I wanted to know how many of you are calorie counters? I've tried that route and failed, miserably. Mostly because I just hated having to live my life counting calories and weighing everything. As part of my lifestyle change, not diet, because its not =D, I just use portion control and just snack on better things and exercise. I guess I'm just wondering if it's effective for you and how do you deal with it?
I calorie count! What I usually do is go to my cc site (myplate) in the morning and plan my food out for the day. If something changes, I just go back and re-adjust. I'm usually very good at following my plan.
I do not calorie count as part of my lifestyle change- I use it as a stepping stone, to get used to portion control. I don't tend to have many problems with this in day to day eating- it's when I get in my binge mode (which I've been very successful at dealing with for the past year). I *know* how much I should be eating, and when I get to my goal I plan to forgo calorie counting. My previous goal was 125, which I reached in late July last year and weaned myself off of counting. I did very well maintaining my loss until this winter, when I gained 5 pounds. So, this spring I decided to start CC'ing again and change my goal.
I think I will always CC in my head, just not so rigidly when I am where I want to be. I think the most important part of weight loss, when you're a binger, is to learn to "control" your binge feelings. And it's tough, very tough. That has to be conquered step by step, slowly, before being able to do something like CC- because with CC, you'll be "restricting" yourself in a sense, which can very badly backfire. It's also important to learn how to CC without deprivation, which is different for everyone. I always had a very healthy diet apart from my binges, so the transition was easy for me. Some people feel they need to cut certain foods out completely, others feel the need for a daily treat of some sort. I'm the type that needs the "treat"- today it was a whole fruit black cherry bar, yesterday it was coco roast almonds.
There are also different methods of CC'ing. Some people don't count the calories from fruits/veggies (though I think most do), some people cycle calories (fluctuating from 1300-1700 calories on different days of the week), some people count the calories burned and subtract that from calories eaten. Some people weigh and measure everything (I don't weigh, and when I've measured something enough times I'll eyeball it, like a tbsp. of peanut butter).
Anyways, I've rambled enough! It sounds like you've got a good thing sorted out for yourself! CC'ing isn't for everyone.
I used to calorie count, too, but not anymore! Similar to CorinneIrene, I used calorie counting as a way to get used to portion control (and back then, I never thought about serving sizes at all!). It also helped me to realize just how many calories I was eating at the end of the day. I knew I ate a lot and needed to change those bad eating habits, but I had no idea I ate 3,000+ calories when the daily average intake is about 2,000! So CC'ing was a really great eye-opener for me.
Eventually, I started to relax a bit with the strict counting and portions measuring, and now I just prefer to eat healthier, exercise more (training for a half-marathon!), and eat goodies in moderation. I do eat a lot sometimes, but it wasn't like the horrible binges I've had before. Still working on being more disciplined, so I'll just keep at it!
Haha I could never. I mean obviously I know it works and congrats girls on maintaining your goals! I hope to reach mine as well.
I know exactly has to go into my body and how much. The calorie counting like you both said is a great way to realize how much your putting in your body but not good for the continuous changes in your life style eating. I know it's effective, but like you said not for everyone. I usually look at my calories when I'm dying for a candy bar or ice cream. I think is using this calories worth the back track, absolutely not.
But to each their own and keep on doing what works for you! =)
I am calorie counting now. I use an app on my ipod touch, so it's within reach most of the time. I dont know how accurate the calories are for things that aren't packaged are but it has made me more conscious of the numbers of what I am taking in. I hope to also be able to stop actually counting. I am enjoying the fact that it's kind of like a puzzle, and has made me more accountable to the random junk food I may have picked up at the store to eat in the car on the way home. I stopped myself from buying junk food today at the store (though it was soooo hard) because I knew what I had left to spend and that I had some better junk food at home I wanted to indulge in later.
I keep a running tally in my head but I don't weigh or measure my food or journal or anything. I suppose the accurate term would be "calorie approximation." Any stricter and I feel like I'm not living my life, but I need to keep the numbers in mind or I'll overeat all the time.
I am a calorie counter. I counted calories faithfully for 17 months to lose 190 pounds and I have continued to count them for 2 additional years to maintain my substantial weight loss. Since maintaince I have had weekends/vacations where I don't count...and I ALWAYS put on a few pounds and have to hit the grind stone to lose it again. Not counting calories would spell disaster for me.
