Is there anyone not counting calories?
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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snickerscharlie wrote: »This site is built around calorie counting. So most of us here do just that.
@snickerscharlie , some of us just like the comrade like relationship we develop with others here.
Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »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
While I agree with you in many ways, calorie counting is just a tool. I look at it like this, when I am working on my car, I might have a wrench that "works", but is just not quite right for the job. So, I reach into the tool box for a wrench that works better for this job. Controlling dietary intake is not much different imho. One wrench does not work as well, try another until you find one that does.7 -
If you feel guilty about going over your calories, and that causes you to eat even more, that's a whole different issue that avoiding the calorie of counting isn't going to address.12
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I think there are lots of ways to lose besides logging, but I've been not logging for a while when at maintenance, and have recently started logging consistently again, and am finding it pretty fun (I'm doing it at Cron and enjoy trying to hit all my nutrition targets).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...
If I eat out or at someone's else's place, I estimate. (When I was losing I mostly just estimated cals -- 1000 add or whatever, but now I'd estimate the foods eaten because I am tracking nutrients.)
When I make a one-pot dish with multiple servings I create a recipe and weigh my portion or, if I'm being more loosey-goosey (which is often), I estimate the portion of the whole I ate (say 1/6) and divide each ingredient in the total by that much.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
Like Jane said, you tell by results.
When I was losing and logging, I planned to be losing 2 lb/week, and was instead losing 3 lb per week (I'd been losing before starting at MFP, so not initial losses). Thus, I realized that I was not, in fact, sedentary + exercise, I was at least lightly active + exercise (I always hit 10,000+ steps, so that made sense. So I started eating a bit more and ended up at my 2 lb/week until that was no longer sensible.
Similarly, if I were aiming to lose 0.5 lb/week now and wasn't losing and was confident about my logging, I'd decrease cals appropriately and assume my TDEE was less than I'd thought (either because of overestimated exercise or just a lower BMR). In fact, I don't eat back exercise, I build it in to my calorie target upfront (and thus although MFP would give me a lower goal, I assume I should eat about 1800 to lose what I want, and will adjust that if it proves not to be true).
Years ago (pre MFP) I lost by writing down what I was eating (from memory) and then looking at it and deciding how to cut back. When I decided to lose again many years later (after some years of gradual regain, etc.), I orginally started by doing the same thing, and then started MFP and was surprised at how low I was eating. Logging helped me to eat a sensible amount and to realize I should add back in some fat and some foods that make eating more sustainable (a little cheese, some nuts, even occasional ice cream). If I hadn't realized how low my cals are, I could have easily burnt out, and logging also helps me focus not just on cutting down on food but on getting in sufficient micronutrients and protein and fiber, etc., so I am a big fan.11 -
I don't calorie count anymore, although I did for weight loss. I found it wasn't necessary to count calories as a long distance runner because my output was so high anyway. Having gotten back into weightlifting lately and also gotten preggo, I'm logging to ensure adequate protein intake for self and interior side kick.3
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psychod787 wrote: »snickerscharlie wrote: »This site is built around calorie counting. So most of us here do just that.
@snickerscharlie , some of us just like the comrade like relationship we develop with others here.Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »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
While I agree with you in many ways, calorie counting is just a tool. I look at it like this, when I am working on my car, I might have a wrench that "works", but is just not quite right for the job. So, I reach into the tool box for a wrench that works better for this job. Controlling dietary intake is not much different imho. One wrench does not work as well, try another until you find one that does.
Very true man, and congrats on your success...
And what I've also is the wrench that works today, may not be the wrench that works tomorrow...
I know this may sound a bit lazy, but ultimately I'd like to find the tools that work with minimal effort 😂...
We shouldn't have to put in so much effort to stay healthy... It just seems wrong
Now to get lean, build muscle, look above average etc... Yeah it may take a little crazy, but as long as you enjoy doing it...
Again congrats!6 -
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
There once was a mathematician and an engineer. They were both offered the chance to be with a beautiful woman, but she told them her one rule: every time you approach me, you have to proceed at half intervals, so you may walk walf way to me, then 3/4, then 7/8, 15/16, and so on.
The mathematician looks at the engineer and says "let's leave, we'll never get to her!"
The engineer replied, "Oh, in theory sure, but practice it will be close enough!"
I think your idea of reliable is the mathematician, but losing weight is more an engineering problem, luckily. People can figure out their calories out reliably enough. There are people on here who do analysis on all their intake, all their activity, and come up with estimates even for their BMR component separate from activity and exercise expenditures.12 -
janejellyroll wrote: »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.
Well in the calories case you're a slave to all macros, but counting carbs, you're the master over fats, protein, and alcohol. Maybe that lets a person feel they're a switch and not a pure slave in their food tracking relationships. 🤷7 -
I am low carb. I know if I keep on track with my carbs, fat and protein and I do. As well as logging and weighing because it works for me I am good. Because my macros add up to a certain number of calories. So count calories without specifically counting them one by one. I do via macros and for me I find it easier.
Again I think many different ways to keep track of what we eat, to keep ourselves on track. Be it for continuing to lose weight, or for those who are maintaining weight, etc...
Does not mean any certain one is better than another, just means different people found ones that worked for them.1 -
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?
It seems to me that logging isn’t the problem, it’s guilt when you eat more than your target goal leading to binges that is the problem.
Some people do successfully lose weight by cutting calories and exercising more without logging. However, given what you’ve said, I have to wonder if this would be a good fit for you. It’s not any easier to “cut back” without logging; in many ways it’s harder, because you are relying only on your own feelings about how much food you are eating, and obese people are - proven by multiple studies - terrible as far as their estimations of food corresponding to reality. What seems most likely is that you will do what my mother has done in 70+ years of unsuccessful “dieting” - you will pretend to cut back, feel deprived all the time because you are constantly thinking about how much you should be eating, eat extra food to make yourself feel comforted and less deprived, convince yourself you are really “cutting back” because after all you feel hungry and are eating bad tasting diet food instead of the food you would prefer to eat, and not lose any weight because your body doesn’t lose weight based on whether you hold your mouth right or tap your heels together three times, it loses weight based on whether you stay in a caloric deficit. And I also predict that when you see the scale not moving in the right direction you will end up binging anyway.
I could be wrong about your mindset and your results. You have nothing to lose by trying it your way except time. Give it a month if you want and see where you end up; if it works, you have learned something about what works for you and can keep going.
On the other hand, my instinct is that you will lose more weight and be more successful in the long term by coming to grips with your need to feel guilty over food and your binging. I would start by setting MFP to whatever it thinks your calorie goal should be to maintain your current weight. Do that for a week, logging accurately. If you go over, log it and go on with your life; don’t try to punish or reward yourself. Then take a deep breath and figure out what your goal should be.
Good luck, I hope you keep us updated on what you decide to do and how it works for you!5 -
magnusthenerd wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »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.
Well in the calories case you're a slave to all macros, but counting carbs, you're the master over fats, protein, and alcohol. Maybe that lets a person feel they're a switch and not a pure slave in their food tracking relationships. 🤷
Wait.... So what you are saying is, to be "free", we just shouldn't eat?!?!?! Bro.... just shattered my world! LOL
1
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