You NEED to stop calorie counting and restricting!

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  • SusanMFindlay
    SusanMFindlay Posts: 1,804 Member
    edited October 2016
    The vast majority of North Americans dislike/fear/avoid math like the plague. Is it any surprise that they aren't interested in using it to help them lose weight? Weight Watchers tries to limit the math phobia via their points method (since small numbers are less intimidating than big numbers; to the math phobic, counting to 30 points is substantially less intimidating than counting to 1500 calories).
  • ugofatcat
    ugofatcat Posts: 385 Member
    psulemon wrote: »
    ugofatcat wrote: »
    gonetothedogs19 wrote: »

    The vast majority of people who lose weight don't count calories. You are one of many.

    Kudos to those who count calories. It is something I could never do.

    Actually the vast majority of participants in the National Weight Control Registry do count calories. http://www.nwcr.ws/Research/published research.htm. See the second abstract, or read though them all if you have time.

    At the end of the day counting calories is just being aware of how much and what you are eating. I don't understand why so many people feel so strongly against mindful eating.

    To me MFP is just a tool. No more different than using a fitbit or a bathroom scale. Its not required but increases accuracy and makes things more quantitative. That aspect enables me to have much greater granularity into my intake, from a calorie and macronutrient perspective, and increases my chances of losing weight.


    For me, its been an eye opener as it has allowed me to make smarter choices to increase satiety and given me an understanding oh what combinations of foods increase satiation. And i quickly discovered thag diets that restricted foods i loved or the times i ate thise foods did not work well with me. By doing this i have lost 50lbs and become more fit than i have been most my life.

    That's awesome. Congrats on your weight loss. :)
  • courtneyfabulous
    courtneyfabulous Posts: 1,863 Member
    I fell into that trap- "just eat clean and exercise". Yeah... 9 months of no progress despite eating clean and exercising regularly. I had zero weight loss until I started counting calories AND making sure I ate enough protein- then magically started losing weight.

    Imagine where I could be now if I hadn't wasted almost a year believing that I didn't need to count/restrict calories. Ugh.
  • samchez0
    samchez0 Posts: 364 Member
    It's hard to sell your fad diet unless you make the free and totally effective form of weight loss look like a bad idea. Also I hate this idea that calorie counting = restricting.
  • ugofatcat
    ugofatcat Posts: 385 Member
    samchez0 wrote: »
    It's hard to sell your fad diet unless you make the free and totally effective form of weight loss look like a bad idea. Also I hate this idea that calorie counting = restricting.

    I absolutely agree.
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