Anybody not counting claories?

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  • dare2love81
    dare2love81 Posts: 928 Member
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    I'm not tracking but I'm also bulking and not cutting. I'm not tracking because for ME, it gets mentally exhausting and I tend to get a bit OCD about things so I did this as an experiment to see if I could gain at a reasonable pace by eating intuitively. So far, so good.

    In March when I start cutting again I'll resume tracking.

    ^I do what he does. Because.. well look at the man!
    ^^ look at both of them

    that said...doesnt work too well for me.
    I tend to eat everything in sight...oops!

    i do take a 2 week break in the summer, and again over Christmas and New Years.

    ^^^Look at all three of them!

    Like Crank said, if I don't log, I tend to eat keep eating - unnecessarily, and typically less healthy food. I didn't log during the holidays either.
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
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    How do you do it? Please share!


    I like Tom Venuto's breakdown on this issue:

    Stage 1: Unconscious incompetence - you are eating the wrong foods in the wrong amounts and you're not even aware of it. (You don't know what you're doing and you don't know that you don't know what you're doing)

    Stage 2: Conscious incompetence - you are eating the wrong foods in the wrong amounts, but for some reason, you now become aware of it. This is often because of a "hitting bottom" experience or an "I'm not gonna live like this anymore" epiphany. (You don't know what you're doing and now you know that you don't know what you're doing!)

    Stage 3: Conscious competence - you educate yourself and begin to eat the right foods, but it takes a lot of thought and effort to eat the right things in the right amounts. (You know what you're doing, but you have to think about it and work very hard to make it happen because you're using willpower and still learning)

    Stage 4: Unconscious competence - you've made the conscious effort to eat the right foods in the right amounts and you've counted calories and kept a nutrition journal for long enough and with enough repetition that these behaviours become habits and a part of your lifestyle. (You know what you're doing and you do it easily and automatically without having to think about it).

    In short, I think it's a state you have to transition too. You could try a "diet" plan which makes you spontaneously eat at a defcit without counting calories (Paleo / Atkins / Dash etc) but I think that gives you less flexibility or control in the long run.
  • sarahisme18
    sarahisme18 Posts: 574 Member
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    How do you do it? Please share!


    I like Tom Venuto's breakdown on this issue:

    Stage 1: Unconscious incompetence - you are eating the wrong foods in the wrong amounts and you're not even aware of it. (You don't know what you're doing and you don't know that you don't know what you're doing)

    Stage 2: Conscious incompetence - you are eating the wrong foods in the wrong amounts, but for some reason, you now become aware of it. This is often because of a "hitting bottom" experience or an "I'm not gonna live like this anymore" epiphany. (You don't know what you're doing and now you know that you don't know what you're doing!)

    Stage 3: Conscious competence - you educate yourself and begin to eat the right foods, but it takes a lot of thought and effort to eat the right things in the right amounts. (You know what you're doing, but you have to think about it and work very hard to make it happen because you're using willpower and still learning)

    Stage 4: Unconscious competence - you've made the conscious effort to eat the right foods in the right amounts and you've counted calories and kept a nutrition journal for long enough and with enough repetition that these behaviours become habits and a part of your lifestyle. (You know what you're doing and you do it easily and automatically without having to think about it).

    In short, I think it's a state you have to transition too. You could try a "diet" plan which makes you spontaneously eat at a defcit without counting calories (Paleo / Atkins / Dash etc) but I think that gives you less flexibility or control in the long run.


    Niiice. Looking forward to getting to Stage 4!

    Anyway, that is cool, thank you for posting!
  • peacek
    peacek Posts: 211
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    Thank you all for the responses.
    Looks like majority of you recommend tracking calories. I am going to give it one more try.
    And hope to get to stage 4 as msf74 says.
  • BigGuy47
    BigGuy47 Posts: 1,768 Member
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    I think I'm somewhere between stage 3 and stage 4. I no longer track calories, but I still use a food scale to make sure the portion size is correct.
  • hnewell1030
    hnewell1030 Posts: 13
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    I find that tracking is sometimes a pain in the butt, but it makes me accountable for what I'm eating. And getting a digital kitchen scale has helped me tremendously too
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
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    raises hand

    i take pictures of my food.

    i dont want to take pictures of ugly fattening food, so i try to make beautiful healthy food.

    i tracked at first, got a good grip on what costs what calorie-wise, now i barely even take pictures of the food - i just go for beautiful.
  • lacurandera1
    lacurandera1 Posts: 8,083 Member
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    Almost all I lost was from eating without tracking calories, it was before I found this site. I've found that colorful is a good goal to strive for- it;s a good indicator of getting a reasonable array of vitamins and minerals. Kinda goes hand in hand with Yoovie's "beautiful." It helped me to break my carb addiciton, too...bc before a meal of a ton of pasta and a ton of bread was normal, or no big deal, but that's just too much brown and white. :) it probably goes without saying, but i cut out processed foods and stuck with whole, fresh, home cooked food.

    The only place "colorful" failed me was in the protein department. I was exercising heavily and ended up with a deficiency. (I was eating just as much as i ever had, but the increased activity needed more fuel.) Anyways, I track now. Mainly to keep an eye on that tricksey protein and to maintain a small deficit.
  • hnsaunde
    hnsaunde Posts: 757 Member
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    I like Tom Venuto's breakdown on this issue:

    Stage 1: Unconscious incompetence - you are eating the wrong foods in the wrong amounts and you're not even aware of it. (You don't know what you're doing and you don't know that you don't know what you're doing)

    Stage 2: Conscious incompetence - you are eating the wrong foods in the wrong amounts, but for some reason, you now become aware of it. This is often because of a "hitting bottom" experience or an "I'm not gonna live like this anymore" epiphany. (You don't know what you're doing and now you know that you don't know what you're doing!)

