Trying to lose weight/maintain without counting

Leana088

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10096148/counting-forever-good-bad

^^ This is a thread I created a few days ago. After reading the responses, I began thinking that maybe I should try doing this without counting.

I mean I know my limits as far as calories go. I know what/how much to eat to cut down, I know what/how much to eat to maintain. I'm just finding it hard to trust myself with it.

I think I will take some ideas from that thread, and weigh weekly instead of monthly. It will give me a better idea of how I'm doing.

It will still intrude my thoughts. But maybe that's a good thing? Maybe just being aware of it is a good thing? I mean you can't just throw the baby out with the bath water, right?

This is getting to a point where it's starting to instill fear in me when eating out with others and not knowing what's in the food.

I'm thinking it's time to take a step back, change my view of food and just start doing what I've learned from food and portions in my 2.5years of counting?

LAWoman72

Well, why not give it a try? It does work for some people.

For myself, so far, it definitely hasn't worked. I stop counting, I gain. But you're not me, and if you feel it's worth trying, then why not? Different things work for different people.

I tried intuitive eating for a while. Go figure: I "intuitively" only seemed to want to eat Oreos, cereal, doughy, bread-y pastry-ish things and big blocks of cheese. I only ate until physically full...and gained. I knew it before I stepped back on the scale; I mean you know when you just can't zip your pants any more.

I realize you may not be specifically talking about IE, but that was my experience with not counting calories, so I thought I'd throw it in.

LAWoman72

Should put in that I'm not saying Oreos, pastries or cereal are bad. Actually, I do eat them now.

But I have to figure them into my daily calories.

slondro

Yeah, I definitely understand the sentiment that the converse side of diligently controlling and planning your calories/macros is that eating leaving matters up to your intuition can become a source of stress. Although I only started logging a week ago, this is something I've thought about as well--what is the logical end point for all this?

Does this need to be an "all or nothing" type of thing, though? If weighing yourself weekly, like you suggested, perhaps you can start counting again temporarily if you see any sudden jumps or dips in weight. You'll always have the ability to count and bring yourself back to where you want to be, so I don't think you necessarily have to throw out the idea entirely.

Leana088

I was thinking of having " low calorie stand-by meals". Meals I know are low calorie like some oatmeal and milk, some chicken breast and veg. Incase I feel like I've overdone it, or I gain some, I can just replace two meals with those for a week or two. Almost like a meal replacement, only food and not a shake.

Then I'd also be in a deficit without thinking too much about it.

Leana088

LAWoman72 wrote: »

Should put in that I'm not saying Oreos, pastries or cereal are bad. Actually, I do eat them now.
But I have to figure them into my daily calories.

I still eat them too, but I've limited myself to one packet of a particular sweet per week. That works for me.

Leana088

slondro wrote: »

Yeah, I definitely understand the sentiment that the converse side of diligently controlling and planning your calories/macros is that eating leaving matters up to your intuition can become a source of stress. Although I only started logging a week ago, this is something I've thought about as well--what is the logical end point for all this?

Does this need to be an "all or nothing" type of thing, though? If weighing yourself weekly, like you suggested, perhaps you can start counting again temporarily if you see any sudden jumps or dips in weight. You'll always have the ability to count and bring yourself back to where you want to be, so I don't think you necessarily have to throw out the idea entirely.

It is supposed to be just a tool. Like I said I'll just try and have some low calorie stand-by's if I need to eat lighter for a few weeks. And maybe give myself a leeway of 2kg or so.

Hornsby

I lost counting every calorie. This gave me the framework to be able to do it in my head in maintenance.

Leana088

Hornsby wrote: »

I lost counting every calorie. This gave me the framework to be able to do it in my head in maintenance.

I also keep doing it in my head, even without an app. Is that a good or a bad thing?

Is it weird that I feel anxious when I don't know a calorie count of something? Its a little unnerving.

cwolfman13

Leana088 wrote: »

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10096148/counting-forever-good-bad

^^ This is a thread I created a few days ago. After reading the responses, I began thinking that maybe I should try doing this without counting.