For some, counting might be anal, or mundane, but for me, it's my ticket to freedom. Sure it could be a drag at first, sure it sucked at first, sure I wish I never ever had to deal with weight issues, BUT, the payoff is immeasurable. Thankfully counting is very simple to learn, and only after a few weeks I could count calories in my sleep. I can look at a piece of meat or a potato and estimate almost exactly how much it weights. So the hard part is long gone.
I'll deal with the small discomforts of counting to keep my 140 pound size 6, rock hard bod. LOL . If it works for me, I'll keep doing it. Being thin and healthy is worth every single of the few minutes a day I need to calculate calories.
I also wanted to add that ANY reputable diet plan will help you lose weight, but every single one of them requires one thing. To eat less calories. Wether it's caluclated in points, carbs, replacement meals or shakes, every single one of them requires you to eat less calrories than you burn.
Any diet plan will work, but not everyone is willing to work their diet plan. They all take work and dedication. All diets suck. If diets were easy and great, no one would be overweight.
I also wanted to add that ANY reputable diet plan will help you lose weight, but every single one of them requires one thing. To eat less calories. Wether it's caluclated in points, carbs, replacement meals or shakes, every single one of them requires you to eat less calrories than you burn..
I'm a counter. I can't seem to give it up, I'm too afraid. Is it contributing to my binging, maybe, does it work for me YES. It's not inconvenient for me at all, it's part of my day. A good part of my day, a part of the day when I feel in control.
The only time it becomes a problem is when I get obessive, which happens a lot, or when I won't let myself eat something healthy when I'm honestly hungry because it doesn't "fit" in my allowed cals. <------ This I am stopping right now. Because it all equals out, some days I'm hungry some days I'm not. So I'm trying to use it more as a guide now instead of a rule.
Sometimes I wish I'd never started counting, but in the end it's what got me to lose the last 50 lbs and keep it off for almost a year. I know that I've gained 10 lbs back, but because of counting I know exactly why and how to fix it.
Honestly if you can figure it out without counting - do it! For me, it's just part of my life now and I've accepted that.
I count calories all the time. It works really well for me as long as I don't allow it to become an obsession. Normally I just plan out my day, the night before, so I know what's going to happen. That way I won't be stressing the next day, trying to figure out what I'm going to eat. If plans change, I do my best to go with the flow and adjust my intake accordingly, but I tend to be rather strict when it comes to food, so I have a lot of loosening up to do.
I have tried just using portion control, snacking on healthy things and exercise and it just does not work for me. I think that I just simply don't have the ability to estimate a healthy amount. Weighing and measuring my food and counting the calories in that food works for me. I have accepted that I need to calorie count the rest of my life and it does not seem so bad now. I have to keep count of other things in life too. Keeping track of my calories is much easier than keeping track of my money.
I count calories, but honestly, it hasn't really helped much. I tend to get a little fanatical about having the numbers right, but I don't have a scale to weigh the food--
Then, I get sick and tired of all the work it takes to count calories all day, and how little it pays off and I break the diet.
Then I think "oh, its ok not to count calories just this once" but really, I already know I am over-eating at that time, and that's why I don't want to count them.
I've had the best success with restricted food diets, but obviously the weight loss hasn't lasted from them.
It's like I want something really simple to follow--like an all vegetable juice diet--but then again, in real life I don't want to be confined to an extremely rigid diet forever.
One thing that makes calorie counting easier are the pre-packaged meals like Lean Cuisine and such, which have a simple number recorded--only when you get into eating healthier things, like home cooked meals, it gets a little harder to keep track of everything (without a ton of math.)
Thats why simple diets like eating only raw foods, or no carbs etc. is easier for me--it just doesn't last. Portion control seems like a good way to go, and it sounds like it's working for you!
I have calorie/carb counted for 88 weeks now and will continue the rest of my life. I use a nutritional software and it is extremely easy to use and I have never tired of it. I weigh all my foods, I have a pocket size portable digital scale and a full sized one on the kitchen counter. When I don't weigh and count food, I gain weight because it is too easy to underestimate. If eating "normal" sized portions were a workable option for me, I would not have gotten to 317 pounds. For me, doing this is no different than following a recipe, ensuring success with careful measuring.
Calorie Counters?
. If it works for me, I'll keep doing it. Being thin and healthy is worth every single of the few minutes a day I need to calculate calories.
