Do you guys do any sort of meal planning / prepping (based on caloric intake / macro nutrients)? If so how much time is usually spent on the plan itself, and how long in the kitchen? Also how did you come up with said plan?

I aim for a good fat/protein/carb ratio and make whatever out of healthy (high-nutrient) things that sound tasty. I usually end up making salads.

I plan out proteins for the week, and some fats (e.g. chicken or bacon grease, or tallow) because they take awhile to make/prep, but I don't plan meals. Certainly not down to grams of ingredients.

I cook for 2-4 people that all want something different, so cooking takes bloody freaking forever.

You should never worry about caloric intake. It simply does not matter. Focus on low carbs, and then just be somewhat sensible with the rest

Not me. I do try to eat healthy but if I don't eat fat stuff regularly, I lose wait like mad (insane metabolism).

@KasperNS What? Since when does it not matter? If you eat 5000 kcal of whatever you gain weight. If you eat 1000 kcal of whatever else you lose weight.

@RemusWasTaken since forever. No actual study has proven reliably that a caloric deficit actually causes weight loss. However there have been tonnes of studies showing the exact opposite.

Weight gain happens because of insulin. If you have a lot of insulin, you will gain weight. What happens when you eat something, is that your body produces more insulin to process the glucose you've taken in.

Different macro nutrients raise insulin levels more or less, with carbohydrates being the worst offender by a mile. This is why things like intermittent fasting is so effective, because your insulin storage is depleted, and your body uses your fat for energy, instead your recently acquired sugar

@KasperNS This.

@RemusWasTaken If net calories mattered, most diets would work. They do not.

@Root @KasperNS I've already known this. What is your point though? If you eat too many calories, more than you use in a day let's say, and you have insulin in your bloodstream (which you will have from anything you can digest), you will gain weight.

@Root What diets are we talking about? Because if you eat only 1000 kcal of fat in a day and nothing else you will still lose weight. Your body will be severely deprived of other nutrients but it works.

@RemusWasTaken with that logic you are not entirely wrong, however the body is self-regulating. Meaning that if you eat more calories, you'll burn more calories. If you eat less calories, you'll burn less calories.

You have to remember that you have almost no control over your calorie expenditure. Yes you can exercise, but the calories that most people burn from hitting the gym, is small compared to your overall expenditure

@RemusWasTaken You can look at these two following videos, for a brief explanation of how the body processes macro nutrients. Notice how there's not really any mention of calories.

https://youtube.com/watch/...

https://youtube.com/watch/...

If my farts smell i dont eat what i ate the day before again.

@KasperNS Well, I am doing intermitent fasting (23/1) and I have seen both of these vids before.
You eat only once a day (or 16/8 or 20/4) because you can't consume too many calories in that brief window if you force yourself to not eat in the fasting hours. The type of macros you eat matter because you don't want to be deprived of any nutrients you need to build your body. The thing that makes you lose weight is the low insulin levels and the low calorie intake.
You could only eat sugar in that window if you still ate less calories than you burn and you would still lose weight.

@RemusWasTaken Fat isn't worse for you than carbs, silly. Quite the opposite. Read up on keto and ketosis.

Fats rendered from healthy animals that ate well are high in nutrients, including some that you won't find elsewhere, like K2. They also make great salad dressings, esp with an acid like apple cider vinegar.

The amount you eat of course impacts your weight, but it is not the calories. That's just a common, of flawed, measurement. What matters most is the food's glycemic index -- how much it affects your blood sugar. Beer and high fructose corn syrup are the worst by far, worse even than bloody pure glucose syrup. And HFC is in bloody everything. Is it any wonder obesity is so common?

For further evidence of how calories are unrelated to weight, a quick dive on organic chemistry and gastrointestinal biology should give you a great idea of just how ridiculously complex digestion and nutrition is. A system that complex cannot be reduced to simple subtraction.

tl;dr calories are bunk, and using them as a measurement stinks, too. They're rather like using length instead of mass: related, but ultimately misleading.

@Root Ok. If calories do not matter, start eating 4000 kcal of anything you like (keto, low carb, low fat, vegan, whatever) daily and come back here after a few week with 2-3 kgs of fat built up. I will be waiting.

@RemusWasTaken You are so close to being right. Drop the calorie argument and we would be on the same page..

You know what? Find me one peer-reviewed reputable study that shows a caloric deficit actually causes LONG-TERM weight loss. Just one.

Notice the 'long-term'. Many studies have proven short term weight loss with a caloric deficit, but there's something called body set weight. The body will naturally try to get back to its original state.

@KasperNS Ok, you are right. I will forget about the calorie intake from now on. I will continuously eat in my one hour window but only in a carefully choosen ratio of macros. It will work I am sure of it.

@KasperNS Also, on a more serius note.
The macros you eat and the calories you eat are not independent variables here.
You eat 100g of protein daily, that's 100*4 calories, 50g of carbs, that's 50*4 calories, 100g of fat, that's 100*9 calories. If you set your macros you also set your calorie intake.
By your logic I could eat anything as long as they are in a ratio of your diet.

@RemusWasTaken Sincerely thank you for not being an assbutt, and owning up. As for your last comment you are right. And I do see how my comment can be understood that way. Although I did write "be somewhat sensible", meaning that you shouldn't just down chips and soda.

Also the one-meal-a-day will definitely work. I've been doing it myself for a few weeks now, and I definitely feel all the benefits: Less foggy brain, more energy, and of course weight loss.

@KasperNS I have been doing it for about two years now and I had no mayor rebounds (Christmas meals are irresistible) after the initial 55 lbs of lost weight.
Also the macros you set yourself is the calorie intake and the ratio of its sources combined basically. So if you lower your macros you lower your calorie intake.

I eat PotNoodles

Wanna lose weight?
Dont want to do any exercises?

Just get depression. Just lie in the bed for 24h and only eat when the starvation is unberable.

I eat all day, but I have trouble even keeping my weight. I don't eat shit though: Rather low carb, only good fats and trying to get enough protein. I do have some health issues which can be influenced by diet, so it is a bit more complicated for me. I do make some exceptions, but generally I am very strict with my diet and there are many things I wouldn't touch (like sweets, soft drinks aka liquid sweets, which I don't like anyway).

I eat lots of quark (with apples or with berries, hemp seeds and linseed oil), fish almost daily, plenty vegetables, some fruits (no banana), homemade low carb bread (without "real" flour), some salad, some Paleo cereal with milk, some eggs, chicken and rice once in a while, nuts, some alcohol free wheat beer (great after sports).

These days I can't stop myself but finish a full 125g pack of Macadamia nuts whenever I buy them (almost daily). I have done the same with chocolate (85%+) in the past, which had undesirable side effects - too much fat at once!

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