Yeah, I know I BARELY squeezed into the 140's but it was so very nice to see the 4 there this morning. I adore calorie counting. WOooOOOOT!

Okay, so here is my question. The last couple of days I haven't been "writing" my calories and journaling. I have only been keeping a running tally in my head. What do you guys think of this method? Has anyone done this/doing this with success?

Hey soon to be thighless,
Yup, ever since the very beginning I have been an estimate in my head kinda gal. Works great for me, as you can see from my siggy, I've been doing this for awhile now with great success! It does work for me, others will say no way, no how, it would never work for them. Continue to give it a whirl, I am sure you will be just fine with it like I am.

Doesn't work for me! I have to write it down and plan to do so until I get to my goal. Once I reach it- then I might stop writing.

I also must write everything down, because my eyes just seem to overestimate portions but keep up what works for you!. You can always go back to writing things down if your loss stops. on such a good job!

Congrats on getting to the 140s!!!! Isn't is so nice to see the next number?

I have to write everything too. I can go a day here and there but I don't feel like I have gotten to the point where I can guesstimate 100% of the time. It's only been 8 months though so maybe after a year or 18 months, it will be super-intuitive (I hope at least!) :-)

WOOOHOOO!!!! 149.5 SO counts

I reached a point where I gave up calorie counting, but I still record everything I eat. I just type it into a little text document every evening (usually it's at least partly filled in ahead of time as I plan; then I go back after the fact and make corrections). I used to record quantities carefully, now not so much. But I still type it all in. For me, it's a good balance between staying aware and not being burdensome.

When I don't write things down and tell myself I'll track in my head, I almost always overeat.

But some people do have success with this approach...

Thank you everyone for your replies. I think I am going to go back to journaling just until I get further down my path. Ya'll rock!

Congrats on the 40s!
When I was on vacation and did not have access to the daily plate I did keep a running tally in my head. And that was okay.
At home I know with certainty I will fall off track if I do not type the foods and/or cals in.

For example... I went off plan today an was looking to acct for the calories. Finding every little thing I ate (and boy do all those little things add up) would have been cumbersome on the daily plate. I looked at the calorie counts as I was eating the stuff-- well when possible-- mostly costco tastes-- and then wrote it all on a paper so I would not forget.

a ha, as I'm writing this-- I did forget something....agh

you see?

I have done it and I think it could have great results but it doesnt work for me becuase I have the worst memory like I can remember everything I eat but I will forget my tally for the day and have to back track and look at all my food again grr lol. So for me I have to keep track of everything I use fit day. But If you can remember it I think its a good way to do it if you can! Good luck!

I usually buy the same foods every month (rotate the same meals every 2 weeks, same lunches, same breakfasts, and snacks). So I tend to know the exact calories in my meal portions, my snacks, etc. I've been doing this lately, just calculating it in my head. It really works. I'm still losing and eating around the right amount of calories.

Wormwooddoll...that's what i try to do for the most part...at least breakfast and lunch. i have to shake it up for dinner time because of the family...but try to keep the rest of it the same. I'm really trying to do that on the weekends too...to stay in the groove. I always input into fitday during the week...if i can figure out the calories on everything...but don't find myself inputing for the weekend every week. But i'm going to try to make sure i write it all down and input it in the fitday website and get a better account of what i'm eating on a weekly basis.