I won’t track calories anymore
Replies
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Based on what's been said, the OP's treatment team is encouraging her to stop calorie counting and measuring.
And it seems that she is trying to comply. Achieving this will be a major step towards recovery for her.
Encouraging her to continue to count and measure is probably quite counterproductive for her needs.20 -
Based on what's been said, the OP's treatment team is encouraging her to stop calorie counting and measuring.
And it seems that she is trying to comply. Achieving this will be a major step towards recovery for her.
Encouraging her to continue to count and measure is probably quite counterproductive for her needs.
Exactly. Thank you for stating this so well.
I don't count calories or track macros. I keep track of my weight, my measurements, and my health (how I feel). If my weight creeps up a bit I eat less for a while.8 -
the good old fashioned way of losing weight, without counting calories.
Old fashioned?
Are the methods of 36 years ago "old fashioned"?
Because ... even back then when lists of foods and calories were a bit hard to come by ... I still counted calories to some degree. I knew that a calorie deficit was the way to lose weight and it was helpful to know how many calories the food I ate had.
Duh I know you need to be in a deficit to lose weight
But I’m saying is someone can be in a deficit without counting, but I get some people don’t have the skill for that and need to count every minuscule calories down
I understand that you've decided calorie counting is not the best strategy for you, and I support you in that. Self-insight is a really good thing!
I don't understand why that makes it seem OK to criticize, even insult, other people who find calorie counting easy, non-stressful, and effective.
I wish you much success with your chosen path, sincerely!29 -
Based on what's been said, the OP's treatment team is encouraging her to stop calorie counting and measuring.
And it seems that she is trying to comply. Achieving this will be a major step towards recovery for her.
Encouraging her to continue to count and measure is probably quite counterproductive for her needs.
Then OP should do just that without criticizing and insulting those who still count calories without the stress OP seems to have. 🤷🏼♀️20 -
Chef_Barbell wrote: »Based on what's been said, the OP's treatment team is encouraging her to stop calorie counting and measuring.
And it seems that she is trying to comply. Achieving this will be a major step towards recovery for her.
Encouraging her to continue to count and measure is probably quite counterproductive for her needs.
Then OP should do just that without criticizing and insulting those who still count calories without the stress OP seems to have. 🤷🏼♀️
Exactly this.
And I'd question whether her treatment team would think talking about weight loss on the MFP forums was a good idea. At the least it's something that she should raise with them.15 -
"It's science" and then insert questionable claims is a hallmark argument of one who's come to an intuitive decision but also feels like they need to rationalise it to themselves and others. OP, you have no need to defend your choices and they will probably lead to an overall healthier you. There's never only one way to do anything, though, if there was then these forums would have nothing to discuss at all. You'd get a lot more friendly support if you accepted that.8
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We're on a calorie counting forum so obviously this is a tough place to post something like this, but I agree with you and would like to do the same. I'd like to lose maybe 5 lbs or so and counting just isn't helping me. I have a history of restricting then binging so I can't cut too low without binging. I also have a 9 month old daughter and don't want her to grow up thinking she has to count calories. My goal is to improve the quality of my eating and just watch portions. I've actually been successful with that I'm the past and felt less deprived. Good luck to you!4
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We're on a calorie counting forum so obviously this is a tough place to post something like this, but I agree with you and would like to do the same. I'd like to lose maybe 5 lbs or so and counting just isn't helping me. I have a history of restricting then binging so I can't cut too low without binging. I also have a 9 month old daughter and don't want her to grow up thinking she has to count calories. My goal is to improve the quality of my eating and just watch portions. I've actually been successful with that I'm the past and felt less deprived. Good luck to you!
Counting isn't for everyone, and it's totally okay not to count, especially if you have ED issues that counting triggers.
