anybody NOT count calories/macros?

[sailingpece]

I've only bulked once, and cut once...I had a minimum amount of macros when bulking, and an upper limit when cutting...counting is not hard at all, you just have to design a system that works for you and stick with it. Personally I customized my own excel spread sheet that does all the calculations for me, just gotta enter the food.

[midcoastking33]

Cutting I do, simply because I don't want it to last forever. Bulking I just eat larger portions and/or more meals. If the scale isn't rocketing skywards, mirror looks good and my lifts are going up then I know I'm doing it right. Slowly adding food if the gains aren't on track. I'd go nuts if I counted all year, especially since I'm neither a model or a bodybuilder. Life's too short for that ****

[irishbarry]

ive never counted calories..ever

[Workhard20]

ive never counted calories..ever

When you cut and bulk do you just utilize the scale and mirror? That's what I do and it seems to work just fine. If I look in the mirror and see that I'm gaining to much weight I'll just cut out the deserts and portions & if I look in the mirror and see my ribs showing it's time to brake out the deserts and more portions..
Currently I'm bulking. Yummy carrot cake x2.

[yepimonfire]

I don't count.
I look at my plate.
I look to see if there's something there that at one point swam, flew, or ran around. Then I look to see some other things that are pretty colors that grew outta the dirt. When I see everything is there I smile, and I consume. :]

The only things I count are the pbrs on friday night. Those damn beer goggles always always seem to come out after number 4, and they tend to get me in trouble :P

yup, its much much harder to over eat if you eat clean foods. in fact, since ive been eating only clean foods its been hard for me to even make my cals on a cut lol. i feel like im eating so freaking much food.

[FishChris]

I read thread after thread with all the same types of replies.

> and all I can say is, all you normal people freaking kill me

Fish

[yepimonfire]

I read thread after thread with all the same types of replies.

> and all I can say is, all you normal people freaking kill me

Fish

what?

[Lashley93]

I count calories, not macros. At least not yet.

[phal]

Ignorance isn't always bliss, but to each their own.

[Beech27]

I keep a rough estimate in mind, but never anything more strict than that. I used to, and was leaner then, but also neurotic as hell.

[NycEclipse]

I counted calories when I started dieting. It's a pain in.the ass so I eventually stopped and just ate clean. As long as I trained consistent and ate well, I didn't have a problem with reaching my goal.

[FleaDaddy]

i think counting calories is a good exercise for people to get a better idea of how many cals and what macros are contained in certain foods.
once you have done it for a while its easy to get very close to your cals/macros without counting.

[Jezzah]

I'm a bit OCD IRL. So I tend to weigh and log everything I eat. It's not really that hard seen as I only cook once a day and that gives me my two meals. One for that night and one for smoko the next day.

[Icepray]

Okay so whats clean to you...? Food is food. I could eat cake, ice cream, and doughnuts all day if I wanted tk and still loose or gain weight. I personally am not going to count calories and just use the mirror and scale to determine what I need to do. Btw.. I just ate a huge piece of carrot cake and scoops of ice cream. Yummmmmm...

I use the scale and mirror methode too, and mesuring tape!

Food is food, but I just feel better while keeping my "sinful foods away", and I experimented with drinking my energy drinks and snacking on my pain au chocolats and I did lose weight but I find I managed better through the "clean-food" and I know food is food and I don't each chicken and broccoli every 3 hours, I just tend to stay away from mcdonalds (where I work part time).

I'm in NO WAY trying to talk about clean foods vs dirty and all that crap, I just tend to go for what works for me, honestly if you can get away with eating that icecream and cut with good results more power to you but I don't enjoy cutting that way... that said in 2 weeks I'm done cutting and I'll be going to spain, the south of france, and denmark so believe me I'm going to enjoy eating and I'll do it without putting on weight! But when I say I'm going on a cut, I like doing it without dirty foods (once or twice a week only)

[Black_Label]

I didnt during school only because in dietetics we end up doing it multiple times a day in certain classes as it is.

