anyone had success NOT calorie counting?

lenaelkins

i've been on MFP since february, and it's gone great. i've lost about 30 pounds in that time, and like many of us, i've become a calorie-counting freak, and count pretty much everything that enters my body. when i can't (like when i'm at a restaurant or something), it becomes stressful and makes me anxious.

recently, i've become concerned that i'm going to be dependent on calorie counting for the rest of my life. i want to continue losing weight, but am wondering if it's possible to do it without counting. i've recently switched to veganism, which i hope will help. does anyone have any thoughts on this? has anyone had experience losing weight, either by vegeterianism/veganism, or other ways besides calorie counting?

looking forward to hearing everyones thoughts on this. thank you all in advance!

uglyhobo

Losing weight with Keto (ketogenic diet) was pretty easy without calorie counting. But I loved carbs waaaaay to much to give them up 6 days a week, so I went back to using MFP and was more successful

funkyspunky872

You might want to look into seeing a nutritionist. They can help you continue to lose weight, but through tracking food groups instead. The general idea is to have this many grains, this many servings of protein, and so on.. that way things will even out over the day into a general calorie range. You don't have to count calories, but the deficit is still there.

JennieAL

I have. I've been eating intuitively for about a month now. I tracked a few days last week to get my macros balanced again, but I've since quit tracking. Haven't gained at all. I've stayed at exactly the same weight.

What I've noticed I've learned from MFP:

* weighing everything on that little digital scale for months really paid off! I now can gauge portion sizes really well by sight mostly, though I still use the scale sometimes

*learning macro balance (protein, fat & carbs) was invaluable! figure out your lean body mass for your protein needs, and try to get a little extra protein especially if you lift weights and are recomping

*and finally, I eat when I'm hungry... I know how I feel when my blood sugar begins to fluctuate, I know what real hunger feels like, I pay attention to it, and I stop before I'm truly full.

eig6

Yeah, I lost my first 25lbs without calorie counting. I used the recommended 1/4 plate of meat, 1/4 plate of starch, 1/2 fruits or veggies. Watch the size of the plate too, though, has to be medium. I didn't get thin doing this though, just "normal". You can look on my profile pictures to see the difference, but right now with calorie counting I'm 8 pounds thinner. I found though that once I got down to that -25 it was really easy to maintain that without worrying to much about it. I think once I get down to my goal weight, I'll stop counting after a few months and see if I can maintain without it. Hopefully my body will get used to eating that and it'll be easy to maintain again.

Robin_Bin

Just my experience... never had success without counting something (calories or WW point, etc.), but... I'm hoping to learn to track without having to be quite so careful or obsessive about measuring and counting. For me, part of that means learning to recognize or estimate portion sizes better by sight. (See the other thread about counting chips... initially I count, weight or otherwise measure out portions. For instance if the bag is supposed to have 5 servings, separate out 5 roughly equal portions to learn what one looks like.)
When I go out to eat, I do my best guess... and then I come back home and look it up (or even better when I can, I look up the restaurant in advance, so I know what I can order and how it stacks up). If the restaurant nutritional information isn't available online or already in MFP, I look up similar restaurants, check a few samples and use the middle one or one where the description seems to match what I ate best. If you bring home a "doggy bag" (since almost all restaurant portions are too big and often enough for 2-3 meals, I often have enough to bring home) you can measure that to see if your estimate was reasonable.
I expect I'll always have to "spot check" to make sure I'm not drifting up in portion sizes again or eating more snacks than I realized. But as it becomes a part of my life, I'm hoping that by the time I get to maintenance, that I can start moving to logging only occasionally to stay on track. This has already worked for me with drinking water. I drink lots of water regularly. Occasionally I track it, and keep in mind that I was probably a bit better on those days. (The last time I tracked it, I drank over 12 cups of water, tea and juice. So I think I'm still doing ok there.)

tadpole242

I started counting calories, 35 days ago. I started losing weight 185 days ago, Not sure how much as I didn't weigh myself. I've lost one inch of my waist in the last 35 days, and 6 inches in total. So five inches lost before I started on this site.
I started to cycle to work (18miles round trip) 4 years ago, and increasing the number of days per week to three. The trigger, for me at least, was Strava, a gps app that logs the miles you cycle and the speed and intensity. Jan 16th it was taking me an average of 40 minutes to cycle to work; now it takes an average 29 minutes.
I’m a magpie, if my daughter didn’t eat her meat I’d eat it, or pudding or veg. Once I stopped doing that, and eating smaller meals, the inches started to come off, slowly to be sure, but I was losing fat. My portion control was based round a smaller plate. (Child’s sized picnic plate actually)
I log everything I eat, but don’t eat anything different than I did when I was not counting calories.

