Anybody else get tired of counting calories?
Replies
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I only log when my weight is outside the range I like it to be or my body composition is.
At the minute I'm at the weight I like to be over winter but I'm carrying more fat than I like after a period of inactivity due to surgery.
So I'm logging to cut that down.
If you can get to goal without logging then you really don't need to.
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I really don't understand how people here take "only a fe minutes to log". Most of my meals are made from scratch and contain many ingredients. So I have to weigh every one of them every time I cook and log it while I'm cooking or preparing my meal to eat later. Which takes quite a lot of time in my opinion. If I include the time I spend on grocery planning to fit my goals, meal planning, weighing separately the ingredients for my every meal (3-5times a day), or looking for the closest estimates when I don't know the exact calories, logging it, making sure it fits my goal etc. it takes much more time than "a few minutes" and much more energy and headspace than I want to spend on t.
I cook a lot of stuff from scratch and it still only takes a couple of mins to log each day - I have almost all my recipes for things I regularly make in My Recipes, if I change the ingredients or the amounts of the ingredients it literally takes about 30 seconds to update it in the app. Sure it takes a couple of mins the first time that I make something but at this point I have probably close to 100 recipes in there.
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I don’t see it as a drag at all. Its easy, quick and the benefits of knowing my CI and macros/nutrition are huge.
Its a small price to pay for being able to eat normally, without any stupid restrictive “diet plans”, whilst keeping my weight exactly where I want it.13 -
I quite enjoy logging now. It’s taken time, but it’s stopped being annoying and started being empowering. Stick with it!12
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How long have you been logging?
I never minded logging my food, certainly not for the first few years anyway (it got me to goal weight and it helped me keep it off imo) - I now no longer need to log as I can maintain my loss without physically logging however mentally I still am very aware of my approx calorie daily intake.3 -
I will definitely not be able (or willing) to spend my entire life doing that. I can only hope that someday after losing enough weight and logging at maintenance I can learn to eat intuitively. I mean 80% of the people around me are at a healthy weight and don't count calories, they can rely on their hunger cues to know how much they should eat. So I hope I can learn to do that too...
Yes.. it is completely possible...
Once you've learned what works for you, it can become a personal choice to either log or not. 3+ successful years and counting for myself of not logging food.4 -
I don't mind. If there are situations where I do mind or it's too fussy (holidays, vacation, eating elsewhere), I don't bother.
I was very rigid about logging when I first started dieting and became much more relaxed about it as time has gone on into maintenance/working on vanity weight/recomp.
For me, a 40 year veteran of a battle with excess weight, knowing that this is the only thing that has worked is what keeps it from being a chore.
The issue of logging or not seems to be entirely individual. The precision of it suits me. It's not for everyone, though, and there are people who do go on and learn how to control their intake by eye and monitor it merely by weighing themselves and tracking that and making adjustments as necessary.10 -
cartersmom06 wrote: »Getting tired of logging everything I eat...there has to be an easier way!
I've got a question for you: Is "not easy" the most accurate characterization of the effort to log food?
I wonder if my story might give you a lift up.
In my past, I've had many times where I have an internal struggle with anything that takes on a CONTROLLING role. I had to get over that emotional issue before I could get a handle on accepting that some controls are really useful in reaching my goals.
Daily food logging is absolutely a control. But I asked for it, rather than it being forced on me. I think that is a lot of why I don't find myself questioning the effort to log everything I eat.
I've got a weigh progress chart i posted in another thread, and I'll share here to further illustrate my point - not logging food is what the graph shows in the beginning (the flat line and the big spike up). The downward trend since 9/4 is the result of daily logging to stay within the calorie goals I've set for myself.
good luck!7 -
Logging to ensure deficit and exercise consisting of 30+ miles a week with a gym workout every other day helped me lose 50 pounds. The exercise was okay but the logging was a pain, time consuming and made me appear rude. I would sit down to eat and log food but others would think I was addicted to facebook. I was always hungry. I stopped and put 30 pounds back on. I was ready to go back to what I could best call a pain in the you know what and stumbled on the documentary "the magic pill" and it started me down a path of a different way of eating. I switched to LCHF which really translated to cutting out bread, pasta, root vegetables and my true love beer. I don't count calories, I don't limit my food, I eat at meal time when I am hungry and stop when I am full. I feel no need to snack. It has been incredibly easy and I have lost twenty five pounds. My blood work came back as fantastic so this feels like something I will continue from now on.
This is where the quote mongers will bold highlight passages and insist I am limiting, I am in deficit, you can do the same with any diet (insert boring chart of why all diets work here). Bottom line is that it does work for me and counting calories was not sustainable for me. Whatever works for you rock on. If you are still searching you have nothing to lose by trying LCHF.30 -
stephieleee wrote: »I hate it if I'm honest... Especially when I'm eating with other people and I have to log my food before I forget. I always feel stupid for doing it.
But it seems to be getting the job done so I will stick with it.
Just take a picture of it.
You can add it later.
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Logging to ensure deficit and exercise consisting of 30+ miles a week with a gym workout every other day helped me lose 50 pounds. The exercise was okay but the logging was a pain, time consuming and made me appear rude. I would sit down to eat and log food but others would think I was addicted to facebook. I was always hungry. I stopped and put 30 pounds back on. I was ready to go back to what I could best call a pain in the you know what and stumbled on the documentary "the magic pill" and it started me down a path of a different way of eating. I switched to LCHF which really translated to cutting out bread, pasta, root vegetables and my true love beer. I don't count calories, I don't limit my food, I eat at meal time when I am hungry and stop when I am full. I feel no need to snack. It has been incredibly easy and I have lost twenty five pounds. My blood work came back as fantastic so this feels like something I will continue from now on.
This is where the quote mongers will bold highlight passages and insist I am limiting, I am in deficit, you can do the same with any diet (insert boring chart of why all diets work here). Bottom line is that it does work for me and counting calories was not sustainable for me. Whatever works for you rock on. If you are still searching you have nothing to lose by trying LCHF.
Not quite sure what your point is - except the plug for LCHF - which may well work for you but doesn't suit everyone.
Yes you are just losing because you are in calorie deficit - sorry if you find that fact boring.
I think everybody has agreed that some people can lose weight without calorie counting - but obviously they still need to create a deficit by whatever method.
Nothing magic about LCHF.26 -
I mean, sure. It sucks that I'll have to do this the rest of my life but you know what sucks more? Being obese/out of shape/out of breath all the time/not actually living life.23
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It’s so routine at this point it doesn’t bother me most days. Some days, when I’m feeling rather blah-ish, I don’t care for it.2
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Doesn't bother me. It takes a few minutes of my day. That being said, I do take logging breaks for various reasons but always go back to it.4
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Check out Slimming World. They don't believe in calorie counting, and their method really does work. You DO have to count syns, read that as bad foods like cookies and candy. lol But they have a huge list of "free" foods that you simply eat, then other foods that are "Healthy extras", again no counting... and they your high calorie foods, or syns. It's actually refreshing to not have to log every thing that passes your lips... and while I did lose weight following their guidelines, I found that once I reach goal and relaxed (read that as stopped counting syns) I regained some of that lost weight. Now I'm counting calories... not because it works better, but because it keeps me honest. ;-)12
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paperpudding wrote: »Logging to ensure deficit and exercise consisting of 30+ miles a week with a gym workout every other day helped me lose 50 pounds. The exercise was okay but the logging was a pain, time consuming and made me appear rude. I would sit down to eat and log food but others would think I was addicted to facebook. I was always hungry. I stopped and put 30 pounds back on. I was ready to go back to what I could best call a pain in the you know what and stumbled on the documentary "the magic pill" and it started me down a path of a different way of eating. I switched to LCHF which really translated to cutting out bread, pasta, root vegetables and my true love beer. I don't count calories, I don't limit my food, I eat at meal time when I am hungry and stop when I am full. I feel no need to snack. It has been incredibly easy and I have lost twenty five pounds. My blood work came back as fantastic so this feels like something I will continue from now on.
This is where the quote mongers will bold highlight passages and insist I am limiting, I am in deficit, you can do the same with any diet (insert boring chart of why all diets work here). Bottom line is that it does work for me and counting calories was not sustainable for me. Whatever works for you rock on. If you are still searching you have nothing to lose by trying LCHF.
Not quite sure what your point is - except the plug for LCHF - which may well work for you but doesn't suit everyone.
Yes you are just losing because you are in calorie deficit - sorry if you find that fact boring.
I think everybody has agreed that some people can lose weight without calorie counting - but obviously they still need to create a deficit by whatever method.
Nothing magic about LCHF.
So predictable. The point is counting sucks and I don't need to do it. And yes it was a plug for LCHF and yes it isn't for everybody but I don't recall saying it is. Nothing magic about counting calories either.30 -
Counting calories and logging food in a diary is a tool. People do lose weight without logging. If you don't want to keep track of calories you can try other things. You will still only lose when you have a calorie deficit whether you track your calories or not.
I find it much easier to lose consistantly with logging. The more I logged the faster and easier it got.
After several years of logging daily, I can be more lax about logging every day and still do okay. I still log most of the time because I like to make sure I get enough protein and fiber as well as watch calories. If I eat a new food I like to log it.3 -
It's so routine for me at this point that in the morning when I am planning my day, I am also planning my meals in my diary. I pre-enter pretty much everything I'm going to eat in the morning. It's just easier for me to have a plan than to go through the day without one.
When I weigh my food, I'll adjust what I pre-entered slightly but since I know I logged 150g of carrots, I'll only weigh out 150g of carrots. Doesn't take much time.6 -
Logging to ensure deficit and exercise consisting of 30+ miles a week with a gym workout every other day helped me lose 50 pounds. The exercise was okay but the logging was a pain, time consuming and made me appear rude. I would sit down to eat and log food but others would think I was addicted to facebook. I was always hungry. I stopped and put 30 pounds back on. I was ready to go back to what I could best call a pain in the you know what and stumbled on the documentary "the magic pill" and it started me down a path of a different way of eating. I switched to LCHF which really translated to cutting out bread, pasta, root vegetables and my true love beer. I don't count calories, I don't limit my food, I eat at meal time when I am hungry and stop when I am full. I feel no need to snack. It has been incredibly easy and I have lost twenty five pounds. My blood work came back as fantastic so this feels like something I will continue from now on.
This is where the quote mongers will bold highlight passages and insist I am limiting, I am in deficit, you can do the same with any diet (insert boring chart of why all diets work here). Bottom line is that it does work for me and counting calories was not sustainable for me. Whatever works for you rock on. If you are still searching you have nothing to lose by trying LCHF.
To each their own I suppose. If this diet works for you, that's great. But personally I find logging a lot less cumbersome than cutting entire categories of food out of my diet.27 -
There are days I get tired of showering, of brushing my teeth, of going to work, of getting out of bed, of putting gas in my car. I get tired of a lot of things, but I gotta do them to meet my life goals.30
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