Calorie Counting FOREVER.

DeniseB0711
DeniseB0711 Posts: 294 Member
edited December 4 in Health and Weight Loss
After gaining more than 30lbs since umm Aprilish. I have come to the stark, depressing, and sad realization that the ONLY way for me to Not only lose weight but to maintain weight loss is to count calories.
I used to make the joke to people that if I didn't keep a food diary I would end up riding a scooter because I would be so incredibly overweight. Turns out that joke was True.
No other "Diet" has really been as effective at simply keeping the weight off. I have done low carb, High Protein, "clean" dieting, eating whatever I want, vegetarian, and the result is 100% always the same if I am going to lose weight and keep it off I have to keep a diary and not overeat.

I am looking for other calorie counters who have come to the same conclusion. I have set a goal to log every meal daily for 100 days.

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Replies

  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
    Counting calories is great but I need to be able to maintain my weight without counting calories too (for when life gets in the way or I just lose interest is logging my food). For that, I've found keeping to a strict food schedule has worked just as well as counting calories for maintaining my weight.

    I eat low carb and naturally gravitate towards eating two large meals a day and as long as I stick to that eating pattern it's not possible for me to eat above maintenance consistently enough to gain weight. Figuring out an eating pattern that allows you to maintain your weight without calorie counting might be worthwhile so you have another option.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    not_my_first_rodeo wrote: »
    I'm in the same boat. Sometimes it depresses me. Sometimes I'm okay with it. But I've come to that same conclusion myself.

    This^

    I've been over weight far too long (way too ingrained for me).
  • bblue656
    bblue656 Posts: 159 Member
    You will NOT be forced to count calories for the rest of your life. Once you are at your goal weight. You will just count calories for a couple months to learn what your body will need to maintain, then it should be easy :)
  • pasewaldd
    pasewaldd Posts: 24 Member
    Sounds like a great plan! I agree! Unfortunately, when I don't chart... I under eat! Way under. And that isn't helpful either, because then I lose my muscle instead of fat. Grr. Not saying I never over eat... I do. But I definitely have the best results when charting. I eat a lot of the same things so charting is fairly easy. I am at 39 days... I will try your challenge.

  • LLT38
    LLT38 Posts: 172 Member
    I also have come to the conclusion that the only thing that works for me is counting calories. And if I want to keep the weight off, I have to keep counting.
  • BridgetHarrington
    BridgetHarrington Posts: 41 Member
    I never had a weight problem..until I got into a crap relationship that was destructive on a lot of levels and stopped caring. Up until then, I always made the "right" food choices. For example, if I was very hungry and wanted to eat everything in sight, I'd load up on veggies like cauliflower (low cal with low carbs) and drink a glass or two of water to fill up. If given the choice between fried chicken and broiled chicken, I'd choose the broiled. If I wanted to eat chips or junk, then that meant rationing everything else I ate for that day and into the next and throwing in some extra activity to offset it. Basically, what Robthephotog said: being mindful of what is going into my mouth.

    Since I am going through menopause, where a lot of women gain weight, I've started doing what AlabasterVerve
    does: low carb, with my largest meals being breakfast and lunch with a light dinner. I've lost over half of my 30 extra pounds doing that, and I have more energy, too.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    I agree with the recommendation to read through the maintenance threads.

    I have periods where I don't log or actively count calories, like when we go on vacation.

    I always go back to counting, but for me, it's not something I mind doing. If there comes a point in the future where it becomes something I mind doing, I'll come up with a solution for managing my weight that doesn't involve counting calories. There are many.

    Have you thought of simply weighing yourself and not letting the scale get beyond a certain point without scaling back portions? Many people successfully manage their weight simply doing that.
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
    AlabasterVerve wrote: »
    Counting calories is great but I need to be able to maintain my weight without counting calories too (for when life gets in the way or I just lose interest is logging my food). For that, I've found keeping to a strict food schedule has worked just as well as counting calories for maintaining my weight.

    I eat low carb and naturally gravitate towards eating two large meals a day and as long as I stick to that eating pattern it's not possible for me to eat above maintenance consistently enough to gain weight. Figuring out an eating pattern that allows you to maintain your weight without calorie counting might be worthwhile so you have another option.

    This has been my solution also. I find that I don't go over maintenance with 2 meals a day and am not hungry with LCHF. I have to watch my protein levels or I can start gaining again. But overall I've been able to maintain without counting. HOWEVER, when I want to actively lose weight I must log and weigh carefully.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    DeniseB0711 wrote: »
    After gaining more than 30lbs since umm Aprilish. I have come to the stark, depressing, and sad realization that the ONLY way for me to Not only lose weight but to maintain weight loss is to count calories.
    I used to make the joke to people that if I didn't keep a food diary I would end up riding a scooter because I would be so incredibly overweight. Turns out that joke was True.
    No other "Diet" has really been as effective at simply keeping the weight off. I have done low carb, High Protein, "clean" dieting, eating whatever I want, vegetarian, and the result is 100% always the same if I am going to lose weight and keep it off I have to keep a diary and not overeat.

    I am looking for other calorie counters who have come to the same conclusion. I have set a goal to log every meal daily for 100 days.

    For me, tracking food long term helps me to really see how much I am eating and to stay within my calorie goals. It's just a habit now that takes little time out of my day.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    AprilCoe wrote: »
    The reason I gained 100 pounds was because I didn't pay attention. The reason I lost 100 pounds is because I paid attention. I don't mind paying attention anymore

    Yep, this is what happens to me when I don't weigh food and log. I think I am missing the chip in my brain that knows what a portion is. :)
  • Rocknut53
    Rocknut53 Posts: 1,794 Member
    edited October 2016
    bblue656 wrote: »
    You will NOT be forced to count calories for the rest of your life. Once you are at your goal weight. You will just count calories for a couple months to learn what your body will need to maintain, then it should be easy :)

    @bblue656 I admire your youth inspired positivity, I hope it carries you through the rest of your life so you don't have to fight this all-too-common fight most of us face. For me, it has never been easy and I don't anticipate it will be easy for the rest of my life.

    @DeniseB0711 I'm right there with you. I've come too far to risk ruining it by getting complacent so weighing and measuring (maybe a little less stringently) for eternity for me. Good luck to you.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    bblue656 wrote: »
    You will NOT be forced to count calories for the rest of your life. Once you are at your goal weight. You will just count calories for a couple months to learn what your body will need to maintain, then it should be easy :)

    For some people this might be true, but not for everybody. There's no force in it either, it's a choice. ;)
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    DebSozo wrote: »
    AlabasterVerve wrote: »
    Counting calories is great but I need to be able to maintain my weight without counting calories too (for when life gets in the way or I just lose interest is logging my food). For that, I've found keeping to a strict food schedule has worked just as well as counting calories for maintaining my weight.

    I eat low carb and naturally gravitate towards eating two large meals a day and as long as I stick to that eating pattern it's not possible for me to eat above maintenance consistently enough to gain weight. Figuring out an eating pattern that allows you to maintain your weight without calorie counting might be worthwhile so you have another option.

    This has been my solution also. I find that I don't go over maintenance with 2 meals a day and am not hungry with LCHF. I have to watch my protein levels or I can start gaining again. But overall I've been able to maintain without counting. HOWEVER, when I want to actively lose weight I must log and weigh carefully.

    I am not understanding the bold part. In the context of counting calories....how can you gain weight just if you have what you consider too much protein? This does not make sense.

    Counting calories is about making sure you don't have too much overall food so that you stay within your deficit.
  • DeniseB0711
    DeniseB0711 Posts: 294 Member
    Thanks, you guys! I really appreciate the encouragement. I am so glad I am not alone. @AprilCoe I really hope I make it to 1000 days. I have set a mini-goal to log in for 10 days.
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    I've been maintaining for a few months, but still doing up to 1000 calorie a day burns six days a week. In general I can drop that to around 750 calories a day burns with exercise and be fully satiated if I watch what I eat (no late night chip binges for instance). For me it's going to be transitioning myself into a normal diet (not sure I know the definition of 'normal' for me yet) and maintaining along with an acceptable level of exercise that I can keep up for the next few years. I'm not there yet. Until I am, I will be logging. I have no end date on that yet at all.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    DeniseB0711 wrote: »
    Thanks, you guys! I really appreciate the encouragement. I am so glad I am not alone. @AprilCoe I really hope I make it to 1000 days. I have set a mini-goal to log in for 10 days.

