Count calories to win at weight loss, nutritionist says

by Sarah Gilbert (Subscribe to Sarah Gilbert's posts)
Posted Jan 2nd 2006 9:17AM
Filed under: Science, Newspapers, How To

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poached egg on toast The secret to weight loss? ~~Grapefruits~~. ~~Eliminating white sugar~~. ~~Raw foods~~. Try again: how about counting calories?

The oldest and tired-est of all weight loss programs, the trusty calorie counter, is the way to go, says nutritionist LouAnn Frisch, interviewed in yesterday's Oregonian. "I don't care what the diet says; weight loss comes down to counting calories. If you want to lose a pound a week, subtract 500 calories from what it takes to maintain your current weight." Multiply your weight, in pounds, by 13, and you'll get the maintenance number.

Good thing I don't want to lose weight - I'd be only eating 1,100 calories a day. That's five slices of Milton's Whole Grain Bread, four eggs, and a bowl of low-fat split pea soup (according to Frisch's recommendations). I wouldn't even have room for milk in my coffee.

Tags: calorie-counting, calories, count calories, CountCalories, counting calories, CountingCalories, diet, dieting, lose weight, LoseWeight, losing weight, LosingWeight, new year's resolutions, NewYear'sResolutions, nutrition, nutritionist, weight loss, WeightLoss

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1-03-2006 @ 8:21AM

Punisher2k said...

I always laugh at the "latest" and greatest diet plans. People think they need a magic program to lose weight. Here is my book on weight loss:

1) Take in less calories then you output.

Ok, it won't take up much shelf space but every diet on the planet boils down to the same thing.

1-27-2006 @ 6:48PM

Neil J. Squillante said...

LouAnn and Punisher2k have the right idea, but Sarah makes an important point. The key to calorie counting lies in developing an understanding of caloric density.

For example, 100 grams of grapes contains 100 calories, whereas 100 grams of strawberries contains 40 calories. Thus, eating 100 grams of grapes or 250 grams of strawberries amounts to the same number of calories, but the strawberries will better satisfy your hunger because you can eat 2.5 times as much by weight.

Also, instead of subtracting 500 calories from your current daily caloric intake, I recommend calculating your basal metabolic rate (BMR) at your desired weight, and then multiplying it by a suitable activity factor to calculate your daily caloric intake at your desired weight. Then, just eat this number of calories every day.

When counting calories, it helps to buy two gadgets: a kitchen scale that can measure in grams and ounces (I have a Salter 1006), and a scale that can measure your body fat percentage (I have a Tanita BC533).

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