Are You What You Eat?

I stumbled upon this article from the Wall Street Journal last week: “Calorie Counters Have It Right, Diet Study Says.”  The study took 811 overweight people and put them on four different diets with varying percentages of carbohydrates, fat and protein. The one constant: all four diets were reduced calories. And they all lost the same amount of weight. 

When people ask me “how” I lost my weight, I tell them “The old fashioned way – I burned more calories than I ate.” And then I usually add that I also focused on eating unprocessed foods and exercise…. a lot, so they don’t think that I lived on sugary granola bars. I kept an online food journal for over a year keeping track of calories in and calories out. I can honestly say that my weight loss was pretty much effortless. Sure, I had days when I overate, partied too hard or struggled with boredom eating, but looking at the big picture, my weight just slowly came off. I continued counting calories well into maintenance and decided about a year ago that I was ready to start weaning myself off of counting. It never really bothered me to count (thanks to my organized Type A personality) but I knew it wasn’t something I wanted to continue forever. I gave up my online food journal and started estimating calories, and over time, I thought less and less about them. I’d be lying if I said I never think about calories now, as I sometimes do what I like to call “quick math” in my head to see where I stand after a meal, but for the most part, my focus is now just on eating whole, nutritious foods. (For more of my weight loss story, check out the Kath page over on KathEats.com.)

So going back to the article, one would assume from my calorie counting weight loss success that I would have the mentality: “A calorie is a calorie. It doesn’t matter what you eat – only how much.” And at one time that was what I preached to the fad-diet folks. But now my mentality has changed, partly from my nutrition degree and partly from trial and error. Looking back on my experiences with weight and food, I can tell you that I was always the most successful when what I ate was healthy, not how much. I truly believe that the quality of foods you eat matters just as much, if not more, than the quantity.  And when I’m eating healthy goods, I feel good about everything I am eating because every bite is going to help my body. I think the body has a sixth sense when it comes to nutrition. Magical things happen when you fill it with superfoods.

So do I think you are what you eat? Absolutely. What do you guys think?