I hate calorie counting!

loveelyds

I would just cut everything your normally eat in half! with at least some good healthy snacks in between!

ChangingAmanda

Look at it this way, you haven't been counting calories and now you're here needing to lose weight. Why do you think not counting calories this time around will be successful? You could eat all the healthy things in the world but still eat too many calories and still gain weight.

Wetcoaster

Out of the 108 pounds I have lost.......100 was without counting calories.

I have actually found it harder losing weight as when I track as it becomes almost an obsession.

So I track only once in awhile just to see what my diet looks like.

I am at the point now where I don't need to count calories to know what I should eat.

So counting doesn't work that well for me but it is very interesting to see the breakdown of what I am eating.

Lots of protein......probably should up my fiber.....mostly lower carb except on beer days......

But everyone is different and you need to do what works for you.

ecw3780

It is all about calories in, calories out. However, there is no reason you have to always be losing. Sometimes not gaining is enough. Every 2 months, I spend a week at my maintenance goal. It gives me a break, and then I don't feel so beaten down by calories. Also, if you have been dieting for a long time, you might just need to hang out in maintenance to let your body reset its normal...especially if you have lost 10% of your starting weight.

VioletNightshade

Indulging in some good food while in NYC can lead to the downfall- simply because I went over my limit a little.

This statement is worrying to me for a number of reasons. If you think of foods which are calorie dense and high in fats (like icecream, cheesecake, covered in heavy creamy sauces, and whatnot, the types of food which are almost unnaturally sweet or fattening) as "good foods," and other foods as almost punishments, like a lot of people do, you're going to have trouble sticking with any change for the long haul because it means that you may consider things like fruit and vegetables which are prepared in healthy ways which maintain their nutritional content to be lacking and unsatisfying.

It sounds like you get stuck in a cycle of "Ok, I'm going to get healthy/diet!" and then you go out and eat a ton of foods that you don't really like and tell yourself that you're "eating to live, not living to eat" and not looking for compromises or learning to genuinely like foods which are healthy and beneficial for you, and force yourself to live on these types of food (a.k.a depriving yourself things you like). For a while this is ok, you get by... but then, eventually, like a snake in the grass, something comes along which you find impossible to resist, and you cave, and eat something which once it hits your tongue, it's like a bomb which on one hand spits bliss in every possible direction, but on the other, reminds you of how much you crave and miss this feeling. And, like a drug addict just out of a course of unsuccessful or forced rehab, that temptation can be too much, and you try it, and once you try it once, you end up clawing for it going "need... more!!!" and end up binging.

I've been there, too. I honestly believe it's because I was looking at foods as "good" and "bad," which meant that I was using the "good" foods (the ones which tasted good but were awful for me), as a reward for having put up with the "bad" foods for some period of time. This type of pattern and thinking is exactly what makes diets not work. It's a deprivation and reward cycle, and when you get into reward mode, you tend to drastically overdo it.

What I had to do was decide that if I was going to eat the calorie dense foods, I was going to eat something else at the same time that was high in nutrients and low in calories. If I'm going to have fettucine alfredo, one of my favourite dishes, that I was going to spice it up with cajun spices, many of which are excellent for my body, and add lots of onion, zucchini and red, green and orange peppers to it, and am going to have a large portion of vegetables (usually broccoli, asparagus and brussels sprouts) along-side it, which I eat the majority of before I touch the pasta. Instead of doing "either/or" I decided to go with "and." The dish is still far too fattening to really be reasonable, but when you fill up on vegetables and then have a little of the other thrown in, you really do end up eating drastically less of the fattening food and still get all the joy from it. I still eat fettucine alfredo, but I've altered it, and found a way to do so which IMO actually IMPROVES the flavour, and gives me a ton of nutrients I need at the same time. After careful consideration of what I like to eat and treating those dishes this way, I've managed to drop almost 50 pounds and never feel deprived, because I'm not withholding what I like - I'm now controlling it, and I still get to love the food I eat.

Don't give up. It can be difficult. Change is hard, but if you want it enough, it's worth it. There can be compromise, but you do have to work at it.

Best of luck

RHSheetz

Yes, you can lose weight without counting calories, BUT you will not like how you do it.

I lost 207 lbs using Meal replacements. They were Preportioned foods that I eat instead of meals 5 times a day, and then 1 time a day a eat Lean Protein and 3 servings of Veggies. I did not count a single calorie, someone else did.

The other option is if you sit down, figure out a weeks worth of meals and eat the same thing each day or week. That is kind of where I am now. I am a VERY repeatative eater and I just eat the same thing most days. I still count cause it helps me with my cravings to know what I have eaten.

The Third option would be Pure Palio. My understanding is you can eat almost as much as you want as long as it is Palio. I never tried it, but that is the claim.

I would encourge you to make the effort to record and weigh/measure your food. Just to make sure the serving size is not greater than you realize, until it becomes a habit.

honeylissabee

Some of the food in NYC was pretty healthy (Chobani SoHo), but I did indulge in some gelato from my favorite gelato place, and my best friend and I decided to try some doughnuts that another friend of ours raves about (we selected a few flavors and split them).

The only foods I would ever label as "bad" are snack cakes and other foods laden with chemicals and additives. So, while I wouldn't think a natural fruit leather from Trader Joe's is "bad" I might label a fruit roll-up as "bad."

For me, good food is anything from fried chicken and waffles to pasta with a creamy sauce to a slice of cheesecake to a salad made with arugula, raisins, lemon juice, olive oil, almonds, and parmesan. Good food, for me, is more about taste and experience. Sometimes, good food can be more calorie dense than other times. There are days when all I want is a good salad, but there are also days where I want a nice rack of ribs. It just depends.

I honestly am trying to improve that relationship with food. I've had the best of intentions in the past by convincing myself that instead of buying Little Debbies, I would save dessert for eating out or other occasions. Instead of buying a bag of Lay's chips, I would slice a potato and make my own chips.

It's not like if I eat dessert, I'll start binging Not even close. Rather, it's going out to places where there is no easy way to track (like getting one-of-a-kind doughnuts when there is nothing comparable in any tracker) that triggers it sometimes.

Other times, I just get hungry. I'll eat whole grains, lean protein, fruits, vegetables, all of that- and I'll get hungry. The fact that I have a calorie target and that stress makes it worse. Counting and dealing with numbers stresses me out. I've never liked numbers, and I know that whenever I count calories, I end up binge eating at some point. It was the same way even when I was successful on WW!