Should I count calories or Not?

IMO yes, you should count your calories - at least until you get a feel for what you're eating. If you're having trouble, look for the entries without the * by it - those are "official" entries.

It's not hard to count calories - I do and I weigh my food. I also work out regularly. I, too, am very busy. I've just made it something that isn't an option, so I don't get to decide to do it or not. Like brushing my teeth or wiping after I pee - it's non-negotiable.

Give me two examples?

I HATE counting calories!! Its time consuming, I am never sure if what I log is really correct. Sunday is the easiest day to put together maybe two days worth of food and count the cals. After that, its almost impossible with a busy schedule. I try to not eat the same foods so I constantly have to look up new foods. Also,the quantity of how much I eat changes, so there's the frustrating conversions.

I know some ppl say don't count, just eat healthy and enough. I did count cals a few days last week and I could barely reach 1500. I was full by 9pm and around 1200 cals. My BMR is1492 and with my workouts, I need to eat 2,574 to maintain. Since, I want to lose, I am aiming for 1500-2000/day.

Should I just eat healthy when I am hungry (I might be under 1500) or count?

Any tips of making it easier or increasing cals without eating too much?

So you say you are full at around 1200 calories but need to lose weight and your name says you need to lose 25?
Something doesnt give as you obviously were eating more than you should have for awhile to have that weight on you.

As far as counting. Yes,some dont need to, but if you need to lose weight and gained by not counting then I think you probably need to.

Too hard or takes up too much time?

BS.

It is easier now than EVER to count calories with most chain places having it on their menu/drive through. Diff apps, etc etc etc.

Too hard or takes up too much time is just another BS excuse.

It typically takes me very little time to use the app. The rest of the time is spent dinking around catching up with MFPals and other stuff. Still waiting for examples of frustrating searches without clear results?

Everyone is different. Some people don't need to count calories. Personally I find if I don't count, then I will have a tendency to overeat and underestimate my eating. When I do count I realise how much I am actually eating since I can see the numbers right there in front of me. For me it's easy to pretend things are not as bad as they are if I don't count.

But others are different and can just eat healthy and manage to maintain a healthy weight. If you are one of those people great. But you are on MFP so you are probably here for the purposes of losing weight. If just eating healthy didn't work for you before, then maybe you should try this for a while?

I don't like calorie tracking either but honestly with all of the apps today its really not that hard. Unless you can lose weight estimating all of your food choices I would suggest you find some time to calorie count. You could write down everything you eat during the course of the day then add it later at the end of the day...but if you go over then its too late.

I am a very busy person as well but I figure if people I know who are CEOs, CFO's, supervisors of 100s of people, who are in the office by 6 and leave after 6 can calorie count and workout so can I

Yes, I have the app.I only use the app, never the site. I even thought it was MFP that was frustrating but they are all the same.

I hate when I get so many search results with different numbers with a wide gap between them.

put in "USDA" after whatever it is that you are searching for unless it is a packaged, brand item with it's own nutritional information.

There is nothing hard about counting calories and it isn't that time consuming once you get into a rhythm..most people cycle through the same foods and recipes week in and week out so within a matter of weeks most of what you need will be in your recent or frequent options.

when I was keeping a daily log to lose it took me maybe 10 minutes to pre-log my entire day.

On a calorie counting website. Doesn't want to count calories.

Legit.

On a calorie counting website. Doesn't want to count calories.

Legit.

It's a finess website.

There is nothing hard about counting calories and it isn't that time consuming once you get into a rhythm..most people cycle through the same foods and recipes week in and week out so within a matter of weeks most of what you need will be in your recent or frequent options.

Do most people cycle through the same foods and recipes week after week? I don't, but that would explain why so many others keep telling me how quick and easy it is.

"I could barely eat past 1200 last week. I think (and I could be wrong) I gained because of eating the wrongs foods high in cals (fast food, sweets etc) but not necessarily more (quantity) of them. "

A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. It is a unit of energy. Food = fuel. "Wrong" fuel does not store any differently than "right" fuel. 1200 calories of lean boneless, skinless, chicken breast is the same as 1200 calories of Doritos. You may not get the other benefits of eating lean protein by eating Doritos, but it won't make you gain weight.

Are you absolutely sure that once those foods enter the body their calories will be absorbed, used and/or stored in the same manner?

"I could barely eat past 1200 last week. I think (and I could be wrong) I gained because of eating the wrongs foods high in cals (fast food, sweets etc) but not necessarily more (quantity) of them. "

A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. It is a unit of energy. Food = fuel. "Wrong" fuel does not store any differently than "right" fuel. 1200 calories of lean boneless, skinless, chicken breast is the same as 1200 calories of Doritos. You may not get the other benefits of eating lean protein by eating Doritos, but it won't make you gain weight.

Are you absolutely sure that once those foods enter the body their calories will be absorbed, used and/or stored in the same manner?

1 calorie from spinach vs 1 calorie from a french fry, the body doesn't differentiate the calorie. Will you miss out on the fiber, the nutrients, etc from spinach vs eating the french fry? YES. But is the unit of energy the same? YES. If the body is in a deficit will the body metabolize the 1 unit of fuel the same? YES. Calorie is just a measure of energy. If you have more energy than you can use, you store it. And again the difference between the same unit of energy is the what other benefits and nutrients come with the delivery method.

You can be skinny person eating 1200 calories of Doritos, you can be a skinny person eating 1200 calories of spinach.. the difference being the person eating spinach will have the added benefits of all the other great nutrients that spinach delivers.

You don't HAVE to count calories but I strongly recommend it. Start doing it even if you don't like it. Do it every day for a couple weeks and you will notice yourself getting into the habit of it. You will learn how to do it faster and before you know it you will have your frequent foods saved and it will take you 30 seconds to log a food. Use the barcode scanner. If you use a recipe at home save it in your meals and you can just click a box to log it next time. It is very easy once you get used to it. Plus, when you start losing weight, how will you know what's working if you can't look back and see what and how much you ate?

"I realize that in a lab a calorie is a calorie, but what evidence can you provide that all calories are equal once they enter a human body. Or even that the difference doesn't vary from one human to another?"


Some nutritionists have tried to prove that there are greater heat losses (a calorie: measurement of energy needed to raise 1 gram of water 1 C) in metabolizing protein than carbohydrates. No studies have proven this and is unsubstantiated at this point.

A study was done at Institute for Metabolic Research in Oakland, California where they had obese people in a metabolic ward. Each participant was given a liquid diet of precise calories. Study varied the levels in the macro ingredients: protein, fats, carbs.. and found it did not matter where the calories came from, the results were the same. Researchers have shown both in lab and in real life in various studies that calories burned like calories do, no matter where the calories came from.

Unless there is substantial research proving calories coming from spinach vs a Dorito is different, a calorie will be a calorie. Again, as stated before..the added benefits of getting the calories from spinach vs Dorito due to other nutrients of course proves eating spinach is better for you than a Dorito, but it does not change the fact if it's the same number of calories, the body will metabolize it the same way.