Today for lunch I packed a nice salad for work. Unexpectedly my boss invited me to lunch at In N Out burger. I was thrown for a loop, but decided to go anyways. I've been so careful these first couple weeks with my new diet. I only ate 3/4 of the burger and about 1/2 of the fries. Immediately I looked up the nutritional information and recorded it (I was so nervous!). It ended up being about 650 calories total since I only ate part of it.

I love how calorie counting is flexible and allows for those unexpected times that pop up. It makes me feel that for the long term I can maintain my weight after the loss by watching calories, not by restricting certain foods as off limits.

Tell me, why do you prefer calorie counting over other diets?

Have a wonderful day!!

I love it for that exact reason! I don't have to cut anything out, just make room for it. Most of the time I try to make the most of my calories but sometimes I just need a burger or chocolate or whatever I'm craving that day.

Good for you on only eating half!! You clearly have more self control than I do.

I had a similar experience today, also related to a work lunch. We had ordered in so I did get to pick what I wanted and got a salad with some grilled salmon on it. But then when I opened the box, there were chips and a big cookie!! I passed the cookie onto a co-worker, but looked at the calorie info on the chips, and figured out that I could work them into my daily budget and enjoy. It helped that the dressing was so tasty, I was able to do the "dip the fork tines" thing and only use 1/4 of it!

Same here! We eat out and it is just a fact of life. I went to Taco Bell and had the Fresco Chicken Taco and the Fresco Steak Taco for a grand total of 300 calories!
I print out the menus to fast food places and restaurants so I am always prepared.
I also love the basic science of it.

I also like it because its FREE!

I had a similar experience yesterday. The group I am working with decided to go to Macaroni Grill for lunch. I thought there was no way I was going to be able to eat much of anything there. I looked things up before hand a picked a few dishes I could eat half of and stay within the calorie range that I wanted. When I got to the restaurant I was pleasantly surprised to find they have a new menu that shows the calorie counts... and there was a whole dish on there with less calories than the half dishes I had picked out! It was awesome!

I love calorie counting because it's not restrictive. It allows for date nights, work lunches and romantic dinners. Just a lot of flexibility. It only requires planning.

I agree with Mulder and jigglefree. Never thought I'd like CC but I am so into now and lovin' it.... I journal and even that's fun
.....and everything and anything at your fingertips, just up to you to make the better choices, and still have a snack of choice.

I like calorie counting because there are clearly definable goals and I always feel good when I meet my calorie intake target. Also, those times when you do go wrong you can clearly see how much you have to make up for.

For a while I tried to guess and just eat well, but it doesn't work so well without those clear cut boundaries and targets strict calorie counting provides.

I love calorie counting because I feel in control of what I am doing. I have boundaries, but inside of those boundaries I have some freedom too. If I want to eat out or have that little piece of chocolate, I can! I just have to account for it and stay within my calorie range. I think it helps resolve a lot of eating guilt for me too. I don't have to feel bad because of something I ate, I just have to make it work into my day calorie wise.

Why do I love it? Because I had a loss this week of 0.6, which is a lot for me recently, and I ate garlic bread (one of my FAVOURITES) twice! YAHOO!

I love that nothing is "off plan" if I really want it and figure out how to fit it into my calorie budget.

But even more, I love the fact that because there is no forbidden food, I'm less tempted to cheat, so I don't even bother eating the foods I would have cheated with. I know they are there, if and when I want (or feel like I HAVE to have them) but knowing that makes it much easier to decide, nope, don't really want it.

I love it for all the reasons listed here It being free is great, anyone can do it.

I like being in control. I am also a horrid picky eater lol. So it means I dont have to worry about finding stuff I will eat so much.

I also like it because it really gives you so much of a better understanding about what you are eating. Since starting calorie counting I learned so much about nutrition and would be hugely surprised about what calories some things do have!

I love counting calories because I know that you don't combine 2 dinners as one dinner and then complain about not losing weight. Example: I make chicken wraps for dinner just like McDonald's does. I take either grilled (for me) or fried (for the kids) and wrap them up with some lettuce and cheese. They are healthy and you get 2 for 400 calories if done right. That's a dinner for me. Well, tonight my roommate's daughter and grandkids are coming over and she's making the fried ones AND mac & cheese for dinner which is a whopping 800 - 900 calories depending on the size of the mac serving. One serving is 400 calories, the wraps would be 500-600 (I haven't looked up the fried calories) and then add mac on top. UGH. For me that's just too much and I'll probably leave while they eat. I just can't fathom 1000 calories for dinner. But if you do eat that, don't complain that I am losing and you aren't (as my roommate).

I like counting calories because I can still eat whatever I want (just not necessarily as much as I want). It is easy to do once I got into the habit of doing it. The hardest part of calorie counting for me is figuring out calories in casserole type dishes(if I am not using a receipe that includes nutritional info). I usually end up doing the math for the whole pan and then dividing that number into servings.