Is there anyone not counting calories?
Options
Mandy72CM
Posts: 59 Member
I find that when calorie counting I end up
binging if I feel guilty. Is there anyone else that is just cutting back, exercising more and not logging?
binging if I feel guilty. Is there anyone else that is just cutting back, exercising more and not logging?
10
Replies
-
I find that when calorie counting I end up
binging if I feel guilty. Is there anyone else that is just cutting back, exercising more and not logging?
I am not currently calorie counting, but I still keep a food diary (it's part of a self-help plan for binge-eating that I'm working through).
It's totally possible to lose weight without calorie counting, it's just that calorie counting is the most accurate way of ensuring you're in a calorie deficit. I took diet breaks previously from calorie counting and just monitored my trendweight to ensure I was eating at maintenance/small deficit.
I do have to ask though, what do you think the difference will be in terms of "cutting back" vs calorie counting? Calorie counting for weight loss is just cutting back calories.
What is it you feel guilty about?11 -
You feel guilty for counting calories? That's new.
Some have found success by not logging. I know I'll be logging for life because it's way too easy for me to mindlessly shovel food in my mouth.6 -
That's entirely possible but most people here are tracking their data points. If you don't know your numbers you don't know your business.
If we're talking cycles of binge eating then you may need to sit down with someone face-to-face and work through it.6 -
While I have logged in the past, and did find it helpful for calorie awareness and weight gain to consume enough calories (in my case), it was not a good fit for me for weight loss or even maintenance. I found myself basing my food choices on things that were easier to log, and it came to the point where I would sometimes skip eating if I couldn't log it properly. Not to say it doesn't work for others, it just wasn't for me personally. I do however still check calorie counts and will log my main protein sources from time to time.
I do weigh often to check progress and body composition using photos and the mirror. I also focus on gym performance goals.17 -
I don't really track much either...
Lost about 180lbs and never tracked anything. It really wasn't until I started trying to gain weight that I began tracking. When you are trying to build muscle and don't want to go to far over and minimize fat gains, a target of 250+ calories is extremely difficult to hit...
Everyone will tell you, just weigh everything, which you really can't do if you want to maintain a normal life and even if you did there's just no reliable way to tell what your deficit is because there's no reliable way to know how much you're actually burning in a day...
I'd use formulas and trackers and everything, and it always just felt like way too much food and it was...
I do believe cico can be an effective tool but the only thing you can probably take to the bank is the calories in part, calories out tbh we don't really know... You can't trust fitbit, formulas or whatever, which is why it's unsuccessful for many people...
Another thing you can't really trust is restaurant calorie estimates either... Plus you can still gain over a weekend in a deficit if you eat out or salt your food too much or drink alcohol...
I know many disagree with me, but I've been at this for a while now and you can't argue with results...
I have a tattoo on my arm that says "Eat wise and exercise" that's all you should need...
10 -
Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I don't really track much either...
Lost about 180lbs and never tracked anything. It really wasn't until I started trying to gain weight that I began tracking. When you are trying to build muscle and don't want to go to far over and minimize fat gains, a target of 250+ calories is extremely difficult to hit...
Everyone will tell you, just weigh everything, which you really can't do if you want to maintain a normal life and even if you did there's just no reliable way to tell what your deficit is because there's no reliable way to know how much you're actually burning in a day...
I'd use formulas and trackers and everything, and it always just felt like way too much food and it was...
I do believe cico can be an effective tool but the only thing you can probably take to the bank is the calories in part, calories out tbh we don't really know... You can't trust fitbit, formulas or whatever, which is why it's unsuccessful for many people...
Another thing you can't really trust is restaurant calorie estimates either... Plus you can still gain over a weekend in a deficit if you eat out or salt your food too much or drink alcohol...
I know many disagree with me, but I've been at this for a while now and you can't argue with results...
I have a tattoo on my arm that says "Eat wise and exercise" that's all you should need...
I weigh just about everything I eat at home and my life is pretty normal.
If you log relatively accurately, you *can* accurately estimate what you're burning in a day because you can compare your real life results to your estimates over time. It won't happen instantly, but this is how people figure out if their activity tracker (or other method of estimating calories out) is over- or under-estimating -- they're comparing it to their real life results.
Restaurant calorie estimates can be tricky, which is another factor to consider when we're deciding whether or not we want to take steps to be more accurate with our calorie intake estimates when we can. I weigh my food at home precisely so I can limit the impact of the times when I'm going with someone else's estimate.
