Doesn't Counting Calories Count?
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Just wanted to say I am happy to have found this group! I have belonged to the paleo one for awhile, but I am not strict paleo nor primal. I watched the video and found it interesting and informative. I appreciate all the information you took the time to put together.
I absolutely hate calorie counting because I get so hungry it hurts, even when I am supposed to be eating an "acceptable" amount for weightloss (1400-1500). Not to mention how tedious it is. I don't want food to rule me. The fact is I have always, always felt much better and satisfied on a LCHF diet; it's practically effortless for me.
I do have some things to learn,as I do not readily know which foods are specifically lower in carbs and which ones are higher. So I will be tracking carbs on mfp, goal being under 100 carbs. Today I logged my food and ate close to 2000 calories (eta), which would normally make me believe I failed and my whole day was shot. I can't say I feel at all bad about it.
Looking forward to learning more and posting in the boards!0 -
This is my first day actually counting carbs or calories. I had no idea that freaking broccoli had so many carbs, or onions, tomato, fruits... stuff I thought was low carb and good for me. So basically I can only eat what? Fat? Ugh.
You can fit those in if you up your carbs a bit. I think I'd die if I couldn't eat onions or tomatoes! Onions are what make the world go round. I am only moderate carbing (100-fiber grams), just started, we'll see.
WRT to the original question - I'm counting calories, because I'm high in carbs for low-carb and not seeing the controlled hunger I'd like to see. I also am having trouble getting enough fiber in (have IBS, some leafy greens and cruciferous veg are awful for me
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In the past, I did all right as far as weight loss is concerned just with South Beach (I think I dropped 10-15 lbs), but needed to combine it with counting to see really strong results. I'd say my carbs were on the higher side compared to keto then, too, for sure.0 -
I find that counting ANYTHING -- carbs, calories, whatever -- helps a ton. It literally makes you accountable for what you eat. It makes you stop and think. It changes the way you view eating: "is it worth the carbs/cals? nah, I'll pass."
I get into trouble when I stop counting.
I agree - counting encourages mindfulness, definitely.0 -
This is my first day actually counting carbs or calories. I had no idea that freaking broccoli had so many carbs, or onions, tomato, fruits... stuff I thought was low carb and good for me. So basically I can only eat what? Fat? Ugh.
I basically try to not to eat any carbs before dinner (except for the random couple of grams in my morning cuppa)... I find this really helps control my appetite as well as my carb intake. I will then have a big plate of meat and (low-carb) veggies for dinner.
Yesterday, I had 100g of asparagus, 167.5g of cherry tomatoes & 200g of button mushrooms with smoked salmon and eggs... only 8g of carbs overall and very satisfying.
Just keep experimenting and find what works for you.
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I'm assuming counting calories means keeping a limit on how many one consumes. I count calories on MFP with a limit of 1300 since I am very short - 152cm, roughly 5' dead. Having said that however, I don't weigh or measure my food most of the time since I find it very irritating. Most of my logs are of guesstimated amounts so I am aware that's my calories are an approximate too. I'm ok with that. I track diligently though because I like the data and it keeps me occupied, which is important since I get bored easily and I tend to eat when I'm bored. I also stick to my eyeballing because I know once I'm back at work with a heavy travel schedule I will lose control over the actual amounts I will be eating. I suppose I will at that point stop counting calories altogether and just keep track of my carbs. Hopefully by then I'll be so Keto/Zen it will not bother me at all.0
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I've been experimenting with not logging my food on mfp. I have found that I eat less when I don't. I'm thinking that by watching those numbers all day makes me eat towards a goal instead of satiety. It's nice to feel comfortable with the food choices I make!1
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Dragonwolf wrote: »totaloblivia wrote: »@Fitgoat are there any quotes from female low carvers who say counting calories doesn't matter?
*waves*
While I have gotten back into the habit of tracking, I don't actually count. I track more to reinforce the fact that my hunger signals are actually where they should be, and to ensure my macros are in the ballpark of where they should be...and to be able to throw my diary in the face of the next doctor that implies that I'm just not trying hard enough/doing it wrong when I try to tell them my PCOS is acting up again and hindering my efforts to lose weight. (I'm not bitter at all...:)) I also recently got a Fitbit, so it's fun to see how my intake lines up with what Fitbit says it my output. I have actually gotten to the point where I don't really need to track, but I like the data.
