Is there anyone not counting calories?

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Replies

  • kq1981
    kq1981 Posts: 1,098 Member
    edited January 2020
    Mandy72CM wrote: »
    I’m the OP and I feel stressed! Eating back exercise calories, not eating exercise calories, eating a set amount of calories. I actually feel stressed thinking about it. 🥺 I think what il try is 1500 calories per day every day regardless of exercise. I am exercising though , Bodypump 3-4 times per week, Metafit 1 per week and cv ingym 1.5hrs a week. I start to get stressed when I go over my calorie amount n end up going off the rails and I need to stop that cycle x

    I’m sorry u feel stressed. I used to eat a little bit of my excersise calories, sometimes I didn’t. If I cldnt be bothered eating too much a spoonful of peanut butter was helpful to use my excersise calories. Use a few weeks to find what works for you. I can easily say don’t stress but it honestly is hard work when you start. Took me a long time to settle in and learn what worked and it was stressful and hard. You won’t put 5kg on in a few days of not logging properly or eating *kitten*. It’s all about what works for you and Always moving forward. Browse the forums and find things that you can fit into yr life. Type into the search bar excersise calorie threads Remember the scales fluctuate CONSTANTLY. I used happy scales at first to see a trend. You got this. It seems hard but it gets easier. I still feel discouraged if I go over my calories, but not for long. Who cares? As long as I move forward Weight loss is a hard, long road. pls don’t give up!!
  • magnusthenerd
    magnusthenerd Posts: 1,207 Member
    psychod787 wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    hesn92 wrote: »
    kimny72 wrote: »
    I always find it fascinating when threads like this pop up how some people say they don't count calories because it's so labor intensive and obsessive. I've been logging for about 4 or 5 years now, lost my excess weight and am now in maintenance, and after the first month or two, I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've spent more than 2 or 3 minutes logging my food. I think about the calories momentarily when I'm planning out my day, and might spend another 30 seconds or so thinking about them if I'm tempted to go off plan, but that's really it. I spend more time brushing my teeth.

    For some people, I think they never get past that first month or two, and simply don't allow the time for practice to make perfect. Otherwise I suppose it comes down to how your brain works, for some people calories just naturally makes sense with how your brain works and it's easy, but for others it creates stress.

    OP, I'd guess the vast majority of people here have at least counted calories in the past, but there are a number of people including some veteran posters who don't count anymore.

    Regardless of what strategy you settle on, please do take some time to deal with the whole feeling guilty thing. No one is perfect and we all have days where we fall on our faces. It's not something to feel guilty about, it's something to learn from. Anything you can do to remove emotion from eating (feeling guilty for eating "wrong", rewarding yourself with food, eating to self soothe, etc) will make the road forward easier :smile:

    Creating recipes and remembering to weigh things and enter them in the mfp recipe function is what is labor intensive to me, especially while I'm in the thick of cooking dinner and dealing with kids or a crying baby or whatever. Sometimes I create the recipe and go to weigh it at the end and realize I never weighed the stupid pot it was cooked in so now I don't know what to subtract. I've been logging food for years off and on and I wouldn't describe it as simple as you just did, maybe I'm just stupid. Lol. I need to weigh every pot and skillet and dish that I cook with and keep a cheat sheet somewhere in my kitchen probably...

    My cheat sheet of the weights of my pots and pans is by my computer :)

    And since I do like to make at least one new recipe a week, and the recipe builder is glitchy, it does take me longer than a few minutes per day to log.

    However, to me this is worth it, because I will never have one of those "Why am I not losing weight?" moments. If I'm not losing weight (over time), I know exactly why - I'm eating too much.

    Oh jeez! I just happen to know almost to the 10 grams of what my post weigh! Can't replace them now!😩

    This is adulthood. You have a bag full of plastic store bags, you have a favorite spatula, you have a favorite cooking pan / pot, and you have back pains. You can stay up as late as you want, but you kind of feel like going to bed at a sensible time. You're boring. This is adulthood.
    :'(:'(>:)
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    psychod787 wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    hesn92 wrote: »
    kimny72 wrote: »
    I always find it fascinating when threads like this pop up how some people say they don't count calories because it's so labor intensive and obsessive. I've been logging for about 4 or 5 years now, lost my excess weight and am now in maintenance, and after the first month or two, I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've spent more than 2 or 3 minutes logging my food. I think about the calories momentarily when I'm planning out my day, and might spend another 30 seconds or so thinking about them if I'm tempted to go off plan, but that's really it. I spend more time brushing my teeth.

    For some people, I think they never get past that first month or two, and simply don't allow the time for practice to make perfect. Otherwise I suppose it comes down to how your brain works, for some people calories just naturally makes sense with how your brain works and it's easy, but for others it creates stress.

    OP, I'd guess the vast majority of people here have at least counted calories in the past, but there are a number of people including some veteran posters who don't count anymore.

    Regardless of what strategy you settle on, please do take some time to deal with the whole feeling guilty thing. No one is perfect and we all have days where we fall on our faces. It's not something to feel guilty about, it's something to learn from. Anything you can do to remove emotion from eating (feeling guilty for eating "wrong", rewarding yourself with food, eating to self soothe, etc) will make the road forward easier :smile:

    Creating recipes and remembering to weigh things and enter them in the mfp recipe function is what is labor intensive to me, especially while I'm in the thick of cooking dinner and dealing with kids or a crying baby or whatever. Sometimes I create the recipe and go to weigh it at the end and realize I never weighed the stupid pot it was cooked in so now I don't know what to subtract. I've been logging food for years off and on and I wouldn't describe it as simple as you just did, maybe I'm just stupid. Lol. I need to weigh every pot and skillet and dish that I cook with and keep a cheat sheet somewhere in my kitchen probably...

    My cheat sheet of the weights of my pots and pans is by my computer :)

    And since I do like to make at least one new recipe a week, and the recipe builder is glitchy, it does take me longer than a few minutes per day to log.

    However, to me this is worth it, because I will never have one of those "Why am I not losing weight?" moments. If I'm not losing weight (over time), I know exactly why - I'm eating too much.

    Oh jeez! I just happen to know almost to the 10 grams of what my post weigh! Can't replace them now!😩

    This is adulthood. You have a bag full of plastic store bags, you have a favorite spatula, you have a favorite cooking pan / pot, and you have back pains. You can stay up as late as you want, but you kind of feel like going to bed at a sensible time. You're boring. This is adulthood.
    :'(:'(>:)

    I like boring.....😉