Do I think someone *has* to weigh food and log in order to be successful? Obviously not. But I think it's one of the best ways for the average person to ensure they're regularly hitting their calorie goals. Telling someone to "eat wise" is very vague. How exactly do I implement that? That would be a lot harder for me than "Hey, generally net about 1,460 calories a day if you want to maintain your current weight."
(Obviously, if it is negatively impacting your mental health, I don't recommend you do it).23 -
Sometimes I give myself a day off logging.
Those guilt feelings, though!
I know I try to deal with those -- to understand them, give myself space to feel them, and then move beyond them when I can!5 -
I count carbs. When I get 25-35 carbohydrate mark, I stop. Seeing that it must be so freeing not be a slave to the calories, I signed up.5
-
If you have a lot of weight to lose, in the beginning it can work well to just cut back. You know what foods you are eating too much of. like ice cream and beer and restaurant meals, and simply cutting them can cause weight loss. Having smaller servings and exercising more doesn't take tracking, just consistency. Depending on how bad your diet is, you may be able to lose weight for months without accurate tracking, simply by getting rid of the extras. Eventually though, weight loss is likely to slow and even stop, when you've reached a balance of CICO. That's when you might want to track your food to see where you can cut calories more.5
-
candylilacs wrote: »I count carbs. When I get 25-35 carbohydrate mark, I stop. Seeing that it must be so freeing not be a slave to the calories, I signed up.
If counting calories is being a "slave" to calories, then counting carbohydrates is being a "slave" to carbohydrates. I don't see a meaningful difference here.48 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I don't really track much either...
Lost about 180lbs and never tracked anything. It really wasn't until I started trying to gain weight that I began tracking. When you are trying to build muscle and don't want to go to far over and minimize fat gains, a target of 250+ calories is extremely difficult to hit...
Everyone will tell you, just weigh everything, which you really can't do if you want to maintain a normal life and even if you did there's just no reliable way to tell what your deficit is because there's no reliable way to know how much you're actually burning in a day...
I'd use formulas and trackers and everything, and it always just felt like way too much food and it was...
I do believe cico can be an effective tool but the only thing you can probably take to the bank is the calories in part, calories out tbh we don't really know... You can't trust fitbit, formulas or whatever, which is why it's unsuccessful for many people...
Another thing you can't really trust is restaurant calorie estimates either... Plus you can still gain over a weekend in a deficit if you eat out or salt your food too much or drink alcohol...
I know many disagree with me, but I've been at this for a while now and you can't argue with results...
I have a tattoo on my arm that says "Eat wise and exercise" that's all you should need...
I weigh just about everything I eat at home and my life is pretty normal.
If you log relatively accurately, you *can* accurately estimate what you're burning in a day because you can compare your real life results to your estimates over time. It won't happen instantly, but this is how people figure out if their activity tracker (or other method of estimating calories out) is over- or under-estimating -- they're comparing it to their real life results.
Restaurant calorie estimates can be tricky, which is another factor to consider when we're deciding whether or not we want to take steps to be more accurate with our calorie intake estimates when we can. I weigh my food at home precisely so I can limit the impact of the times when I'm going with someone else's estimate.
Do I think someone *has* to weigh food and log in order to be successful? Obviously not. But I think it's one of the best ways for the average person to ensure they're regularly hitting their calorie goals. Telling someone to "eat wise" is very vague. How exactly do I implement that? That would be a lot harder for me than "Hey, generally net about 1,460 calories a day if you want to maintain your current weight."
(Obviously, if it is negatively impacting your mental health, I don't recommend you do it).
If it works for you as a tool to achieve good health, then I'm not going to disparage anyone from using it...
But I have to ask, what do you do when you go over someone's house for dinner? I mean it's not like you can ask them to weigh the food out ahead of time for you, and don't you ever make any type of casseroles or dishes with a mixed amount of food where you're sharing amongst people, even if you do weigh your portion it's still not accurate...
And as for the accuracy of the calories out part of the whole equation... They're still really is no reliable way to tell, I mean yeah you can look at your weight over time and gauge whether or not you've been in a deficit... But weight fluctuates day today on such arbitrary things like whether or not you had a good movement in the morning to water weight, to when you last ate, Etc... So considering the day-to-day fluctuations there's really no way to tell what kind of a deficit you're in... My whole point is it's not an exact science6 -
Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I don't really track much either...
