Am I the only one that doesn't like counting calories?

just plan your meals on here by calories and fat for the week and stick to it. easy.! if you dont plan what your gonna eat each day you will just eat anything and guess it.

That's the thing, there is no secret. You just have to DO it. Sure it may be inefficient to have to plan what you eat, but unplanned eating is what got you here in the first place.

You can't lose weight without some kind of effort on your part. You may not like it all the time, but it's what you have to do.

Oh my God, we need to be friends. I haven't been counting calories in awhile now. See my profile because I am more about Mindful Eating. I think the focus on counting calories makes me more obsessed with food (the opposite of how I want to live my life).

~Tamie

:drinker:

Friend Me, if you want.

How do you usually access MFP - phone or PC?

Do you know at the start of each day roughly what you plan to eat for that day - can you log in advance, and then just fine tune afterwards?

I have a strange way of looking at it, and this will not work for everyone, but I started by seeing it as a project or experiment, and it just sort of stuck that way with me. I am a trial and error type of person, so looking at it that way really helps me stick with it. I even weighed several times a day the first few months, to spot patterns in my daily, weekly, and monthly fluctuations. I became obsessed with seeing what I could do to make sure I got a loss each week (and always making sure I ate at least 1200 calories!), and predicting how much the loss would be.
Then I added exercise into the equation and experimented with eating vs not eating my calories back. (Eating them back is definitely the way to go.) Just a couple of days ago I decided to increase my calories from 1200 to 1850, and now I'm experimenting with that. I don't focus as much on the end result, but on day to day results. What seems to make me retain water, what seems to energize me, and what makes me feel tired or less energetic.

I focused on everything EXCEPT the fact that I had 50 pounds to lose and it was going to take a long time and a lot of hard work to do it.

I try and make sure I eat lots of good stuff loads of fruit and veg, low or fat free yoghurts, and try and fill myself up with that as much as possible. I make sure that each of my meals is AT THE VERY LEAST one third fruit, salad or veg (ideally half) and snack on fruit inbetween meals if I'm hungry and another biggy for me is that I do eat when I'm hungry. I love my food so there is no way I'm going to starve myself for anyone. Eat when you are hungry but eat the right things. I dont plan my meals around calories, I just put in what I have eaten that day, going over your calories by a few if you are still hungry and reach for some fruit or fat free yoghurt isn't against the law! Oh, and try and drink lots of water.

I used to keep a general number in my head and I did loose 10lbs but, once I started keeping an accurate count I gained most of it back. I realized some days I was eating too much but mostly I was eating too little. Not having an accurate number kept my calories way low, I was always hungry and figured it was supposed to be that way. Calorie counting is the only way to get an accurate number and even then it can be off by a few hundred or so depending on what you eat, how you cook it, and the accuracy of the nutritional info Since keeping an accurate count my weight loss has been steady and I have never gone back up more than a pound even when taking brake. Take a brake if you get stressed over it. Sometimes counting can be frustrating and exhausting so every time I feel overwhelmed I take a week or two to maintain. It takes longer to reach your goal but you keep your sanity.

I have spend months finding what works for me and since doing so I can know what I have left in my day and not track until the end of the day. Or I put in all my snacks and breakfast then see how much I have for dinner and don't track that until bed time. You don't have to track every day, some people don't. Just understand it takes a while to find what works for you.

I hate counting calories, but I hated being fat even more.

Counting calories has allowed me to see just how much I used to eat and enabled me to make better choices. I certainly don't plan to do it forever, but I will for at least a year so I know I have good habits established and a good idea of the calorie content of my food.

I've always disliked it UNTIL MFP. And, I've also done something different this time. I started looking for food that would fit into a reduced calorie life. But I like to eat, so I had to come up with meals that really, really satisfy me. And, I love chocolate, so I make sure to incorporate it every day. ( I did give up some things -- I rarely drink soda any more).

Now, I think I eat a greater volume of food now than before (I"ve lost 32 lbs total). The key is to find what works. I now drink fruit smoothies...it's easier for me to get my fruits this way. I eat a bigger breakfast and smaller lunch/supper. My snacks are now things like 1/4 cup of almonds with 1 Tablespoon of semisweet chocolate chips.

