What are your feelings on calorie counting?
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HappyCampr1 wrote: »
Most of the difference between pizzas is going to be in the crust. Cheese is pretty much cheese and pepperoni is pretty much pepperoni. For local pizza places, I try to find a similar size pizza, with a similar crust (thin/crispy, hand tossed, pan...) from a national chain and use their entries. It's not exact, but it's generally close enough.It's effective but, can be sometimes annoying. Like I have a groupon for a pizza place that only has 2 locations. Instead I'm eating a pretty good frozen pizza for dinner because the box has calories printed on it. I haven't had a burrito from my local mexican place in 4 months because i don't know quite how to log it. I didn't get drunk the other night because i wasn't sure if my shot glasses were 1oz or 1.5oz shot glasses (probably for the best). Maybe I'm being too obsessive about this
For Mexican, On the Border has pretty good online nutrition information for traditional Mexican food. Also, Moe's will let you customize burritos, nachos, tacos... and give you the nutritional information based on what you put on it. http://www.moes.com/food/nutrition/burritos/ At least it will give you an idea.
I can't help you with the shot glass. A food scale will fix that issue though and will also help with a whole host of logging issues you're sure to encounter in your journey.
Good luck!
Yep, I just use the data from pizza hut, even though I never get pizzas from there. Same with other take away foods, I can usually find a substitute in the data base.0 -
I'll try that moes site for sure. I know exactly what brand of tortillas they use because last time i walked past it was windy and the boxes were everywhere. Then it's just a matter of the amount of meat and other stuff on there. Maybe I'll just weight the meet once. It's too convenient and delicious not to eat there (10 minute walk).0
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I like to log my food.0
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I'll try that moes site for sure. I know exactly what brand of tortillas they use because last time i walked past it was windy and the boxes were everywhere. Then it's just a matter of the amount of meat and other stuff on there. Maybe I'll just weight the meet once. It's too convenient and delicious not to eat there (10 minute walk).
Now this is sounding a bit obsessive. Find a burrito at a big chain restaurant that has similar ingredients and just log that.
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WinoGelato wrote: »I'll try that moes site for sure. I know exactly what brand of tortillas they use because last time i walked past it was windy and the boxes were everywhere. Then it's just a matter of the amount of meat and other stuff on there. Maybe I'll just weight the meet once. It's too convenient and delicious not to eat there (10 minute walk).
Now this is sounding a bit obsessive. Find a burrito at a big chain restaurant that has similar ingredients and just log that.
OK fair enough.0 -
I regret that it's necessary; my satiety cues don't work and I got myself to 272 pounds (on a 5'1/2" frame) by eating until I was full. But this is the first thing that's clicked for me. Counting points with WW helped me lose 42 pounds once. Taught me nothing about what I was truly eating, though, so when I could no longer afford it I was right back where I started, eating to "full" and regained that plus some. A VLC liquid diet helped me lose 80+ pounds, but taught me nothing but avoidance so when I stumbled I ended up back where I started. Regained it all plus 20 on top of that.
Since April 19th I've lost 68.8 pounds and am rarely miserably hungry. I've gone to bed hungry maybe a couple of times in the past 8.5 months. Whether I have the money for good, healthy food or just cheap crap, I can eat within my calories and still lose weight. Sometimes I can have cottage cheese and fruit and good lean proteins, etc. Sometimes I have to have a package of ramen and add an egg to it. Either way, I'm staying within my calories 90+% of the time. There's only one day I didn't log every single meal. That was Christmas. I had reasonable portions of dinner (prime rib w/fat cut off, scalloped potatoes, a popover, and orange salad). Went overboard with the peanut butter fudge, as planned, and made myself sick with it. I only make it once a year and I was going to enjoy the hell out of it! Thanks to calorie counting I was enough in a deficit despite that that I still lost 1.2 pounds this week.
Do I hope someday I'll be able to eyeball and stay at maintenance? You bet. I'd love to develop that skill. But I'm still a fan of counting calories and if I end up having to do it the rest of my life, so be it.0 -
It's how I lost 62 pounds. Without MFP I probably would have quit within a month because I didn't know about how badly I guessed at what I was eating. Sadly I've gained 20+ pounds back because I've been too stressed to focus on weight loss, but I know exactly what I need to do to get down to my goal.0
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Good, I hope you make it.It's how I lost 62 pounds. Without MFP I probably would have quit within a month because I didn't know about how badly I guessed at what I was eating. Sadly I've gained 20+ pounds back because I've been too stressed to focus on weight loss, but I know exactly what I need to do to get down to my goal.
