What do you do when you don't want to calorie count?

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13

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  • dazwan
    dazwan Posts: 81 Member
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    I don't bother... then I feel guilty and enter a few days later.

    I'm the same with recording my weight, almost as if not recording an increase makes it not real. I do it anyway these days and convince myself the scales are broken on the days I put on a lb or two (they work just fine when I'm losing weight ;) )
  • Screwedntattooed
    Screwedntattooed Posts: 238 Member
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    I say i'm bulking :big smile:
  • Mexicanbigfoot
    Mexicanbigfoot Posts: 520 Member
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    I do it anyway.

    I have learned a lot about myself on this journey so far, and I know that I am not one of those people that can "estimate" my portions or count on myself to make healthy choices without logging.

    I try to pre log my days the night before to take the guess work out and my husband has been a huge support and he always helps me prep meals.
  • ghosthackexe
    ghosthackexe Posts: 181 Member
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    I remember when i didnt want to calorie count..... but then i decided to lose weight so i do it anyways ^_^
  • rgrady33
    rgrady33 Posts: 48 Member
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    I gain weight.

    ^This
  • Palamedes
    Palamedes Posts: 174 Member
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    Like a little green alien once told me: "No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."

    Log and lose the weight or maintain. Do not log and accept the weight gain. That is the way of the MFP.
  • hansel2001
    hansel2001 Posts: 11 Member
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    you are so true on this some times we need to take a break. If you just keep track of what you ate it helps I have done this and when I look aback I did make a lot of healthy choices.
  • lorib642
    lorib642 Posts: 1,942 Member
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    Ever have a day when you didn't want to count the calories?? I just felt that way this morning but here I am....I know if I didn't then I would have been completely off the bandwagon....what do you do to make you calorie count when you don't want to?

    It sounds like you do want to. Maybe think of all the progress you have made. We can't make you. Is there a reason you don't want to? An obstacle? Is there something that would make it easier? I am still trying to figure this out so have no suggestions.
  • feexbee
    feexbee Posts: 21
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    Once in awhile when I feel the need to "take a break" I'll just do portion control , only eat when hungry and stop eating when full. I'm good at keeping track of calories in my head anyway so I always have a loose tally going on. Once you really get good at counting it becomes second nature and you don't have to depend on an app so much. No biggie.

    I believe this completely. This is what I do! I totally understand what you mean. Ignore the haters, girl.
  • farfromthetree
    farfromthetree Posts: 982 Member
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    The only time I dont want to log is if I am at a party and I know I will be induging in all of the appetizers. It is nearly impossible to log accurately. I skip dinner if I know I am going to do this and call it a cheat meal. I just go right back at it the next day.
  • jameshealthlog
    jameshealthlog Posts: 3
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    I just shrug, eat what I want, add it up the next day & accept that that I wont be losing as much as I maybe could have. Which is ok, its not a race and there is no finish line its a lifelong change. Only advice I would give is leave the guilt behind, enjoy your day, accept it as a part of your diet and nutrition instead of a "day off" and make some different choices tomorrow.
  • sherambler
    sherambler Posts: 303 Member
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    I have days like this all the time, but I'd urge you to just keep pushing yourself to log and count calories. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the most diligent or consistent in my logging. Hence, why I've only lost 12 lbs. Sure, there are some other factors, but in looking back, I wish I had taken the time in previous months to log my food. It's tedious sometimes and a bit of a pain, but without forcing myself to do it, it can't become my new habit or my new way of living. Those few extra minutes could've meant more pounds lost. I find, more often than not and especially if you're in the beginning of your weight loss journey, that one day off doesn't stay just one day. It becomes two and then three...because it's so easy to fall back into old habits when we haven't fully worked out or committed to the new ones.

    If you still want a day off from sticking to your calorie range, then do that. But I would determine a new calorie range for the day (maybe 500 or 600 calories extra) and log to ensure that you don't go over that amount. That way you can still feel like you're taking a break without actually taking a break.
  • jameshealthlog
    jameshealthlog Posts: 3
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    I've just re-read the post. Do you mean actually logging or aiming for daily goals?

    I must admit log every day, ill normally put my breakfast and lunch in the night before as i know what I'm taking to work etc. Dinner I'll do at lunch time. I log every day because it screws up my weekly average and i need to wait a whole week before it sorts itself out.

    As I mentioned before i wont always try to stick to daily goals and on those days I'll often add it all up the day after. It always gets logged though, no matter how awful!!
  • zchastain
    zchastain Posts: 55 Member
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    I do my best to track anyway. If I overeat because of poor choices or good choices (like MAN, those ribs are GOOD) then I log the food, take the hit, and try to do better the next day.

    If I just don't track at all it's a guaranteed gain, particularly if it's for several days in a row. Even when I try to eat good food in moderate proportions I doubt I'm really staying under my true TDEE.
  • girlviernes
    girlviernes Posts: 2,402 Member
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    I think you can be successful either way. But the question is where is the not wanting to count coming from? If you are also wanting to eat things off your plan, I would say buckle down and log. If you feel like eating like you normally do (aka at a deficit) then taking a day off can be OK and may make calorie counting more sustainable in the long-run.
  • stacyjh1979
    stacyjh1979 Posts: 188 Member
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    I personally enjoy tracking my calories. I guess I am a little bit of a numbers geek by nature anyway. I often log my food ahead of time and that helps keep me on track as well. On the rare occasion where I have a kind of crappy eating day (still within my goal but more "junk" that normal) I notice I don't want to track it however not tracking it is not going to change the fact that I ate it so I find it is better to be honest with myself and fess up to it in my logs. If I'm not thorough and honest with my logging I am not going to be able to look back and see what I did right or wrong and where I can improve.
  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,668 Member
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    I do it anyways. I encounter things every day that I would rather not do, but I know they have to be done. This is one of them.
  • DvlDwnInGA
    DvlDwnInGA Posts: 368 Member
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    Get fat.

    Become a gym rat and workout enough to burn at minimum 2000 cals a day while I am there.

    Seriously, looking back at how I was eating before logging my calories, I don't even know if the 2000 cals in the gym a day would cut it.

    People who counted cals prior to having smart phones and calorie counting apps had to carry around notebooks to keep track of their daily calories. This site and app make it so easy. So what is the problem?
  • independant2406
    independant2406 Posts: 447 Member
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    I count anyway. :)
  • SabrinaLily
    SabrinaLily Posts: 121
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    I suppose you can just eat what you know to be good, based off of past tracking and keep a mental tally but BEWARE! Every time I did that, I WAY overindulged, didn't track and fell off the bandwagon immediately. Does this mean you will? Certainly not. But I'm tracking every day, even when I know I'm going to go over because somehow, it still keeps me in check and keeps the habit of logging so the next day- I'm still on the bandwagon.

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