I lose more weight NOT counting calories

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burtsr7
burtsr7 Posts: 11 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So the past couple of weeks I've been swamped with finals and trying to clean out my cupboard before I leave the apartment for the week (so basically, when I've run out of breakfast food I buy breakfast elsewhere instead of making it myself). I thought this would make me backtrack on any weight loss I've had so I just stopped counting calories so I wouldn't cause myself additional anxiety during these couple of weeks! Well, at the end of one day I thought back to my food intake and thought "wow, my meals were actually pretty small today, I guess I'm not pigging out as much as I anticipated so I thought back in the day and added up all my calories consumed.

Turns out, when I go through the day without tallying up all my consumed calories I create a false perception that I'm eating more calories than I am, thus I tend to eat less. Which totally makes sense! When I was counting calories I may have been full at the end of the day but when I input my dinner and realized I would have a 500 calories deficit I would often think "well, you just hit a major milestone in your exercising today anyways, treat yourself to that Snickers bar." Since I don't have any idea of what number I'm at now, I tend to overestimate what I've eaten for the day and overall consume less.

I know that people are probably going to rip me a new one for this, and that's not what I'm looking for. I just thought it was an interesting observation. Obviously I understand the important of calorie counting and such, especially while you're settling into a new routine. I just thought it was interesting to note that if you've been following a routine for awhile that the calories numbers may lull you into a false sense of security and may end up leading to the consumption of additional calories. And I don't just mean in the context of unhealthy food like snickers bars. I've caught myself eating more of my Chipotle burrito bowl then I normally would have because it was a heavy exercise day and having a 800 calorie deficit was too extreme for someone who is simply hoping to tone up (such as myself). But I never would have known I had such a huge deficit if I wasn't meticulously taking note of everything I ate and calculating how much I had left for dinner.

Just a thought. Please don't jump down my throats about this. Big deficits are bad, that's why I've counted in the past. I know.

Replies

  • martymid
    martymid Posts: 16 Member
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    Jump down your throat? I'd say you are to be envied. I hope someday that will work for me!
  • nilbogger
    nilbogger Posts: 870 Member
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    So don't count them. If that's what works for you, great. Unfortunately it doesn's work for me...
  • Nessiechickie
    Nessiechickie Posts: 1,392 Member
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    I'm doing this right now as well..if im not ALWAYS thinking of what i'm going to eat next and just eat when im hungry
    i'm happier and my tummy is happier... as well it seems easier to lose weight...
    but i only do this if i'm not working out... if i'm working out i prefer to make sure i have enough calories in me... dont need any fainting spells.

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