Hate calorie counting.

KnM0107

I only logged for a few months, just to learn what I needed to about portion size. I struggle with OCD and calorie counting is a big trigger, so it isn't for me. It is harder at first trying to lose without counting but it can be done. You have to learn your actual hunger cues. You also still have to be aware of what you are eating. I lost 130lbs without counting daily( I usually just spot check)for and have maintained that loss. Different things work for different people. This way I was able to be healthier both physically and mentally (since I wasn't triggering OCD). It works for me and I feel happier not having to log food.

Do what you feel is necessary to gain and maintain overall health.

Harrisonsauntie2005

I hate calorie counting. It fustrates me and becomes about the numbers and not about eating well. I end up in a cycle of doing well logging then thinking sodd it and just eating whatever I want.

I have read Paul Mckenna's book "I can make you thin" - I know I know.. but I think I am ready to give it a try. His idea is that you practice these 4 habits;

1. When you are hungry, eat.
2. Eat what you want (not what you think you "should".)
3. Eat consciously and enjoy every mouthful.
4. When you are full stop.

Obviously nutrition comes into play but I generally like to eat heathy foods anyway.

I am going to give this a try for a good few weeks and see how I get on.

There is logic in those statements but I have found that counting calories hold me accountable for my decisions and makes me think about what I am choosing to eat. I have had to teach myself what is full, what is it that I really want to eat, am I really hungry or is it something else.

One thing I know is that there is no magic bullet and that changing one's lifestyle is hard. So you, and each of us, has to choose do we stay where we are or do we change. This is a choice that only we can make for ourselves and only ourselves, no one else can do this for us regardless how hard or easy it is.

I have a couple of saying that help me. "Motivation gets you started, habits keep you going." For me this means that it is easy to start something but the enthusiasm will fade and how do you carry on once that happens. The next one, "Being fat is hard, losing weight is hard, Choose your hard." For me this says that you have to work at everything in your life and it is up you to choose what you think is worth working at and only you can make that choice.

Yeah I can see your point on the second paragraph.
I would look to be in a place where I can eat mindfully, without logging everything, have a balaced diet and be at my goal weight. It might take more work but would be worth it.

princessmommy122

If I ate when I was hungry and stopped when I was full, I would never have lost weight. The first few weeks I was starving! For me, I just log whatever I eat, whenever I eat. If I go way over cals for a few days, the act of logging keeps me mindful of what I'm doing and I end up back on track.

weird_me2

I hate calorie counting. It fustrates me and becomes about the numbers and not about eating well. I end up in a cycle of doing well logging then thinking sodd it and just eating whatever I want.

I have read Paul Mckenna's book "I can make you thin" - I know I know.. but I think I am ready to give it a try. His idea is that you practice these 4 habits;

1. When you are hungry, eat.
2. Eat what you want (not what you think you "should".)
3. Eat consciously and enjoy every mouthful.
4. When you are full stop.

Obviously nutrition comes into play but I generally like to eat heathy foods anyway.

I am going to give this a try for a good few weeks and see how I get on.

Honestly, if you can master number 1 and number 4, you should probably be okay, especially if you prefer the "healthier" stuff. The trick is learning how to know when you are TRULY hungry and also eating slowly enough to recognize when you have had enough food. Calorie counting and doing reduced portions for a while should help with these things. Of course, you really do have to STOP when you are full, not say, oh, but a few bites of dessert sounds good, etc. There's actually a version of Weight Watchers that's called Simply Filling where you are allowed to eat to satisfaction fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean meats, low fat/fat free dairy, etc and then count things that aren't on the list. Lots of people have a lot of success with it, but you are mostly limited to eating "healthY" stuff.

Brooke4206

I hate it too. It made me obsessive. Was I eating too much? Too little? So i quit and am doing exactly what you listed. I've lost 2 lbs since I started doing this.

Harrisonsauntie2005

I hate it too. It made me obsessive. Was I eating too much? Too little? So i quit and am doing exactly what you listed. I've lost 2 lbs since I started doing this.

Cool, how long have you been doing it?

ninerbuff

I hate calorie counting. It fustrates me and becomes about the numbers and not about eating well. I end up in a cycle of doing well logging then thinking sodd it and just eating whatever I want.

I have read Paul Mckenna's book "I can make you thin" - I know I know.. but I think I am ready to give it a try. His idea is that you practice these 4 habits;

1. When you are hungry, eat.
2. Eat what you want (not what you think you "should".)
3. Eat consciously and enjoy every mouthful.
4. When you are full stop.

Obviously nutrition comes into play but I generally like to eat heathy foods anyway.

I am going to give this a try for a good few weeks and see how I get on.

Lol, isn't this exactly how overweight and obese people eat now?

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Harrisonsauntie2005

I hate calorie counting. It fustrates me and becomes about the numbers and not about eating well. I end up in a cycle of doing well logging then thinking sodd it and just eating whatever I want.

I have read Paul Mckenna's book "I can make you thin" - I know I know.. but I think I am ready to give it a try. His idea is that you practice these 4 habits;

1. When you are hungry, eat.
2. Eat what you want (not what you think you "should".)
3. Eat consciously and enjoy every mouthful.
4. When you are full stop.

Obviously nutrition comes into play but I generally like to eat heathy foods anyway.

I am going to give this a try for a good few weeks and see how I get on.

Lol, isn't this exactly how overweight and obese people eat now?

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

No? Not sure!

SymphonynSonata

I hate calorie counting. It fustrates me and becomes about the numbers and not about eating well. I end up in a cycle of doing well logging then thinking sodd it and just eating whatever I want.

I have read Paul Mckenna's book "I can make you thin" - I know I know.. but I think I am ready to give it a try. His idea is that you practice these 4 habits;

1. When you are hungry, eat.
2. Eat what you want (not what you think you "should".)
3. Eat consciously and enjoy every mouthful.
4. When you are full stop.

Obviously nutrition comes into play but I generally like to eat heathy foods anyway.

I am going to give this a try for a good few weeks and see how I get on.

Lol, isn't this exactly how overweight and obese people eat now?

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I used to eat just to do, rarely when I was just 'hungry.' I've read in a few places (do your own Googling) that it takes 20 minutes for the body to realize its full, though. That makes it kinda difficult. Like, are you going to eat a few forks and then wait 20 minutes, see, and go for it again? Or are you going to eat til you are at the point of instant stuffedness?

ThinkInOregon

I hate calorie counting. It fustrates me and becomes about the numbers and not about eating well. I end up in a cycle of doing well logging then thinking sodd it and just eating whatever I want.

I have read Paul Mckenna's book "I can make you thin" - I know I know.. but I think I am ready to give it a try. His idea is that you practice these 4 habits;

1. When you are hungry, eat.
2. Eat what you want (not what you think you "should".)
3. Eat consciously and enjoy every mouthful.
4. When you are full stop.

Obviously nutrition comes into play but I generally like to eat heathy foods anyway.

I am going to give this a try for a good few weeks and see how I get on.

I believe better advice to be:

1. Eat when you are truly hungry, not just when your mind tells you that you are.
2. Eat healthy 80% of the time, with 20% what you desire.
3. Same as above, except set your utensils down between bites and try to wait 30-60 sec.
4. Stop when you are satiated (satisfied), NOT when you are full. It takes 20 minutes for your brain to register that you are full.
5. Start every meal by drinking a large glass of water.

_HeartsOnFire_

all I read just there was

>>fingers in ears<<<

la la la la la- I see this but I'm doing what I want anyway regardless- asking a question and ignoring all advice because I am going to do what I want.

which is FINE- you are an adult- you can do whatever you want. you don't need to get approval for it.

But you are just making up excuses for why this didn't work- it's not that hard- I cook at home all the time. still lost and gained weight exactly how I wanted to- methodically and healthy.

if it's too hard- you didn't do it right- or you didn't do it for long enough- what you really are looking for (from these 4 pages I can see) is validation.

its' a calorie counting site... I"m not sure what you expected but I can promise you- validation isn't one of the things you're going to get.

You...I like you.

Harrisonsauntie2005

all I read just there was

>>fingers in ears<<<

la la la la la- I see this but I'm doing what I want anyway regardless- asking a question and ignoring all advice because I am going to do what I want.

which is FINE- you are an adult- you can do whatever you want. you don't need to get approval for it.

But you are just making up excuses for why this didn't work- it's not that hard- I cook at home all the time. still lost and gained weight exactly how I wanted to- methodically and healthy.

if it's too hard- you didn't do it right- or you didn't do it for long enough- what you really are looking for (from these 4 pages I can see) is validation.

its' a calorie counting site... I"m not sure what you expected but I can promise you- validation isn't one of the things you're going to get.

You...I like you.

I like her to.
Wasn't ignoring advice

scraver2003

Check out www.naturallyslim.com. I was able to do the program through work and it is a really neat program. I have known people that were successful on it. My sister is currently doing. I did it because work paid for it and I knew I would get a lot of good information out of it. BUT at the time, I was trying to get pregnant and I wasn't in the mind set to really commit.

I did learn a lot - about myself and about hunger. Hunger is a fickle thing. It comes and goes. If I don't eat, hunger passes. I have learned that hunger is not an emergancy. I learned that your stomach is the size of your loosely held fist. So, if you are going to eat until you are comfortable, you have to keep in mind that that is the size of your stomach. I struggled a lot with what "comfortably full" was for me.

Also, the less you eat, the less you need to eat to feel full. If you eat at the same time everyday = you will automatically get hungry at that time.

One thing that has been SUPER helpful was learning NOT to eat if I am not hungry. If it is lunch time and I am not hungry, I wait an hour and see if I am hungry then. I don't eat just because the clock says so.

DamePiglet

:laugh: I don't generally get offended by teenagers its ok.

Annie_01

:laugh: I don't generally get offended by teenagers its ok.

Really...If you feel as if she has violated the TOS of MFP by either posting an inappropriate topic or posting in the wrong forum then report her. Every day on MFP I see topics that really have nothing to do with losing weight...counting calories...fitness...or anything else for that matter. At the end of the day however...it is no big deal.

Me...I don't find the back and forth between you and the OP to pertain to "FOOD AND NUTRITION" but hey...I am not upset about it.

I am however glad that you are "feeling pretty" today. Maybe at the end of the day...that is what it is all about..."feel pretty". Well...maybe it is more about feeling that we are taking control of our food and nutrition...and "feeling pretty" while we do it!

Broderick50

I tried it for a month of no logging. I found that without the ability to look back and see some of the days I didn't really have any accountability and I put on weight during the month. So I'm back to logging it's a chore but it works for me.

Velum_cado

I don't count calories. I lost about 80 lbs before joining MFP and I lost all that without counting calories. Once I joined, I decided to give it a go. Like you, I found that I got hung up on the numbers instead of just eating sensibly and healthfully, so I stopped. I've been happier and have continued losing weight at the same rate.

I think if you can eat sensibly, at a deficit, you don't NEED to count calories. The one thing I did get from the time I logged my food was that I have a better idea how many calories are in the sandwich I want for lunch, for instance.

However, some people may use not counting calories as an excuse to eat whatever they want, whenever they want. You're the expert in your weight loss experience, so do what you feel you can manage, healthfully.

Gamer_2k4

1. When you are hungry, eat.
2. Eat what you want (not what you think you "should".)
3. Eat consciously and enjoy every mouthful.
4. When you are full stop.

I agree with all of these except for #2. I lost 40 pounds before I began calorie counting (and I'm only doing it now to help with my fiancee's motivation), and I did it by cutting out all restaurants and fast food and only eating things that weren't obviously bad for me. I had a lot of cold cereal, a lot of sandwiches (turkey, lettuce, mustard), and a lot of salads (no dressing). Also, I worked out several times a week and cut out all beverages except for water. If I needed to round out a meal, I'd add fruits or vegetables.

Pleasant? No. But unless you're counting calories, it's the way you have to do it, and it gets results.

kjo9692

This thread is TLDR but from what I peeked, this whole thread is ridiculous.

You are your own self, you do what you want to do. You don't want to count calories then that's fine, don't. You don't need to count calories to lose weight, all you need is a calorie deficit. You can have this deficit by counting calories or at random if you have a good portion control. Counting calories has been really accurate for me, I lose exactly what I'm supposed to so I believe is really good for me.

In short, don't if you don't want to. Don't make a thread about it. It's like you are trying to justify yourself for doing something no one is going to pay attention to anyway. Why are you trying to justify yourself for avoiding something you hate? It seems to me that deep inside you feel that you are better off counting calories and are in denial as a defense mechanism to the anxiety that it causes you thinking that it won't work. Do what you must.

ItsCasey

I haven't read all 4 pages, so this point may have been made already, but some context regarding your goals is necessary when determining a nutritional strategy.

I lift heavy weights, and I am not a person who is noticeably hungry (i.e. so hungry that that it's disruptive to whatever I'm trying to focus on) very often, so the first point about eating only when you're hungry doesn't work for me. My body needs a certain amount of fuel to perform the work I ask it to do, whether I actually feel hungry or not. And since hunger signals are frequently driven by hormone levels, hunger is not always a good indication of a physical need for calories.

On a fat loss program, you need a certain amount of protein to ensure lean body mass retention, so the point about only eating what you want also doesn't work.

These are just a couple of reasons why calorie counting matters if you have a goal and why "Eat when you're hungry; stop when you're full" is a fairly useless strategy if you are trying to change your body or improve your performance. Ideally, you will get to a point where you can eyeball portions and have a natural inclination to eat in a macro range that helps you maintain your weight, leanness, etc. Until you acquire that level of discipline and until you are at a point where you aren't trying to make any changes to your body or to your performance levels, then tracking your intake is a necessary evil.