How Many Calories Do You 'Think' You Eat A Day

[Sid Bonkers]

I stumbled upon this short 6 minute youtube video today, now I realise this was made in New York but it posses the question how accurate is the dietary information on our food.

This page is linked to the video http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/opinion/calorie-detective.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

I was quite shocked by this although I have always maintained that most people grossly underestimate the amount of calories they consume every day.

 

[noblehead]

Not very accurate viewing the video.

It's never going to precise when it comes to some of the restaurant chains featured in the vid unless all the ingredients are carefully weighed.

 

[Lamont D]

You have heard this many times but I don't count either calories or carbs!
I think you can be obsessed with adding up what you believe is in black and white as a guide.
I'd rather be obsessed in trying not to eat too much and testing, now, that I am obsessed about!
As long as I'm really healthy and I feel great that's all that 'counts' to me!

 

[Freema]

It has helped me greatly counting calories... in 3 months lost so much... I do think though that the reason why I have succeeded this time is that low carb around 70 grams a day ...helps weightloss so much...

I still count calories like 1000 calories the days I don´t train and the training days maybe around 1400- 1600 calories , but always "less more" than I burn a on day there .

if you have troubles with at all to get down in weight I can recomend this way... but of cause with a focus of getting healthy foods in the foods you do eat filled with minerals and vitamins and traceminerals and essential fats and their essential contents...

I have got a little lack of some vitamins and minerals now from being on so low level of calories so now I supplement with a good vitamin-mineral pill every day... my nails are not good anymore... ..hope to return to strong nails again soon..

 

[Freema]

How about just counting carbs and salt content?

It's pretty disgusting when I go to local hospitals and they offer up calories and fat contents but not or only sometimes sodium and never carbs.

You can always add salt if you want, and you can add the right kinds of salts, but you can't take away what's already there

Same deal with hot peppers

But not giving carb counts is downright irresponsible. In the video above, an 6" Subway roll of white bread as shown would be a whopping 38 carbs and if you got the 8" one as shown 47 carbs. THen add the salt from the processed meat, the sugar added to the dressing and a bag of chops and you're gonna get spiked big time

in what ways does salt spike blood glucose ?

 

[JohnEGreen]

in what ways does salt spike blood glucose ?

It doesn't. But quite often the foods that people have it on do.

 

[chalup]

70 grams a day is not very low carb. It is certainly lowish and has probably contributed greatly to weight loss. Congrats on that by the way, very well done . Lots of folks on here are on 20 grams or less a day, including me. I think very low carb is defined as less than 30 grams a day.

 

[Sauron]

now that I am losing weight a lot less than I used to!

 

[Keesha]

I don't count calories because I don't need to lose weight. In fact I want to put on some weight so the more calories, the better. I do be careful when it comes to carbs and eat good carbs most of the time unless my temptation gives in and I have a treat once or twice a week. It really sucks to have diabetes and have to give up all the yummy sweet stuff.

 

[Chaobaby7]

I stumbled upon this short 6 minute youtube video today, now I realise this was made in New York but it posses the question how accurate is the dietary information on our food.

This page is linked to the video http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/opinion/calorie-detective.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

I was quite shocked by this although I have always maintained that most people grossly underestimate the amount of calories they consume every day.

I try to eat less than 2,000 a day, I am trying for weight loss

 

[Indy51]

It doesn't. The raised blood pressure does. I've always been interested in the fact that many languages have remnants of a fourth dimension in which the process of becoming and sometimes even destruction of an object is intrinsic in its grammar. So, past a certain age, that salt is going to affect your glucose if you are diabetic

I don't think the relationship is quite that clear cut. Salt does not increase blood pressure in everybody and not all diabetics will have high blood pressure. There is quite a complex genetic pattern that seems to govern how your blood pressure will respond to increased salt. There are hyper-responders, but there are also people upon whom salt has little or no impact. It's genetic roulette.

 

[chalup]

I am very diabetic and have been for many years. My blood pressure tends to run on the low side regardless of BS. My cholesterol has never been out of the normal range and my sodium is if anything low even though I eat plenty. Everyone is different and you cannot make absolute statements. "every diabetic is...."

 

[phil1966]

I track everything I eat through MyFitnessPal and everything is weighed before it goes on my plate.

When I was losing weight, I ate 1,500 calories a day and I now eat 2,400 per day which has maintained my weight at 66kg (with a 0.5kg variation each way) for the last 4 months so I'm happy it's the right amount of food

 

[Robbity]

I don't believe that we can really expect a precise figure for any food - just an average, which I believe is how all nutritional content is calculated. Neither natural processes nor human error can be lab controlled.

