I won’t track calories anymore
Replies
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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 -
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.
Thank you and sorry about earlier post.
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I suggest you also budget your money by paying no attention to your salary or expenses. This is the same plan you want for nutrition[/quote]
Not really, not for me. Some people are absolutely fine with how they budget their money, but calorie counting does not work for them and is completely unrelated to budgeting skills. However you have your own opinion.
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@syeda2007 when you are responding to a post, just hit the Quote button and start typing underneath like what you did when you responded to PAV three posts up.
What you're doing now is confusing because you are often typing in someone else's post and figuring out who said what is difficult.7 -
Eat half of them cooked, too. It makes the vitamins more accessible to your body. You cannot extract all the vitamins from eating only raw vegetables. For example, would you eat a raw sweet potato? :X I would not. But cooked, it's very good for you.3
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(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.
No nothing like that. I’m only human, I didn’t mention my ED in OP, so didn’t mean to come across like that. Also some people are sarcastic, so I got a bit snappy at them and ridiculed them for counting calories but I take that back. I am human, and not perfect. In my OP I said to everyone good luck if calorie counting works for you.
MFP is a platform to share, with people so that is what I simply did, I don’t think my opinion or choice is better than yours, whatever works for whoever is what I said in original post.
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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. Good luck!
The sugar thing has to do with how your body processes it. If you are insulin resistant or low on insulin, in other words diabetic or prediabetic, then sugar isn't great for you because you can't process it right and it floats around in your blood causing problems. Without these problems you can enjoy it in moderation if you are psychologically able to do so.
To some people it's a trigger for overeating or even binging, all insulin aside. That was a thing for me before the 'beetus struck. Probably how I got this way in the first place. I cut out all added sugars in an attempt to go into remission (yes, doctor's guidance) and the cravings went away much faster than expected. I'll be able to report back in April about how hemoglobin A1C has fared.
If OP here has an ED, sugar may be a psychological issue.2 -
snowflake954 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.
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?
There is no need to be rude, do you own MFP? I can post my decisions on here if I want, if your not interested in my life, don’t comment. Bye!
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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. Good luck!
The sugar thing has to do with how your body processes it. If you are insulin resistant or low on insulin, in other words diabetic or prediabetic, then sugar isn't great for you because you can't process it right and it floats around in your blood causing problems. Without these problems you can enjoy it in moderation if you are psychologically able to do so.
To some people it's a trigger for overeating or even binging, all insulin aside. That was a thing for me before the 'beetus struck. Probably how I got this way in the first place. I cut out all added sugars in an attempt to go into remission (yes, doctor's guidance) and the cravings went away much faster than expected. I'll be able to report back in April about how hemoglobin A1C has fared.
If OP here has an ED, sugar may be a psychological issue.
OP was not saying that she was avoiding sugar. She linked an article that said sugar after a meal is needed because of the energy spike helping digestion which makes little sense to me (surely all the food you just ate contains energy) but I don't care if people do or do not eat sugar after a meal.5 -
kshama2001 wrote: »@syeda2007 when you are responding to a post, just hit the Quote button and start typing underneath like what you did when you responded to PAV three posts up.
What you're doing now is confusing because you are often typing in someone else's post and figuring out who said what is difficult.
Thank you3 -
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!
The sugar thing has to do with how your body processes it. If you are insulin resistant or low on insulin, in other words diabetic or prediabetic, then sugar isn't great for you because you can't process it right and it floats around in your blood causing problems. Without these problems you can enjoy it in moderation if you are psychologically able to do so.
To some people it's a trigger for overeating or even binging, all insulin aside. That was a thing for me before the 'beetus struck. Probably how I got this way in the first place. I cut out all added sugars in an attempt to go into remission (yes, doctor's guidance) and the cravings went away much faster than expected. I'll be able to report back in April about how hemoglobin A1C has fared.
If OP here has an ED, sugar may be a psychological issue.
OP was not saying that she was avoiding sugar. She linked an article that said sugar after a meal is needed because of the energy spike helping digestion which makes little sense to me (surely all the food you just ate contains energy) but I don't care if people do or do not eat sugar after a meal.
That's interesting. I have never heard this before. I'm not going to try it for obvious reasons, but it might make sense of people's desire to eat dessert.3 -
Eat half of them cooked, too. It makes the vitamins more accessible to your body. You cannot extract all the vitamins from eating only raw vegetables. For example, would you eat a raw sweet potato? :X I would not. But cooked, it's very good for you.