What I've found from it is that I will often go in cycles. I'll go several days where my intake is lower than my calculated output. Usually, it's only by a couple hundred calories (and since my goal is 1800, only consuming 1500-1600 isn't that big of a deal), though on some higher-activity days, it may be as much as 1,000 short. Then, I'll have a sort of "hollow" day (as in "hollow leg") and eat....and eat....and eat. Like the lower side, I'm usually only a couple hundred calories over, but sometimes it will be close to 1,000 calories over. However, it all balances out over the course of a week or two, and I'm at my overall goal deficit. It's not uncommon for a high activity day to be followed by a hollow day, too.
that's great - thanks for coming back on this. I hardly ever make it under my calorie goal, but still losing (slowly) would probably lose faster if I chose to control myself better!0 -
Personally I've been losing weight better since I've been logging my food and measuring/weighing. Sure, when I first started I easily got away without doing so and not worrying about calories. But with only 20 lbs left to lose, I feel like calories do matter. I'm sure before I was underestimating my calories by quite a bit. I could figure out about how much I was eating but since I didn't measure I'm sure I was over my calories by quite a bit.0
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Thanks for this post. I'm still getting my feet wet on the whole LCHF thing. I don't want to cause issues with my kidneys so I'm going to work at keeping the protein at 100g or less every day and carbs are 20g or less a day. However, I'm not sure how to calculate how many grams of fat I should be sticking with. Does anyone have a suggestion how to figure this out?
I'm tracking my foods because I want to make sure I don't over eat but also to track the carbs I'm consuming. I had a salad today along with chicken at a local BBQ joint. Very awesome. I don't mind eating healthy. In fact, I see a difference in some regards already. My stomach hasn't been upset or irritable since I started this, Friday the 1st. I hope I can have as much success with the LCHF as others!0 -
This is my first day actually counting carbs or calories. I had no idea that freaking broccoli had so many carbs, or onions, tomato, fruits... stuff I thought was low carb and good for me. So basically I can only eat what? Fat? Ugh.
You can take a look through my diary. I average less than 25g total carbs (no net carb math stuff). Some days get to 30, some days are under 10...
Anyway, I eat some vegetables but not a whole lot.0 -
jrloveless wrote: »Thanks for this post. I'm still getting my feet wet on the whole LCHF thing. I don't want to cause issues with my kidneys so I'm going to work at keeping the protein at 100g or less every day and carbs are 20g or less a day. However, I'm not sure how to calculate how many grams of fat I should be sticking with. Does anyone have a suggestion how to figure this out?
I'm tracking my foods because I want to make sure I don't over eat but also to track the carbs I'm consuming. I had a salad today along with chicken at a local BBQ joint. Very awesome. I don't mind eating healthy. In fact, I see a difference in some regards already. My stomach hasn't been upset or irritable since I started this, Friday the 1st. I hope I can have as much success with the LCHF as others!
This http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com
Or this http://www.ruled.me/keto-calculator/0 -
Yep. Use the calculator that Sunny_Bunny_ posted!0
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I've been experimenting with not logging my food on mfp. I have found that I eat less when I don't. I'm thinking that by watching those numbers all day makes me eat towards a goal instead of satiety. It's nice to feel comfortable with the food choices I make!
I haven't stopped logging. But I can totally relate to eating toward those bloody numbers! I weigh everything, and sometimes I think I don't need this much, but I've already filled out my diary so I'll add to the exact gram of what I've recorded. I prelog my day first thing in the morning.0 -
After months of not logging daily I'm still here, doing well!0
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jrloveless wrote: »Thanks for this post. I'm still getting my feet wet on the whole LCHF thing. I don't want to cause issues with my kidneys so I'm going to work at keeping the protein at 100g or less every day and carbs are 20g or less a day. However, I'm not sure how to calculate how many grams of fat I should be sticking with. Does anyone have a suggestion how to figure this out?
