calorie counting is impossible in the long run

It just all depends on the person.

I consider it a habit, and also necessary so I can make sure I’m getting ENOUGH food during my weight loss journey. Most other diets I ended not eating enough and harming my body.

For some people, it works. For some, I won’t.

I enjoy counting calories, as now I feel in control, and thanks to the modern age of computers, there are sites/software that "count" for us, I couldn't diet without them.

I don't expect my calorie intake to be accurate, but gives me a rough ideas, just gotta remember the extras you might put on your dinner, such as gravy or butter, they are easy to forget and leave them out.

Calorie Counting can lead to obsession but I prefer to think to think of it as Calorie Counting leads to Education of what one puts in their body.

go back into your cave little troll .......

I thought trolls live under bridges?

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Different things work for different people. Calorie counting works for me.

OK......Give me your opinion.

calorie counting leads to obsession.It is not ideal for permanent fatloss.Instead one should focus on nourishing ones body and use
progressive strength training to get stronger .Fatloss will be a byproduct of getting healthy...

I disagree. If i were not tracking calories, I'd probably go over them and wonder why im not losing weight.

Progressive strength training will make one stronger, but my body is not ready to do that yet. so im losing weight by counting calories.

I bet when you first road a bike, your folks put training wheels on it. You learned to balance yourself on the bike, while the training wheels were on. When the wheels came off, you had learned how to balance, and were no longer relying on the training wheels to catch you.

Likewise, if you are heavy and have had no idea how many calories are in the foods you eat, you need to learn about caloric intake and what you're eating. So no, the idea would not be to log every single calorie that you eat for the rest of your life. The idea is that you learn about portion control and calorie values so that you can make better choices for the rest of your life, once the training wheels come off.

I really like this. Nice way to explain it. My "training wheels" came off a long time ago, but I still like to ride my bike.

A family friend of ours has won categories in the Senior Olympics. He is fit and in his 70's and looks amazing. Tall, slender guy. I know he's never counted calories. But I've seen him eat. He's usually the last one finished eating at the table. He eats slow. And he eats the least.

The rest of us have teased him before, because he eats to so little and so slow. Unfortunately, because the rest of us are all overweight, he can't tease us back. But I know it's no coincidence that he's in great shape and has always eaten this way. For me, it is about learning to eat differently. I hope once I get it in my head, it'll stick!

Impossible. No. Not ideal (for me at least). Yes.

My ideal would be one where I can pretty much eyeball how much I need to maintain and only track periodically when I know I'm eating foods likely to give me problems if I overeat them.

I suppose if you ate only healthy, nourishing foods and listened to your body (eat when hungry, stop when almost full) you could go into maintenance without logging. That's a behavior you need to learn though. I like to log so I can see exactly what I'm putting in my body. I'm pretty much at maintenance, but want to continue to lean out, so watching macros is helpful for me.

I guess whatever works and keeps you on track is what you need to do. If you get obsessed with counting calories, then try another method.

OK......Give me your opinion.

calorie counting leads to obsession.It is not ideal for permanent fatloss.Instead one should focus on nourishing ones body and use
progressive strength training to get stronger .Fatloss will be a byproduct of getting healthy...

Rationalization

Definition: An unconscious defense mechanism in which irrational or unacceptable behavior, motives, or feelings are logically justified or made consciously tolerable by plausible means.

What?? I am sure you have seen lots of opinions on this statement. I am not at goal yet, however when I reach it, I will continue to track. My husband is at goal and currently adding muscle and still tracks his food. MFP is a great tool for everyone to use. Who cares if people look at someone like they are crazy because they read label, check their food out on mfp before they order, or figure out how many calories they have to spend when they head out? It is comparable to budgeting money...just calories instead and EVERYONE wants to be as wealthy/healthy as they can be.

calorie counting leads to obsession.It is not ideal for permanent fatloss.Instead one should focus on nourishing ones body and use
progressive strength training to get stronger .Fatloss will be a byproduct of getting healthy...

Nope.

You can't out-train a bad diet. Or, as the phrase I have adopted says, "You can't outrun a fork!"

The primary reason why most Americans are overweight is because if you just eat without thinking about what you are eating it is trivially easy to overeat. Many of the foods Americans eat are cheap, convenient, tasty, and calorie dense. If you eat without thought to what you are eating, you are virtually guaranteed to gain weight.

If we lived in a "primitive" society like we did 100 years ago not only would we probably be more physically active but our diet choices would be restricted to seasonal and less calorie-dense foods. Today that is not the case.

I honestly think that in reality nearly everyone, even healthy people, will ultimately need to start tracking their caloric intake or they will almost certainly end up gaining weight.

OK......Give me your opinion.

calorie counting leads to obsession.It is not ideal for permanent fatloss.Instead one should focus on nourishing ones body and use
progressive strength training to get stronger .Fatloss will be a byproduct of getting healthy...

"Obsessed is a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated"

Yup. Not that there isn't a place for strength training, but calorie counting. WORKS. And doesn't overwhelm your day unless you want it to.