    Stage 3: Conscious competence - you educate yourself and begin to eat the right foods, but it takes a lot of thought and effort to eat the right things in the right amounts. (You know what you're doing, but you have to think about it and work very hard to make it happen because you're using willpower and still learning)

    Stage 4: Unconscious competence - you've made the conscious effort to eat the right foods in the right amounts and you've counted calories and kept a nutrition journal for long enough and with enough repetition that these behaviours become habits and a part of your lifestyle. (You know what you're doing and you do it easily and automatically without having to think about it).

    In short, I think it's a state you have to transition too. You could try a "diet" plan which makes you spontaneously eat at a defcit without counting calories (Paleo / Atkins / Dash etc) but I think that gives you less flexibility or control in the long run.

    I stopped logging for two months over the holidays because I was mentally exhausted and I was becoming obsessed about food.

    I find I have much more motivation to log again now that I've had that break, even though I did gain weight when I wasn't logging. I was also curious to see which stage I was at (I'd seen this posted before), and it turned out I was at Stage 3, and not yet onto Stage 4.
  • Nessiechickie
    Nessiechickie Posts: 1,392 Member
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    I track my calories, but I my problem is eating enough to maintain energy and a workout.
    Most of the time I don't get on at the end of the day so I add my nighttime calories the next day.
  • bgelliott
    bgelliott Posts: 610 Member
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    I don't always log anymore because after so many years of doing it, you just kind of know what all your regular foods are. I will log when I feel like I am really off track and need to get back on track.
  • boslund2
    boslund2 Posts: 4 Member
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    I think tracking is important, at least until you understand your portions, the food your eating and how quickly those calories can add up. I am also following The Shred diet by Dr. Ian Smith. So I have all my meals planned out. That helps a lot and even doing that I wouldnt be too concerned with necessarily counting my calories. Either way, don't let one thing or the other deter you from your goals for yourself. I consider myself a good eater, etc. but the calorie count surprises me when I see certain meals tally up or when I see my total being really low for the day or whatever. It's kind of inspiring! Good Luck and keep on moving!
  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
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    I'm not tracking but I'm also bulking and not cutting. I'm not tracking because for ME, it gets mentally exhausting and I tend to get a bit OCD about things so I did this as an experiment to see if I could gain at a reasonable pace by eating intuitively. So far, so good.

    In March when I start cutting again I'll resume tracking.

    ^I do what he does. Because.. well look at the man!
    ^^ look at both of them

    that said...doesnt work too well for me.
    I tend to eat everything in sight...oops!

    i do take a 2 week break in the summer, and again over Christmas and New Years.

    ^^^Look at all three of them!

    Like Crank said, if I don't log, I tend to eat keep eating - unnecessarily, and typically less healthy food. I didn't log during the holidays either.

    ^Look at all 4 of them!

    I try to track 90% of the time. If I don't, I'm over eating and probably not hitting my macros. I pretty much took a break from trying to lose from Thanksgiving to New Year's (had been dieting for a year, needed to turn it off for awhile). I didn't track most of the time and I maintained pretty well. But, now that I want to lose again, it's back to tracking.
  • BrawlerBella
    BrawlerBella Posts: 400 Member
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    The reason for my success and continued maintenance is weighing, measuring, and logging food. Not everyone has to do that, but that is what works for me.

    True Story!! You can out eat any workout. The site and app keep me accountable and on track!!
  • councillor4
    councillor4 Posts: 3
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    I find the tracker really easy to use ,I have lost weight before and kept a jounal , and tracked calories , this makes it so easy .. I found the jounaling before also really helped me , as i think some times you don,t realize what and how much you actually eat . I think keeping track will help you be more successful
  • marthadztx
    marthadztx Posts: 337 Member
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    For me, this is the only way to lose weight. When I track everything I eat..I lose weight, when I don't..I gain. Gets a little overwhelming at times but so well worth it! :drinker:
  • fightininggirl
    fightininggirl Posts: 792 Member
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    I do the Maker's diet which I can eat as much as I want on the approved list. no calorie counting. I just log to keep me accountable to eating the correct portions. I am 4 days in this and lost 5 pounds.
  • VorJoshigan
    VorJoshigan Posts: 1,106 Member
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    I don't know - maybe I'm splitting hairs here, but I don't feel like I'm actually counting claories. My whole point in using MFP is so MFP can count my calories and let me know how I'm doing. I don't let MFP tell me what TO DO. I let it tell me HOW I'M DOING.

    MFP is my servant, not my master.
  • VorJoshigan
    VorJoshigan Posts: 1,106 Member
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    The reason for my success and continued maintenance is weighing, measuring, and logging food. Not everyone has to do that, but that is what works for me.

    True Story!! You can out eat any workout. The site and app keep me accountable and on track!!

    "You can't outrun your fork"
  • wahmx3
    wahmx3 Posts: 646 Member
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    I don't log every day although I would like to. i sometimes discover things that I wasn't aware of.... here is today's lesson.... don't buy a butterball turkey, just a regular one will do. I had no idea how much sodium was in one, I knew the stuffing would be bad but wasn't thinking about the actual turkey.

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