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Is there anyone not counting calories?
Replies
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If you don't mind me asking....what was your calorie goal when you were tracking calories.
Insightful question.
We see new many posters here who set an overly aggressive and ultimately unsustainable weekly weight loss goal, and the failure to adhere to that (unwise) goal could certainly lead to guilt and binging.
https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/
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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?
Nope. When I stop logging, I gain. I know myself well enough by now - I will have to log my food the rest of my life if I want to maintain a healthy weight.1 -
I always find it fascinating when threads like this pop up how some people say they don't count calories because it's so labor intensive and obsessive. I've been logging for about 4 or 5 years now, lost my excess weight and am now in maintenance, and after the first month or two, I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've spent more than 2 or 3 minutes logging my food. I think about the calories momentarily when I'm planning out my day, and might spend another 30 seconds or so thinking about them if I'm tempted to go off plan, but that's really it. I spend more time brushing my teeth.
For some people, I think they never get past that first month or two, and simply don't allow the time for practice to make perfect. Otherwise I suppose it comes down to how your brain works, for some people calories just naturally makes sense with how your brain works and it's easy, but for others it creates stress.
OP, I'd guess the vast majority of people here have at least counted calories in the past, but there are a number of people including some veteran posters who don't count anymore.
Regardless of what strategy you settle on, please do take some time to deal with the whole feeling guilty thing. No one is perfect and we all have days where we fall on our faces. It's not something to feel guilty about, it's something to learn from. Anything you can do to remove emotion from eating (feeling guilty for eating "wrong", rewarding yourself with food, eating to self soothe, etc) will make the road forward easier
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I always find it fascinating when threads like this pop up how some people say they don't count calories because it's so labor intensive and obsessive. I've been logging for about 4 or 5 years now, lost my excess weight and am now in maintenance, and after the first month or two, I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've spent more than 2 or 3 minutes logging my food. I think about the calories momentarily when I'm planning out my day, and might spend another 30 seconds or so thinking about them if I'm tempted to go off plan, but that's really it. I spend more time brushing my teeth.
For some people, I think they never get past that first month or two, and simply don't allow the time for practice to make perfect. Otherwise I suppose it comes down to how your brain works, for some people calories just naturally makes sense with how your brain works and it's easy, but for others it creates stress.
OP, I'd guess the vast majority of people here have at least counted calories in the past, but there are a number of people including some veteran posters who don't count anymore.
Regardless of what strategy you settle on, please do take some time to deal with the whole feeling guilty thing. No one is perfect and we all have days where we fall on our faces. It's not something to feel guilty about, it's something to learn from. Anything you can do to remove emotion from eating (feeling guilty for eating "wrong", rewarding yourself with food, eating to self soothe, etc) will make the road forward easier
Yes, if I judged how difficult it would be to count calories by how difficult to was to *learn* to count calories (that is, the first couple of months), I would be very daunted. The reality is that for many of us, it becomes "background noise." I spend about 4-5 minutes a day pre-logging for the next day and then 1-2 minutes per day making adjustments based on what I actually eat. And I'm someone who cooks a lot of new stuff and eats out fairly regularly.
This isn't to say that it works for everyone, because I know that it doesn't. But for many of us, if we give it time to click, it really is very easy.9 -
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 lost around 20 Lbs or so before I ever counted a calorie. I started counting calories namely due to the fact that I was becoming more active and engaging in more strenuous exercise. Previous to that I was just walking and had cut out some sodas and was eating more vegetables and whatnot. When I started exercising more I wanted to make sure I was eating enough to accommodate my exercise, but not too much as to stop losing weight. I found MFP to be a great tool for that. I also helped me learn a lot about nutrition in general and how to eat better overall, including an appropriate number of calories.
I haven't logged in about 7 years of maintenance...I usually gain a bit of weight in the winter due to becoming less active and take it off throughout the spring by just making a few dietary tweaks and becoming more active. I find maintenance to be relatively easy so long as I'm mindful of what I'm eating most of the time and mindful of what I learned during the weight loss process, and so long as I'm exercising regularly.2 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »
Or you could save some time, but risk your knuckles by grabbing a monkey wrench and smacking it with a big hammer. Hmm... this speaks for my love of destruction and chaos.
