In addition to CC...
 

Do you aim for a certain number of carbs, fat, or.....?

At first I really didnt and most of the time I still dont. My new thing is to just try not to eat carbs for dinner. I can never lose if I eat to many carbs. Usually when I dont eat carbs for dinner I see a loss almost the next day.

I try to get 40% of my calories from protein, both because protein is good for me and because carbs tend to make me hungry.

I am not nearly as careful about this as I am about total calories, however: on weekends, I eat more carbs just because popcorn is the only way to avoid munching on worse things.

I don't pay too much attention to the other stuff. Sometimes I will compare more than calories when I am trying to decide whether I want to eat food A or food B. I do try and watch how much starch I eat. I loose faster with a little less starch. I say starch instead of carbs because high carb fruits don't seem to have the same effect for me as starchy foods like rice or potatos.

There's research that's proved to my satisfaction that our guts extract most to all of the available calories in carbs, whole grain a little less so than processed grains, but still it's most.

Fats and proteins not so much, which means a calorie of bread does not equal a calorie of steak, as far as your intestines are concerned.

Keeping that in mind, I'm trying to get my carb intake down to 40% of my diet, and increase "good" unsaturated vegetable fats and lean meat, and trying to go up and up and up on my veggies.

My new strategy to do this includes cooking a lot of delicious low-oil chinese stir fry recipes, using all the traditional sauces, from a website I found, www.chinesehomecooking.com

Wish me luck! I'm on a mission to eat fewer carbs for life. It's hard, when you've been reared with the traditional American diet as your go-to method of cooking.

I watch total calories, but with my glucose issues (liver does not produce enough) I have to have some easy-to-digest carbs with every meal and snack, and ESP with dinner. I also have to take into account, calorie wise, my required early-morning snack, which also has to be carb-based (usually fruit or a glass of 1% milk).

I use an 1800 calorie exchange plan that's moderately low-carb (2 bread servings instead of the 7 to 9 in more traditional 1800 calorie exchange plans).

It also helps me choose whole foods, because those are easiest to count (although there are books and online exchange counters, that are as easy to use, and almost as easy to find as those that count calories).

I use the book "Exchanges for All Occasions."

Nope, I only watch calories. Kind of the whole point of calling it calorie counting if you ask me.

I watch calories, fiber and water. I have to force myself to eat the fiber and drink the water. But when I do I lose weight.

I aim for atleast 25 fiber and 9 eight oz glasses of water.

Some of us have health issues we have to consider in addition to our caloric intake. I have high Triglycerides so i also have to be careful of sugar and carbs. I try to stay below 30 grams of added sugar per day (i don't count fresh fruit or milk). Carbs, i just try to keep it below about 300mg.

For breakfast I go for high fiber. For lunch and dinner I try to go with protein, veggies and a healthy carb. Snacks are healthy whole foods. Other than that, I don't count anything but calories. I focus on having a balanced, healthy diet.

Nothing specific; I watch calories mostly.

I also aim for 3-4 servings of veggies and 2 servings of fruit (but I cheat and add dried fruit to yogurt usually once a day - I'm terrible at eating raw fruit).

In addition, I avoid pastas, white bread, baked goods, etc - in exchange for one piece of gourmet chocolate a night. :-)

It works for me :-)

Gosh it would be a real pain in the butt for those of us who count calories "plus" to have to describe the plus in greater detail every time.

I suppose instead of saying "I count calories using an exchange plan," (occasionally being more specific and saying "I count calories using a moderately-low carb exchange plan."

I could say that "I count calories by means of a reduced-carb exchange plan, and try to eat with nutrition in mind, being aware of the sodium, water, vitamin, mineral, transfat, hfcs, preservatives and additives, phytonutrient and antioxidant content of the food I eat; although sometimes I spend my exchanges on less nutritious choices. Although I find that if I eat a diet too high in carbohydrates, I don't lose weight very well and have more pain and other health issues, so I choose to spend fewer of my calories/exchanges on carb-rich foods."

I do keep track of more then just calories. I think if you are only paying attention to calories you might be missing other important information. I mean if I stayed within range of my calories but only ate like twinkies lol then I wouldn't be getting everything I need and/or going over on other things I don't want to. though let me say I don't think you have to keep track of everything, it might just not work for some.

I also am Diabetic so having to watch my carbs is very important to me. I don't mind the fat that much just because it is usually never a big problem for me. But I also like to see my fiber, sodium, and protein.

I use sparkpeople.com to keep track and it also keeps track of all those things easily so I can see where I am on track with everything or where I might want to add more protein or less carbs etc...

I count calories but my "Lose It" app also shows a running count of nutrients like fiber, protein, carbs, fat (percentages and grams); and also your averages on those for previous weeks. So that's handy sometimes if I'm preparing dinner or snacks, and it looks like I'm running low on something (hmmm, where did my fiber go today?) or high (OK, fat is getting high so time to leave the nuts off the salad and go for tuna). I got my "goal" numbers from the online Mayo Clinic recommendations which I think say something like try to stay under 30% fat and have a certain minimum amount of protein and fiber.

It's kind of fun to fiddle with the running tally during the day -- sometimes I play it like a game! -- but I don't obsess about it, especially since I have a really hard time keeping the fat under about 35% while still getting minimum protein, and that's eating chicken and fish, and skim milk yogurt, and hardly any red meat. I can't figure out how people do it.

It's also amazing to compare the occasional times I eat out. This weekend I had a Burger King hamburger and had to point out to everyone with me, DUDE, that was more fat grams in there than I ate ALL LAST WEEK.