Is there anyone not counting calories?

24

Replies

  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    glassyo wrote: »
    I count carbs. When I get 25-35 carbohydrate mark, I stop. Seeing that it must be so freeing not be a slave to the calories, I signed up.

    If counting calories is being a "slave" to calories, then counting carbohydrates is being a "slave" to carbohydrates. I don't see a meaningful difference here.

    I'm a slave to carbs. In fact, I'm carbs' *kitten*. If I were in a jail cell with carbs, I wouldn't even have to be threatened. I would gladly bend over for carbs.

    Edited because I really WOULD gladly bend over for carbs. :)

    <=== is currently shopping Amazon for a slice of bread costume! Lol j/I
    I have never been a slave to carbs, but might have been chained to a radiator by some once....
  • LagunaPaul
    LagunaPaul Posts: 3 Member
    oh boy! So much to say about this, but its religion you know. you cannot challenge anyone's beliefs without offending them. However, we all know people who look at food and gain weight. We all know people who can pretty much eat what ever they want to, and never gain a pound. So its not calories. Fat isn't 9 calories per gram. Carbohydrates aren't 4 calories per gram. Different types of carbs/fats/protein have different amounts of calories, so how can you even began to count them anyway? Those are comprise numbers published by the government trying to simplify things for the population. Depending on what type of meat, or vegetables, or whatever, the calories contained in a gram of fat/protein/carbs vary widely, so you're not really counting anything accurately.
  • Mov3mor3
    Mov3mor3 Posts: 96 Member
    I log it after I eat and it is what it is. I'm in my range all the time.
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    After41 wrote: »
    I log it after I eat and it is what it is. I'm in my range all the time.

    Interesting.

    I tend to log before I eat it.

    Often I pre-log the entire day when I get up in the morning so that I have a plan for the day and will make changes/additions/subtractions/substitutions as needed.

    The other reason I find pre-logging handy is it helps me avoid problems before they happen. Like, I'll grab something to eat, log it, see what impact it's had on my calories for the day and all of a sudden that particular thing isn't quite as appealing as it was a few seconds earlier or I change what I'm going to eat so that I can better stick to my target. If I log after eating and don't like what I see then it's too late.
  • teresadannar
    teresadannar Posts: 199 Member
    glassyo wrote: »
    You feel guilty for counting calories? That's new.

    Some have found success by not logging. I know I'll be logging for life because it's way too easy for me to mindlessly shovel food in my mouth.

    I think I've come to accept the same path, logging for life....
  • Mov3mor3
    Mov3mor3 Posts: 96 Member
    Danp wrote: »
    After41 wrote: »
    I log it after I eat and it is what it is. I'm in my range all the time.

    Interesting.

    I tend to log before I eat it.

    Often I pre-log the entire day when I get up in the morning so that I have a plan for the day and will make changes/additions/subtractions/substitutions as needed.

    The other reason I find pre-logging handy is it helps me avoid problems before they happen. Like, I'll grab something to eat, log it, see what impact it's had on my calories for the day and all of a sudden that particular thing isn't quite as appealing as it was a few seconds earlier or I change what I'm going to eat so that I can better stick to my target. If I log after eating and don't like what I see then it's too late.

    That is a good way to do a calorie counting diet. I should mention that I now eat very low carb, high fat, and only one meal a day. My method is to correct the hormone imbalance root cause of my health issues. My hormones are becoming more balanced, I'm getting full on a normal amount of food. My body is telling me "whoa boy that's enough!" It falls between 1400-2000 calories every time. It works for me, effortlessly, and that's the way I'd like to continue. Some people do better on low calorie. I gained my weight back because I couldn't sustain it. I lost 100 lbs, so I know calorie counting works, but it's not for me.
  • margbarco
    margbarco Posts: 128 Member
    I purposely take a break for a day or a few days once in a while to break my logging streak.

    When I logged for almost a full year it started to feel like a chore and sort of like I was doing it to hit that one year mark. I stopped logging on day 360, but since I’ve started up again, I’ve enjoyed it and it feels good.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    psychod787 wrote: »
    This site is built around calorie counting. So most of us here do just that. :)

    @snickerscharlie , some of us just like the comrade like relationship we develop with others here. ;)
    I don't really track much either...

    Lost about 180lbs and never tracked anything. It really wasn't until I started trying to gain weight that I began tracking. When you are trying to build muscle and don't want to go to far over and minimize fat gains, a target of 250+ calories is extremely difficult to hit...

    Everyone will tell you, just weigh everything, which you really can't do if you want to maintain a normal life and even if you did there's just no reliable way to tell what your deficit is because there's no reliable way to know how much you're actually burning in a day...

    I'd use formulas and trackers and everything, and it always just felt like way too much food and it was...

    I do believe cico can be an effective tool but the only thing you can probably take to the bank is the calories in part, calories out tbh we don't really know... You can't trust fitbit, formulas or whatever, which is why it's unsuccessful for many people...

    Another thing you can't really trust is restaurant calorie estimates either... Plus you can still gain over a weekend in a deficit if you eat out or salt your food too much or drink alcohol...

    I know many disagree with me, but I've been at this for a while now and you can't argue with results...

    I have a tattoo on my arm that says "Eat wise and exercise" that's all you should need...

    I weigh just about everything I eat at home and my life is pretty normal.

    If you log relatively accurately, you *can* accurately estimate what you're burning in a day because you can compare your real life results to your estimates over time. It won't happen instantly, but this is how people figure out if their activity tracker (or other method of estimating calories out) is over- or under-estimating -- they're comparing it to their real life results.