I mean I know my limits as far as calories go. I know what/how much to eat to cut down, I know what/how much to eat to maintain. I'm just finding it hard to trust myself with it.

I think I will take some ideas from that thread, and weigh weekly instead of monthly. It will give me a better idea of how I'm doing.

It will still intrude my thoughts. But maybe that's a good thing? Maybe just being aware of it is a good thing? I mean you can't just throw the baby out with the bath water, right?

This is getting to a point where it's starting to instill fear in me when eating out with others and not knowing what's in the food.

I'm thinking it's time to take a step back, change my view of food and just start doing what I've learned from food and portions in my 2.5years of counting?

I logged for about 9 months while I was losing weight...everything started out well enough, but by the end I was afraid to go out to eat...I couldn't enjoy myself or enjoy food...I would freak out if I ate something and I couldn't log it right then and there if the app was down or I didn't have my phone, etc. I got pretty obsessive in the end and it was also affecting my relationship with my wife.

That is one of the big reasons I determined that I would stop logging and go to maintenance even though I wasn't quite where I wanted to be at the time. It was a very good thing...I maintained for 1.5 years without logging and simply practicing good eating habits and exercising regularly. Ultimately I felt like I had my life back...sure, I was still very mindful and kept a rough tally in my head, but as the weeks went by and I continued to maintain I became less and less obsessive about that and more focused on my general nutrition and fitness.

I'm currently counting again as I did a bulk with my coach in the fall and early winter and I need to cut...but it will be fairly short lived this time around and I'm just in a lot better place these days in RE to my relationship with food and fitness in general. I've so far not experienced those old obsessive tendency's and I'm not nearly as anal about things making sure every little thing is accounted for...I let the little things slide. I don't think I'm going to track on weekends either as my coach really wants me to have at least one if not two high calorie days per week.

Leana088

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Leana088 wrote: »

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10096148/counting-forever-good-bad

^^ This is a thread I created a few days ago. After reading the responses, I began thinking that maybe I should try doing this without counting.

I mean I know my limits as far as calories go. I know what/how much to eat to cut down, I know what/how much to eat to maintain. I'm just finding it hard to trust myself with it.

I think I will take some ideas from that thread, and weigh weekly instead of monthly. It will give me a better idea of how I'm doing.

It will still intrude my thoughts. But maybe that's a good thing? Maybe just being aware of it is a good thing? I mean you can't just throw the baby out with the bath water, right?

This is getting to a point where it's starting to instill fear in me when eating out with others and not knowing what's in the food.

I'm thinking it's time to take a step back, change my view of food and just start doing what I've learned from food and portions in my 2.5years of counting?

I logged for about 9 months while I was losing weight...everything started out well enough, but by the end I was afraid to go out to eat...I couldn't enjoy myself or enjoy food...I would freak out if I ate something and I couldn't log it right then and there if the app was down or I didn't have my phone, etc. I got pretty obsessive in the end and it was also affecting my relationship with my wife.

That is one of the big reasons I determined that I would stop logging and go to maintenance even though I wasn't quite where I wanted to be at the time. It was a very good thing...I maintained for 1.5 years without logging and simply practicing good eating habits and exercising regularly. Ultimately I felt like I had my life back...sure, I was still very mindful and kept a rough tally in my head, but as the weeks went by and I continued to maintain I became less and less obsessive about that and more focused on my general nutrition and fitness.

I'm currently counting again as I did a bulk with my coach in the fall and early winter and I need to cut...but it will be fairly short lived this time around and I'm just in a lot better place these days in RE to my relationship with food and fitness in general. I've so far not experienced those old obsessive tendency's and I'm not nearly as anal about things making sure every little thing is accounted for...I let the little things slide. I don't think I'm going to track on weekends either as my coach really wants me to have at least one if not two high calorie days per week.

Do you think I will be able to bulk without counting? Also, do I need to eat certain macros or does a calorie surplus rain supreme over macros during a bulk?