What I don't understand is the need -- by OP -- to suggest that counting is wrong for all or not as good as other methods. Most of us don't find that counting triggers eating super restrictively -- indeed, when I started counting it helped me see that I'd been eating TOO restrictively, and not enough cals, and so I ended up with a much healthier diet (because eating sufficient cals is healthier than not) and a more sustainable one too. (Whatever she was saying about sugar also made no sense, and it's not true that it's nutritionally better to eat only raw veg, as cooking can make some nutrients more accessible to us.)
I don't count at maintenance, but I find the idea that it's some terrible thing to do (not giving the message to your daughter) to be odd. I never balance my checkbook, but I don't consider that a bad thing to do, and I certainly do think budgeting skills are sensible ones to learn, and it's kind of the same thing. I would wholeheartedly agree that teaching your daughter that women need to fret over their weight or obsess about what they eat or that kind of thing would not be good, but assuming that's the situation for everyone counting is wrong. I keep a log of all my exercise and a training plan and so on, and check off completed workouts with comments, and yet no one claims that that kind of thing is obsessive and sends a bad message or is something that one should wean oneself off of or the like, and I really don't see the difference (I spend much more like messing around with that than I do logging when I am at Cron, and mostly what I care about when logging is seeing if I hit all my nutrients, since I think that is fun).
Anyway, I have lost in the past (although likely being more restrictive than necessary, as I lost quite fast) without counting cals, and I also have gained eating a very nutrition-conscious diet (since that's how I tend to eat anyway). What is important for me is mindfulness, and logging can be one way to achieve that.
My point is not that you should log (I think you are likely right to try something else, especially since you don't have much to lose anyway and it leads to problematic behavior for you), but that assuming logging is inherently problematic or will trigger ED type behavior in most is not accurate.9 -
(snip)
What I don't understand is the need -- by OP -- to suggest that counting is wrong for all or not as good as other methods.
(snip)
I'm going to risk going a little meta here.
I'm assuming it's an instance of the phenomenon where a subset of people seem to need to feel that their personal choices are objectively the best, in some universal sense.
I've even encountered people who behaved this way about tastes in music, food, movies, reading matter, clothing styles: They considered a person inferior who didn't share their "good" tastes, and felt personally criticized and affronted when another person expressed disagreement (not in any abusive terms**) with their personal preferences. (** Such as by saying "I don't enjoy that" or "I prefer X".)
It seems like this sort of thing would be more likely to happen for beliefs closer to ones self-image core, which weight management and exercise choices may be.
I'm inclined to think - speculating - that this is a trait that may indicate a lack of self-confidence or ego-strength, but I'm not sure. I'm quite confident that when it shows up in communicating with others, it's likely to create nonessential social conflict, affect friendships unfavorably, and generally bring unnecessary negativity into one's life. That would be a sad thing, but not really a blameful one (not a character fault), in my world.
Just my opinion, though.13 -
Based on what's been said, the OP's treatment team is encouraging her to stop calorie counting and measuring.
And it seems that she is trying to comply. Achieving this will be a major step towards recovery for her.
Encouraging her to continue to count and measure is probably quite counterproductive for her needs.
I agree with this 100%, but I don't understand why the OP created this thread. I could happily live without the news that she has decided, on her treatment teams orders, to quit calorie counting. It is not for everyone, OK, but it works for many of us and is not stressful. I'm happy that she is now an expert on calories. Good luck OP. What else is there to say?13 -
the good old fashioned way of losing weight, without counting calories.
Old fashioned?
Are the methods of 36 years ago "old fashioned"?
Because ... even back then when lists of foods and calories were a bit hard to come by ... I still counted calories to some degree. I knew that a calorie deficit was the way to lose weight and it was helpful to know how many calories the food I ate had.
Duh I know you need to be in a deficit to lose weight
But I’m saying is someone can be in a deficit without counting, but I get some people don’t have the skill for that and need to count every minuscule calories down
Yes, but here's the thing. Most of us are here because we aren't "skilled" at estimating calories in any kind of natural way. Our hunger cues and/or our sense of portions have become distorted. Measuring & logging is typically the wake-up call.
