Noone stab me for asking but does anyone on here not count calories?

There are plenty of people here who don't count calories. Some don't count as a rule, but then will count when they are making some kind of dietary change. I lost most of the weight I lost without counting, then counted and lost more, and in the past few months have gone without counting for periods of time (and successfully maintained). Some don't count in maintenance but count when losing. Some only count if they gain a few pounds until they get back on track.

Do whatever works best for you. Counting calories is a tool many people find helpful, but it is not necessary for many others at all.

I have successfully done limiting diets like the South Beach Diet, which didn't require calorie counting.

The most sustainable method for me has been counting, because it allows me to tweak according to circumstances, i.e. eating at other people's houses.

You MUST count calories!!! If you dont, that makes you a bad person and you will be shunned by the MFP Society. Its our way or the Highway sister! Now, start counting......the Food Police are watching you.......(PS See how silly that sounds? Use this site the way you see fit. Remember, its your site, no one elses. Welcome)

Kalikel wrote: »

satanicbunny wrote: »

I am an adult. I was on a paleo forum once and mentioned I eat half a cup of rice a day and was kicked out so im a little bit nervous haha

I lost 80 lbs so far and would like to use the last 20 to learn to eat intuitively

I'm working on that, too. I kind of got to the point where if I wasn't weighing and logging all my food, I wasn't sure how to eat! Was I eating too much? Too little?

I do not even think that I could go the rest of my life weighing and logging every bite of food I eat, so it's important for me to learn to eat now, while I finish losing my weight.

When I began all this, I'd never have guessed that I would have this issue, lol.

I'm certain that I can learn to eat without needing a scale or a computer. It's a little work on my part, but I'll get there.

That has been harder that I thought, eating without logging. The last three months of maintenance and not logging my food has been more mentally stressful than the 3 years of weight loss was.

I started out counting calories and weighing my food, but recently haven't been. The number on the scale keeps dropping though. If the number isn't going down then I'll go back to counting and reevaluate because that lets me know I'm eating too many calories.

I wish I didn't have to but I'm so famous for taking a bite of this or a handful of that. If I didn't write it all in my diary as I did it, weight would quickly pile back on. Putting those small amounts of food in there keeps me awake and accountable. I have days where I don't bother or I just quick add things just to get an idea but those days aren't too common.

I don't log every day but I'm super-aware. It never leaves my mind. I rock my Fitbit and just try to lose a little at the end of the week.

satanicbunny wrote: »

I am an adult. I was on a paleo forum once and mentioned I eat half a cup of rice a day and was kicked out so im a little bit nervous haha

Gee, they sound like a bunch of cavemen.

Kalikel wrote: »

lyttlewon wrote: »

Kalikel wrote: »

satanicbunny wrote: »

I am an adult. I was on a paleo forum once and mentioned I eat half a cup of rice a day and was kicked out so im a little bit nervous haha

I lost 80 lbs so far and would like to use the last 20 to learn to eat intuitively

I'm working on that, too. I kind of got to the point where if I wasn't weighing and logging all my food, I wasn't sure how to eat! Was I eating too much? Too little?

I do not even think that I could go the rest of my life weighing and logging every bite of food I eat, so it's important for me to learn to eat now, while I finish losing my weight.

When I began all this, I'd never have guessed that I would have this issue, lol.

I'm certain that I can learn to eat without needing a scale or a computer. It's a little work on my part, but I'll get there.

That has been harder that I thought, eating without logging. The last three months of maintenance and not logging my food has been more mentally stressful than the 3 years of weight loss was.

I started by going days where I weighed things and jotted them down, but didn't record it until I was done eating...but found I was relying on that, so moved the logging to the next morning. Still, I found I was under-eating because I was a little nervous that I'd overeat without a computer to tell me how I was doing, lol. Then I did 2-3 days.

I'm now doing single weeks at a time. Still weighing and seeing how I did, but it's a lot harder to undereat for a week. It's not as easy as I'd have thought it might be, but I'll get there.

I just cannot live out the rest of my life not knowing how to eat without a scale and a computer, you know? Some people feel they will be able to accomplish that and Yay for them, but I know I couldn't...and wouldn't want to, anyway. I don't love weighing or logging.

One of these days, I will start cooking like I used to - adding stuff as I think it's needed and not stopping to weigh it first! I can not wait.

Ha, I did that the other day and had a moment of awareness that I hadn't done it freely (according JUST to taste and feel) in a while, and it felt really good

My experience was that once I was well into maintenance, I was able to not have to count. It did mean limiting McDonald's etc. Not completely, though. (I'm not saying you eat McD's or should, just that was my tradeoff.) But I went 80/20 with the "fad" that I started with (South Beach phase 3 - mostly lean meats, veggies, grainy carbs, dairy, etc, it all tasted good to me, no suffering there) and just eyeballing portions, and it worked great for ages.

The other big part of it was 30-60 mins of daily hard cardio, I am pretty sure, though. I can't do that now and the buffer is *missed*. Hitting the same burn with more leisurely paced, non-impact activity takes much more time. (I only estimated my burns then but it *must* be the case that I burned more doing plyometrics etc. than walking on a treadmill or stationary cycling at low resistance.) Not having any kind of cardio is the pits, appetite goes up, while calories have to go down. Result is a constant state of mild deprivation, or just maintenance / not losing.