Yes that’s true, thank you. I was just being vague, I should have worded it more correctly. I roast the sweet potatoes myself. But at the moment, I’m eating the fruit and veg which don’t need to be cooked such as carrots, spinach, cucumber, red peppers. I think my body was lacking natural raw vegetables and fruits. I also watched a YouTube video by Sadhguru and he talks about food in it pure form, and it’s apparent ‘codes.’ But yes some veggies and fruit taste better and release it’s nutrients when cooked.2 -
You definitely get a load of fiber in raw vegetables. I'm a big fan of crunchy salads with as many types of veg as I can reasonably cram in. XD2
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Eat half of them cooked, too. It makes the vitamins more accessible to your body. You cannot extract all the vitamins from eating only raw vegetables. For example, would you eat a raw sweet potato? :X I would not. But cooked, it's very good for you.
Yes that’s true, thank you. I was just being vague, I should have worded it more correctly. I roast the sweet potatoes myself. But at the moment, I’m eating the fruit and veg which don’t need to be cooked such as carrots, spinach, cucumber, red peppers. I think my body was lacking natural raw vegetables and fruits. I also watched a YouTube video by Sadhguru and he talks about food in it pure form, and it’s apparent ‘codes.’ But yes some veggies and fruit taste better and release it’s nutrients when cooked.
Even many vegetables that are commonly eaten raw (like spinach) have certain more accessible nutrients when eaten cooked. I definitely include both in my diet. Most of the raw foodist stuff needs to be heavily vetted, as it's not based on real science at all.8 -
Thank you to all who have been supportive, my intention was to share not change you in anyway. I know my OP does not sound like that, I got a bit carried away I suppose. I think I need to look for a more suitable app/forum tailored to my new approach on weight loss. Pardon me if I have offended anyone and Good luck to you all.14
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snowflake954 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.
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?
There is no need to be rude, do you own MFP? I can post my decisions on here if I want, if your not interested in my life, don’t comment. Bye!
And people are allowed to respond.
If you prefer an echo chamber, you may wish to do a blog or a closed page instead where you can talk to yourself without other people interacting with you.10 -
OP I accept that calorie counting is not the best method for everyone - although I find it quite helpful myself.
A few people on MFP seem to think calorie counting is the only way for anyone - but most of us do not.
I think where most of your push back came from was not the decision that calorie counting is not for you, it is from the type of comments like "We’ve got to eat whole fruit and veg, in raw state so the vitamins are still there. We have to eat whole grains, the odd salty snack won’t hurt. Also sugar is needed not always a bad thing after meal, cos the serotonin helps with digestion, it’s about science. But try it out for yourself- the good old fashioned way of losing weight, without counting calories."
No, we, as in all of us, do not need to change to all raw fruit/veg or eat whole grains (or any grains) if we dont want to
and the idea the we all, on a calorie counting website, should try out something else - sure, maybe you should try out something else - but as soon as you change your wording from I should do this to everyone should do this - you get people rightly saying No we all shouldnt.16 -
You definitely get a load of fiber in raw vegetables. I'm a big fan of crunchy salads with as many types of veg as I can reasonably cram in. XD
That is very true but the micronutrients in many vegetables are actually more bio-available in cooked. Vegetables that can more nutritious cooked include carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms, and asparagus. In the case of some, eating both cooked and raw is best. Tomatoes for example: cooked brings out the lycopine but diminishes the Vitamin C so eating both ways maximizes the nutritional benefits.10 -
However for nearly all of us, this is rather 'majoring in the minors" - love that phrase, wish we used it in Australia!
There is no need to monitor your vitamins that closely - if you are eating a half decent balanced diet you will not be having nutrient deprivation - and most of us, without any specific plan or goal, do eat some raw fruit/veg and some cooked, in practice it doesnt matter which ones.
If you like a particular fruit/veg raw or cooked just eat it that way
I, for example, like bananas, mandarines, strawberries raw and have no intention of changing to cooked version, regardless of what is 'optimal'
Other things like mushrooms, potatoes, beans, zucchini I have no intention of eating raw.
some things like carrots and tomatoes, I do eat sometimes raw, sometimes cooked.
Just eat whichever ones whichever way you want and that will be fine7 -
I haven't noticed anyone saying that all veg and fruit should be eaten half cooked, half raw. People are saying the advice by OP to only eat fruit and veg raw is bad, since in some cases veg have more accessible vitamins cooked, so eating some cooked, some raw is a good idea, and doing some sort of raw food thing is not supported by the evidence -- basically ignore the raw food propaganda. I don't consider something so easy re nutrition majoring in the minors.4
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Well OP was saying we should eat them all raw, although I know she later modified that.
I don't disagree with you ,my post was more referring to earlnabbey's above mine.
I don't disagree with her either - but I do think in real life we don't need to overanalyse our diets for which veg are better nutrition raw or cooked, if we eat a half way decent diet we will not be nutritionally deprived.
I'm not saying earnabbey said otherwise , it was just me continuing on further from her post.4
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