    Restaurant calorie estimates can be tricky, which is another factor to consider when we're deciding whether or not we want to take steps to be more accurate with our calorie intake estimates when we can. I weigh my food at home precisely so I can limit the impact of the times when I'm going with someone else's estimate.

    Do I think someone *has* to weigh food and log in order to be successful? Obviously not. But I think it's one of the best ways for the average person to ensure they're regularly hitting their calorie goals. Telling someone to "eat wise" is very vague. How exactly do I implement that? That would be a lot harder for me than "Hey, generally net about 1,460 calories a day if you want to maintain your current weight."

    (Obviously, if it is negatively impacting your mental health, I don't recommend you do it).

    If it works for you as a tool to achieve good health, then I'm not going to disparage anyone from using it...

    But I have to ask, what do you do when you go over someone's house for dinner? I mean it's not like you can ask them to weigh the food out ahead of time for you, and don't you ever make any type of casseroles or dishes with a mixed amount of food where you're sharing amongst people, even if you do weigh your portion it's still not accurate...

    And as for the accuracy of the calories out part of the whole equation... They're still really is no reliable way to tell, I mean yeah you can look at your weight over time and gauge whether or not you've been in a deficit... But weight fluctuates day today on such arbitrary things like whether or not you had a good movement in the morning to water weight, to when you last ate, Etc... So considering the day-to-day fluctuations there's really no way to tell what kind of a deficit you're in... My whole point is it's not an exact science

    When I go to someone's house for dinner, I make my best estimate. It's unlikely to cause any issues because the majority of my intake is pretty accurate.

    You can use weighing to make a pretty accurate estimate for mixed/shared dishes too. I can simply measure the total weight of the dish against the weight of what I'm consuming.

    The fact that we can never be 100% accurate isn't an argument that we shouldn't try at all. Nobody is saying it's an exact science, but the inexact science can still produce great results and, for many of us, it's much easier than slogans like "eat wise." That's a meaningful phrase for you, but it doesn't mean anything to me.

    I lost 40+ pounds and have been maintaining since 2015 just focusing on consistently meeting my calorie goal by weighing food when I can and making my best estimate the rest of the time. That's why I don't think it's an especially unreasonable way to live.

    "Eat wise" may work for certain people, but I'd have no idea how to make that work. And if I was "eating wisely" and exercising and not seeing results, how would I know what adjustments to make?

    I'm not going to disagree with you on any of what you said... If it works for you then great, you be the example of how to make it work and I applaud you for it...

    For myself however, it has its place and can be a useful tool but not without limitations... I just don't believe tracking and weighing your food everyday should be necessary, we shouldn't have to do this in order to stay a healthy weight...

    But they you can argue that we should be able to eat what ever we'd like and not have to worry about "eating wise"... And you may be right

    Either way, congrats on your success

    While I agree with you in many ways, calorie counting is just a tool. I look at it like this, when I am working on my car, I might have a wrench that "works", but is just not quite right for the job. So, I reach into the tool box for a wrench that works better for this job. Controlling dietary intake is not much different imho. One wrench does not work as well, try another until you find one that does.

    Or you could save some time, but risk your knuckles by grabbing a monkey wrench and smacking it with a big hammer. Hmm... this speaks for my love of destruction and chaos.
  • alex2017new
    alex2017new Posts: 6 Member
    Anyone count macros? If so, what’s you percentages to lose weight please
  • lwilliams6486
    lwilliams6486 Posts: 12 Member
    I dont calorie count but that works for me, i do keto keeping my carbs 20g or under a day, I log everyday. Personally carbs leave me feeling bloated and sluggish, so I cut them out.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    imfornd70 wrote: »
    I dont

    I did say 'most.' ;)
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Danp wrote: »
    After41 wrote: »
    I log it after I eat and it is what it is. I'm in my range all the time.

    Interesting.

    I tend to log before I eat it.

    Often I pre-log the entire day when I get up in the morning so that I have a plan for the day and will make changes/additions/subtractions/substitutions as needed.

    I mostly log after I prepare a meal or after eating, but I think about cals when prepping if it's not something where I roughly know the cals. My days tend to be pretty standard, although I might adjust dinner if lunch is higher than normal.

    I only prelog if I'm planning to have leftovers.

    I don't snack, however, so seeing where something unexpected fits in isn't normally an issue.

    Lots of different ways to do this depending on personal preference, which is one reason I like it.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    psychod787 wrote: »
    I count carbs. When I get 25-35 carbohydrate mark, I stop. Seeing that it must be so freeing not be a slave to the calories, I signed up.

    If counting calories is being a "slave" to calories, then counting carbohydrates is being a "slave" to carbohydrates. I don't see a meaningful difference here.

    Well in the calories case you're a slave to all macros, but counting carbs, you're the master over fats, protein, and alcohol. Maybe that lets a person feel they're a switch and not a pure slave in their food tracking relationships. 🤷

    Wait.... So what you are saying is, to be "free", we just shouldn't eat?!?!?! Bro.... just shattered my world! LOL :D

    To paraphrase Tyler Durden, "It's only after you've lost every macro that you're free to eat any macro."

    Bro! You broke the first rule of carb club!
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    I count my calories, that is why I'm using this site lol. I've been a mfp member since 2012 and I have not been logging consistently the entire time, not even half of it. I tend to log for a period of time, get away from logging, come back to it, get away from it, etc. One thing I will say though is, when I am away from MFP for a significant amount of time, I gain weight. Maybe not at first, but eventually I slip on my good habits.