I did gain a visably lean 5 pounds during the spring semester and saw gains on all lifts. Apart from a shoulder injury. Granted I could eye my general intake and stuck to a routine of certain foods with a rotation of other stuff around it. Tuna was always so many calories, bread was always so many calories, milk was always a lot and so on

[MAX.MAREK]

dont really count. i have a ballpark estimate of what im eating. easy n stress free nutrition

[otterakl]

Weigh, count and track everything on my phone (MyFitnessPal app). As others have said, it actually stresses me out LESS to count and track because then I know what I can or cannot eat the rest of the day, without worrying about going over.


EDIT: I'm also really bad at estimation (i.e. oz in a chicken breast)

[lovingit]

EDIT: I'm also really bad at estimation (i.e. oz in a chicken breast)

Me too. Meat is the only thing I weigh. Even after a year of weighing meat, I still can't really eyeball it accurately.

[otterakl]

Me too. Meat is the only thing I weigh. Even after a year of weighing meat, I still can't really eyeball it accurately.

Must...not...make...joke

[braggable]

I use this:

[nugs]

IMO, only do it if you're really fat and need to lose weight. I guess some people are used to it and quick with it but it seems to me like a sad way to live your life.

[fad3d]

Every time I try to stop, I cant. Fortunately it only takes a few mins a day to get things in order. Im stuck between "I want to stop so I dont become OCD about things, but its pretty easy so..."

Maybe when I finally hit my target weight/body Ill slowly ease out of it. But it definitely becomes an addiction

[jd2967]

Never. Unless you actually compete I don't see the point. I just make sure I eat a lot of protein, then whatever else I feel like. Also, if you're bulking, and it takes you less than 20 minutes to prep your food, then you're probably not eating enough to make the workouts you should be doing worthwhile.

[phal]

Never. Unless you actually compete I don't see the point. I just make sure I eat a lot of protein, then whatever else I feel like. Also, if you're bulking, and it takes you less than 20 minutes to prep your food, then you're probably not eating enough to make the workouts you should be doing worthwhile.

While that's all well and dandy, the point of counting calories is to ensure steady progress in either direction. I'm not knocking your preference, but at least acknowledge why do it.

For instance if I ate when hungry I'd turn into a fat ass.

[Jezzah]

For instance if I ate when hungry I'd turn into a fat ass.

This.

I could quite easily eat 10000cals a day and still be hungry.

Bottomless pit...

[jd2967]

This.

I could quite easily eat 10000cals a day and still be hungry.

Bottomless pit...

1. Do it.

2. Lift more.

3. ???

4. Profit.

[jd2967]

While that's all well and dandy, the point of counting calories is to ensure steady progress in either direction. I'm not knocking your preference, but at least acknowledge why do it.

For instance if I ate when hungry I'd turn into a fat ass.

I acknowledge it. I am just of the opinion that the ridiculous amount of attention the concept of overtraining gets in the media has people scared of testing their potential. I believe that if people took a large part of the attention they put into their diets and applied it to what they do in the gym and the frequency with which they do it, a lot more people would be happier with their results.

[fni]

I have 2 eyes, normal depth perception, and the sizes of my dishes don't spontaneously change or become bottomless pits. Plus, my energy needs &/or appetite can vary, so I respect that more than a predetermined regimen, and I allow wiggle room for that which wouldn't happen if I was a slave to the food scale.

Interested to hear what your meals look like throughout a day.

Also, for those who don't count: say you were at a coffee shop and wanted a muffin with your coffee, would you practice will power or would you allow yourself that tasty treat. Or something like going out to eat with some friends?

[AlwaysTryin]

1. Do it.

2. Lift more.

3. ???

4. Profit.

3. Get fat

[t3nchi]

I have a spreadsheet containing all the food I ever eat.

It has the following columns: Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat | Amount | Qty

Each day I try and enter the quantity of what I've eaten. Excel then calculates my total macros for that day.

After a while however, you get to know how much protein/carbs/fat each of your meals contains if you eat similar foods each day.

This.