Better to eat less or track every calorie?

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  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,293 Member
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    Mikect1980 wrote: »
    Hi,

    I was bouncing back and forth with whether it’s best and more realistic to eat less and more mindfully, or count every calorie using this app?

    I feel if I track everything then it feels like a chore, and like I’m restricting myself.

    If I eat less and am more mindful, I feel
    That would make me feel more free. Has any one had success one way or the other?

    Thank you

    I'm not sure I understand the question.

    If one option is to log, I get that. It is the other option I don't get.

    If the plan is to "eat less" and more mindfully, how do you know what it less? If you don't count it, how do you know?

    There's also a wrong item on the either/or equation. You can track every calorie AND eat mindfully. It's actually a good idea. So take that out of the equation. Then you are left with the question:

    "Is it more realistic to eat less or count calories?" The answer is the same: You don't know if you are eating fewer calories if you don't track them.
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    edited January 2021
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    Also another reason to track not just before you make changes but for a while after, that's a bit backward? I actually found myself UNDERshooting my calorie goals and winding up feeling really, really crappy. Because if I sub ALL those things out of my diet entirely, and just focus on the less calorically dense food I like? I wind up eating about 1000 calories a day.

    If that goes too long I will absolutely eventually eat a family sized bag of chips (or anything else I can lay hands on) and it's just plain not good for me (or anyone else). That is not a useful or desirable cycle.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,005 Member
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    mtaratoot wrote: »
    Mikect1980 wrote: »
    Hi,

    I was bouncing back and forth with whether it’s best and more realistic to eat less and more mindfully, or count every calorie using this app?

    I feel if I track everything then it feels like a chore, and like I’m restricting myself.

    If I eat less and am more mindful, I feel
    That would make me feel more free. Has any one had success one way or the other?

    Thank you

    I'm not sure I understand the question.

    If one option is to log, I get that. It is the other option I don't get.

    If the plan is to "eat less" and more mindfully, how do you know what it less? If you don't count it, how do you know?

    There's also a wrong item on the either/or equation. You can track every calorie AND eat mindfully. It's actually a good idea. So take that out of the equation. Then you are left with the question:

    "Is it more realistic to eat less or count calories?" The answer is the same: You don't know if you are eating fewer calories if you don't track them.


    I disagree with last sentence.

    If you eat less than you did before by cutting out high calorie items, you know you are eating less.

    If you lose weight over time by whatever you are doing, you know you are eating less.

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