STOP COUNTING CALORIES: EAT CLEAN

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  • bridgie101
    bridgie101 Posts: 817 Member
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    i agree :) thank you :) i am just concerned that i might overestimate or underestimate calories in which will distort the entire entry >< its quite hard for me to estimate calories spot on.

    Remember you have to underestimate your calories by quite a long way before you truly mess up. Going 100 over or 100 under is not going to be a problem in the long run. The goal calculator will have you set at 500 calories a day under what it would take to maintain you, so as I say, if you count your calories as well as you can, you will be near.

    The problem with not counting them at all is that some sauces can have 1000 calories in them and you wouldn't even know. Some foods can be incredibly lean, and you don't know. I only just, yesterday, discovered that it's only 16 cals for an egg white, when it's 70 cals for the egg!

    Now I can make a choice I couldn't make before, which is, have 2 eggs and 1 white in my omelette and save myself 50 cals.

    So having an idea of calories opens your choices up, gives you power as it gives you understanding.

    but you might find, at your age, that all you have to do to lose weight is give up sweets. Your main diet may already be pretty good. :) My sister hasn't counted a calorie in her life and she's been 54 kg forever.
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
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    true, clean eating is more satiating but by eating clean, you are basically filling your body with good nutrients. for example vegetables, chicken.
    you can eat 'dirty' by eating junk food once in a while in a clean eating lifestyle however, you will need to control portion size.
    i am tempted to count calories but sometimes it is just very hard to estimate calories in the food you consume as i said, my parents cook several different dishes during dinner and i basically have to estimate the calories in each dish... so what i am saying is that i want to stop counting calories and eat wholesome, clean food
    You can gain weight on wholesome clean food too if you eat too much of it. You still need to count, it isn't really that time consuming.
  • berrydana7
    berrydana7 Posts: 78 Member
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    thanks for the feedback! i will continue to record my daily intake :) honestly i have tried eating clean twice. once when i ate clean, i did not eat any high GI carbs such as white pasta, white bread, sugar (except fruit) combined with exercise and it worked for me. i tried it again earlier this year and i hoped for the same result but my self control was not that good and i ended up eating more chocolate, ice cream etc. than i thought i would.
    so yeah i guess eating clean really depends if you have the self control to restrain yourself from junk food to lose weight while anyone can count calories and as a long as there is a calorie deficit, they will see result. also eating clean and counting calories can coincide which is what i plan to do :)
  • littlelily613
    littlelily613 Posts: 769 Member
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    I once did a program where I did not count a single calorie for any: lean meats, fat-free dairy products, most grains, all fruits and vegetables, one serving of potatoes or pasta or rice (the whole grain kind), eggs (clearly in moderation), beans and legumes, and two servings of oil. I lost 100 pounds in less than a year eating that way. You just eat until you're not hungry anymore, and then you stop (and sometimes I ate until I was full...and I still lost weight). I am trying to get back to that way of eating right now because it was my most successful lifestyle. So yes, it does work. But if you need the structure, then counting calories is helpful.
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
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    Maintaining weight has nothing to to with "eating clean". It's about energy balance (CICO). Hit you nutritional needs any way you want. FWIW, I don't find counting calories very time consuming.
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
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    STOP SPREADING CRAZY: EAT FOOD*






    *at appropriate caloric levels and nutritional balance
  • Cranquistador
    Cranquistador Posts: 39,744 Member
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    NO.
  • cyndymar
    cyndymar Posts: 73
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    Yup sir I agree
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    Stop wearing glasses! Only read childrens' books with those huge letters so you don't need glasses.

    Yeah I know they're totally boring and not really worth reading, but who cares about silly things like enjoying life or being happy?
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
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    my personal definition of "eating clean" is to not eat anything that has fallen on the floor and not been picked up within 5 seconds of falling.

    i also don't eat eclairs out of trashcans. trashcans are dirty.

    everything else is fair game!
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
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    my personal definition of "eating clean" is to not eat anything that has fallen on the floor and not been picked up within 5 seconds of falling.

    i also don't eat eclairs out of trashcans. trashcans are dirty.

    everything else is fair game!

    What if the trash can is brand new and someone set the eclair in there very carefully on a clean plate? And this is the problem with clean eating, no one defines it well enough... that eclair could be just fine.
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
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    my personal definition of "eating clean" is to not eat anything that has fallen on the floor and not been picked up within 5 seconds of falling.

    i also don't eat eclairs out of trashcans. trashcans are dirty.

    everything else is fair game!

