"calorie counting will get you no where"

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Replies

  • mlmanney
    mlmanney Posts: 349 Member
    you can not let what others say to you dictate how well or poor you make your choices for the day. you are in control of your own happiness and your own successes. make the choices that make you feel strong and happy for that day. It is a day to day series of choices. You can do this! Just because your roommate is thin doesn't mean she is in shape. Get out there do what ever physical activity you can to build a strong healthy body and feed it the good stuff it needs to fuel it and you will see success.
    "calorie counting"=eating consciously
  • kernan1987
    kernan1987 Posts: 3 Member
    I found calorie counting has really helped me stay focused. It's kept me accountable and coupled with exercising 2 or 3 times a week, its helped me lose weight. Personally, I found having a limit to what I can eat has forced me to make healthier food choices and made me actually accept responsibility when I wasn't eating right. Maybe calorie counting alone wont get you very far, but I can honestly say that it has massively influenced my personal progress :)
  • jonisteenhoek
    jonisteenhoek Posts: 92 Member
    So at first my comments were going to be more along the "you need to be more confident in yourself" lines, but then I thought, check out her diary, see what's going on....you've tracked one day out of the last three weeks and that is all I scrolled through. You can't say it works or it doesn't work with that kind of a track record. Even if you're eating horribly, at least write it down, keep track, hold yourself accountable.
    I'm not to my goal weight yet, I'm a work in progress and will be completely content if I go down five pounds a year until I get there. I don't know if calorie counting will work in the long term, but at least you have a guide, a place to start from, an idea of what your body needs (doesn't need).
    Good luck!
  • gailmelanie
    gailmelanie Posts: 210 Member
    If a 95% failure rate is any evidence, then counting calories doesn't work.

    Huh? Did I miss something? Where did '95% failure rate' come from? There are thousands of ppl here who prove that counting calories does work!
    For how long?
    For as long as you do it and keep under your goal! Nothing works if you don't do it.
  • nomeejerome
    nomeejerome Posts: 2,616 Member
    I wonder if the OP (who has not been active since March) will come back to read this thread from 2012?
  • Calorie counting is the ONLY thing that got me towards my weight loss goals. Changing exercise habits, or what I ate helped me change how I felt, but only being a bit more meticulous counting calories made me see the declines. But you have to be a stickler, and trust the process.
  • I wonder if the OP (who has not been active since March) will come back to read this thread from 2012?

    HAND TO FACE...well done.
  • Broderick50
    Broderick50 Posts: 842 Member
    for me i don't log my food and exercise for the calorie info i log things so that i can look back and say hey i didn't need the 3 burgers that day or wow look how many beers i had that week or how many workouts i got in before anyone told me about mfp i used to log things and not worry about how many calories
  • slim4health56
    slim4health56 Posts: 439 Member
    I hear you. I reach for Coca~Cola when I'm in pain (physical or otherwise), and when I'm pi**ed, I hunger for fried chicken AND a coke! This is a transformative moment in your life - where you have clearly articulated your relationship with food. This is GOOD! Just knowing how/why you're triggered is the hardest part...being mindful of how you react takes practice, but it does get easier.

    We both know it's not the "counting calories" that works, but rather how many calories in and how much energy expended that matters, but I get your meaning. On the latter, yes it works. It can't not work. If you're not losing, take another hard look at your food diary and exercise log. Add in some time and consistency and guess what happens? :wink: You CAN be the master of your own ship!
  • FrauHaas2013
    FrauHaas2013 Posts: 615 Member
    Counting calories gets you EVERYWHERE, actually! But it goes way beyond that...you want to change your eating habits so you're staying healthy. I just read this week (I was Google surfing a lot of weight loss, fat loss, health stuff) that to prove a point, one guy did stick to a low-cal diet...he counted every calorie. However, he got all his calories from junk food. Did he lose weight overall? He sure did! He just did it to prove a point, but he wasn't healthy. That's the stickler -- it's not just about sticking to a calorie count, it's about what you're eating. Then, once you get to the point of changing your eating habits, you really don't need to count calories, anymore - it will be ingrained into your brain as to how much of what is good for you.

    Stay faithful to MFP - I cruise the message boards all the time reading peoples' thoughts, opinions, and journeys...I find them educational, inspirational, and motivational!!!

    YOU CAN DO THIS!!!
  • meghan6867
    meghan6867 Posts: 388 Member
    I used to have the same mentality and wound up obese, nearly 200 lbs with stage 2 hypertension, depression, and unable to stay awake throughout a regular work day.

    Simply put: your friend clearly hasn't had to worry about her weight because she is genetically predisposed to be thin. Congratulations to her; most people are not. She is ignorant in this matter because she has never had to learn about it. (In all fairness: if I was naturally skinny I wouldn't know either).

    That being said, calorie counting works. It's a proven, scientific fact. Calories in verses calories out. It is as simple and as terrible as that.

    Counting helped me get back to a normal weight range and has completely transformed my health. Should you obsess about each and every calorie that your putting in your mouth?: probably not. But being conscious of it isn't going to hurt you.

    I always try to remind myself that you can't exercise your way out of a bad diet. Weight loss is 80% nutrition and only 20% exercise.