I've only ever once counted calories, when I went on a very low calorie diet. I lost some weight which went back on again immediately - and with a vengeance - when i started eating normally again. Since becoming diabetic I've been very aware of, but don't actually count my daily carbs - i've learned what I can eat, and roughly in what size portions. I've lost weight and kept it off as well as reducing my glucose levels/HbA1c results. My meter can help keep my carbs in check, and my scales my weight, and that's the best I can expect.

Robbity

 

[Sid Bonkers]

I try to eat less than 2,000 a day, I am trying for weight loss

When I was dieting I did count carbs but only because I was injection insulin at that time so had to know how many carbs I was eating to estimate the correct amount of insulin to take before meals, but I never counted calories at all, I just ate a lot less than I had been eating probably less than half as much or more and a lot fewer carbs at around 60g a day.

The point the film was trying to make is that it is extremely hard to correctly count calories and it has been shown on numerous occasions that in general we all underestimate the calories that we actually eat, maybe not counting every mouthful or a few forgotten snacks.

The simple fact is if you eat less you will lose weight but eating less is very, very hard for most people to do, I am not sure that I could commit to losing weight again as I did when I was first diagnosed as I was scarred calorieless by my diagnosis and that was the motivation that I needed, not sure I could repeat it, no alcohol at all for 4 or 5 months

 

[Sid Bonkers]

I track everything I eat through MyFitnessPal and everything is weighed before it goes on my plate.

When I was losing weight, I ate 1,500 calories a day and I now eat 2,400 per day which has maintained my weight at 66kg (with a 0.5kg variation each way) for the last 4 months so I'm happy it's the right amount of food

Thats terrific and the photographic proof to back it up is impressive too, you mus be pleased with that.

 

[bulkbiker]

The simple fact is if you eat less you will lose weight but eating less is very, very hard for most people to do, I am not sure that I could commit to losing weight again as I did when I was first diagnosed as I was scarred calorieless by my diagnosis and that was the motivation that I needed, not sure I could repeat it, no alcohol at all for 4 or 5 months

From my research (reading what others say) I would suggest that eating less will not necessarily mean you will loose weight after a time. Some now believe that eating less causes your metabolism to slow down so you will reach an equilibrium again. Then when you stop eating less your body takes a lot longer to rev the metabolism back up again.
This is aptly put by Dr Jason Fung who says we all know that low calorie diets don't work because nearly everyone has tried them and nearly everyone has failed. It is probably far better to fast for a few hours/days a week and eat LCHF the rest of the time. This has certainly worked for me in both bringing down blood sugars levels and loosing weight.

 

[zand]

From my research (reading what others say) I would suggest that eating less will not necessarily mean you will loose weight after a time. Some now believe that eating less causes your metabolism to slow down so you will reach an equilibrium again. Then when you stop eating less your body takes a lot longer to rev the metabolism back up again.
This is aptly put by Dr Jason Fung who says we all know that low calorie diets don't work because nearly everyone has tried them and nearly everyone has failed. It is probably far better to fast for a few hours/days a week and eat LCHF the rest of the time. This has certainly worked for me in both bringing down blood sugars levels and loosing weight.

Yes I agree. This happened to me and eventually I failed to lose weight on a daily diet of1000 cals. When I did a fat fast last year I lost 6 lbs in 5 days eating 2300 cals a day.

I agree with Sid that initially you lose weight if you reduce calories, but it doesn't always stay that way. I was constantly ill because I didn't eat enough, then I decided to stop worrying about being obese and stop dieting because I just wanted to be well. I didn't look at calories at all. I lost 7 pounds that year.

 

[Sid Bonkers]

From my research (reading what others say) I would suggest that eating less will not necessarily mean you will loose weight after a time. Some now believe that eating less causes your metabolism to slow down so you will reach an equilibrium again. Then when you stop eating less your body takes a lot longer to rev the metabolism back up again.
This is aptly put by Dr Jason Fung who says we all know that low calorie diets don't work because nearly everyone has tried them and nearly everyone has failed. It is probably far better to fast for a few hours/days a week and eat LCHF the rest of the time. This has certainly worked for me in both bringing down blood sugars levels and loosing weight.

Strange then that every single person that was incarcerated in a prisoner of war camp in germany during ww2 lost weight. Eat less and you will lose weight, fact.

 

[bulkbiker]

Strange then that every single person that was incarcerated in a prisoner of war camp in germany during ww2 lost weight. Eat less and you will lose weight, fact.

Probably due to the fact that they were more "fasting" than "dieting" perhaps?