Lost about 180lbs and never tracked anything. It really wasn't until I started trying to gain weight that I began tracking. When you are trying to build muscle and don't want to go to far over and minimize fat gains, a target of 250+ calories is extremely difficult to hit...
Everyone will tell you, just weigh everything, which you really can't do if you want to maintain a normal life and even if you did there's just no reliable way to tell what your deficit is because there's no reliable way to know how much you're actually burning in a day...
I'd use formulas and trackers and everything, and it always just felt like way too much food and it was...
I do believe cico can be an effective tool but the only thing you can probably take to the bank is the calories in part, calories out tbh we don't really know... You can't trust fitbit, formulas or whatever, which is why it's unsuccessful for many people...
Another thing you can't really trust is restaurant calorie estimates either... Plus you can still gain over a weekend in a deficit if you eat out or salt your food too much or drink alcohol...
I know many disagree with me, but I've been at this for a while now and you can't argue with results...
I have a tattoo on my arm that says "Eat wise and exercise" that's all you should need...
I weigh just about everything I eat at home and my life is pretty normal.
If you log relatively accurately, you *can* accurately estimate what you're burning in a day because you can compare your real life results to your estimates over time. It won't happen instantly, but this is how people figure out if their activity tracker (or other method of estimating calories out) is over- or under-estimating -- they're comparing it to their real life results.
Restaurant calorie estimates can be tricky, which is another factor to consider when we're deciding whether or not we want to take steps to be more accurate with our calorie intake estimates when we can. I weigh my food at home precisely so I can limit the impact of the times when I'm going with someone else's estimate.
Do I think someone *has* to weigh food and log in order to be successful? Obviously not. But I think it's one of the best ways for the average person to ensure they're regularly hitting their calorie goals. Telling someone to "eat wise" is very vague. How exactly do I implement that? That would be a lot harder for me than "Hey, generally net about 1,460 calories a day if you want to maintain your current weight."
(Obviously, if it is negatively impacting your mental health, I don't recommend you do it).
If it works for you as a tool to achieve good health, then I'm not going to disparage anyone from using it...
But I have to ask, what do you do when you go over someone's house for dinner? I mean it's not like you can ask them to weigh the food out ahead of time for you, and don't you ever make any type of casseroles or dishes with a mixed amount of food where you're sharing amongst people, even if you do weigh your portion it's still not accurate...
And as for the accuracy of the calories out part of the whole equation... They're still really is no reliable way to tell, I mean yeah you can look at your weight over time and gauge whether or not you've been in a deficit... But weight fluctuates day today on such arbitrary things like whether or not you had a good movement in the morning to water weight, to when you last ate, Etc... So considering the day-to-day fluctuations there's really no way to tell what kind of a deficit you're in... My whole point is it's not an exact science
When I go to someone's house for dinner, I make my best estimate. It's unlikely to cause any issues because the majority of my intake is pretty accurate.
You can use weighing to make a pretty accurate estimate for mixed/shared dishes too. I can simply measure the total weight of the dish against the weight of what I'm consuming.
The fact that we can never be 100% accurate isn't an argument that we shouldn't try at all. Nobody is saying it's an exact science, but the inexact science can still produce great results and, for many of us, it's much easier than slogans like "eat wise." That's a meaningful phrase for you, but it doesn't mean anything to me.
I lost 40+ pounds and have been maintaining since 2015 just focusing on consistently meeting my calorie goal by weighing food when I can and making my best estimate the rest of the time. That's why I don't think it's an especially unreasonable way to live.
"Eat wise" may work for certain people, but I'd have no idea how to make that work. And if I was "eating wisely" and exercising and not seeing results, how would I know what adjustments to make?22 -
Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I don't really track much either...
Lost about 180lbs and never tracked anything. It really wasn't until I started trying to gain weight that I began tracking. When you are trying to build muscle and don't want to go to far over and minimize fat gains, a target of 250+ calories is extremely difficult to hit...
Everyone will tell you, just weigh everything, which you really can't do if you want to maintain a normal life and even if you did there's just no reliable way to tell what your deficit is because there's no reliable way to know how much you're actually burning in a day...
I'd use formulas and trackers and everything, and it always just felt like way too much food and it was...
I do believe cico can be an effective tool but the only thing you can probably take to the bank is the calories in part, calories out tbh we don't really know... You can't trust fitbit, formulas or whatever, which is why it's unsuccessful for many people...