    This is a great way to start by not setting goalposts so far away that they are intimidating. Do 10 days, and then another 10 days and another 10 days and before you know it, it will just be a comfortable part of what you do for yourself, like taking a shower and brushing your teeth.

    Will you have to count calories forever? At this point, who knows? But commit to counting calories for now as a vehicle to help you learn what an appropriate amount of food is for you to achieve whatever your current weight management goal is.

    I lost 75lbs last year and reached my goal weight in just under a year. Then I slacked off due to some personal issues that changed my focus for about six months and I regained 20lbs simply by not paying attention. I'm now back to weighing and logging my food again, and the excess I gained is coming off. I don't see this as a chore, but rather as a comfort - it allows me to actually *know* I'm doing what needs to be done in order to lose the weight I put on again, instead of merely *thinking* I am and being wrong. ;)

    Eventually I hope to get to a place where I'm so confident in my knowledge about portion size and caloric load that I can forego weighing everything I regularly consume. I hope to only need to do so if I include something that isn't a normal part of my food repertoire to get a realistic handle on the impact that food item will have on my day. I plan to let my body weight be the indicator of whether that is working for me or not.

    And if it isn't, I'll simply go back to weighing everything again at that point. Because doing so is a heck of a lot easier for me than yo-yoing all over the place. :)
  • mlbish624
    mlbish624 Posts: 33 Member
    Yep! Same here. I don't have a weight goal, I have a calorie amount that I think I can eat forever and still enjoy my life. Will have to log consistently pretty much forever to maintain any semblance of weightloss.
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    bblue656 wrote: »
    You will NOT be forced to count calories for the rest of your life. Once you are at your goal weight. You will just count calories for a couple months to learn what your body will need to maintain, then it should be easy :)

    For some this works, intuitive eating is great when it works, but many find that they really do have to log or regain. Whatever works for you is the best plan.

  • Nachise
    Nachise Posts: 395 Member
    I keep a log one day at a time. Keeps it real simple. I have dropped and kept off 61 pounds since I got serious about this. I have about 35-40 pounds to go, but I figure that if I stick to the basics, I won't have to go back to them.
  • Docbanana2002
    Docbanana2002 Posts: 357 Member
    edited October 2016
    I've been maintaining 100 pound loss for a year and still log, especially now because I'm trying to shave off some additional pounds. However, I started my weight loss (before mfp) on Nutrisystem and used their transition-to-maintenance method for a while as I shifted over to eating home prepared food (PAckaged food was getting soooo boring). I was able to still keep losing weight this way but eventually switched to mfp and Fitbit as I wanted to track nutrition carefully (I was a new vegetarian and had some things I wanted to monitor) and properly fuel training I was doing (I sync with Fitbit). It was a long journey and my methods adapted as I tried new changes! Anyway, what I found useful about the way Nutrisystem taught maintenance back then is that I I learned is how to follow a regular eating pattern where basically you count portions rather than calories. A little more simple than logging every food so I would like to eventually go back to that again and see how it goes. But basically you have a fixed eating plan where you might eat a specific number of servings of food per meal. For example I might decide to eat a piece of fruit, some type of protein, and some type of whole grain at breakfast each day; a protein morning snack; lunch that follows was a pattern, etc. etc. Non starchy veggies anytime. Breakfast could be a banana, serving of cheerios, and serving of milk today and apple, serving of oatmeal, veg sausage tomorrow, etc. Morning snack could be a serving of nuts, or cheese, or yogurt, etc. Not the same food every day but the same pattern for each meal that will roughly add up to the right amount of calories for the whole day and also give a mix of good nutrition. It requires that you be mindful and pay attention to balanced nutrition and portion size but as long as you stick with the eating pattern it requires no logging. You just gotta make up a plan that fits your TDEE and preferred macros and stick to it fairly consistently.

    ETA: I've also experimented with not counting portions but instead calories per meal. For example, 400 calorie breakfast every day, 200 morning snack, etc. and as long as I am hitting meal targets, the day is fine overall. No need to log. That might work for someone who naturally gravitates to nutrition/macros that are acceptable to them and don't need to enforce that carefully with specific numbers of protein portions or whatever.
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