Anyone lost weight by NOT counting calories?

Branstin

"I'll keep my processed foods, white bread, sugar, etc. I'll weigh my veggies thanks."

So let's say there is a newbie who needs to lose 50 lbs. and is eating 2,200 calories on average. He/she determines that a drastic cut to 1,400 calories is called for, which obviously cannot be easy.

And you would honestly advise that person that part of those 1,400 calories should be empty calories of sugar and white bread, which would do absolutely nothing to fill that person up? You have to be kidding me.

A calorie may just be a calorie, but satiety is even more important. If you are starving at 7PM because you've eaten junk to get you to your calorie limit, you will fail your diet miserably and never lose weight.

My daily calories per MFP are 1400 per day. I meet my macros while including sugar and white bread. I am never "starving" nor have I failed my diet. Demonizing foods is one of the sure ways to miserably fail a diet or weight loss plan. Do you really believe advising a person to refrain from eating foods they enjoy without a medical reason will deter them from eating it or avoid it for the rest of their lives?

Victoria2448

Yes!
After years of tracking and weighing my food...I stopped in February. It's so freeing!

I am not on any sort of diet...I eat carbs like bread, pastas...actually I eat just about everything, except processed crap. I indulge too!

So it can be done.

Branstin

I keep thinking surely it must be simpler than this. My mother is 9st and really slim and does not think about what she eats or logs calories. Has anyone lost weight just by eating 3 proper meals a day, no picking on rubbish and exercising more?

I agree with using the recipe builder. I make enough food to last a couple of days and the recipe is saved for future use.

Leonidas_meets_Spartacus

I don't count calories, I eat till I am full and eat if I am hungry. I have never been afraid to eat till I am full, some days I ate 4500 calories.

teambell1

Just a bunch of nonsense.

Some people's bodies can't break down carbohydrates? Really? Wow, just wow.

Yes really,,,,your body breaks down bread and chips good for you!!! NOT all people can tolerate bad carbs....

Carbohydrate Intolerance

It is the inability of the body to completely process carbohydrates (sugars and starches) due to lack or inadequate amount of one or more of the enzymes needed for their digestion. Lactose Intolerance is the most common one but the inability to break down starch is also common.

- See more at: http://www.foodreactions.org/intolerance/carbohydrate/index.html#sthash.jAQtFdxU.dpuf

Great facts and I agree!
Refined foods and sugar were killing me, I was carbohydrate intolerant and didn't know what that meant or how it affected me... All that exercise and counting calories and no/poor results.

I do not not count calories now, I eat several times a day all from selections that look like things that grow from the ground and whole pieces of meats. No refined foods period. I continue to lose weight, gain more energy, never feel exhausted or bloated and am so much more able to make outstanding choices about what I eat.

I have lost 35 lbs in the last year! OH and I only exercise running REAL slow, never above an aerobic heart rate and now I run faster than I have in 20 years!

Countless ways to lose weight! Pick a strategy and stick with it!

pepperpat64

To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume. If you can do that without counting, great! If not, then counting is essential. Some people love to count and do it religiously while others aren't that crazy about it but understand how useful it is. I'm about halfway between those two camps. Some people do it long enough to learn how to fairly accurately estimate portion sizes by eye.

The Recipe Builder on this site is very helpful. What I suggest in your situation is to get all your ingredients ready prior to cooking as you normally do (don't worry about specific amounts for now), then weigh each item and write the amounts down on a notepad. Then cook your dinner and eat it and enjoy it. After dinner, go to the Recipe Builder and enter all the ingredients and serving portions and see how it calculates. (Make someone else do the dishes so you can do this. LOL.) You may go over your calories for the day, but don't worry about it. What this helps you do is analyze that recipe and see if it works for your calorie and nutrient goals. You might find you can change the amounts or types of ingredients to better match your goals. For example: if you sauteed something in two tablespoons of butter, try using one the next time; try switching reduced fat sour cream or cheeses for full-fat; use brown rice instead of white, etc. Next time you make that meal, you'll have a much better idea of what it should contain. Better yet, you won't have to log every single ingredient - you just go to the "My Recipes" tab and log how many portions you ate.

If you're making a recipe from a cookbook or website, it seems like most of them these days have already calculated the nutrients for you! So stick with those sources and most of the work is done for you, and you just have to enter it in your food diary.

It takes some time and effort - there's no way around that. It did for me. But once you learn how to do it, it gets much easier and definitely more rewarding.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

"I'll keep my processed foods, white bread, sugar, etc. I'll weigh my veggies thanks."

So let's say there is a newbie who needs to lose 50 lbs. and is eating 2,200 calories on average. He/she determines that a drastic cut to 1,400 calories is called for, which obviously cannot be easy.

And you would honestly advise that person that part of those 1,400 calories should be empty calories of sugar and white bread, which would do absolutely nothing to fill that person up? You have to be kidding me.

A calorie may just be a calorie, but satiety is even more important. If you are starving at 7PM because you've eaten junk to get you to your calorie limit, you will fail your diet miserably and never lose weight.

I find carbs to be more sating than protein, honestly. Especially if they're paired with fat.

But either way-- my initial calorie goal was 1420. I ate processed foods including bread and sugar. I never felt hungry and I also never felt deprived.

pepperpat64

I have been keeping a calorie log for at least 30 years. I have maintained my weight, blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol consistently. I am the mom of 3 adult children and 4 grand babies. I wouldn't stop counting calories if you begged me to.

I want to be you when I grow up.