I also have read the book "Volumetrics" and "Eat More, Weigh Less" (sounds impossible right?) and my latest favorite "The 400 Calorie Fix."

I've redesigned what and the way I eat. I had to stop thinking "diet" and think health instead.

My favorite part of tracking food is the report of your food. At the end of the day, you can see if you have too much sodium, not enough protein, or how much sugar you've consumed. It's a fantastic tool.

I don't like counting them when I am running out!

Jest aside, I joined because I follow WW and, while their plan has helped me to lose weight and lose weight well, loss is somewhat inconsistent - I thought tracking calories as well might help me to understand, week by week, why the results are different and whether the balance of foods I eat is right. It's early days yet but it seems as though combining the two is making me more successful :bigsmile:

I have never counted calories, and I don't plan to. I just eat right and exercise, and it works for me, though I know that counting really helps a lot of people. Everyone is different.

I have never counted calories, and I don't plan to. I just eat right and exercise, and it works for me, though I know that counting really helps a lot of people. Everyone is different.

Works for me. I learned I only really needed to count calories when I wasn't eating right. Good food fills you up.

No, you are not the only one who does not like counting calories.

I think that counting calories is a great experience to teach us to look at nutrition labels and to plan out our food, but after a couple months of doing it, I was tired, hungry, and kind of weak.

I stopped counting calories months ago.

When I stopped counting, I gained a couple pounds at first, but I didn't give up on my journey. I eventually started to work out more, and I still read nutrition labels and have a general idea of what I ate any given day. However, I don't have giant red numbers telling me the story. I don't have a little message each day that says, "if every day were like today" because honestly, each day is different, and everyone's bodies are different and a computer app just can't tell you how to live your life.

If you are hungry, you should eat. If you are not hungry, don't eat. If you don't even know what hungry is anymore, see a nutritionist or read a book like "Intuitive Eating" or "Mindless Eating" and see if you can figure out how much to eat without counting calories anymore.

I'm still losing weight consistently, and I don't need to track every morsel of food. I just need to look at what I'm eating, consider what else I have eaten or want to eat that day, and consider how much physical activity I'm going to get. If I can eat 9 Hershey kisses for 180 calories (I don't remember the actual numbers) then I might have one or two and go on about my business. If I want to eat half a bag, I try to get a good cardio workout in on the same day.

Counting calories is a wonderful learning experience, but I don't think it is realistic for most of us to do it forever. Some folks have to because they have a hard time gauging how much is enough, but if you can figure out how to lose weight without it, then by all means do so.

I mostly use MFP for the friends list and forums. I like to get on here and talk about what I've been doing and see what others are up to and how it is working for them.

I get what you mean about kind of being obssessive about the numbers. It can be stressful. I agree with what others say here about planning ahead. If you're having trouble staying under your calories, it's to your benefit to fill in your food diary in advance so you can plan what you're going to eat & when you'll eat it. Try to go heavier on protein & fiber to keep your appetite under control. Planning ahead prevents you from stressing later in the day when you're trying to figure out what to eat that will fit your targets.

If you go over on one day, you could spread out the overage through the rest of the week. If you go over by 400 calories on Monday, you could try to be under by 100 calories T-F. It's not the end of the world if you don't meet your targets exactly.

I can't say I like it, but if it helps me loose weight, it is worth the headache.

I generally try to stick with 'under 500 cal' for my evening meals (most health meals will easily be under that), have soup for lunch (hardly ever more than 250 calories) and porridge for breakfast (with half a sppon of sugar and a cupa tea and 2 sugars this is 240 calories) Knowing that that is my 'stables' I know that I can have a minimum of 500 calories on snacks every day.

and THIS is where you do the tracking. So the other day when I was given a doughnut, I check on MFP, and decided it wasn't worth the 280 cal- so I had half. If I wouldn't be tracking calories, i would have given in to the whole doughnut....

It either suites you or it doesn't. I do have to be in the right frame of mind to do this, but once I start loosing weight I soon get into it. I have tried many diets, but this is the only one which consistantly helped me loose weight. Maybe another one suites you better?