Are people REALLY counting calories here?
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AlanahCFit
Posts: 53 Member
I just find it crazy hard. How do you all do it? I neeeed to get this 40lbs off me.
I know the biggest negatives in my diet is the daily eating out at fast food places. That combined with my lust for sweets. I like to cook but sticking to my meal plans and counting calories seem pretty impossible.
I know the biggest negatives in my diet is the daily eating out at fast food places. That combined with my lust for sweets. I like to cook but sticking to my meal plans and counting calories seem pretty impossible.
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Replies
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The first few weeks of counting calories are sort of difficult. You have to find and enter almost every food you eat. Once you've been here for a bit you will have a frequent and recent food list you can pull your food from that makes it quicker to log the food. Meal prep also takes a lot more work in the beginning, but it gets easier and faster.33
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Try counting calories 30 years ago and you think this is hard? This is easy.
The more you do this, the easier it gets.61 -
Nope I am just here for the pervy messages and nudz pics
Seriously though, yes, counting calories is key for me. It does take a few weeks to get used to but after that it only takes a few minutes to enter everything.
You need to know how many calories you are eating or you wont know if you are in a deficit.21 -
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1
This post is helpful for learning how to log accurately.
And as stated above, it does take some time at first but when you have a list of foods you eat often, it gets easier.12 -
4 years into maintenance (so around 5 years now), and yep, I still track my calorie intake every day. It's why I'm sitting at a bmi of around a 20 right now, and have normalized glucose numbers (used to be a prediabetic).24
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There are alternatives to counting calories......I've done some of them. Yet, I need to lose weight again.
One method is low carb - eliminate a macro and it's much easier for some folks to be under their calorie limit without so much effort. Another method - meal replacements. If these methods are temporary changes it's more likely weight loss is going to be a temporary thing too.
Eating windows (intermittent fasting) helps some people to not count calories. Doesn't work for everyone.
No S Diet - no sweets, no snacks, no seconds, except on days that begin with the letter "S" Saturday, Sunday Special days
........again you need to consider what your method of maintenance will be.5 -
It's not hard at all once you get into the swing of it! It's harder at first because all your entries are new and it feels like you're constantly searching for things. As you progress, you'll find you eat a relatively finite group of main foods and the majority of them are right there in the frequent or recently used lists. The hardest part is finding accurate database entries, sometimes. I highly recommend the thread that was linked earlier.
Also, buy (and use) a food scale. They're inexpensive, and you'll be glad you did.7 -
Well, either you want to change or you don't. No one is going to make you do it. You have to decide to do it, and then reduce what you eat and/or exercise more.
It's both very simple, and very hard.22 -
Make little changes here and there over time if big changes all at once seem overwhelming.
____________________________________________
Down 140lbs: My story.
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Not being snarky OP, but if you have been overweight for a long period of time, isn't it worth some time to learn how? I can log my entire day in less than five minutes.19
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prattiger65 wrote: »Not being snarky OP, but if you have been overweight for a long period of time, isn't it worth some time to learn how? I can log my entire day in less than five minutes.
Yep, me too. It's the first thing i do every morning or even the night before.
OP I've been weighing and logging for nearly 3 years, it's become a normal part of my day. I don't even think about it anymore, it's just become automatic.
ETA: I have fast food very rarely, maybe once every 3-4mths if that, which does make it easier.5 -
Fast food is perfectly easy to log, and you can make good choices anywhere. I'd argue that eating fast food would be faster to log than my homemade food, as I cook new recipes frequently.15
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Yes--people really are, and you can too.8
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Lesismore2011 wrote: »
I know the biggest negatives in my diet is the daily eating out at fast food places. That combined with my lust for sweets. I like to cook but sticking to my meal plans and counting calories seem pretty impossible.
OVERWHELMING yes, impossible no. you can do this! once you get started it gets easier and you build a data base of recipes and commonly eaten foods then it literally takes a few minutes each day.
I have only ever found success with calorie counting. I have to preplan my day so I know where I have wiggle room if need be.
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Lesismore2011 wrote: »I just find it crazy hard. How do you all do it? I neeeed to get this 40lbs off me.
I know the biggest negatives in my diet is the daily eating out at fast food places. That combined with my lust for sweets. I like to cook but sticking to my meal plans and counting calories seem pretty impossible.
Please elaborate, what do you find 'crazy hard'?
The actual logging should be easy if you are eating fast food (already in the database),
however hitting your calorie goal may be very hard on typical FF meals.6 -
Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »Try counting calories 30 years ago and you think this is hard? This is easy.
The more you do this, the easier it gets.
Haha! I used to have quite a collection of calorie books. And my little notebook for logging my calories. And no idea how many I was supposed to eat! This is like living in a futuristic science fiction book
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I spend more time looking at memes while on the toilet than I do logging food on MFP. Once you've been doing it for a while and your main food choices are in you "recent" and "frequent" tabs, it's easy peasy.35
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It's hard being over weight. Pick your hard.17
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Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »Try counting calories 30 years ago and you think this is hard? This is easy.
The more you do this, the easier it gets.
Haha! I used to have quite a collection of calorie books. And my little notebook for logging my calories. And no idea how many I was supposed to eat! This is like living in a futuristic science fiction book
Lol. I had a dog-eared almanac with its lists of calories at the back. In the 80's, it was all low fat or no fat and how to get a smaller butt!
When I see threads asking about how to get a bigger butt, I can't help but giggle.
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Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »Try counting calories 30 years ago and you think this is hard? This is easy.
The more you do this, the easier it gets.
Haha! I used to have quite a collection of calorie books. And my little notebook for logging my calories. And no idea how many I was supposed to eat! This is like living in a futuristic science fiction book
When I see threads asking about how to get a bigger butt, I can't help but giggle.
Can you imagine someone asking that question back in the 80's
People would have been questioning if they were the full quid lol
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