Is there anyone not counting calories?
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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
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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.
I'm a slave to carbs. In fact, I'm carbs' *kitten*. If I were in a jail cell with carbs, I wouldn't even have to be threatened. I would gladly bend over for carbs.
Edited because I really WOULD gladly bend over for carbs. 6 -
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.
I'm a slave to carbs. In fact, I'm carbs' *kitten*. If I were in a jail cell with carbs, I wouldn't even have to be threatened. I would gladly bend over for carbs.
Edited because I really WOULD gladly bend over for carbs.
<=== is currently shopping Amazon for a slice of bread costume! Lol j/I
I have never been a slave to carbs, but might have been chained to a radiator by some once....1 -
oh boy! So much to say about this, but its religion you know. you cannot challenge anyone's beliefs without offending them. However, we all know people who look at food and gain weight. We all know people who can pretty much eat what ever they want to, and never gain a pound. So its not calories. Fat isn't 9 calories per gram. Carbohydrates aren't 4 calories per gram. Different types of carbs/fats/protein have different amounts of calories, so how can you even began to count them anyway? Those are comprise numbers published by the government trying to simplify things for the population. Depending on what type of meat, or vegetables, or whatever, the calories contained in a gram of fat/protein/carbs vary widely, so you're not really counting anything accurately.2
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I'm bad at estimating, so counting calories with my food scale takes out the guesswork.5
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LagunaPaul wrote: »oh boy! So much to say about this, but its religion you know. you cannot challenge anyone's beliefs without offending them. However, we all know people who look at food and gain weight. We all know people who can pretty much eat what ever they want to, and never gain a pound. So its not calories. Fat isn't 9 calories per gram. Carbohydrates aren't 4 calories per gram. Different types of carbs/fats/protein have different amounts of calories, so how can you even began to count them anyway? Those are comprise numbers published by the government trying to simplify things for the population. Depending on what type of meat, or vegetables, or whatever, the calories contained in a gram of fat/protein/carbs vary widely, so you're not really counting anything accurately.
Ok.. I hit the disagree button, but unlike some people, I'm going to tell you WHY I disagreed. 1st. Ok you dont like the word "calories" , so I will refer to it ad energy from the sun. Or just energy. Yes, it does come down to "energy". The problem we run into is, it is hard to tell the average "energy" intake in individuals. In several over feeding studies, people have gained different amounts of weight on the same caloric surplus. Why? Well, some people may be able to ramp up there tdee to burn off excess "energy" better than others. In a free living "energy" intake environment, some people may over eat one day and then compensate by eating less a day or two later. If you are not weighing and measuring every morsel of "energy" you have no idea how much "energy" they ate. So, yes... it does all come down to "energy" intake.15 -
LagunaPaul wrote: »oh boy! So much to say about this, but its religion you know. you cannot challenge anyone's beliefs without offending them. However, we all know people who look at food and gain weight. We all know people who can pretty much eat what ever they want to, and never gain a pound. So its not calories. Fat isn't 9 calories per gram. Carbohydrates aren't 4 calories per gram. Different types of carbs/fats/protein have different amounts of calories, so how can you even began to count them anyway? Those are comprise numbers published by the government trying to simplify things for the population. Depending on what type of meat, or vegetables, or whatever, the calories contained in a gram of fat/protein/carbs vary widely, so you're not really counting anything accurately.
If you have even a scrap of evidence to back up any of these absolutely outlandish claims then I have some fantastic news for you!
This evidence will be so earth-shattering that it will turn the entire scientific community on it's head and no doubt you'll be a shoo-in for the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, Chemistry, and Physics. So I would encourage you to publish urgently as they all come with a substantial monetary reward.19 -
I log it after I eat and it is what it is. I'm in my range all the time.1
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I log it after I eat and it is what it is. I'm in my range all the time.
Interesting.
I tend to log before I eat it.
Often I pre-log the entire day when I get up in the morning so that I have a plan for the day and will make changes/additions/subtractions/substitutions as needed.
The other reason I find pre-logging handy is it helps me avoid problems before they happen. Like, I'll grab something to eat, log it, see what impact it's had on my calories for the day and all of a sudden that particular thing isn't quite as appealing as it was a few seconds earlier or I change what I'm going to eat so that I can better stick to my target. If I log after eating and don't like what I see then it's too late.4 -
LagunaPaul wrote: »oh boy! So much to say about this, but its religion you know. you cannot challenge anyone's beliefs without offending them. However, we all know people who look at food and gain weight. We all know people who can pretty much eat what ever they want to, and never gain a pound. So its not calories. Fat isn't 9 calories per gram. Carbohydrates aren't 4 calories per gram. Different types of carbs/fats/protein have different amounts of calories, so how can you even began to count them anyway? Those are comprise numbers published by the government trying to simplify things for the population. Depending on what type of meat, or vegetables, or whatever, the calories contained in a gram of fat/protein/carbs vary widely, so you're not really counting anything accurately.
If you have even a scrap of evidence to back up any of these absolutely outlandish claims then I have some fantastic news for you!
This evidence will be so earth-shattering that it will turn the entire scientific community on it's head and no doubt you'll be a shoo-in for the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, Chemistry, and Physics. So I would encourage you to publish urgently as they all come with a substantial monetary reward.
Wow... we must have either butt hurt someone or someone does not have the Ovarian/Testicular fortitude to defend their supposition....🤔6 -
psychod787 wrote: »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
To paraphrase Tyler Durden, "It's only after you've lost every macro that you're free to eat any macro."5
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