kaigausista

Before I did MFP... I did Slimming World for about three months. Started at 217lbs and dropped down to 198lbs working out on the treadmill 30-60 minutes 3x a week. Then I didn't really follow the eating plan for a while and when I started again the weight for some reason plateaued around 203 and 198 for about four to five months. That's when I decided to do workout (insanity) and MFP and that's when the weight started coming off again. Started this on May 28th at 202lbs and right now I'm at 193lbs. Planning to do MFP until I reach my goal weight (around 140s and 150s) then do Slimming World for good. Well we'll see! I kinda do both calorie counting and SW right now that way even without counting my carbs for eg. I still stay within the MFP recommendation. For instance: per day I'll only allow myself 250 - 350 mil of skim milk and 28g of cheese or only 2 slices of bread and 227g of potato. That way, I don't have to worry about going over my limits. I kinda mix the two up and at the same time keep to my calorie limits for the day. The only thing I go over is protein which I'm not at all worried about.

Rilke

Stopping the counting was the best decision I've made. Food is now food and something to be enjoyed, rather than something to be weighed / measured / logged. Yuck.

I've had great success with clean eating + intermittent fasting.

Kara_xxx

What I've noticed I've learned from MFP:

* weighing everything on that little digital scale for months really paid off! I now can gauge portion sizes really well by sight mostly, though I still use the scale sometimes

*learning macro balance (protein, fat & carbs) was invaluable! figure out your lean body mass for your protein needs, and try to get a little extra protein especially if you lift weights and are recomping

*and finally, I eat when I'm hungry... I know how I feel when my blood sugar begins to fluctuate, I know what real hunger feels like, I pay attention to it, and I stop before I'm truly full.

THAT!! Those would also be the three biggest learning points for me.

melsinct

I was never able to lose weight by NOT counting prior to MFP. I lost 30 pounds by calorie counting and after maintaining for a few months, I have backed off of tracking everything. I no longer log weekends. I don't log holidays or when I am traveling. After being at this for 1+ year, I've pretty much got the hang of how much to eat and what to eat.

I don't want to count forever but I like knowing that if the weight starts to creep up again (I still weigh a couple times a week to stay on track) I can easily start strictly counting again.

outspan87

The vegan diet will make it much harder for you to get past your calorie quota -- you'll fill full quite easily. If you want to maintain, just go about your normal life and weigh yourself once a week... if you start gaining weight, you'll know you have to change something.

msgremmy

When I became vegan 13 years ago, I dropped 20 pounds. But you have to realize that a lot of junk food is still vegan and just say no.

My husband doesn't count calories, but he's been losing weight. He says he found what works for him-- during the work week, he has a small breakfast (cereal and yogurt; english muffin and yogurt; toaster strudel and a banana...), then he has a dairy snack (laughing cow), then lunch (typically leftovers from dinner), then a veggie or fruit snack (carrots, apple...), then he has dinner (whatever I make) and sometimes an after dinner snack. He works out hard twice a week (a MMA class) and does some free weights (45lbs) and pushups and crunches on other days. He didn't have much to lose, and I doubted he could lose anything, but he's lost 11 pounds in three months. Like I said, he was fit to begin with, but it worked for him.

I know men are different (lucky ducks!), but that is one story of a non-counter.

I think what happens is over time you'll be able to gauge portion size and adjust to not counting. It'll be more of a psychological change than anything.

lynheff

In the 1950's the American Dietetic Association wrote out a no-counting diet based on number of servings on exchange lists --for example a 1200 cal/ diet would have 2 of whatever item and amount was on the "bread exchange". Personally I found it more cumbersome and less flexible than calorie counting but many people swear by it.
Many chain restaurants have their nutrition info on line. If we are going out, I check out the site and decide what I am going to order before I get there. That way I am not tempted by the pictures on the menu or the sight of everyone else's yummy stuff.
Sorry I can't be helpful on the vegan thing. My doc wants me to have a limited number of calories and 60 grams of protein a day and that was really difficult without meat, eggs or cheese. Good luck and congrats on your weight loss.

VMarkV

I have gotten quite lean in the past by not counting calories and just sticking to foods that have a low-calorie density like salads, kale, light tuna, etc. I think you can get away with this since you simply can't eat enough food based on the shear bulk; however, it would still be wise to count/proportion fats...I found myself overindulging on healthy fats after over-dieting too long.

