At some point in the future, I'll show you how I'm calculating my calorie allowances and how I use that data to check that those amounts are working correctly. I haven't figured out how often I'm going to review the data and make adjustments, but I digress.
Let's look at how I did today:
That's a lot of junk in the morning. Truth be told, I didn't really eat 3 cookies and a donut for breakfast. No, the sad, sad truth is that I woke up at 2am and ate 3 cookies and a chocolate covered Entenmann's donut. I feel a little guilty, but it sure was delicious!
I've still got some calories to eat today. It's been recommended to me that I eat less carbohydrates and more protein. My fat/carb/protein breakdown has been 35/45/20% for weeks now. Those fats & proteins are supposed to be flipped based on national nutrition guidelines. I think the folks recommending fewer carbs are wrong, in my opinion. But I'm just a fat kid that loves cake... I (and the USDA) could be wrong here.
Why do you think carb restriction is wrong? (aside from loving cake).
ReplyDeleteI think you're too focused on how many calories you eat, and not worrying about the quality of those calories. But I'll forgive you, that's the conventional wisdom on this subject.
An interesting article on this subject: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/08/27/the-hidden-truths-about-calories/?WT.mc_id=SA_syn_HuffPo
"A calorie is a calorie" is a great thing for the processed food industry, because they can get away with convincing you that you can eat 100 calorie packages of cookies, and not feel guilty, because hey, it's only 100 calories out of your allotment for the day, and if you stay under X you'll lose weight, IF. It's also good news for dieters, you CAN eat cookies and cake and still lose weight IF you stay under a certain calorie limit. Unfortunately hunger will eventually prevail. Hunger wakes you up at 3 AM craving donuts and cookies. Hunger beats out your best intentions not to eat those cookies and donuts, and then you feel defeated, that you have no willpower.
We don't disagree as much as you think. Restricting yourself to a lower amount of carbs is a good way to concentrate eating on more satisfying foods. When I get to the point in the blog where I discuss the actions I took/am taking, I'll talk about what led me to mention the "folks recommending fewer carbs." It's very specific people that I had in mind... and I wasn't trying to be cavalier - they could be right. It's just going to take me some "learning the hard way" to arrive at the answer.
DeleteI believe that's the best way to do it, I try to lean towards the science of the matter where possible (which in itself is hard to do considering how bad science is in nutrition), which eventually lead me to the paleo/primal approach to weight-loss/health/nutrition.
DeleteI do wish you success, look forward to hearing about your particular approach to diet and exercise, and hope that it's something you can maintain as long as you care to (which hopefully is the end of your life :) ).