Or just use the hammer! 🤘0 -
Hey OP, I’ve been using MFP for 3 years. For me the first three months were the hardest. I browsed the forums, learnt as much as I could (I still do) I religiously counted calories and weighed food for about 18 months and it became a habit. I also ensured my weight loss aim per week was low so I could eat more. I’ve lost 24kg (about 52 lbs) very slowly so it was maintainable for me and I’m not so anal anymore. There are weeks I don’t log but I am ALWAYS active here and always aware of portion size, excersise ect. For me it was a huge learning curve. The more I practise something the easier it is for me and 3 years later I feel confident in my food choices and portion size/weight of foods. I’m still very slowly losing weight and will start counting again for the last 5 stubborn kilos. MFP has been the ONLY thing I’ve lost weight on and consistently kept it off. Best thing I learned is it’s ok to see those big red you’ve gone over your calories, it’s ok to eat cake and chocolate, just keep going and learning. I’ve learned perseverance, hard work and consistency are key for me. I used to feel guilty and It took a while for me to separate those negative emotions with food, but I kept going slowly and surely and now it’s honestly the easiest thing to do for me. Good luck, you’ve got this 7
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I always find it fascinating when threads like this pop up how some people say they don't count calories because it's so labor intensive and obsessive. I've been logging for about 4 or 5 years now, lost my excess weight and am now in maintenance, and after the first month or two, I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've spent more than 2 or 3 minutes logging my food. I think about the calories momentarily when I'm planning out my day, and might spend another 30 seconds or so thinking about them if I'm tempted to go off plan, but that's really it. I spend more time brushing my teeth.
For some people, I think they never get past that first month or two, and simply don't allow the time for practice to make perfect. Otherwise I suppose it comes down to how your brain works, for some people calories just naturally makes sense with how your brain works and it's easy, but for others it creates stress.
OP, I'd guess the vast majority of people here have at least counted calories in the past, but there are a number of people including some veteran posters who don't count anymore.
Regardless of what strategy you settle on, please do take some time to deal with the whole feeling guilty thing. No one is perfect and we all have days where we fall on our faces. It's not something to feel guilty about, it's something to learn from. Anything you can do to remove emotion from eating (feeling guilty for eating "wrong", rewarding yourself with food, eating to self soothe, etc) will make the road forward easier
Creating recipes and remembering to weigh things and enter them in the mfp recipe function is what is labor intensive to me, especially while I'm in the thick of cooking dinner and dealing with kids or a crying baby or whatever. Sometimes I create the recipe and go to weigh it at the end and realize I never weighed the stupid pot it was cooked in so now I don't know what to subtract. I've been logging food for years off and on and I wouldn't describe it as simple as you just did, maybe I'm just stupid. Lol. I need to weigh every pot and skillet and dish that I cook with and keep a cheat sheet somewhere in my kitchen probably...5 -
Creating recipes and remembering to weigh things and enter them in the mfp recipe function is what is labor intensive to me, especially while I'm in the thick of cooking dinner and dealing with kids or a crying baby or whatever. Sometimes I create the recipe and go to weigh it at the end and realize I never weighed the stupid pot it was cooked in so now I don't know what to subtract. I've been logging food for years off and on and I wouldn't describe it as simple as you just did, maybe I'm just stupid. Lol. I need to weigh every pot and skillet and dish that I cook with and keep a cheat sheet somewhere in my kitchen probably...
I agree with you, if all I ate was pre-made packaged food and only needed to weigh those against the label than that is one thing but when making recipes from scratch it does take more than a few minutes. I deal with it because this is the only way for now that I can lose weight and keep on track.2 -
etherealanwar wrote: »
I agree with you, if all I ate was pre-made packaged food and only needed to weigh those against the label than that is one thing but when making recipes from scratch it does take more than a few minutes. I deal with it because this is the only way for now that I can lose weight and keep on track.
Yup this was exactly my issue with counting calories. I would reach for anything packaged (which I wouldn't even weigh) vs something fresh due to the difficulty of the recipe builder. Plus my kitchen scales could never handle my pots full of food so I could never weigh my finished product. Maybe I was doing it all wrong, who knows. At this point it makes no difference!2 -
Creating recipes and remembering to weigh things and enter them in the mfp recipe function is what is labor intensive to me, especially while I'm in the thick of cooking dinner and dealing with kids or a crying baby or whatever. Sometimes I create the recipe and go to weigh it at the end and realize I never weighed the stupid pot it was cooked in so now I don't know what to subtract. I've been logging food for years off and on and I wouldn't describe it as simple as you just did, maybe I'm just stupid. Lol. I need to weigh every pot and skillet and dish that I cook with and keep a cheat sheet somewhere in my kitchen probably...
Oh, absolutely and I just honestly didn't remember to mention it, but it helps that no one in my family likes to cook and we eat pretty repetitive and simple meals.
And still I've done the "oh crap I don't remember how much the pot weighs"
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kshama2001 wrote: »
Insightful question.
