not counting calories on whole30?

kts1988

whole9 and whole30 recommend not counting calories, and i haven't been counting for the past 3 days or so (i'm on day 9 of my first whole30). i feel this approach has been much healthier for me psychologically, but i worry that i'm eating too much or not enough.

does anyone else try not to count calories or have opinions on the subject? i want to keep losing weight, particularly body fat, but have a hard time figuring out if what i'm eating is enough or too much.

epcooper

I went through my first whole30 without counting calories and it was truly a liberating experience. The purpose of not counting calories is to learn to listen to your body and clue in to your hunger and satiety signals. It works, but you have to trust the program. In my experience, after the first 2 weeks you're actually much more likely to "undereat" than overeat....let your body tell you how much you need. Some days you'll eat more than others, depending on your activity, and that's totally okay.

Sprinkelss

I went through my first whole30 without counting calories and it was truly a liberating experience. The purpose of not counting calories is to learn to listen to your body and clue in to your hunger and satiety signals. It works, but you have to trust the program. In my experience, after the first 2 weeks you're actually much more likely to undereat than overeat.

THIS! When I started Paleo, I disregarded the scale and/or counting calories. For nearly 3 months I wasn't paying attention and then I started to notice the weight my boyfriend has lost and then how thin my face was! Across the board, you have to kick your sugar cravings and if you try to do that while sticking to a strict calorie count will be terrible. I have come back to MFP because I am now NOT eating enough....lol SO believe me, kick your cravings, liberate your diary and once you have the paleo "dialed in" you will be great!!

epcooper

Exactly! Kick the addictions first, without the added burden of calorie counting. When following the guidelines, you can be assured that everything that goes in your body is healthy and has a purpose, and it's all helping you heal. You may be extra hungry at first and that's okay. Your hormones will absolutely level out when you're not constantly damaging your body with grains and sugar. If you have to rely on fruit to curb cravings for the first couple weeks, that's fine. Once your hormones are under control, your body will be able to tell you whether you're eating enough, and you'll be able to "get" the message. The numbers you put in your log don't matter anywhere near as much as the hormone signaling that's going on inside your body.....and the latter is far more accurate.

Once you get in the groove and you're not just struggling to get through every day without "cheating," you can make adjustments to address losing weight and body fat.

TriLifter

I'm on day 21 and I've counted calories the whole time. I run, sometimes 15 miles, and need to make sure I'm getting what I need.

AmIhealthyyet

I went through my first whole30 without counting calories and it was truly a liberating experience. The purpose of not counting calories is to learn to listen to your body and clue in to your hunger and satiety signals. It works, but you have to trust the program. In my experience, after the first 2 weeks you're actually much more likely to "undereat" than overeat....let your body tell you how much you need. Some days you'll eat more than others, depending on your activity, and that's totally okay.

I LOVE NOT counting!

raisingbabyk

I'm starting the Whole30 on Tuesday and have been debating if I should count or not. I like the idea of listening to your body and it makes total sense! I am breastfeeding so I need to eat an extra 500 calories a day, and I also run.. so part of me worries that I will under eat and maybe drop my milk supply.

I think I will give not counting a try and see how it goes. If i feel like I may not be getting enough I can always start counting.

maigsy

The Whole30 is designed for weight loss, so I don't think you will suffer for not counting calories. I did my whole30 in May/June and ended up losing 10lbs! So, I'd pay attention to your body, and focus on getting enough good fats and protein in your diet, and I think you should be fine (but I'm not an MD )

JohnNull

I do not count calories. You shouldn't need to if you're eating properly, as your ability to feel proper levels of satiety will return.

rkasper22

actually, the whole30 is designed to you to learn what makes you FEEL great, not for weight loss. which can be really scary to let go of that control of counting, but it helps you learn how to be more in touch with your body and learn that it is trustworthy. you can do this!

mybelovedrebel

As someone who did a whole 30 and did count my calories, I can promise you that you aren't going to overeat. I would trust the process and let go, which I found extremely hard to do. If 30 days later you aren't happy with your progress you can go back to it, but I bet if you recorded everything you ate and put it in the computer after completing your 30 days you would be shocked at how reasonable your calories were!

crossfitchemist

I don't really count calories much anymore now that I'm paleo. I do check every couple of months for a week or so to be sure I'm taking in enough and because people on my twitter always want to know what my macros and all that are. I did find an app that tracks just food and not all of the numbers involved with it. http://theactivefeed.com/2013/08/14/food-tracking-not-calorie-tracking/

Rei1988

I'm gonna do the whole30 on tues too, I'm gonna log macros still, but I'm not too concerned with calories as I am getting enough fat because I'm also ketogenic.

agdyl

It's really interesting - I'm a week into my Whole30 and decided to track what I've been eating anyway. I'm not limiting what I eat, just logging it so I can look at the data. I eat quite healthy normally, and really was a little skeptical about how cutting out the like 1 tbsp of honey a day and some chickpeas was going to change anything significantly, but I've been at a weightloss plateau for a month or more. I've also stopped snacking and am just eating larger meals with no snacks. And 1 week in - I've lost 3.6 pounds. And I've still been eating basically the same total calories per day. It's spread out differently, but I'm still eating the same total calories daily. Just less sugar, more fat and protein. And with longer breaks between eating.

Anyway - I debated about tracking my meals or not, but I don't feel like I'm limiting my meals because I'm counting calories - I'm still eating 1800-2200 or so calories a day - whatever feels right.