Does anyone here not count calories, or have stopped?
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Probably 80% of my food is the same. When I have to weigh something new, I am happy to do it.0
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barbecuesauce wrote: »Weird
Some of the fittest and leanest people I know are probably on here, day in, day out logging their calories and monitoring their maintenance levels
If calorie counting isn't for you then OP find another route to losing / maintaining
But I think you'll find most users of a calorie counting site like MFP count their calories
Right. I never understand this thread, every time it's posted.
I think the reason why those posts show up is because just like those who count they want tips and info on how best to monitor their intake. Side Steel started a thread a few weeks ago in order to help those who wanted to move from counting to not counting.
While the majority of people on this site count not all do. They are here for either nutritional or fitness advice.
For myself...if it wasn't important for me to track some of my micro intake...I would probably transition to not counting.
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stevencloser wrote: »Haven't for a long time...
It's useful for people cutting down in small amounts in order to be lean for summer, etc.
It's not that useful for maintenance or for very overweight people IN THE LONG RUN imho.
You appear to be a thin and healthy 20 yr old, why would you be counting cals?
Be active, eat quality food, avoid refined carbs and unless you gain/lose a bunch of weight, don't worry about cals all the time.
"You're already muscular, why do you go to gym?"
To keep it that way.
Right, except the natural state of a human female at 20 would be fairly lean unless they had a child.
Whoop, there it is.
The fittest, leanest people I know don't count calories, they're too busy making healthy, well balanced meals and lifting things and moving.
The percentage of obese people in the modern world counters your claim.
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I don't count calories most of the year. I do end up gaining about 10 lbs by January. That's when I start counting calories till I lose at least 5 or 6 lbs or until I'm content again. I work out year round, with the odd month or two off (usually in winter). Right now I'm struggling a bit with motivation. I went on beach vacation last month and i've gained about 5 or 6 lbs since then. I've been trying not to over eat, and I'll do well for a week but then I completely fall off the wagon. When I gain back over 10 lbs over my maintenance weight (about 132) then I usually start counting again to get it back under control. Plus, that's about the point where I start needing to buy larger clothes and that is not ok.0
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stevencloser wrote: »Haven't for a long time...
It's useful for people cutting down in small amounts in order to be lean for summer, etc.
It's not that useful for maintenance or for very overweight people IN THE LONG RUN imho.
You appear to be a thin and healthy 20 yr old, why would you be counting cals?
Be active, eat quality food, avoid refined carbs and unless you gain/lose a bunch of weight, don't worry about cals all the time.
"You're already muscular, why do you go to gym?"
To keep it that way.
Right, except the natural state of a human female at 20 would be fairly lean unless they had a child.
Whoop, there it is.
The fittest, leanest people I know don't count calories, they're too busy making healthy, well balanced meals and lifting things and moving.
Wrong.
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I don't count calories for myself anymore since my body is pretty good at telling me when I'm full, when I'm under, and when I ate too much. Plus, I'm not trying to lose weight.
I do count calories for my husband (using a food scale ofc) because he is trying to lose weight and we want to make sure there is a deficit.0 -
It is hard at first to keep track but it pays off and after a short while you'll start memorizing your food's calories.
Just stick with it and it will pay off.0 -
Haven't for a long time...
It's useful for people cutting down in small amounts in order to be lean for summer, etc.
It's not that useful for maintenance or for very overweight people IN THE LONG RUN imho.
You appear to be a thin and healthy 20 yr old, why would you be counting cals?
Be active, eat quality food, avoid refined carbs and unless you gain/lose a bunch of weight, don't worry about cals all the time.
I've counted calories and lost 60 pounds. If I stop counting calories, they'll come right back. Also, I weigh about 20 pounds less now than I did when I was 20, and I'm still technically obese.0 -
What worked for me was counting calories first, so that I had a basic understanding of what I was consuming. Now I don't count them because I just don't like thinking in terms of eating numbers instead of food. But I still know when I'm eating too much or too little because of that basic understanding and the way I feel. If I'm hungry, I eat. If I'm not hungry, I don't eat. It's worked well for me.0
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I do not count calories and I'm slowly losing fat.