Do you have preexisting kidney issues? If you don't, protein hasn't been shown to cause problems. It's only something to worry about if you already have damaged kidneys.
Fat until it's not appealing. I don't measure or count the fat I eat. Big hunks of it are pretty awesome, today I was eating pure chunks of cold beef fat dipped in hot sauce and sour cream. Granted, that's just me. I've found that, as I lost body fat, my desire for dietary fat went up. At the start, I ate a lot of fat, but more lean compared to now. When I sit down for a meat, I focus on the fat of the meat first and eat mostly that. And, I work my way into the leaner portions of the meat. It probably doesn't change the amount I end up eating, because I usually finish my whole steak.
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Not counting calories on LC absolutely works, if you are wanting to maintain your weight. Your body doesn't generally want you to lose weight, so I find that takes more effort.0
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Lowcarbheart, hippygirl, et al. you have no idea how happy I am that this thread helped you. LowCarbHeart those points are really some of the key ones from that video. My rants are not nearly as eloquent as he is, but I pasted them anyway because I know some people won't watch an hour long video.
My opinion on vegetables is "controversial" to say the least. LOL. Frankly, if vegetables help someone with being low-carb (and I think for a lot of people they provide at least a mental shield for coping with the high fat content of this way of eating), then eat as many low-carb vegetables as you desire. Obviously some are better than others, especially in regards to carb count, but even some of the worst ones (not counting those that are pure starches like potatoes) are hard to really get fat with. Have you ever heard of someone getting obese from eating carrots?
See this is the thing I'm wondering about. I've always done low carb especially when I was younger, I did it "hardcore" at that time because I wasn't even really a fan of veggies. I decided to go back on really strict because I need to lose 20 lbs in 3 months. But now I kind of have a dilemma which is snacking on veggies (which I love now) vs. cheese ( which I love always lol) or meats or something. I hate counting calories but I was wondering if doing that plus no carb would help me lose the weight faster. I am noticing though that it's almost impossible because since proteins/ fats are usually high in calories I literally can only eat a spec of food which does not work for me because I eat so so much! The only solution I see is basically snacking on like cucumbers and raw carrots,but carrots are higher in carbs so I would most likely go over my carb allowance in that case but I would prob stay under my calories. Like you said "no one gotten fat from eating carrots" lol. Anyway any advice from anyone would be greatly appreciated!!!0 -
Great thread. Will check video whilst on eliptical trainer, later. Thxs @FIT_Goat for sharing.0
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Kimpadula201 wrote: »
I hate counting calories but I was wondering if doing that plus no carb would help me lose the weight faster. I am noticing though that it's almost impossible because since proteins/ fats are usually high in calories I literally can only eat a spec of food which does not work for me because I eat so so much! The only solution I see is basically snacking on like cucumbers and raw carrots,but carrots are higher in carbs so I would most likely go over my carb allowance in that case but I would prob stay under my calories. Like you said "no one gotten fat from eating carrots" lol. Anyway any advice from anyone would be greatly appreciated!!!
Let me start by saying that I'm not advocating a low cal LCHF diet for anyone as most don't need it.
I am on quite a calorie restrictive LCHF diet (1200-1300 cal/day) because I'm trying to get off insulin. Just changing my diet to LCHF alone was not enough and my insulin doses have caused major weight gain that I just cannot lose without cutting the insulin. I'm down to just 30 units a day after 4 weeks, versus 310 units a day before, so it's working for me. Lowest I got just doing LCHF w/o counting calories was to 135 units a day.
But you're welcome to add me as a friend so you can view my diary for some food ideas. I stretch my calories pretty far and make the most out of them and don't feel deprived. I don't eat a lot of snacks, but I have three pretty hearty meals that fill me up (except today, my dinner plans are pretty lame because I don't have time to go shopping).0 -
I haven't logged my food on a daily basis, in months. That being said though, I don't "snack" anymore either, so, I know my calories are within my limit, as well as my other macros. Once I got used to not being hungry (this can be an adjustment), and learned the foods that I choose to eat, I didn't feel a benefit to log everyday anymore.
I was a size 18/20 when I stopped logging and am now in some size 12. So, it can be done without obsessive counting, but logging everyday helped me get there!
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