Leptin is an important consideration in regard to weight loss. Until your comment prompted me to check out Dr. Friedman and Dr. Bacon, I didn’t realize that Dr. Friedman is the one who discovered leptin! He also went to the same school as me for his undergraduate degree!

Although Dr. Bacon seems to be more focused on the psychology of eating, which is great in it’s own right, I strongly agree with her perspective of putting health first. Even though obesity isn’t on the top of my list of health related interests, I may still check out her book.

Dr. Ron Rosedale is another good resource on leptin, particularly leptin resistance. Although I don’t agree with everything in it, he’s written a pretty good book called The Rosedale Diet which is mostly about provoking the body to prefer fat as a fuel source through a diet that is low in sugar and high in quality fat. Here’s an interesting article about leptin and leptin resistance from his website.

Dieting is a complete scam. Dr. Jeffrey Friedman and Dr Linda Bacon know this.

Take care

Raz

There’s no doubt that dedication is a critical part of any approach to weight loss. However, even if one is dedicated to restricting their calories, there’s a good chance that it may still not be effective if they’re still eating junk. To think otherwise is assuming that all nutrients are metabolized the same way and provoke the same adaptations which is obviously not the case.

Protein and fat can be used for energy production along with carbohydrate. However, protein is generally only used for energy production as a last resort. At rest and during low intensity exercise, fat tends to be used more for energy than carbohydrate, but this tendency can be altered by how much of each of these nutrients are consumed on a regular basis and is probably also altered by genetics and other aspects of individuality. In contrast, protein and fat are used for tissue synthesis and repair while carbohydrate typically is not. Based on all of this, there are a number of factors that can influence how macronutrients are metabolized, and this leads me to believe that the calories in vs calories out line of thinking is oversimplified.

In addition, calculating one’s daily calorie requirement is a rough approximation, and given the significant dependency on activity level, it can be very subjective. Even if someone were able to accurately determine their daily requirement, the calorie listings for specific foods are often inaccurate, and without using a scale, it’s difficult to accurately estimate portion sizes. For someone who’s counting calories to lose weight, a couple hundred calories is a big deal, and the variance described above can easily exceed this amount.

I agree that counting calories is useful to occasionally get a rough estimate of food intake, or as you said, to become more aware of the approximate calorie content of various foods, but I stand by my opinion that as a daily habit it’s much more stress and hassle than it’s worth.

Because in the end calorie in – calorie out is still true. Even if people use that fact to do things that are not good for them.

You can eat healthy and still eat too many calories for to lose weight. If you’re very very obese, then yes just cutting out junk food will work because you had so much excess to begin with, but when you just have 5 or 10 pounds to lose, counting calories is actually a very good idea, since the difference between the amount of calories that will cause you to lose weight at a decent rate and the amount that will make you stay the same size is like 300-500, which means basically that one sandwich you ate before going to bed.

What I usually do when i’m trying to lose weight, is to eat healthy, as always. I don’t try to eat mostly fat or mostly protein or any sillyness. I eat the same as always, but cut out a certain amount calories every day until I get to the weight I want to be. I keep track of EVERYTHING I eat to do this. Once I lose the weight, I gradually raise the calories until I find the point of equilibrium where I neither gain or lose weight.

This usually works great until I find myself without money and am forced to eat fast food everyday for a few months, and gain 5-10 pounds.

Calorie counting is especially helpful when you don’t have access to healthy foods all the time. Or when you are forced to eat out, or eat a food you’re not familiar with. If i’m choosing between 2 unhealthy meals I may as well choose the one with fewer calories. A lot of people can’t afford to, or don’t have the time to, eat a perfect diet ALL the time.

Now you might say “why not just be satisfied with whatever weight you are at as long as you are heallthy”. However, the thing about it is that a lot of people eat more food than they need to. They eat until they are stuffed, not until they are satisfied. America seems to like huge servings. Calorie counting can help give you perspective about how much food your body actually needs every day.

Like I never realized how many calories was in oil until I started counting calories. Or that you can make a salad go from 100 calories to 500 calories easy by drenching it in salad dressing. A lot of people eat a salad thinking they are eating healthy, not realizing how much fat they are taking in.

It’s the same with other things. I was shocked to find out a cookie smaller than an oreo I was eating has 70 calories in it. If I wasn’t counting calories I would have eating like a cup of 10 thinking I was having a small harmless “snack”. (700 calories!)

I think the average dieter can actually learn a lot by counting calories. If they use it responsibly.

Basically, like everything, it’s not 100% evil, it’s just another useful piece of information that can be used for either good or bad.

I completely agree that many people could benefit tremendously from simple changes. One that comes to mind is eliminating or at least reducing the consumption of grain based foods such as bread, pasta, cereal, and bagels. Not only do these foods tend to be high in refined carbohydrates which is a major cause of weight gain, but they also tend to cause a number of problems for the many people who don’t know that they’re sensitive to gluten. As simple and effective as such a change is, it requires dedication, and as you said, many people prefer to pursue a quick fix.

I often find so many people complaining about losing weight yet all they do is search for a quick fix solution. They turn to a supplement for some outlandish exercise routine. I feel many people will benefit the most by simply spending some time in the kitchen and just tweak their diets a bit.

By cutting a few bad foods from the diet, some people can really produce good results. Taking a further step and preparing very clean and nutritious meals and eating 4 or 5 times a day will increase their healthy lifestyle. And finally adding exercise is the icing on the cake.

Extreme measures are not always the best approaches for people.

I completely agree. The more one deprives themselves of food, the more hungry they’ll be and the more their metabolism will slow down. Doing more exercise to burn calories will increase appetite even more. I think focusing on the quality of food more so than quantity is a much more effective and pleasant approach, and this even means eating fat!

Many people are overweight but still hungry all the time. In part it is related to foods that are high in calories but low in essential nutrients like vitamins and trace minerals. The body then will demand more food intake in the futile effort to get the nutrients it needs.

You are much better off eating real food — even eggs and butter — than low quality “diet food.”