Most of my clients track their intake but they also either enjoy it or don't dislike it. The ones that really dislike it do not track and we incorporate other methods.0 -
I lost 50 ish lbs when I was 17 without counting calories, and then I maintained my goal weight for 3 years also without counting calories. My lifestyle changed quite a bit though and I ended up gaining 10 lbs in a year. I probably could've avoided that 10 lb gain if I counted calories. I started counting in April and lost those 10 lbs again. I'm going to continue counting, but I think eventually I might start estimating more and weighing only calorie dense food.0
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I don't count calories for myself anymore since my body is pretty good at telling me when I'm full, when I'm under, and when I ate too much. Plus, I'm not trying to lose weight.
I do count calories for my husband (using a food scale ofc) because he is trying to lose weight and we want to make sure there is a deficit.
You're so supportive for doing that for him! Wow!0 -
I log my intake, but don't care about the calories for their own sake. I pay attention to my macro ratios mostly, and even then only on a rolling weekly basis.
Once I lost 50 lbs, I had a solid handle on hunger signals and what my body needs to deal with my activity levels.
Needing to count calories for life, IMHO, means you don't really have a grasp on nutrition or a healthy relationship with food. Wanting to count is another issue. I'm sure some people see it as a hobby. You don't sound like one of those, however.0 -
You don't have to count calories to lose weight - it's the most precise way though.
I've taken breaks when I felt like the calorie counting was getting to be too much for me mentally, and in maintenance I don't log at all on weekends. My end goal is not to count for the rest of my life, but to take the knowledge I've learned from over a year of counting and put it to good use.
There's nothing wrong with counting for an extended period, or life if that's where you feel comfortable.
If you're not enjoying it, take a break. Though I will say the longer you do it, the easier it is. It takes me maybe 10 minutes to log my days now.0 -
I stopped counting for about 18 months and gained 45lbs. Been counting again since May and have lost 19lbs so far. Counting is a must for me and doesn't take long. I quite enjoy it actually, now I'm back in the swing of it.
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It seems weird that a lot of people are saying that it's too time-consuming to count kcals. I don't understand what takes time? You look at the label, you calculate the kcals you are going to eat or have eaten, then you record it on your computer or on your phone or even on paper. All of this takes less than a minute... Besides, if you count kcals often enough, I have found at least, that I have already memorized the kcalories in most of the foods I eat.
Maybe I'm also too much of a scientist with my head stuck in chemistry and all but I also don't see why it is so bad to think of food as numbers instead of as just "food" because when it comes down to it, that's exactly what food is. Kcalories is the energy in the food, and you eat food for energy, not for any other characteristics it has. Sure, we like to eat tasty things but that's not really why we need food to live. Focusing on food instead of energy is why we get fat in the first place after all. I like to think of all the thermodynamics and biochemistry happening when I take in food because that's the reality of why we eat.0 -
It seems weird that a lot of people are saying that it's too time-consuming to count kcals. I don't understand what takes time? You look at the label, you calculate the kcals you are going to eat or have eaten, then you record it on your computer or on your phone or even on paper. All of this takes less than a minute... Besides, if you count kcals often enough, I have found at least, that I have already memorized the kcalories in most of the foods I eat.
Maybe I'm also too much of a scientist with my head stuck in chemistry and all but I also don't see why it is so bad to think of food as numbers instead of as just "food" because when it comes down to it, that's exactly what food is. Kcalories is the energy in the food, and you eat food for energy, not for any other characteristics it has. Sure, we like to eat tasty things but that's not really why we need food to live. Focusing on food instead of energy is why we get fat in the first place after all. I like to think of all the thermodynamics and biochemistry happening when I take in food because that's the reality of why we eat.
Not everyone eats everything out of boxes.0 -
The key is mindfulness. So, whether you choose calorie counting or another methodology, you need to maintain vigilance about what's going into your body.
Based on the personal journey that you shared in your profile, you should be in a position where it takes minimal effort to log your food intake.
My suspicion is that your question might go deeper. Do you feel deprived of certain foods that you enjoy? Do you ever feel guilty about what you're eating? If yes, you need to be kind to yourself. Life is a journey. Give yourself permission to enjoy treats guilt-free. If you are maintaining a healthy lifestyle, there's no reason that you should not be able to incorporate the full spectrum of foods. Have you tried building a 'free day' into your schedule?
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I count calories because I lose weight faster when I do but for long term maintenance I prefer the behavioral and diet changes I've made to manage my weight. Even though I enjoy logging most of the time it's not sustainable for me - or at least it hasn't ever been before - so it's important for my long term success that I'm able to trust my hunger cues.
MFP in general tends to scoff at behavioral changes other than the eat-less-move-more-cico variety but I think they do people a real disservice by focusing on that to the exclusion of everything else.0
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