We see new many posters here who set an overly aggressive and ultimately unsustainable weekly weight loss goal, and the failure to adhere to that (unwise) goal could certainly lead to guilt and binging.
That's exactly what I was wondering.
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Put a number, any number, for the pot for now
Empty pot in plates and storage containers measuring eventual contents
Pot is empty and defenseless 😹 Can be washed and measured as many times as you may wish!
Nothing can defend the recipe from your editing powers now! You can go back and change the weights. Even re-log your food now that you have better data.
When doing this the first or second or even the third time, it is going to take more than five seconds of mental effort. The tenth time not as much.
I used to log recipes while the food was cooking and I was hanging around watching it boil!!!! 😹5 -
alex2017new wrote: »Anyone count macros? If so, what’s you percentages to lose weight please
@alex2017new
Calories are king for losing weight, macros make it easier to stay within calorie goal.
Do you think that you will lose more weight if:
a) You eat 50% Carbs, 30% Fat and 20% Protein for 1750 Cal a day
b) You eat 20% Carbs, 50% Fat and 30% Protein for 1800 Cal a day or
c) You eat 55% Carbs, 20% fat and 25% Protein for 1750 Cal a day
d) You eat 10% Carbs, 50% Fat and 40% Protein for 1800 Cal a day
Bonus points: If your carbs come from whole wheat pasta will you lose more weight or less weight given an isocaloric intake as compared to white rice? What if, in this scenario as given, we replace the whole wheat pasta with sweet potatoes and the white rice with a mix of white, yellow, and red baby potato nuggets instead?
In the example above, b would be the best for me, even though it’s an extra 50 calories a day. It’s closer to how I eat naturally. I would have to force myself to eat different than I am used to for the other options, and that’s just harder than necessary.
I would be able to stick with b better and easier.
Which one comes closer to satisfying you and making you happy and better able to keep in your calorie limit?
Bonus points. I hate whole wheat pasta. I don’t like white rice. If I had to choose, I would choose today, but tomorrow or the next day I would rebel and say “I’m tired of this d—- diet and I ain’t doin’ this no more.” But I like sweet, white, yellow and red baby potatoes. I could easily fit any of these in my meal plan.
It’s easy.
Calories count.
It’s hard.
How can you get the very most enjoyment out of eating, while eating healthy and staying within your calories?1 -
corinasue1143 wrote: »
@alex2017new
Calories are king for losing weight, macros make it easier to stay within calorie goal.
In the example above, b would be the best for me, even though it’s an extra 50 calories a day. It’s closer to how I eat naturally. I would have to force myself to eat different than I am used to for the other options, and that’s just harder than necessary.
I would be able to stick with b better and easier.
Which one comes closer to satisfying you and making you happy and better able to keep in your calorie limit?
Bonus points. I hate whole wheat pasta. I don’t like white rice. If I had to choose, I would choose today, but tomorrow or the next day I would rebel and say “I’m tired of this d—- diet and I ain’t doin’ this no more.” But I like sweet, white, yellow and red baby potatoes. I could easily fit any of these in my meal plan.
It’s easy.
Calories count.
It’s hard.
How can you get the very most enjoyment out of eating, while eating healthy and staying within your calories?
Ha! Correct! "Best for me while avoiding any "diet" sounding choices that you are just making to lose weight while actively not enjoying them" for the win!
d) would have the fastest APPARENT weight loss in the SHORT term; but long term it will equalize with the rest. Body composition wise it is possible it will lag and/or still unclear and frankly more dependent on the effort one puts in.
Very long term and correctly counted c) would have a minuscule advantage over a) due to the higher TEF of protein and I suspect that c) would provide an active individual with more of a boost during activities and exercise than d) thus resulting in a larger real deficit over time, assuming that the individual can stay within their calories equally or more easily than if they were to use d). The opposite if they weren't!
Very long term given that between d) and c) there are approximately an extra 282 Calories coming from protein you would need to run a few equations that I am baffled as to how to even set-up where you have increased TEF from protein to the order of 20 to 35% while TEF from Carbs is only 5% to 15% and TEF from fats is "up to" 5% to 15%. If you can figure out the literature and the specific foods you're eating and that math... the energy your brain spends trying to do so will probably account for more than the TEF differences!
Pretty much they're all a wash and the best results will come from what suits individual preferences--with just enough "controversy" to highlight that we're often spending a lot of time thinking about the margins!
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I've mostly lost weight without counting. I did that by weighing daily.0
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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.
LOL!0 -
Re recipes - I only create them on MFP once - not every time I cook them.