Calorie counting or at least eye-balling proportions is pretty necessary for losing the last 5lbs or reaching one's full potential for fatloss. I would much rather calorie count since it allows me to eat a much larger variety of food...one can only tolerate so much canned tuna and chicken breast. It let's you actually look forward to eating even if it's a restricted amount

katellanova

Yes. I have lost about 30 lbs with portion control. Counting calories makes me anxious, not worth it to me.

bcattoes

I've had success with weight loss and weight maintenance NOT counting calories. I've been thin most of my life without it. When I got older and started to put on weight, I lost it without counting. I lost almost all the weight I lost this time (about 27 lbs) before joining MFP or logging anything.

Lately I've been thinking I did better without counting. But I like tracking other things so I don't want to stop logging. I am considering removing calories from my list though.

Sabine_Stroehm

This is why I think it's more complicated than math. We have to learn how to eat for the rest of our lives. And yeah, I don't plan to count forever.
I counted for about a year when I first learned to eat, and I've been counting again while going through menopause (another "not just math" moment).

I think you're very smart for looking for what will work for you forever, NOW, while you're still losing. I think it will up your odds of keeping it off forever.
You've likely learned a lot, now it's time to apply it and make it stick!

mfpcopine

When I was young, I once eliminated meat, sugar, fat (butter) and alcohol. Weight loss was easy.

Even if one doesn't log calories forever, the educational value of doing it for several months is indisputable.

lisslasley

I am not a calorie counter. I did a modified version of The 17-Day Diet. Basically I eat eggs for breakfast, big salad with lots of veges for lunch, and then a small salad, a different portion of vegetables and a main course for dinner. I have also started cutting out sweets and it has made a big difference.

mfpcopine

The vegan diet will make it much harder for you to get past your calorie quota -- you'll fill full quite easily.

As long as you don't overdo things like nuts and pasta.

dawningrid

When I went vegan I found I needed to count calories to keep from putting on weight. I was hungry all the time although I ate mainly whole foods. Very quickly I went up by 15lbs which did not happen when I was vegetarian or pesco vegetarian. I have now returned to being vegetarian/pesco vegetarian and the weight has began to come off slowly. When I logged my calories as a vegan it was way higher than what I needed for the day because I tried to get up to 120 grams of protein using peas, beans and nuts. Now I add eggs and fish sometimes and my calorie count is now with in range. I have also added some pea\hemp\rice protein powders which help to increase calories without increasing carbs.

MostlyWater

I lost 26 lbs once upon a time, and kept 17 of them off and I did so by eating healthful, moderate portions, and stepping up the exercise. I don't measure my food and I'm fine.

myfitnessnmhoy

recently, i've become concerned that i'm going to be dependent on calorie counting for the rest of my life. i want to continue losing weight, but am wondering if it's possible to do it without counting. i've recently switched to veganism, which i hope will help. does anyone have any thoughts on this? has anyone had experience losing weight, either by vegeterianism/veganism, or other ways besides calorie counting?

Honestly, you probably will be dependent on the concept, but not on the actual drudgery of the day-by-day calorie-by-calorie practice.

In other words, as you are losing weight by calorie counting, you are learning portions that work for you, approximate calories in each, which foods you can eat more of with less impact and which you really honestly need to watch closely. In short, you're learning how to eat MINDFULLY and with purpose. You don't suddenly forget all that valuable information when you stop logging food to a database.

You'll still know that one handful of chips with salsa is OK as an appetizer, the entire basket + three more baskets is not. You'll still know that a small slice of cake is OK, eating the whole thing and going back to the baker's for a second cake is not. And you'll still know that a portion of oatmeal and an egg in the morning keeps you full until lunch, while three bowls of sugar-frosted fr00t smacks with a 32-ounce sugary soda poured over it will leave you out hundreds more calories and you'll be hungry enough to chew off one of your own limbs by 9:30.

You just won't have to see if that slice of cake is 100 or 150 calories. Because no matter which one it is, you'll be in the ballpark. You won't have to fret about being 5g short on protein on Tuesday, because you know that your routine diet will have enough to support you.

If you do this right, and slowly, and mindfully, the transition to maintenance will probably be completely transparent (after all, you should have been lowering your goal gently as you approach your ideal) and you'll just track calories for a month or two, then just keep an eye on the scale and the fit of your clothes for any unwelcome trends. And if things start trending in the wrong direction, you come back for a refresher lesson. Set an upper limit of, say, 10 pounds above your goal. Mark this spot on your scale "RETURN TO MFP".

lenaelkins

Thank you all SO much, this is all very helpful! I appreciate all of your support, insight and advice!