Another thing you can't really trust is restaurant calorie estimates either... Plus you can still gain over a weekend in a deficit if you eat out or salt your food too much or drink alcohol...
I know many disagree with me, but I've been at this for a while now and you can't argue with results...
I have a tattoo on my arm that says "Eat wise and exercise" that's all you should need...Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I don't really track much either...
Lost about 180lbs and never tracked anything. It really wasn't until I started trying to gain weight that I began tracking. When you are trying to build muscle and don't want to go to far over and minimize fat gains, a target of 250+ calories is extremely difficult to hit...
Everyone will tell you, just weigh everything, which you really can't do if you want to maintain a normal life and even if you did there's just no reliable way to tell what your deficit is because there's no reliable way to know how much you're actually burning in a day...
I'd use formulas and trackers and everything, and it always just felt like way too much food and it was...
I do believe cico can be an effective tool but the only thing you can probably take to the bank is the calories in part, calories out tbh we don't really know... You can't trust fitbit, formulas or whatever, which is why it's unsuccessful for many people...
Another thing you can't really trust is restaurant calorie estimates either... Plus you can still gain over a weekend in a deficit if you eat out or salt your food too much or drink alcohol...
I know many disagree with me, but I've been at this for a while now and you can't argue with results...
I have a tattoo on my arm that says "Eat wise and exercise" that's all you should need...Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I don't really track much either...
Lost about 180lbs and never tracked anything. It really wasn't until I started trying to gain weight that I began tracking. When you are trying to build muscle and don't want to go to far over and minimize fat gains, a target of 250+ calories is extremely difficult to hit...
Everyone will tell you, just weigh everything, which you really can't do if you want to maintain a normal life and even if you did there's just no reliable way to tell what your deficit is because there's no reliable way to know how much you're actually burning in a day...
I'd use formulas and trackers and everything, and it always just felt like way too much food and it was...
I do believe cico can be an effective tool but the only thing you can probably take to the bank is the calories in part, calories out tbh we don't really know... You can't trust fitbit, formulas or whatever, which is why it's unsuccessful for many people...
Another thing you can't really trust is restaurant calorie estimates either... Plus you can still gain over a weekend in a deficit if you eat out or salt your food too much or drink alcohol...
I know many disagree with me, but I've been at this for a while now and you can't argue with results...
I have a tattoo on my arm that says "Eat wise and exercise" that's all you should need...
I lost about 130 of my 220 lost without counting calories. Actually calorie counting kind of got me into... well the state I was in for 18 months of maintenance at sub 9% bf. I am no longer counting calories because I am letting what kind of life I live dictate my weight, so I am not afraid of some gain anymore. In fact it took me 14 months to gain 20lbs intentionally.9 -
There are a few long term posters here who don't log now, but did at some point. It's a learning curve and a worthwhile exercise to understand what your maintenance calories should look like.
Long term success require some level of management - either through deliberate exercise or deliberate behaviors to limit intake.13 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I don't really track much either...
Lost about 180lbs and never tracked anything. It really wasn't until I started trying to gain weight that I began tracking. When you are trying to build muscle and don't want to go to far over and minimize fat gains, a target of 250+ calories is extremely difficult to hit...
Everyone will tell you, just weigh everything, which you really can't do if you want to maintain a normal life and even if you did there's just no reliable way to tell what your deficit is because there's no reliable way to know how much you're actually burning in a day...
I'd use formulas and trackers and everything, and it always just felt like way too much food and it was...
I do believe cico can be an effective tool but the only thing you can probably take to the bank is the calories in part, calories out tbh we don't really know... You can't trust fitbit, formulas or whatever, which is why it's unsuccessful for many people...
Another thing you can't really trust is restaurant calorie estimates either... Plus you can still gain over a weekend in a deficit if you eat out or salt your food too much or drink alcohol...
I know many disagree with me, but I've been at this for a while now and you can't argue with results...
I have a tattoo on my arm that says "Eat wise and exercise" that's all you should need...
I weigh just about everything I eat at home and my life is pretty normal.
If you log relatively accurately, you *can* accurately estimate what you're burning in a day because you can compare your real life results to your estimates over time. It won't happen instantly, but this is how people figure out if their activity tracker (or other method of estimating calories out) is over- or under-estimating -- they're comparing it to their real life results.
Restaurant calorie estimates can be tricky, which is another factor to consider when we're deciding whether or not we want to take steps to be more accurate with our calorie intake estimates when we can. I weigh my food at home precisely so I can limit the impact of the times when I'm going with someone else's estimate.