Next time I just weigh my portion of pre recorded recipe
Yes I realise we sometimes vary recipes - but most variations make little difference - it wont matter much calorie wise if I cook vegetable soup with or without carrots or leeks this time, for example, so I dont bother editing the recipe.
Also re pots - yes a cheat sheet of empty weights of pots is good idea
In case of my slow cooker, I have weight written on bottom of pot in permanant texta.
Not sure how that would work on saucepans which go directly over the stove flames though
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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?
There are many many people who lose weight just by cutting back food and/or excercising more.
But you may not find many of them on MFP - which ,after all, is a site designed around calorie counting.
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Freedom's just another word for nothing left to eat.
(That comes out really dark.)
Unless you are having lunch with Bobby McGee... lol2 -
I have a set of large plastic containers that I use for storing things I batch cook for meal prep. I've worked with it so much I just know they weigh 46-48 grams.3
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Creating recipes and remembering to weigh things and enter them in the mfp recipe function is what is labor intensive to me, especially while I'm in the thick of cooking dinner and dealing with kids or a crying baby or whatever. Sometimes I create the recipe and go to weigh it at the end and realize I never weighed the stupid pot it was cooked in so now I don't know what to subtract. I've been logging food for years off and on and I wouldn't describe it as simple as you just did, maybe I'm just stupid. Lol. I need to weigh every pot and skillet and dish that I cook with and keep a cheat sheet somewhere in my kitchen probably...
My cheat sheet of the weights of my pots and pans is by my computer
And since I do like to make at least one new recipe a week, and the recipe builder is glitchy, it does take me longer than a few minutes per day to log.
However, to me this is worth it, because I will never have one of those "Why am I not losing weight?" moments. If I'm not losing weight (over time), I know exactly why - I'm eating too much.3 -
OP, if you are interested in learning about intuitive eating because you find counting calories does not work for you, look into Abbey Sharp on Youtube. She is a registered dietitian and is constantly discussing the benefits of intuitive eating. Although, I count calories, I really enjoy her content.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=cf7JbfqiLic
This is the start to her series on how to begin the process intuitive eating. She is not a fan of calorie counters, scales, or fitness trackers because she feels like they get in the way of listening and knowing your body. I find her content to be really interested.1 -
kshama2001 wrote: »
My cheat sheet of the weights of my pots and pans is by my computer
And since I do like to make at least one new recipe a week, and the recipe builder is glitchy, it does take me longer than a few minutes per day to log.
However, to me this is worth it, because I will never have one of those "Why am I not losing weight?" moments. If I'm not losing weight (over time), I know exactly why - I'm eating too much.
Oh jeez! I just happen to know almost to the 10 grams of what my post weigh! Can't replace them now!😩1 -
I don't count calories anymore. Most of my life, I've maintained my weight between 120-124, except for these past four years where I've been between 107-110 pounds. I never really had a consistent weight problem, but I did get up to 136, my heaviest ever at 5 feet and I felt huge but I didn't stay that big very long. That's when I started calorie counting but then I realized if I stopped shoving food into my face hand over fist that I didn't have to count and it's worked for four years now, where I have maintained my lowest weight yet. To each their own, but for me it's a waste of time. Also I run long distances and chase a toddler around all day, which helps keep off the pounds.5
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psychod787 wrote: »
Oh jeez! I just happen to know almost to the 10 grams of what my post weigh! Can't replace them now!😩
Yes, I have the weights of my two most used pot/pans memorized 0 -
And yes, as of today I am back to calorie counting because I want to track, for reference, what may or may not be great to eat before a long run the day before.0
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I’m the OP and I feel stressed! Eating back exercise calories, not eating exercise calories, eating a set amount of calories. I actually feel stressed thinking about it. 🥺 I think what il try is 1500 calories per day every day regardless of exercise. I am exercising though , Bodypump 3-4 times per week, Metafit 1 per week and cv ingym 1.5hrs a week. I start to get stressed when I go over my calorie amount n end up going off the rails and I need to stop that cycle x3
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I’m the OP and I feel stressed! Eating back exercise calories, not eating exercise calories, eating a set amount of calories. I actually feel stressed thinking about it. 🥺 I think what il try is 1500 calories per day every day regardless of exercise. I am exercising though , Bodypump 3-4 times per week, Metafit 1 per week and cv ingym 1.5hrs a week. I start to get stressed when I go over my calorie amount n end up going off the rails and I need to stop that cycle x
Do or do not..... there is no try..... count, don't count... pick something and experiment. If it does not work, try something else.... until you find what works......3 -
I don’t count calories. I eat until I’m full. I do intermediate fasting daily.1
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