is it possible to lose weight without counting calories?

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  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    It's possible. To lose weight you have to eat less calories but you don't NEED to count them. Counting calories let's you eat things that you don't usually get to eat on any other diet.
    By counting calories I can eat donuts, French fries, and pizza. Every other diet I've ever done has never let me eat that.
  • Melwillbehealthy
    Melwillbehealthy Posts: 885 Member
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    It is possible and not that difficult once you get into a routine. I ate a more natural,unprocessed foods diet for a year and lost about 40 lbs. Without really trying to lose weight. My goal was to get healthy and cleans my body. I ate as much as I wanted of just healthy foods. I never counted calories.
  • JeffFit70
    JeffFit70 Posts: 41 Member
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    I lost all my weight prior to MFP, logging food. I believe that logging your food for a time makes you better equipped to maintain or lose weight without logging. But it is certainly doable. It isn't rocket surgery, after all. :p
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    edited February 2016
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    Check out the diet book section at the library or book store. Amazon lists 52,000 books on diet and weight loss. Those aren't about calories.

    Or consider how people lost weight before the calorie was invented in 1850.

    I actually find it easier to use other methods than calorie counting.
  • samchez0
    samchez0 Posts: 364 Member
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    Yep. Cut down on your portions and choose better foods is how I've been doing it. I do generally track my calories in here but they are always estimates. I don't measure and I tend to just find the closest match to what I'm eating in the food bank choices. So far I've lost 10 lbs in about 6 weeks. Good luck. My best advice is start drinking water. Its helped me cut down on the snacking and feeling hungry all the time.
  • SaraLikesSunsets
    SaraLikesSunsets Posts: 92 Member
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    JeffFit70 wrote: »
    I lost all my weight prior to MFP, logging food. I believe that logging your food for a time makes you better equipped to maintain or lose weight without logging. But it is certainly doable. It isn't rocket surgery, after all. :p
    Oh okay. I had no idea I would get so many replies. I don't eat that much when i am here, and even though i don't count calories, I do exercise. It definitely helps a lot more than just sitting around doing nothing ever did.
  • SaraLikesSunsets
    SaraLikesSunsets Posts: 92 Member
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    Thanks for the replies everybody. I really appreciate it. A lot of the replies were quite helpful. :)
  • Kelceybyers
    Kelceybyers Posts: 56 Member
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    You can definitely lose weight without counting calories. I find for me though personally I need to log my food and count them. I hold myself much more accountable when I do.
  • FabianMommy
    FabianMommy Posts: 78 Member
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    I've tried it over the years with varying degrees of success. My opinion is that I would rather not waste my time winging it but know for sure my hard work is going to produce the results I want, so I keep logging and then I also know my nutritional needs are covered. It's so easy to go a bit overboard and lose your deficit very quickly. Your mileage might vary but this is my experience.
  • SaraLikesSunsets
    SaraLikesSunsets Posts: 92 Member
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    FabianMommy wrote: »
    I've tried it over the years with varying degrees of success. My opinion is that I would rather not waste my time winging it but know for sure my hard work is going to produce the results I want, so I keep logging and then I also know my nutritional needs are covered. It's so easy to go a bit overboard and lose your deficit very quickly. Your mileage might vary but this is my experience.
    Oh, okay. I used to count calories and it worked, but its just too difficult to do it at job corps. So instead I've been making sure i get exercise
  • SaraLikesSunsets
    SaraLikesSunsets Posts: 92 Member
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    Kelceybyers wrote: »
    You can definitely lose weight without counting calories. I find for me though personally I need to log my food and count them. I hold myself much more accountable when I do.

    I understand what you're saying. That makes a lot of sense
  • GemoBunny
    GemoBunny Posts: 15 Member
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    For me, it was. I counted calories for a very long time but saw no results. Once I stopped counting calories and just ate in in moderation I noticed that I dropped a few pounds after a while.
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
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    The other approaches I've studied focus on the behavioral aspects of diet rather than on counting calories or carbs or whatever. These include Evelyn Tribole's Intuitive Eating, the Beck Diet Solution, and Mindful Eating. In general, they focus on the thoughts and beliefs surrounding eating. I find the concepts useful in addition to logging and counting calories, but that's what works for me.

    Intuitive Eating for example recommends eating what you want rather than what you think you need to eat, eating when you're hungry, eating slowly and enjoying your food, and recognizing when you're full and stopping, realizing you can alway eat a bit more in a few minutes if you're still hungry. The Beck approach is based on cognitive behavioral principles. The Mindfulness approach is based on mindfulness therapy which is derived from Buddhist mindfulness meditation.

    You can do any of these in addition to counting calories/carbs/whatever if you choose. That's what works for me.
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
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    Have you asked for the nutritional information? Just because its not posted doesn't mean it's not available.
  • Nerdycurls
    Nerdycurls Posts: 143 Member
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    I find using a food scale has been extremely beneficial. There's nothing like having an honest visual aid to teach you what real serving sizes look like. I attempted to do this, but it didn't work because "eyeballing" looks different to different people. I'd rather be honest with myself and count the calories.

    Maybe one day I'll become more intuitive with my eating habits when I reach my desired weight. Some people are good at this while others are not.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Of course you can...people do it all the time.

    I've been maintaining for going on three years save for I tend to put on some weight over winter...this year it was about 6 Lbs...I don't log and I easily take that winter weight off.

    The vast majority of people will lose some weight simply by cleaning up their diet a bit and substantially decreasing the amount of "junk" they're taking in. Hell, when I started out a few years ago trying to lose 40 Lbs (mission accomplished), I lost about 20 of those by simply ditching my 3-5 sodas per day and cutting my deserts down to 2 or 3 times per week and not drinking alcohol during the week. I really only started logging because I became more interested in the nutritional aspects of things and basically I wondered what my diet looked like overall on paper...I'm sure I could have lost all of my weight without logging a single morsel. The benefits of logging for me were more about nutrition and eating a more balanced diet, etc.
  • bclarke1990
    bclarke1990 Posts: 287 Member
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    Lets be honest. If you just stay active and eat reasonable amounts of unprocessed food it's going to be hard not to get in shape with some time.
  • bruhaha007
    bruhaha007 Posts: 333 Member
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    Yes you can, BUT i strongly believe you need to follow a program of some kind and be consistent daily. I do IF (intermittent fasting) and meal replacement shakes which allow me to not have to count calories. I lost four lbs in the past week and didn't count a single calorie. It is possible!
  • Nerdycurls
    Nerdycurls Posts: 143 Member
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    What kind of programs do people follow to be consistent?
  • Lovee_Dove7
    Lovee_Dove7 Posts: 742 Member
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    SaraLikesSunsets wrote: »
    I am wondering this, because I am a student at Job Corps, and they don't have any information about how many calories are in the food. I would appreciate any replies I could get. Thanks everyone, and have a nice day.

    I think it is; once you establish a pattern for your eating, if you can maintain that pattern.
    For example, do you know what protein, carb, fiber and fat you choose to eat for each meal?
    How about, eggs and bacon, oatmeal, for breakfast? Or protein/fruit/chia and flaxseed smoothie?
    Lunch, chopped veggie and dressing, chicken, lentils
    Dinner, steamed veggies, fish with sauce, wild rice
    Snacks, fiber bars, nuts, dark chocolate, hot/cold stevia sweetened drinks

    or some such similar pattern.

    Initially you may want to log just to ensure what portion sizes should be.

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