Stumptuous: F*ck Calories

[toodlepip]

Don't know if this has been posted already but just saw Krista Scott-Dixon @ stumptuous has a new pdf out. She's always a good read and makes some great points in this.

http://www.stumptuous.com/category/new

[axleburn]

This looks interesting. Thanks for the headsup!

[andrerox80]

just downloaded. looking fwd to reading. thanks! tried to rep you but gotta spread it around. annoying.

[Miranda]

not that impressive.

i'm not sure who her target audience is but ranting about common sense w expletives like she just invented the wheel isn't my cup of tea.

plenty broscience in there, too (dairy/calcium, cut out grains/wheat etc.). 'some foods don't want to be eaten?' tell that to a cow before it was turned into a steak.

[swooshie]

'some foods don't want to be eaten?' tell that to a cow before it was turned into a steak.

Miranda, you rock! That was funny

[toodlepip]

- I like the intuitive eating aspect of this, especially as she is somebody who lifts. Don't see that often. And as somebody who can tip over into the nutso side of things I need the reminder every so often to step back and see how my body is feeling. I go through cycles of getting caught up in weighing & tracking meticulously and then rebound and get fed up with it all and just want to 'be' and figure this is no way to live my life going forward. Lather, rinse, repeat. So I appreciate the slow down, eat when you're hungry, step away from the crazy approach.

- I agree with her on the quality of your food mattering, on the crap that is put in food, on knowing that where you get your food makes a difference

- as for the grain/paleo thing...I know how it is perceived here, on BB, as the daftest idea in history with no credible studies to back it up and let's poke fun at every idiot who dares says they are doing paleo...but I don't know how I feel about it. I absolutely love my grains and don't want to give them up in any way...but everybody in my family has jumped on the gluten-free bandwagon and declares their X, Y & Z ailment has gone away/improved. I wonder if I gave it a try would my frikkin insane sinus issues clear up, would my excema go away...panacea or pile of crap...I don't know...

The swearing in this didn't bother me, though it really, really did in Skinny Bitch...go figure.

[Miranda]

The swearing in this didn't bother me

yeah i guess the book would've been 15 pages without all the ****s and ****s.

but really, i did have another look and the more it looks like a stupid, dumbed-down piece of crap. i used to read krista's stuff and some of it is good but this is just horrible: food combining, don't eat sugar, dairy is useless for calcium (har), the whole no-grains thing. might find more voodoo if i browsed it further.

and why, why, WHY? cuz she says so <- and that's the problem i have with it. not even that she spouts broscience, she doesn't even bother to try come up with some sort pseudo-intellectual sounding reasoning for why she says what she says, it's just cool-sounding dogma shoved down believers' throats.

the intuitive bit is okay though, albeit it makes me wonder how many times you have to try get sense into people's heads before it sinks in. (never.) and even at that, 'don't count calories' is TERRIBLE advice if you believe you don't have to care about quantity so long as you ****ing drop all grains and never ****ing combine fat with ****ing sugar in terms of staying lean n mean and ****ing womanly or whatever gung-ho fem agenda her gutsy, no-food-fearing barbell-pounding people are lapping up these days

/rant

[toodlepip]

the intuitive bit is okay though, albeit it makes me wonder how many times you have to try get sense into people's heads before it sinks in. (never.) and even at that, 'don't count calories' is TERRIBLE advice if you believe you don't have to care about quantity so long as you ****ing drop all grains and never ****ing combine fat with ****ing sugar in terms of staying lean n mean and ****ing womanly or whatever gung-ho fem agenda her gutsy, no-food-fearing barbell-pounding people are lapping up these days

My take on this is yes calories matter, we all know they do, but don't let your life revolve around the numbers and maybe examine to what degree do you want them to take precedence in your life. My understanding of the point she was trying to make was to shut off the mind that constantly tracks and adds up cals and maybe just sit with yourself and see how you feel, get to know what works for your body, what makes you feel nourished and well as opposed to just tracking and logging without ever giving this any thought.

re the intuitive aspects of eating sinking in - well that's the whole issue isn't it...if we were only led by reason and rationality it wouldn't be an issue...but we aren't. We make decisions based on emotion as well. I may know what to do to reach my goals, but whether I do it or not (despite wanting it) is another story - there's a disconnect that exists and that is what is worth exploring. It's when people seemingly sabotage their progress. So the whole feck the calories idea, or what I gleaned from it, is when you live according to numbers (your cals, your macros) you are in some ways treating yourself as less than the whole that you are.

[Miranda]

re the intuitive aspects of eating sinking in - well that's the whole issue isn't it...if we were only led by reason and rationality it wouldn't be an issue...but we aren't. We make decisions based on emotion as well. I may know what to do to reach my goals, but whether I do it or not (despite wanting it) is another story - there's a disconnect that exists and that is what is worth exploring. It's when people seemingly sabotage their progress. So the whole feck the calories idea, or what I gleaned from it, is when you live according to numbers (your cals, your macros) you are in some ways treating yourself as less than the whole that you are.

oh i certainly agree there are people who project their insecurity onto a number (on the scale, BF%, calories) they must hold onto or want to attain in order not to crumble inside - unless they [sub]consciously self-sabotage by choosing a number they can't stick to so they're entitled to feel bad or victimise themselves.

it takes courage to 'let go and just be' like new age folks would put it, which in turn would teach the person how to feel and cherish the moment (eating and otherwise).

developing true sense of self-worth is a subject worth writing great books about, but this is not one of them. it takes a lot of honest introspection et cetera to reach that stage and while you're at it, it is a darn good idea to learn about calories and portion sizes


...


but in krista's words: **** calories, **** grains and fat is awesome unless you combine it with sugar. now, that is helpful.

[NOVA888]

yeah i guess the book would've been 15 pages without all the ****s and ****s.

Hmm, I'll pass on that alone.

[summertown74]

Thank you for sharing the link, toodlepip. I actually enjoyed the cussing trucker that I am. I know that I personally feel much more energized when I eat real food instead of processed food products. So for me, I agreed with a lot of what the author wrote. I think she did address portion control when she talked about plate size and getting to know your body's actual hunger signals. And sure she didn't use any studies or research to back up her arguments, but I thought that was kind of her point?
Anyway I enjoyed the read, thanks again for sharing!