Re; Every minuscule calorie - People lost weight long before digital food scales were a thing. Measuring with measuring cups does work for weight loss, you just need to expect some plateaus here and there. Realistic expectations.
If you don't want to count there are other methods:
There are diets that seek to control BEHAVIOR, that results in weight loss for some. Example - the No "S" Diet. No sweets, no snacks, no seconds, excepts sometimes on days that begin with "S" (Saturdays/Sundays and special days ie: holidays and birthdays).
There is a plan where you diet 2 days a week (600 calories) and eat at maintenance the other 5, it's called 5:2. As long as you don't "make-up" for lost calories on your maintenance days, you lose weight. But again, realistic expectations.5 -
I think it can be done without counting calories by being mindful and present when eating.4
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stefgreen72 wrote: »Calorie counting is a must for me. I would be guessing all kinds of wrong if I just did it by sight. I don’t see how that will work for you unless you are doing a lot of exercise and burning off the extra calories. For me, I want to eat healthy and avoid sugar and junk. Good luck!A lot of people think that, I will allow myself to recover a little as I suffer a bit from ED, and this is one of the treatment which is not to calorie count, me not tracking is not a free pass to eat what I want, it will just be more mindful eating. Also I know a lot of the calories for majority of foods, because I have been doing this for years. I read labels on everything I eat, I also weigh food, so have a rough idea how many g/ml something is.
Your thread probably would have gone differently if you had mentioned your eating disorder in your first post. We are aware that people with EDs may be triggered by calorie counting, etc., and I and others are sympathetic to that.
You may wish to ask your treatment team if they think participating in the forums of a calorie counting site is a good idea - other medical professionals have advised other patients to not as they may find it triggering.7 -
I think it can be done without counting calories by being mindful and present when eating.
Yes, I did great with intuitive eating and mindfulness when I lived in yoga communities and was surrounded by food that was not calorie dense or hyper-palatable. I did the best when I was in Costa Rico and my options were yummy, but very limited. (Best fruit I've had in my life! Oh, those bananas, pineapples, and mangoes...)
Now that I have full access to American supermarkets and my own kitchen, and have a partner who prefers to eat differently than I would when I was just cooking for myself, it behooves me to count calories.7 -
You're saying it takes more skill not to count, but you've failed with counting?[/quote]
I am not judging people who want to count calories, for me Not counting is good because I don’t want to obsess about food all day long, I also don’t want buy into any fad diets, I know healthy people that do not count calories. Maybe it’s working for you.
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Foolish
The problem isn't cal counting, it's NOT counting cals accurately.2 -
jenncornelsen wrote: »I have yet to read a study that supports your view on sugar, any chance u have the source? Just curious I enjoy info. And I get it with the being tired of calorie counting. For me it's the only thing that works and I've tried everything. Good luck!
Here is the link where I got the info from. Thank you and Good luck to you too.
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jenncornelsen wrote: »I have yet to read a study that supports your view on sugar, any chance u have the source? Just curious I enjoy info. And I get it with the being tired of calorie counting. For me it's the only thing that works and I've tried everything. Goodluck!
Here is the info
https://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/this-is-why-you-crave-sugar-immediately-after-your-meal-1712612?amp=1&akamai-rum=off0 -
I am on maintenance and I calorie count, but not often. Because I watch the portion of food that goes on my plate during calorie counting, I can determine how portion to put on my plate without tracking. I eat pretty much the same stuff so it a bit easy. I only track if it's something I have never eaten. So, it doesn't have to be tedious.1
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for me Not counting is good because I don’t want to obsess about food all day long,
I would imagine that most people who enjoy counting and do so successfully do not "obsess about food all day long." That counting requires that seems to be your issue (and I'm sorry you have been struggling with an ED), not how it really is for most of us.8
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