People that only care about calories.

Your way is better. You can lose weight eating a bad mix, but why would anyone want to? I think at first it is difficult to figure out all the macro and micronutrients, so a lot of people don't try. But once you see how freaking good you feel eating the right mix of foods, the shift is natural.

Originally I just counted calories, once I felt that had become habit I started focusing on nutrition as well. I lost weight just coutning cal however I feel I've had better progress since focusing on nutrtion not just in fat loss but I've noticed much better progress in my fitness abilities, had more energy and less acne and stomache issues.

I have done calories only but paying attention to only calories left me "hungry" and set up to fail.. Now that I focus on getting enough protein and not eating "empty calories" it has worked without any desire to not eat "healthy" my way. But I do know that people are successful on it, and who am I to judge?

Sweetie(s) when I was that young it seriously did not matter
Your college years make you practically invincible to such considerations, or at least they should be.

By the time you're my age, you'll have to seriously reconsider things, but for now take heart that that hideous saying, "a calorie is a calorie" fully applies to you.

So my answer is yes...you can absolutely lose weight just counting calories (albeit time is a b*tch)

I agree with a lot of other posts here. Yes, I believe that you can lose weight only watching calories. However, I think this is when we are the most moody, grouchy, mad for no reason, and SORE. I believe that watching calories is the most important place to START. As you progress, and realize how your food affects your workouts, sleep, hair, nails, skin, etc, then I think you realize that that candy bar for 250 calories is not the same as the whole wheat toast with almond butter.... Your body does not feel the same.

For beginners, I think they first need to get watching calories under their belt (no pun intended) before they can start focusing on everything else. Looking at everything at once is a daunting task. I think you need to get your feet wet with working out and eating the appropriate amount of calories first. Most people who START trying to lose weight have been eating fast food, highly processed, chemical filled crap. The number one problem with this is these foods are high calorie, high fat, and promote weight gain when not eaten in moderation. To try to come off that diet to watching calories, protein, sugar, sodium, and everything all at once would set most people up for failure right from the start. Once they get to the point where it's no longer a "diet" then they start to realize how food affects your mood, workouts, etc. This is also the point where food switches to "fuel" in our brains and the "diet" has switched to habit or lifestyle.

For me, the things I concentrate are calories, protein, sodium, and iron and potassium. Potassium is my biggest challenge because I take ADHD meds which tend to leech the potassium from your body. I have started adding some of the more natural protein and nutrition bars as snacks. I also have reached the point in my fitness where I don't just think about "man, if I eat that McDonald's cheeseburger I'm going to have to workout for an extra 45 minutes" to "man, if I eat that cheeseburger, I'm going to feel like crap for two days".

Also, I think this depends a lot on your support system, will power, and people around you. I, for one, work at an office that eats. A lot. All the time. For every occasion. Daily. lol One thing that makes it even easier for me, is that I have food allergies, so I can't eat the cupcakes, donuts, soul food, fast food, etc that they bring in. This fact made the starting days much easier, because you don't get the peer pressure when you tell them "i'm allergic" like you do when you say "that's not on my diet".

I just count calories. Don't know about or care about micros, macros, fats, protien, carbs or anything else. Count calories and work out. O am sure many will disagree, but to each their own.

I did, however, learn that certain foods are better than others. For example , I went to a lot of whole wheat instead of white. More veggies and things like that. But I have never paid attention to the other stuff.

was mainly calories i had such bad eating habits they still arnt as good as i want them to be but i am learning as i go about nutrition as well as calories some days are better than others i still have so much to learn being a vegaterian i do worry about getting enough protien and iron the food diary is great for showing me my bad habits :devil:

I am a big fan of Optimum Nutrition.. (apart from wine :drinker: :flowerforyou: )

I try to eat as well-healthily as I can. The BEST things I can put in my body.

It depends on where you start. Some people eat mostly nutritious foods, but too much of the rich ones, for them portion control and calorie counting may be enough. For others, they may learn that they can eat the amount of calories, but it leaves them feeling hungry... often an indication of not enough fiber, hydration or bulky vegetables. And others are eating all "lite", "diet" foods and have trouble eating enough, which can also be fixed by adjusting to a more nutritious diet. It's hard to change everything at once, so you start with one thing, learn and adjust.

Without proper nutrition and exercise, you won't be fit and healthy, but the people on this site are starting at different places and with different goals. Some are more ready than others to take on additional steps. One thing I like about MFP is although you need to wade through things that don't apply, there is lots of good advice and support here.

Well it kind of goes hand in hand. I only really focus on calories but typically if you are staying low cal, the foods also happen to be low fat. Since I can't afford to have high fat or carb foods without blowing my cals for the day on one meal it just works out.
I ignore sugar for the most part since I eat a lot more fruit than I used to so no matter what I'm probably over. It isn't candy or cakes so as long as it's the right type I don't mind going over. Sodium isn't much of a concern to me right now either I just try not to drink as much diet soda as I used to and usually that keeps it low enough.
Just avoid 'bad' foods that are greasy, fried, high carb, basically all the stuff that you avoid on a diet anyways and you should be fine.
I've lost over 60 pounds this way so I can't be totally wrong.