    What if the trash can is brand new and someone set the eclair in there very carefully on a clean plate? And this is the problem with clean eating, no one defines it well enough... that eclair could be just fine.

    do you mean like this? because this is probably ok as long as nobody sees you.

    george-eating-an-eclair-o.gif

    also, that gif is a two-fer in that i've used it twice today. extra bonus points go to me for recycling a joke. double bonus points subtracted for not being a particularly funny joke. :embarassed:
  • SelenityJ
    SelenityJ Posts: 168 Member
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    I don't count my calories. Some days I'm under the calorie goal, other days I'm over and i still steadily lose weight.

    What works for me is Harcombe and it's not a diet but a lifestyle change. I eat healthy, I don't eat overly processed foods, and soda has been eliminated from my diet. With the exception of Ginger ale for when I've an upset stomache or feel like I might get car sick. Ginger ale is amazing for that for me.

    Find what works for you and stick with it!
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
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    my personal definition of "eating clean" is to not eat anything that has fallen on the floor and not been picked up within 5 seconds of falling.

    i also don't eat eclairs out of trashcans. trashcans are dirty.

    everything else is fair game!

    What if the trash can is brand new and someone set the eclair in there very carefully on a clean plate? And this is the problem with clean eating, no one defines it well enough... that eclair could be just fine.

    do you mean like this? because this is probably ok as long as nobody sees you.

    george-eating-an-eclair-o.gif

    also, that gif is a two-fer in that i've used it twice today. extra bonus points go to me for recycling a joke. double bonus points subtracted for not being a particularly funny joke. :embarassed:

    The fact that the eclair was on top of an advert for a cleaning product makes this perfect and only makes the eclair cleaner. Let's all eat clean.
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
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    my personal definition of "eating clean" is to not eat anything that has fallen on the floor and not been picked up within 5 seconds of falling.

    i also don't eat eclairs out of trashcans. trashcans are dirty.

    everything else is fair game!

    What if the trash can is brand new and someone set the eclair in there very carefully on a clean plate? And this is the problem with clean eating, no one defines it well enough... that eclair could be just fine.

    do you mean like this? because this is probably ok as long as nobody sees you.

    george-eating-an-eclair-o.gif

    also, that gif is a two-fer in that i've used it twice today. extra bonus points go to me for recycling a joke. double bonus points subtracted for not being a particularly funny joke. :embarassed:

    The fact that the eclair was on top of an advert for a cleaning product makes this perfect and only makes the eclair cleaner. Let's all eat clean.

    those Seinfeld writers sure were clever. :wink:
  • NRSPAM
    NRSPAM Posts: 961 Member
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    Had to edit, just reread your post. What you're asking us really, is that since you're at maintenance, should you quit counting, right? No. Those pounds will sneak back up on you quick and in a hurry. If you choose to stop logging, atleast wait a while. Do it for a few months while you're on maintenance, just to get used to it. Besides, to be honest, maintenance calories don't look much different than weight loss calories do. Still requires a lot of hard work if you want to stay this way.
  • NRSPAM
    NRSPAM Posts: 961 Member
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    Aso, there are many people on here who don't log veggies. Their calorie count is usually pretty trivial. You could also just estimate and put in a best guesstimate. Fruits are higher in calories though, so I would still log them. Or, if you eat so many veggies, that it's feeling so tedious, you should have them in your tracker already, and should be able to just click and add. ;)
  • iCanBeYourSplendaDaddy
    iCanBeYourSplendaDaddy Posts: 15
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    I don't like your thread title telling me what to do!!!! :grumble:


    But seriously, I think I'm doing fine with the counting. It's not that tedious, imo.
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    No thanks, I'd rather eat "dirty" and still get results.

    I eat white pasta, potatoes, dairy, red meat, and many other things people categorize as "dirty" such as cheese puffs, pop tarts, and ice cream and amazingly enough I still lost weight and am perfectly healthy.

    And counting calories is not tedious; it helps me to see my macros ratios accurately which helps me attain my goals faster by eating the right amount of protein for my body weight. (for example)
  • taliar93
    taliar93 Posts: 111 Member
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    i am tempted to count calories but sometimes it is just very hard to estimate calories in the food you consume as i said, my parents cook several different dishes during dinner and i basically have to estimate the calories in each dish...


    ...Have you perhaps thought of preparing your own meals?

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