Forgive me if this has been answered ad nauseum, but a brief search did not quickly reveal a thread on this topic.

So...to count calories or to not count calories on South Beach?

Im not, but that is because I know I will fail this if I do. I get too much into it and it becomes more of a prison for me. So, the reason I wanted to do this diet was because in the book Dr. A said that we don't need to count calories, but rely on our tummies to tell us when we are satisfied. Which means to me, eat at a moderate to slow pace when eating, drink lots of water, and your body will help alongside the diet. It scares me a little, but I am trying this method. As, like I said, I hate and will not do a diet that counts calories in order to work. Consideration is okay though...just not the overall goal.

I count, but more as a guide than a rule.

I like to see patterns, and if I track what i put into my mouth, and into my body, than I can track how I feel and how my body reacts.

I don't count, but I read labels and am aware of what calories are in certain foods. I do, however, measure and portion out cheese, nuts (incl. peanut butter), oils and salad dressings.

I don't but like Lex, I am learning to read labels and am very careful to measure and limit my cheese, nuts, oil, etc. Plus I try very hard every day to get in enough vegs, dairy, and protein. I think I would fail if I had to count calories. It would take over my life and I couldn't handle that. I don't want to think about food every minute of the day.

I do count and have since my second or third month on SBD (over three years ago). I've been overweight or obese for so long that I can overeat on any plan so having limits around the South Beach principles keeps me in check. It's definitely more work though and I wouldn't do it if I had a choice.

I log my calories, but don't make decisions based on how many calories are in something when deciding whether I'm full or not.

I do so because I like spreadsheets, and graphs, and suchlike ... I'm a total geek for numbers, and calorie (and nutritional information) counting gives me something more to work with.

I am like you annie. HAHA.
I sometimes make decisions based on calories but not often. I do it more as a record keeping thing. If I see a weird weight fluctuation, I have the calorie/food log to go back to. When I tried to switch over to P1.5-2 the first time I kept no track of anything and completely stalled!

SOOO when I did it the second time, I kept track of things like calories, fiber etc, and seeing it all down on "paper" allows me to make better choices. If I am missing some fiber and have too much fat or protein for the day, I add veggies. Stuff like that.

I figure food is going to be a huge part of my life for the rest of my life, may as well take the ten minutes during the morning with a cup of coffee and plan out my meals, snacks and calories then, rather than taking a taste here, a taste there, and ending up at the end of the day with no idea what I put in my mouth!

Don't count either. I only measure the limited stuff too. Used to do WW for years and don't miss the tallying stuff. Used to drive me crazy. If I follow Dr. A's guidelines I know I'm getting in the right amounts of foods my body needs. When I'm really hungry between meals, my go to foods are veggies and hummus. I tend to eat the same breakfasts, lunches and snacks, but vary my evening meals, which works for me.

I try to count, but it always fails. I think just by measuring out the limited foods, you will do great! I didn't do that either, but I still lost because I broke some bad habits.

Now that my illness is getting better, I can plan again, and will measure the limited foods.

I will say that counting calories might work for you, I did lose when I was religiously doing sparkpeople, but I just can't keep up now. Each person is different in what works for them.

I do count, but not regularly. Honestly, counting calories allows me to justify bad decisions. So if we are talking about when I am actually completely on plan, I would plan a day by SBD and run the plan through FitDay, then tweak as needed if the calorie count was too high, protein or fiber too low, etc. My calorie goal is 1300-1400 but I actually track more the macronutrients and the ratios of carbs:fat: protein. I aim for 40:30:30, but who the heck knows what they are supposed to be; that just seems to be a good one and what I pretty much end up at anyway on a good SBD day. Also fiber > 25g/day and maximize monounsaturated fats.

I always have this idea that someday I am going to "get it" and not have to do all this; that I'll be able to make good choices intuitively? Maybe that's a goal for the end of next year... or maybe it's just a delusional fantasy...

One of my favorite things about South Beach is that I DON'T have to count calories.