(Except for the kids/grandkids thing - I can barely handle four fur-kids!)

59gi

I do not count my calories, instead I keep my carbs low and stay away from processed foods. I have lost 23Lbs since June 2014. I ate what I wanted on my two weeks vacations also.

climbing_trees

Yes hi I do not count calories.
I will log most days, but I use a sort of "general" approach. Using cups and eyeballed measurements instead of weighing. I do this to keep an eye on my portion sizes and make sure that I'm not being excessive too many days in a row.
This allows me to eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm satisfied, to not eat just because I have calories left over. I'd guess that some days I eat twice as much as others.

Last year I calorie counted I lost about 20 pounds very fast. I also lost my mind.
Too much focus on numbers took the fun out of everything, made exercise and eating feel like a punishment, instead of something to enjoy and to learn to do right to treat my body well.

I weigh myself weekly, and if my weight is higher than I'd like, I reduce portion sizes and increase exercise until I see a loss.

I'm sure that my way is much slower than anyone who uses calorie counts, but for me this is sustainable.

beckybooo87xx

yes slimming world only diet that ever really worked and stayed off for me

DamePiglet

I do not count my calories, instead I keep my carbs low and stay away from processed foods. I have lost 23Lbs since June 2014. I ate what I wanted on my two weeks vacations also.

There's no need to count calories when you barely eat 900 calories, amirite??

HA

leggup

Refined foods and sugar were killing me, I was carbohydrate intolerant and didn't know what that meant or how it affected me... All that exercise and counting calories and no/poor results.

I do not not count calories now, I eat several times a day all from selections that look like things that grow from the ground and whole pieces of meats. No refined foods period. I continue to lose weight, gain more energy, never feel exhausted or bloated and am so much more able to make outstanding choices about what I eat.

I have lost 35 lbs in the last year! OH and I only exercise running REAL slow, never above an aerobic heart rate and now I run faster than I have in 20 years!

Countless ways to lose weight! Pick a strategy and stick with it!

Did you experience kidney failure? Were you vomiting blood? Did you develop gout or jaundice? You are not carbohydrate intolerant. It is a serious enzymatic deficiency that does not cause "no/poor results" for weight loss. It causes serious health problems; it does not just cause you to be "exhausted or bloated."

msf74

This causes me to not bother, and then I'll go and eat something bad as I'll think "we'll I've ruined it now anyway as I haven't logged". I find I'm really good for a few days and then I'll give up as I can't be bothered with calorie counting and weighing and measuring all the time.

I think it is your mindset which is the biggest impediment. It sounds like you have the classic "all or nothing / perfectionist" dieter's thinking going on.

Calorie counting is a skill. Eating low carb or Paleo is a skill. Mindful eating is a skill. Intuitive eating is a skill.

All skills require effort, learning and going out of your comfort zone.

Learning a new skill requires a consistent approach and time not perfection and instant success. It also requires patience and delayed gratification.

As you think so shall you become.

brower47

"I'll keep my processed foods, white bread, sugar, etc. I'll weigh my veggies thanks."

So let's say there is a newbie who needs to lose 50 lbs. and is eating 2,200 calories on average. He/she determines that a drastic cut to 1,400 calories is called for, which obviously cannot be easy.

And you would honestly advise that person that part of those 1,400 calories should be empty calories of sugar and white bread, which would do absolutely nothing to fill that person up? You have to be kidding me.

A calorie may just be a calorie, but satiety is even more important. If you are starving at 7PM because you've eaten junk to get you to your calorie limit, you will fail your diet miserably and never lose weight.

My white bread that I use in my tuna sandwiches almost everyday help me get to my calcium needs. Yay fortification! There's nothing wrong with white bread or sugar in moderation. I'm more likely to eat tuna if it's in sandwich form and tuna has a great affect on my satiety. Therefore, the bread is indirectly responsible for not only leaving me satisfied but also in helping meet my protein macro goals.

White bread for the win!

If you want to hate white bread and sugar, you go ahead and do that but let's not pretend that your warped view of food is the right view. A large number of very successful people on this site who have lost the weight and kept it off (the much harder part of the process) have done it without eliminating white bread and sugar from their diets. In the face of that, you have nothing.

roanokejoe49

I have, but I also ride my bike 80 miles a week and run another 20 miles. I don't count calories.

teambell1

Refined foods and sugar were killing me, I was carbohydrate intolerant and didn't know what that meant or how it affected me... All that exercise and counting calories and no/poor results.

I do not not count calories now, I eat several times a day all from selections that look like things that grow from the ground and whole pieces of meats. No refined foods period. I continue to lose weight, gain more energy, never feel exhausted or bloated and am so much more able to make outstanding choices about what I eat.

I have lost 35 lbs in the last year! OH and I only exercise running REAL slow, never above an aerobic heart rate and now I run faster than I have in 20 years!

Countless ways to lose weight! Pick a strategy and stick with it!

Did you experience kidney failure? Were you vomiting blood? Did you develop gout or jaundice? You are not carbohydrate intolerant. It is a serious enzymatic deficiency that does not cause "no/poor results" for weight loss. It causes serious health problems; it does not just cause you to be "exhausted or bloated."

LOL, thanks Doc!

brower47

I do not count my calories, instead I keep my carbs low and stay away from processed foods. I have lost 23Lbs since June 2014. I ate what I wanted on my two weeks vacations also.

You eat 800 calories a day...

/end to the relevance of your comments in this thread or any thread about healthy weight loss.