I stopped counting!

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  • Amandainyaface
    Amandainyaface Posts: 33
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    Of course you can maintain like that! I mean, think about it. It's far from everyone who counts everything, and many people (read: i didn't say all, but many) live a healthy, balanced life without a care in the world, and their weight takes care of itself. Most of the time your body will know when it's the happiest.
    But I can only encourage you! :happy: If you feel happier without counting, then you should live like that! :laugh:
  • eva_ruby
    eva_ruby Posts: 1
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    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.
  • hgycta
    hgycta Posts: 3,013 Member
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    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.

    This.
    I'm so glad I'm not the only one who logs for the enjoyment of it ;)
    I know it's not good to eat junk food everyday, but it's so nice to be able to eat a small candy bar when you get a craving for it without feeling guilty. :p
  • mlogantra76
    mlogantra76 Posts: 334 Member
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    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.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    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.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    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.
  • nutty4mma
    nutty4mma Posts: 2
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    Love this!
  • Laura3BB
    Laura3BB Posts: 250 Member
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    Very interesting thread.
    I'm still counting because not counting makes me feel insecure right now. But I do hope to stop counting soon!
  • NidiaG24
    NidiaG24 Posts: 31 Member
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    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 :]

    I agree with you here. I stop counting calories. I just stop eating certain things like Bread, pasta, rice and most processed foods. But since rice is my weakness, I eat it 2-3 times a month in small amounts
  • Joanne_Moniz
    Joanne_Moniz Posts: 347 Member
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    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!!!!!!!!
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    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!!!!!!!!

    This is false ^
  • punkypenny
    punkypenny Posts: 99 Member
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    I won't ever be able to do that. I view my eating as similar to how I budget my money. I can't just intuitively just not spend money, and find myself in trouble down the road. At some point, my cards will stop working and the ATM will stop dispensing cash, so at least with money, I can only go so far before I'm cut off.

    Calories are not as forgiving. I ended up fat in the first place for that very reason. I have just accepted that I will always have to log my food if I want to never gain weight again.

    I hope this works ok for you. I think most of us here will have a different experience.

    This is me. I got tired of logging 2 years ago. I was pretty damn close to my goal too. Now here I am again almost 20 lbs more than when I left. I ruined all of my hard work. So for me this is how it has to be. However, I found that I don't have to continuously count all week long if I prepare all of my meals for the week on my days off. Since I pretty much eat the same things all week it only takes me a few minutes each day to log and all of my measuring is done in one day.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    There are many items that are low calorie, very low, but have ingredients that will actually cause weight gain!

    This is absolutely false and you should be horribly ashamed of yourself for telling people this.
  • benefiting
    benefiting Posts: 795 Member
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    I'm still logging but I've stopped weighing in daily. I actually only log in once a month now.
  • karlospiklington
    karlospiklington Posts: 143 Member
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    I don't plan on logging calories forever, I only want to do it whilst I'm still trying to lose weight. I have already formed pretty good habits and can roughly figure out my daily calorie intake but I like logging it just to have that record. It doesn't take that long to log my food and I'm not too obsessed with the numbers so I still enjoy it. Once I reach my goal weight I will probably log at maintenance for a few weeks and then hopefully I won't need to log at all, just keep up with my exercise and better eating habits.
  • celtbell3
    celtbell3 Posts: 738 Member
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    I count. All of the time.
  • FitMama2Three
    FitMama2Three Posts: 13 Member
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    I am not in maintenance-about 5 -10 lbs away but I am not logging. It does not help me- it seems to trigger more overreating and frustration. Logging exercise however is very motivating and helpful for me. My plan is to continue to eat based on natural hunger cues and make healthy choices as much as possible. Happy to have more non-counting friends. The reason I do not leave the site is because I love my little group of MFP buddies and it has helped me reach fitness goals.
  • BonecrusherBrews
    BonecrusherBrews Posts: 131 Member
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    I count. All of the time.

    Me too. It's been very helpful for me. I can see that at some point I probably won't need to do it as much or as often. I will have learned what portions really add up to (calorie-wise) but for now, it is what I must do to succeed.
  • 2013sk
    2013sk Posts: 1,318 Member
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    That is great!!!!!!!!! Well done!!!!

    It can get really obsessive - Looking at packets in the supermarket, eating them logging on here - Your body needs a break!

    Eat healthy and move more : )

    Good luck!

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