So, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University lost 27 pounds in 10 weeks eating on a diet almost wholly composed of Twinkies (and other snack foods). This is NOT a repudiation of eating healthy food, but it does help people understand that it’s the calories, stupid.* You can lose weight eating whatever you damn well please as long as you are consuming less calories than you burn every day.** Do you want to lose weight? Fuck crazy diets and count your calories. Want to lose weight faster? Exercise while doing it. Hell, exercise no mater what. You know why? Because it helps you feel good! It ain’t rocket science kids.If you’re looking for help with tracking your calories, and you own an iPhone, I’ve already endorsed my favorite method of doing so, the Lose It! app. If you don’t have access to that, there are a multiple number of other ways to track what you eat. In fact, if you have NO access to technology, you should still keep a food diary. Once you see WHAT you’re eating you’ll understand HOW MUCH of it to eat at a time.***
On one hand I appreciate that this professor has demonstrated on a strict caloric regimen that losing weight is possible, even on a diet of junk food. I just hope it doesn’t lead to people misinterpreting the outcome and thinking it’s a good idea to do it on a diet constructed of Twinkies.
*Let me make one thing absolutely clear: I DO understand how difficult weight management can be for some (many?). Intimately so since I've struggled with keeping my weight where I want it be since I was a teenager. I am in no way disparaging anyone struggling with weight issues; I am merely underscoring a simple medical fact that is often lost in the modern chatter.
**Though I do admit a bit of confusion over the fact his "good" cholesterol rose and his "bad" cholesterol fell, but since his diet wasn't 100% composed of sweet snacks that just means we'll now see a jillion different studies over which "good" part of his diet worked to have that effect.
***This is one of the keys to my own weight loss. I never deny myself sweets. Hell, I love desserts of all kinds! I just keep an eye on how many of them I'm eating.
I used the calorie counter on Sparkpeople.com when I worked off that 50 pounds. I don't know what the "lose it" app is like, but I loved that you can save certain meals/recipes in the sparkpeople counter.
ReplyDeleteYou can do the same in Lose It! and that's one reason I really like it. I can personalize it pretty minutely!
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