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> It's simply eating more calories than a person needs in a day. This is true but without explaining the issue. Gary Taubes compared it to asking why a theater

> It's simply eating more calories than a person needs in a day. This is true but without explaining the issue. Gary Taubes compared it to asking why a theater is over capacity, and getting the answer "because more people entered than exited." Well, yes, but why? You're at a healthy weight because you don't eat more calories than you need in a day. I'm obese because I do. But those facts don't explain why you don't and I do. It probably isn't because you count calories more diligently.

DiabloD3 7y ago
I've actually personally proven calorie counting makes zero sense in the context that healthcare has tried to phrase it. It isn't that you eat too many calories, its that your body hoards to many. Chronic exercise "helps" in the short term, but just causes long term damage, and your body just makes you want to eat more in response. The trick is not how much you eat, but what you eat. Same with carbs, not how much, but what. Stick with nutrient dense foods (which pretty much means whole, fresh, goods, despite how much that is associated with a certain crowd), and your body just finally lets go and lets you lose weight. For me, I went strictly Paleo for a year, not even low carb. Over a year and a half, I went from 340 to 183. I made sure I didn't decrease caloric intake (~2000 calories a day), nor increase caloric burn. According to common (but woefully incorrect) knowledge, I'm clearly lying, and I still weigh 340, yet, I don't. Stripping out grains, refined sugars, dairy, legumes, refined oils, other refined products, and replacing it with fresh meat, vegs, moderate fruit, coconut and olive oil, while not decreasing calories, still helped me lose weight. Healthcare sets people up to fail and then blames the victim. Its nuts.
- tallanvor 7y ago
  I'm sorry, but your claim is simply not believable. A 340 pound man cannot maintain that weight with only 2000 calories a day. That would equate to a metabolism that burns less than 6 calories per pound. MAYBE if you were bedridden your metabolism could drop that low. It is true that metabolism varies by individual, and it's also an unfortunate truth that people who were obese and get their weight down to a level that the medical community deems healthy will have a slower metabolism than most naturally skinny people. But there is no chance that you were maintaining a 2000 calorie diet before you started losing weight. What is also true is that most people do not properly estimate the number of calories they consume each day. I certainly have a hard time doing it - the only real way is to prepare all of your food yourself, or buy prepackaged food that you can measure accurately. I guarantee you were eating much more than you thought you were.
  - cecilpl2 7y ago
    > What is also true is that most people do not properly estimate the number of calories they consume each day. I don't have a reference handy, but I have read studies that show that when people self-report calorie consumption from memory they tend to underestimate by a large margin, reporting in the vicinity of 50-70% of actual consumption. You can't get closer than 10% accuracy given that nutritional labels can be off by that much, and you aren't getting that unless you are making all your own food and weighing everything with a food scale. A restaurant meal can vary by hundreds of calories based on how much dense fat like oil or butter is in it, and look identical each time.
    - tallanvor 7y ago
      It wouldn't surprise me to find out that the average person really does underestimate calorie consumption by that much. Beverages alone are one of the major sources underestimated calories. A 20oz bottle of soda with sugar is multiple servings, but people don't think about it as such. The same goes for fruit juice and a lot of the fancy coffee beverages. Alcohol is also easy to underestimate, especially if a glass of wine with dinner can turn into half a bottle or more, or a nightcap turns into a double.
  - DiabloD3 7y ago
    Thank you for proving my point, people are quick to just repeat what they've been told and ignore new information. It is certainly a strange phenomenon on the internet nowadays.
    - tallanvor 7y ago
      You did not present any new information. You made a claim that is not supported by the science. Nobody is arguing that we aren't learning more about weight and nutrition, but that doesn't mean we ignore science for personal anecdotes that are likely untrue.
      - DiabloD3 7y ago

DiabloD3 7y ago

I've actually personally proven calorie counting makes zero sense in the context that healthcare has tried to phrase it. It isn't that you eat too many calories, its that your body hoards to many. Chronic exercise "helps" in the short term, but just causes long term damage, and your body just makes you want to eat more in response. The trick is not how much you eat, but what you eat. Same with carbs, not how much, but what. Stick with nutrient dense foods (which pretty much means whole, fresh, goods, despite how much that is associated with a certain crowd), and your body just finally lets go and lets you lose weight. For me, I went strictly Paleo for a year, not even low carb. Over a year and a half, I went from 340 to 183. I made sure I didn't decrease caloric intake (~2000 calories a day), nor increase caloric burn. According to common (but woefully incorrect) knowledge, I'm clearly lying, and I still weigh 340, yet, I don't. Stripping out grains, refined sugars, dairy, legumes, refined oils, other refined products, and replacing it with fresh meat, vegs, moderate fruit, coconut and olive oil, while not decreasing calories, still helped me lose weight. Healthcare sets people up to fail and then blames the victim. Its nuts.

tallanvor 7y ago
I'm sorry, but your claim is simply not believable. A 340 pound man cannot maintain that weight with only 2000 calories a day. That would equate to a metabolism that burns less than 6 calories per pound. MAYBE if you were bedridden your metabolism could drop that low. It is true that metabolism varies by individual, and it's also an unfortunate truth that people who were obese and get their weight down to a level that the medical community deems healthy will have a slower metabolism than most naturally skinny people. But there is no chance that you were maintaining a 2000 calorie diet before you started losing weight. What is also true is that most people do not properly estimate the number of calories they consume each day. I certainly have a hard time doing it - the only real way is to prepare all of your food yourself, or buy prepackaged food that you can measure accurately. I guarantee you were eating much more than you thought you were.
- cecilpl2 7y ago
  > What is also true is that most people do not properly estimate the number of calories they consume each day. I don't have a reference handy, but I have read studies that show that when people self-report calorie consumption from memory they tend to underestimate by a large margin, reporting in the vicinity of 50-70% of actual consumption. You can't get closer than 10% accuracy given that nutritional labels can be off by that much, and you aren't getting that unless you are making all your own food and weighing everything with a food scale. A restaurant meal can vary by hundreds of calories based on how much dense fat like oil or butter is in it, and look identical each time.
  - tallanvor 7y ago
    It wouldn't surprise me to find out that the average person really does underestimate calorie consumption by that much. Beverages alone are one of the major sources underestimated calories. A 20oz bottle of soda with sugar is multiple servings, but people don't think about it as such. The same goes for fruit juice and a lot of the fancy coffee beverages. Alcohol is also easy to underestimate, especially if a glass of wine with dinner can turn into half a bottle or more, or a nightcap turns into a double.
- DiabloD3 7y ago
  Thank you for proving my point, people are quick to just repeat what they've been told and ignore new information. It is certainly a strange phenomenon on the internet nowadays.
  - tallanvor 7y ago
    You did not present any new information. You made a claim that is not supported by the science. Nobody is arguing that we aren't learning more about weight and nutrition, but that doesn't mean we ignore science for personal anecdotes that are likely untrue.
    - DiabloD3 7y ago