Do I think someone *has* to weigh food and log in order to be successful? Obviously not. But I think it's one of the best ways for the average person to ensure they're regularly hitting their calorie goals. Telling someone to "eat wise" is very vague. How exactly do I implement that? That would be a lot harder for me than "Hey, generally net about 1,460 calories a day if you want to maintain your current weight."
(Obviously, if it is negatively impacting your mental health, I don't recommend you do it).
If it works for you as a tool to achieve good health, then I'm not going to disparage anyone from using it...
But I have to ask, what do you do when you go over someone's house for dinner? I mean it's not like you can ask them to weigh the food out ahead of time for you, and don't you ever make any type of casseroles or dishes with a mixed amount of food where you're sharing amongst people, even if you do weigh your portion it's still not accurate...
And as for the accuracy of the calories out part of the whole equation... They're still really is no reliable way to tell, I mean yeah you can look at your weight over time and gauge whether or not you've been in a deficit... But weight fluctuates day today on such arbitrary things like whether or not you had a good movement in the morning to water weight, to when you last ate, Etc... So considering the day-to-day fluctuations there's really no way to tell what kind of a deficit you're in... My whole point is it's not an exact science
When I go to someone's house for dinner, I make my best estimate. It's unlikely to cause any issues because the majority of my intake is pretty accurate.
You can use weighing to make a pretty accurate estimate for mixed/shared dishes too. I can simply measure the total weight of the dish against the weight of what I'm consuming.
The fact that we can never be 100% accurate isn't an argument that we shouldn't try at all. Nobody is saying it's an exact science, but the inexact science can still produce great results and, for many of us, it's much easier than slogans like "eat wise." That's a meaningful phrase for you, but it doesn't mean anything to me.
I lost 40+ pounds and have been maintaining since 2015 just focusing on consistently meeting my calorie goal by weighing food when I can and making my best estimate the rest of the time. That's why I don't think it's an especially unreasonable way to live.
"Eat wise" may work for certain people, but I'd have no idea how to make that work. And if I was "eating wisely" and exercising and not seeing results, how would I know what adjustments to make?
I'm not going to disagree with you on any of what you said... If it works for you then great, you be the example of how to make it work and I applaud you for it...
For myself however, it has its place and can be a useful tool but not without limitations... I just don't believe tracking and weighing your food everyday should be necessary, we shouldn't have to do this in order to stay a healthy weight...
But they you can argue that we should be able to eat what ever we'd like and not have to worry about "eating wise"... And you may be right
Either way, congrats on your success
5 -
I'm a very numbers-driven person so it really works well for me. In terms of weight loss I've been in what many would consider "maintenance" for the majority of the time I've spent on the platform (since 2012) but it's helped be pursue physical and performance goals. I also find that I have very poor hunger/satiety cues; rather than struggle through learning to improve them, I log meticulously such that I quantify what my body truly needs and then I can make a decision if I want to eat more or less requisite to my goals. I also find that a "black box" approach to back-calculated TDEE based on weight and calorie trends to be very accurate. For this I use a spreadsheet developed by a reddit user and linked on the r/fitness wiki page. My relationship with food and exercise is healthier than ever with these approaches so I don't expect to change course any time soon.7
-
I count calories. I am a numbers person. I have a degree in accounting.
If I go over my calories, I don’t feel guilty.
If I go over my calories, nobody dies because of it.
If I go over my calories, nobody gets sick because of it.
If I go over my calories, no one at all is hurt in any way.
It’s only numbers on a piece of paper.
If I go over my calories, I may lose 1/10th of a pound instead of 1/7th.
If I go 1000 over my calories, I won’t lose weight that day.
If I go more than 1000 over my calories, I may actually gain weight that day.
If I am still hungry at the end of the day and the end of my calories, I know if I have a 70 calorie piece of cheese, that is only costing me about 1/50th of a pound and is helping me get a better nights sleep, and a better tomorrow.
That information is so freeing for me.
I know exactly what I am risking if I go out to eat where I can’t be accurate with counting.
I’m not trying to talk you into counting calories, I’m only explaining why it’s right for some people.
I’m sure it’s not right for others, and I believe you if you say you are one of them. Anxiety over numbers can’t be good.
We all have to find what works for us. Good luck finding what’s right for you!32 -
This site is built around calorie counting. So most of us here do just that.14
-
I dont2
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 389 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 919 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions