I've tried dieting with calorie counting before, and it did work for a bit! But I got sick of feeling hungry and plateauing so often.

Instead, I do this now:

• Count working out calories, but just to make sure I am doing enough each day.
• Avoid sugar, which means eliminating these most of the time: Yogurt, cereal, granola bars, candies, cakes, cookies, ice cream, coffee, manually-added sugar.
• When I do have sugar, I do check calories. But just to make sure whatever it is is under 300 calories for the day.
• Eating mostly home-cooked foods. Fast foods would be limited to two items off of the dollar menu, and I do research to see which of the few are less damaging.
• Most of all, I make sure I've eaten enough healthy food to not end up randomly hungry. Its difficult for me to overeat healthy/homecooked foods anyway.

So is anyone else mostly avoiding calorie counting and having success?

Hi Moonsai! I'm a shorty as well and have maintained a 20-25 pound weight loss for over three years without calorie counting. Honestly I rarely did it during my active weightloss as well. For a while in my teens, I binged, purged, and starved myself, putting myself on 400 calorie daily diets and then eating whole blocks of cheese at night....what a terrible time.

For some reason, when I focus on calories in/out, I get really anxious and feel deprived. I can do really well on a healthy light diet of mostly eggs, veggies, beans, brown rice, and fruit, but as soon as I start quantifying it, some bad part of my brain takes over and I feel unstable and deprived. Its strange that the exact same food can feel so different to me if I know its caloric value.

That being said, I am trying to get some fat loss going, and I think I need to be more strict about what I eat to see results. Without calorie counting, that can be more difficult. Right now I'm focusing on ramping up my workout intensity and keeping my diet very simple and consistent so as to keep overall calories down.

I don't count calories.. if I'm eating/drinking something I might look at the calories but that's about it. I seem to be losing consistently just eating healthy food and I never feel hungry.. it's amazing how much say raw carrots will fill you up and lots of salad. I like those foods though so that's probably why it's easier. I don't think I could count calories, it'd stress me out too much.

Yeah for shorties! I don't calorie count either but I need to do better with eating healthier because my body doesn't want to drop out for good from the 140s. I'm hoping to get down to the 120s and possibly below! This is really encouraging! Thanks for the post.

I don't count calories, I count portion sizes. But I do put what I eat into a calorie counting app but I don't pay too much attention to it.

I have the foods I eat (calorie range) mentally stuck in my head. I know what they are and even when I combine them I know the full nutritional count including vitamin percentages (kind of crazy). I kind of stick to the same foods but mix it up with my spices & herbs. Since I'm on Medifast I don't really have to know much because each Medifast meal ranges from 90-110 calories and I do not go over 1,000 calories a day and if I calorie cycle I go between 600-1000 - doing my lean and green only every other day. Doing this approach for first 12 weeks and then I'll do the full 5&1 everyday. I need the structure.

I don't count calories anymore. I was doing it at the start of jan just to see where I fell and quit two weeks ago. It stresses me out too much because I'm constantly thinking and obsessing over. When I don't count calories and just eat healthier food and watching portion sizes I have no problem losing weight. I'm just care free that way. lol

I don't count calories either. I pretty much eat whatever (80% of my diet it extremely healthy whole foods. 20% whatever) I just watch my portion size. So far I've went from 197 to 183-185 just by eating smaller portions of food without working out...

I'm not big on counting calories. However, the first time I successfully lost a decent amount of weight, I spent a month focusing on calories and portion control. After that month, I could essentially eyeball most foods and get a decent approximation of the calorie content.

I decided to go that route again, and it's working. I certainly don't want to spend my life obsessing over calories. I try to aim for around 1400 calories, not overdoing my carbs (including sugar) and eating more veggies. Once I get to a point that I'm not getting the results that I should be getting, I will re-evaluate things.

I count on and off when I feel like it. I been sticking to healthy foods whole food options over processed and fast foods. I also have been skipping potatoes, and white rice and pasta for the most part.

I've lost over 100 pounds and have kept it off by not counting calories. I typically manage to lose weight pretty well when I stick with this, and when I stray away I tend to eat well enough to maintain whatever I've lost. I've maintained for about three years now but started to gain in the past few months (been so stressed lately!) so it's time to get back into the game. Calorie counting makes me obsessive and stressed out to the max but the following is the result of a lot of trial and error from my past; I already have anxiety issues so there's no need to add to that with counting every little thing.

I currently focus on:

• Staying away from refined carbs, especially sugar
  
• Laying off grain products and sticking with whole grains when I do have them
  
• Filling up on nutritious veggies and fruits every day
  
• Eating lean meats & dairy and watching my portion sizes on them
  
• Sometimes substituting beans for meat
  
• Taking supplements: prenatals (trying to get pregnant), calcium, vitamin D, flax oil
  
• Using protein powder, fat-free plain Greek yogurt, and flax meal in my morning fruit smoothies
  
• While I'm not perfect, I try to stay away from processed foods when I can
  
• Two liters of water daily
  
• Writing down what I eat every day in a journal I keep in my purse; it keeps me accountable, I look forward to writing down my healthy decisions, and I can look back at what I've accomplished so far and take note of any potentially troublesome areas

I've found that cutting out most refined sugar (I use stevia if I need to sweeten something) has really helped curb my cravings. I've made great progress with doing this in the past, but for whatever reason haven't always maintained it. I started up again earlier this month and have lost nearly 10 pounds.

I do try to be calorie aware, even though I don't actually track them. For example, in the back of my fitness journal I've made a list of places my husband and I have a record of eating out at along with other places I may potentially run into, followed by the lowest calorie items available on the menus so I have the confidence to make good choices whenever I'm faced with eating somewhere unexpected. Last night I ate a cup of chili along half a portion of the Margarita Chicken dish from Chili's, and saved the other half of the dish for today's lunch along with a home made salad.

I rarely buy processed food for myself from the store (it's mostly veggies, fruit, meat, cheese, eggs, oil, & vinegar), but when I do I read labels and take note of the calorie count and ingredients. If something doesn't look good enough to put in my body it goes back on the shelf.

Good to know I'm not the only non-calorie counter around here . . . for a time I was afraid to even mention it.