning

(Rob) #35

Thanks :slight_smile:

(Allie) #36

@jilliangordona slices of cheese topped with slices of butter are good too… :heart_eyes:

(Lynne Hurley Perry) #37

Love the concept of a personal experiment. What have you got to lose??? Can you share a little of what you ate to get to 3k cal per day?

#38

TDEE may be a bit difficult to measure precisely, but greater than 70% of it consists of RMR, and this is easily measured. RQ is also measurable, providing the mix of energy utilization (carb vs fat).
http://www.mettest.net/resting_metabolic_rate_test.html

I don’t believe in guessing when testing is available. For ~$100 you can know what your RMR is. Then you have a baseline for caloric intake. I am not interested enough in this subject to run endless tests measuring out food and increasing/decreasing it incrementally. I just approximate. I don’t know the difference between 2000 and 2300 calories. I just know that I can’t eat 3000 calories everyday.

The bodies of kids and adolescents are very different than those over 35. Their physiological and hormonal state is anabolic regardless of diet. Even malnourished kids in 3rd world countries will grow. Our physiological state changes as we approach our post reproductive period. Given the same inputs, our bodies will process them differently. If you do the exact same resistance training as your son, you will get different results. If your eat the same way, you will get different results. :frowning:

(Stephanie ) #39

I’m 55, don’t think about calories, eat to satiety, and I’m slowly losing weight. I don’t eat eggs or dairy, though. They make me feel bad. Maybe if I thought about calories I’d lose faster, but I just can’t go there.