RyanDiCooper
New member
Very well said SparkErosion, all these inputs are healthy for everyone else out here. There's no need really to become a dietitian nor a nutritionist to know these things and you are a proof to it 
"A calorie is not always just a calorie" !!!???
- Thread starter Rox2
- Start date
This thread was why I ended up joining this forum. It came up on a search for further info on an scientific study article I was reading. I'm currently losing weight at a very slow pace. I gained a lot because I have an autoimmune condition that tend to affect my thyroid and other organs and I was on steroids for a long time. I also have a bad liver and gallbladder besides so losing weight too rapidly is actually a bad thing for me. I'm not knocking the whole concept of good nutrition. Everybody needs to eat right as much as possible but in so far as losing weight goes I can't speak for others but what I eat has never really all that much difference to me in terms of weight loss. How much, yes, but not what.
As a teen I got pretty tubby after I was injured and had to recover twice. Gained like 40lbs both times and I had a hard time getting it off. I'm not naturally skinny. I'm small boned and petite but I'm also built like I should be about 5'8" tall not 5'3" tall. I'm a curvy girl even when I am at my lowest comfortable weight which is about 115-120. I'm a size 8-10 at that weight and in order to fit into anything less than that I'd have to have breast and hip surgery. I'm built like a lot of those early bikini pinups and no amount of dieting or working out could ever change that. This past few years with the steroids and I all I gained a whopping 80 lbs even eating sparingly. It stopped there but it was awful and I finally demanded that they take me off the darned things.
I've been watching my diet ever since and slowly losing, but all my life I've never lost any more on a diet eating totally healthy than not. In fact when I don't plan a few treats in there, don't eat closer to normal, that's when I stop losing and the number on the scale just sits there. When I was losing in my teens I ate pizza, hamburgers, all kinds of junk every day. I kept the calorie count where it was supposed to be and I did my exercise and I lost weight just fine. I had some digestive stuff going on so last year my doctor put me on this gluten free, lower calorie, no sugar, low fat, low carbs, no junk at all diet and you know what? I gained another 12lbs before it was done! (No, I wasn't cheating either. Same calories just supposedly better food.) I did months of that crap and it only made things worse. In the end it turned out gluten wasn't the problem and I went back to eating my usual 1500 cals a day including the things the doctor had asked me to quit eating. Surprise! I started losing weight again much to my doctor's annoyance.
I actually don't do well on a high protein diet. I don't do well on a high carbs diet. I do have to watch my fat content a bit, gall bladder, liver, but I find that if I take it down to almost none that's not too good either. My nails break, my hair goes dry, my skin breaks out, et all. 1500 cals a day, with at least 150 cals of that being a "dessert" of some kind that's what works for me. I do need my daily bit of chocolate, the odd soda. I just can't live on what most people would consider a strict reducing diet and lose weight. I'm not happy and it's pretty counter productive besides.
I truly think everyone is different when it comes to what their body and weight loss and what it will take. I don't buy tests done on mice as all that valid for humans actually. My doctor looks at my daily food log and shakes his head. The strictly healthy things I should have been eating for weight loss I just didn't lose. Add a little chocolate or a few potato chips in and suddenly I'm losing more than if I was on a crazy crash diet. It's like my body needs a certain amount of junk food in the diet to function as it should. Go figure.
My advice? Figure out what works for you and stick with it. That's it. Live your life, eat the foods you like in sensible portions and don't worry so much about what the "experts" say. They're always contradicting each other anyhow.
As a teen I got pretty tubby after I was injured and had to recover twice. Gained like 40lbs both times and I had a hard time getting it off. I'm not naturally skinny. I'm small boned and petite but I'm also built like I should be about 5'8" tall not 5'3" tall. I'm a curvy girl even when I am at my lowest comfortable weight which is about 115-120. I'm a size 8-10 at that weight and in order to fit into anything less than that I'd have to have breast and hip surgery. I'm built like a lot of those early bikini pinups and no amount of dieting or working out could ever change that. This past few years with the steroids and I all I gained a whopping 80 lbs even eating sparingly. It stopped there but it was awful and I finally demanded that they take me off the darned things.
I've been watching my diet ever since and slowly losing, but all my life I've never lost any more on a diet eating totally healthy than not. In fact when I don't plan a few treats in there, don't eat closer to normal, that's when I stop losing and the number on the scale just sits there. When I was losing in my teens I ate pizza, hamburgers, all kinds of junk every day. I kept the calorie count where it was supposed to be and I did my exercise and I lost weight just fine. I had some digestive stuff going on so last year my doctor put me on this gluten free, lower calorie, no sugar, low fat, low carbs, no junk at all diet and you know what? I gained another 12lbs before it was done! (No, I wasn't cheating either. Same calories just supposedly better food.) I did months of that crap and it only made things worse. In the end it turned out gluten wasn't the problem and I went back to eating my usual 1500 cals a day including the things the doctor had asked me to quit eating. Surprise! I started losing weight again much to my doctor's annoyance.
I actually don't do well on a high protein diet. I don't do well on a high carbs diet. I do have to watch my fat content a bit, gall bladder, liver, but I find that if I take it down to almost none that's not too good either. My nails break, my hair goes dry, my skin breaks out, et all. 1500 cals a day, with at least 150 cals of that being a "dessert" of some kind that's what works for me. I do need my daily bit of chocolate, the odd soda. I just can't live on what most people would consider a strict reducing diet and lose weight. I'm not happy and it's pretty counter productive besides.
I truly think everyone is different when it comes to what their body and weight loss and what it will take. I don't buy tests done on mice as all that valid for humans actually. My doctor looks at my daily food log and shakes his head. The strictly healthy things I should have been eating for weight loss I just didn't lose. Add a little chocolate or a few potato chips in and suddenly I'm losing more than if I was on a crazy crash diet. It's like my body needs a certain amount of junk food in the diet to function as it should. Go figure.
My advice? Figure out what works for you and stick with it. That's it. Live your life, eat the foods you like in sensible portions and don't worry so much about what the "experts" say. They're always contradicting each other anyhow.
Rox2
New member
This thread sure has lived a long and interesting life! I'm proud to have started it and got the conversation going.
It's so interesting to come back and see what everyone has contributed.
I've lost a total of 90 lbs since I started my journey in 2010. I still count my calories every single day and write down everything that I eat.
I do not treat all calorie sources as equal, for all the reasons that we can read in many of the fine posts above. I never drinik fruit juice, for example, as it's better to get all the good fiber from eating the actual fruit.
And who needs sugar?! Bunch of empty calories!
I try to eat organic and stay at about 1500 calories per day.
It's so interesting to come back and see what everyone has contributed.
I've lost a total of 90 lbs since I started my journey in 2010. I still count my calories every single day and write down everything that I eat.
I do not treat all calorie sources as equal, for all the reasons that we can read in many of the fine posts above. I never drinik fruit juice, for example, as it's better to get all the good fiber from eating the actual fruit.
And who needs sugar?! Bunch of empty calories!
I try to eat organic and stay at about 1500 calories per day.
sarahgardner
New member
I say congrats for losing 74 pounds by counting calories. That's something I could never do.