Counting Calories on Primal

Psyb3r

Hello everyone!

I have been eating primal (ish) for about 3 weeks now. I really do enjoy it, the ideas for recipes etc in the boards and online are awesome. I also subscribed to Mark's Daily apple newsletter. I do have a question though. In the introduction and some of the things I've read on the Daily apple discuss not having to count calories anymore. Since I know that people are using MFP and eating Primal, I wonder how true this is?
Right now I'm eating approx 1500 cals a day and I find (most) days I'm not hungry by the end of the day, however, I know that if I were to eat more high fat snacks, ie nuts/seeds/guacamole that I could easily go over the 1500 a day and I worry that sticking with Primal, I will have to count calories forever... Or is it true that if I work out 3-4X per week as Mark says, that I don't have to worry about eating over calorie and I'll still see the results (less bf%) that I want?

Thoughts?

TriLifter

I'm paleo (doing a Whole30 right now) and track my calories on here. I like to track my macro and micro nutrients, plus I know that I could easily eat 1000 calories of raw cashews in one sitting. I eat 2300 cals/day and am a distance runner.

ThePrimalSpartan

Personally, I'm not too worried about the amount of calories I consume, but rather WHAT I consume. I use MFP to track my food and make me SEE what I'm eating so I'm more likely to make better choices. I've adjusted my MFP goals to match the Primal goal for weight loss (minimal carbs, high protein and fat), and I concern myself with eating the right macros vs the right number of calories. Tracking my food this way takes the guess work out of how many grams of carbs/protein/fat I've eaten in a day. MFP is also fantastic for support and the community is truly one of a kind. I feel it's very easy to be successful in a Primal lifestyle using MFP. Good luck on your journey! Feel free to add me! (And anyone else on here).

Dragonwolf

Some people on here track and some don't. I'll track occasionally, as a sort of sanity check to make sure I'm not going over or sitting too far under.

While some people still do have a problem with eating too much, more people have a problem with not eating enough food. It's actually very easy to only eat 1000 calories or so, because of how satiating fat is. So, even though it has more calories per gram than carbs, you're also less likely to want to eat as many grams.

That said, many people find it beneficial to keep track of what they're eating, particularly at the beginning. It's often hard to believe that you only at 1200 calories, when you feel like you've eaten 3000!

homesweeths

I'm one of those who tracks calories mainly to make sure I'm over 1000. It's really easy for me to end up with 700-800 calories for the day and still feel full. I suppose if I were eating nuts I might be worried about eating too many calories as it's easy to munch on them mindlessly, but they're off my list right now as I'm eating according to the autoimmune protocol.

For the most part, I use MFP to keep track of carbs/fats/protein (with a glance at calories at dinner time to see how much I need to catch up), and for the people, info and encouragement.

AshleyPaleo

I used to count cals and log everything I put in my mouth since the age of 11. I also barely ate anything, and if I went over 1200 cals I would feel guilty or binge in the middle of the night. Once I started eating real food at the beginning of the year, I stopped counting cals for the most part. I find that when I happen to count cals, I now eat around 1700 to 2200, and the crazy thing was I was losing!

CaveBrain

I’ve track cals most of my adult life, so I can pretty much ballpark my cals. I don’t pay too much attention to cals at the moment, I track carbs, fat, and sugar to make sure I keep carbs under 100, my fat high, and my sugar low.

momof2osaurus

I track to make sure I'm eating enough too. Especially now that I've started Crossfit, I have to pay attention or I get very sick.

Eating 1500 calories a day isn't enough for much of anyone, so I wouldn't worry about going over that if you're exercising.

RatherBeInTheShire

I'm one that doesn't track. As long as your are eatin whole foods you'll probably be fine. I did a whole30 and ate constantly. At the time, I was barely exercising and I still lost 5 lbs in 30 days. The appeal to Paleo to me is to have a healthy relationship with food and not have to track every morsel.

ngyoung

I track just me make sure I don't go crazy over or something. Like a previous poster it is more of a sanity check. I mostly pay attention to my macros. I often times get plenty of fat but not as much protein as I would like if I don't keep track.

whatjesseats

I just went paleo in June so am still quite new to this way of eating. I track to make sure 1) I'm getting enough calories each day, 2) I'm not eating too many nuts and seeds, and 3) my carbs are reasonable. I hope to eventually be comfortable/familiar enough with this diet to stop tracking.

leighn62

I started Primal about a month ago and lost initially but then started gaining a little. I decided that I was enjoying that fat and protein a little too much so I referred to Mark's Daily Apple website to get a better idea of where my Macros should be in order to lose weight. He indicates that we need a minimum of .5 grams of protein per lb of weight so I readjusted my macros and started paying attention to calories and have had more success.