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It drives me nuts. I use MFP for the forum. I've lost a good amount of weight without calorie counting. I eat a little more than I used to but alot healthier too. I owe alot of it to working out 4-5 days a week0
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I don't like it. I've yo yo dieted all my life including calorie counting. As I feel it is always limiting me. It's a necessary evil at moment so that I lose this last bit of weight. But I don't to do this my whole life. Now I live an active and healthy lifestyle just having some trouble w this last but of weight. Just my thoughts.0
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whaddupw8loss wrote: »In response to all: I never said that CICO isn't the way to lose weight. I said, there's a lot more to it that would prohibit the weight loss only using the base of CICO. Yes, obviously there is going to be a loss of weight with any calorie deficit. However, there are PLENTY of people who stop calorie counting once they achieve their desired weight and gain it all back. Why? Because they never formed healthy eating, they only formed reducing calories. I'm not saying that anyone has to only eat healthy, of course you should be able to have treats or unhealthy foods in moderation. Now for those of you who have learned better eating habits from MFP, good for you. I never said you couldn't. In fact, there are people who do. But there are plenty more people who don't have that experience. I don't know how many posts I've read where they just yo-yo and yo-yo, because it's hard to maintain eating junk food with no nutrients at a deficit, your body inevitably gets hungry. You eat, and sometimes you eat WAY too much due to this. So, no. Calorie counting is not the devil, it can be VERY beneficial. However, I don't seem to find too many overweight, calorie-counting, avid MFP users who have a well balanced diet, with nutrients. Obviously there is a reason people get obese, or overweight. If it's from junk food, then they cannot continue eating like *kitten*, and expecting life long results. Yes, you can restrict and eat like *kitten*, but how long will that last. Just take a look at how many "I fell off the bandwagon...again" posts you see on this site. So, if this site manages to give you the right tools you need to be healthier, then great. My original post was NOT ABOUT YOU. "If it doesn't apply to you, then don't get insulted by it."
Also, there are other calorie counting sites that don't require you to purchase a "premium" account to enable you to use all of it's offered tools. If you think this site isn't to line the pockets of the creator, then I believe you're misguided. Weight loss is a BIG market for making money, the creators of MFP were well aware of that. There are plenty of sites that give you all the tools for free and came way before MFP. MFP hasn't done anything new or special. You could search on google, find ANY calorie counting site, and you'd have the same results on those as you would MFP, it's about the habits of the user, not the site. If the user is determined to lose weight, they'll do so on any calorie counting platform. Weight Watchers, another popular calorie counting mechanism, has such a poor long term success rate, and guess what? When the user "falls off the bandwagon" because they only learned points, and CICO, they go right back to it. Weight loss websites and companies are in it for the money.
actually, in my experience most people eat what they perceive to be healthy and nutritious when dieting and they exercise, etc...but it's a temporary thing in their minds...once the weight is gone, it's back to "normal". most people fail to realize that there has to be a new normal, and that doesn't have anything to do with calorie counting or not...regardless of what diet or plan or methodology people use to lose weight, most people fail at actually making a change to a more healthful lifestyle overall. only about 5% of people who lose weight keep it off long term, regardless of what diet plan they use, calorie counting or otherwise.0 -
Budgeting. Like with money. I'd love to buy out the whole store, but knowing, I just can't.
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The only times I have been successful at weight loss, is when I have counted calories. I was counting calories before MFP, but like MFP because it does the math for me. I have taken a multi-vitamin in the past when eating at a deficit but have found that I am much happier and feel better when I get my nutrients from food. The motivation for me is to manage my health with limited use of medication. For me logging is not just about counting calories but counting nutrients as well. Perhaps with more practice I will be able to do less counting. For now, it appears to be a choice of counting calories and nutrients or counting mg of medication.0
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I feel that it's probably saved my life, or at least greatly increased the quality of it. Doesn't matter if I enjoy it or not, but it's fairly unobtrusive.0
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I think it is necessary for people who are trying to lose or maintain weight by diet alone because they need to squeeze every calorie into their diet.
I also think that people who are trying to lose or maintain weight through exercise and diet should only log food until they learn how to eat without logging.
I kind of think it's a bad habit, and people should be able to keep themselves accountable without it.
JMO though.0 -
bcalvanese wrote: »I think it is necessary for people who are trying to lose or maintain weight by diet alone because they need to squeeze every calorie into their diet.
I also think that people who are trying to lose or maintain weight through exercise and diet should only log food until they learn how to eat without logging.
I kind of think it's a bad habit, and people should be able to keep themselves accountable without it.
JMO though.
I don't know, I definitely do both diet and exercise, but even when I was very active in college I was never able to maintain a healthy weight without calorie counting. My hunger and satiety are always out of whack with what they should be.
I think it's a very easy thing to count for a lifetime - it takes me less time to plan and log the next day's meals than it does to brush my teeth in the evenings, and it gives benefits other than weight loss, like making dinner prep easy because all the decisions are already made.0 -
rankinsect wrote: »bcalvanese wrote: »I think it is necessary for people who are trying to lose or maintain weight by diet alone because they need to squeeze every calorie into their diet.
I also think that people who are trying to lose or maintain weight through exercise and diet should only log food until they learn how to eat without logging.
I kind of think it's a bad habit, and people should be able to keep themselves accountable without it.
JMO though.
I don't know, I definitely do both diet and exercise, but even when I was very active in college I was never able to maintain a healthy weight without calorie counting. My hunger and satiety are always out of whack with what they should be.
I think it's a very easy thing to count for a lifetime - it takes me less time to plan and log the next day's meals than it does to brush my teeth in the evenings, and it gives benefits other than weight loss, like making dinner prep easy because all the decisions are already made.
This is one of the main draw-cards for me too. Plus I really enjoy planning my days and filling out my diary every morning.. Maybe I'm just weird
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I love calorie counting and logging exercise! I am at my goal and maintaining! I will be on here everyday!0
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I love it. I wish I understood the basics of weight loss sooner. I spent my whole life overweight. If I had known I could track calories like this...man! Anyway, can't dwell on the past.
It has also been a good tool for me because I am horrible at keeping track of anything. My calendar, bank account, emails-all a mess. This is the first time in my life I have ever kept up with tracking anything.
I DO hope to be able to stop logging in the app someday. I'll know when it's time though, and it's not yet.0
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