I stopped counting!

Counting is a pain in the butt and just makes me more obsessed with food when I do it. My workaround has been to plan all my meals in advance so I don't need to count anything during the week. I've developed a system for myself, which I call "modular meals" - every part of my meals (protein, vegetable, etc.) has 2-3 possible choices of food item which are equal in calories, fat, protein, carbs, etc. so I can just mix and match and It'll still be the same numbers. Let me demonstrate by showing my meals:

My breakfast contains one 70-gram serving of fruit, half a cup of cottage cheese, and 1 meat. That fruit could be papaya or cantaloupe, which are equivalent, and the meat could be one egg, or two turkey breakfast sausage links, or three strips of center-cut bacon, all of which are also equal. A 12-oz cup of coffee with a tablespoon of regular creamer and a packet of Splenda completes breakfast.

Dinner can be 4 oz of chicken tenderloin or a fish fillet (usually tilapia; it's inexpensive), and this week I'm adding lean pork tenderloin to the menu. All of those are equivalent. Dinner also includes leafy green salads of various kinds with 6 grape tomatoes and 2 tbsp of a lite dressing of my choice. The dressings in my collection range from 40 to 60 calories per serving, all under 3 carbs, so they are fairly interchangeable as well.

Snack is a negligible-calorie vegetable (a few spears of cucumber or zucchini, or two medium stalks of celery) with a tablespoon of lite ranch-type dressings for dip.

So because all my meals are modular like that, I never have to count. The only time I count anything anymore is when adding a new food option to my menu, which isn't often. Also no meal planning and analysis = no need to think about food almost ever. That's helped me break the cycle of a food-centric life more than anything I've ever tried.

Cool idea! Like it.

I agree. It's too easy to lose accountability.

I stopped. I didn't really count when I initially lost weight a long time ago. I counted for about a year when the scale went up at menopause. It stopped going up! I stopped counting a few months ago now and the scale has gone down 2-3 pounds.
It really does depend on the person.

I have been an MPF member for three years. Counting calories was an eye opening experience and helped me to learn how to eat in a healthy manner. Throughout my entire weight loss effort, my approach has been that whatever I do to lose the weight must what I am willing to do to for the remainder of my life in order to maintain my weight. My meals are nearly all home cooked using mostly fresh ingredients. My activities incorporate exercise into my daily habits (walking to the train station for my commute to work). Over the past three years, I think I have developed a healthy lifestyle that I can sustain.

My weight has been stable for a year and a half. While I would still like to lose 15 pounds, my current weight allows me to life the life I would like.

At the beginning of this month I stopped logging my food on MFP. Previously I had been very dedicated to logging; every bite I ate was recorded. But over the past few months, I stopped logging when I traveled. While I ate reasonably well on the road, I also did not worry about gaining a few pounds. They would quickly come off when I returned home and back into my routines. I took another trip at the start of the this month and then decided to not log my foods when I got back home. I have a daily calorie limit in mind and mentally keep track of my total consumption.

I think my well entrenched healthy habits will allow me to maintain my weight. I do weight myself everyday and doing so will let me know when I am outside my five pound buffer. It just feels good to not worry about every single bite and allow myself the freedom to indulge every once in a while.

I've learned a lot about myself and living a healthy life since I began my weight loss journey four years ago. I need to acknowledge the confidence I have to myself and know I am committed to maintaining all that I have accomplished.

I have made the decision to stop counting all my calories. I found that I was forming unhealthy habits and was being controlled by numbers. I have no idea how many calories I ate today, or how many I'll eat tomorrow. I'm going to continue like this for a few weeks before I weight in...hopefully I find that I can maintain like this :]

just watch your macros... a calorie of one food is NOT the same as a calorie of another....fake foods is metabolized differently Today, counting calories does not work

^ this is wrong and not based on actual science.

My hat is off to all of you who choose not to count and are able to maintain your weight this way. I am three pounds from maintenance now, but I can't think I'm going to continue to keep track. The reason is because I lost around 60 pounds 12 years ago with calorie counting, but it slowly crept back up over a five year period when I decided I didn't have to count anymore, and I was still working out.

I will do whatever it takes to not gain my weight back.

love it! it takes courage to change things that don't work for you:flowerforyou: I burn out from it too sometimes but I upped them and now its like whew I can breathe :drinker: high five* and feel free to add me

When I quit counting my calories, I tend to go down the same old paths and tend to gain weight, as I do less and less counting. I find myself coming back here to get back on track.

I am obsessed with logging my food. I think it's fun. When it stops being fun I will quit. I have myself set to lose 1 lb a week, but mostly I am just using this more to track carbs and sugars.

I am not dieting in the traditional sense of the word, so I don't feel deprived or depressed in anyway. I look at this tool as a way to raise my good stuff to meet my goals for calcium, protein, potass etc. and lower the bad stuff sugar, carbs, sodium.

My favorite part is looking at the report and seeing what days my sodium was off the chart and then reviewing that days food so I can avoid that food in the future. The same with carbs, sugar etc.

I read somewhere that this is an effective method (but obviously your mileage may vary): Weigh yourself every other day after you get up. If you are more than 2 pounds over your goal weight, eat fruits and vegetables (as much as you want) for the next few days until you get back down to goal. Simple, muss-free.

I stopped counting too but only after I reached maintenance. I lost the weight by counting and not weighing in. I never stepped on the scale. Once I felt I had reached my goal, I started daily weighing and sorta counting. Its working for me. I make adjustments depending on what the scale says. Lately, my tastes have changed and I'm allowing myself to have different things that I might have thought were "forbidden" before. I just watch my portions and monitor my weight. I have not counted calories for a while but I'm aware of what I'm eating, practice portion control, and try to eat lower carb as that seems to work for me.

why do people assume that people maintaining don't count?

I continued to count when I was at maintenance- why? because I can physically eat way more than I should - maintenance on paper for me isn't that high.

I guess because some folks do and some folks don't? I don't count at maintenance. I may check in from time to time, or pre-log something to get a sense of it the first time I'm going to eat it. But that's about it.

Very interesting thread.
I'm still counting because not counting makes me feel insecure right now. But I do hope to stop counting soon!

I have made the decision to stop counting all my calories. I found that I was forming unhealthy habits and was being controlled by numbers. I have no idea how many calories I ate today, or how many I'll eat tomorrow. I'm going to continue like this for a few weeks before I weight in...hopefully I find that I can maintain like this :]

There was a day when we could count calories. Today a calorie of one food is not the same as a calorie of another. There are many items that are low calorie, very low, but have ingredients that will actually cause weight gain! and will prevent weight loss!! So you are making a wise choice! Make sure your macros are set correctly and that you track sugar!!! If you stay within those parameters, you WILL lose all the weight you want!!!!!!!!