Quote:
Originally Posted by ncuneo
I'm TERRRIFIED to stop counting, I know I always go back if the scale starts to move in a direction that I don't like, but I don't even want to go there and I'd really like to make this maintenance transistion as painless as possible.
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I think you've got to consider banishing this thought. All we have is trial and error, when it comes to weight loss and maintenance. There are no guarantees. If you want to try something different, you have to be prepared for different results. It may work out just as well or better than what you are doing, or it might not. You can only experiment, and with any experiment, the results aren't guaranteed.
In theory, interchangeable meals shouldn't be a problem at all. After all, if the calorie counts really are similar, you are counting calories, just indirectly.
I follow an exchange plan, in order to count calories. I still consider it calorie counting, because calorie content does set the upper and lower limit of each exchange. One fat exchange for example will have between 35 and 45 calories. One bread exchange, between 60 and 80. By limiting the exchanges, I limit the calories.
So if I have breakfast every day that breaks down as 1 fruit exchange, 1 milk exchange, 2 protein exchange and 1 starch exchange That's going to be a breakfast that is 350 to 380 calories.
I can fill those exchanges any way I want to and it's still going to fall between 350 and 380 calories. So whether I "count" those calories or not, it's still going to fall between 350 and 380 calories.
It's the calories that count, not your math. If you really are exchanging similar food/calories you are counting calories, you're just not doing the math every day.
The biggest risk is that you begin exchanging foods that are less alike than you think. Some fruits are much higher in calories than others, so "one piece of fruit" may not be equal exchanges. If you make that "mistake" once or twice, it probably won't affect your weight loss/maintenance, but if you make the mistake a lot, it could.
There is no way to know without taking the risk (or deciding not to and deciding that you're going to count each calorie forever - and that's a legitimate choice too).
You've got to decide how much you want to try something new, and if you want it enough to take the risk (and it's a relatively small one. It's not like you're going to try it for six months and never weigh yourself during that time. Any small gain you could see from a failed experiment is going to be caught within a few weeks and a few pounds).
There's really no way to predict whether you'll find it as effective as what you've been doing. It certainly can be, but whether you'll find it easier or as effective, that's something only the experiment can prove.