To those who count to lose weight/fat

[Prine]

Hi all,
I was just wondering, if anyone has actually successfully lost weight/fat by counting calories or macronutrients? Does it get tiring? Do you find it is obsessive? Did you used to do it, got your results and don't do it anymore?
I'm just curious to see what has worked for different people...
Would love to know

Cheers

[Droad87]

I found that it makes you realize you taking in a lot more calories than you think, I started and it helps quite a bit,

I do not think it is the best for longterm but doing it for a few weeks to understand how your body responds is good and it helps you realize how much fat/Protein/Carbs are in different items you eat everyday.

[JeffyDOS]

Not tiring at all. I'm actually used to it.
The only thing that really sucks is foods that don't have any nutritional information provided.
Like at my sisters house last weekend, there was Red Velvet cake which I really wanted, but I didn't eat it because I didn't know how many calories were in it.

[Fots86]

The first few weeks of it were annoying for me, especially because I had to figure out what maintenance values were and to look up every little bit of food that I ate...

After about a month though you get to know your body and the food you eat really well and can gauge how much you've eaten for the day. While I don't write down the amount of calories I've eaten for the day, I have a really good idea from previous experience with calorie counting... and so far that's got me to about 13% BF.

[Prine]

So what would you do if you consumed something, and couldn't find the macronutrients it contains or the exact number of calories in it?
I ask you this because I'm still young and I have meals with my family each night. I don't know everything they put in

[MANMAN143]

I've been counting my macros for about 3 months, almost becomes 2nd nature. It's a lot of work but helps me stay on track.

[Prine]

The first few weeks of it were annoying for me, especially because I had to figure out what maintenance values were and to look up every little bit of food that I ate...

After about a month though you get to know your body and the food you eat really well and can gauge how much you've eaten for the day. While I don't write down the amount of calories I've eaten for the day, I have a really good idea from previous experience with calorie counting... and so far that's got me to about 13% BF.

Wow thats awesome! are you still maintaining that BF%?
I'm 28% BF, and the thing is, I don't eat heaps of really unhealthy foods, but I get the feeling I'm just eating too much or perhaps they have a lote more calories in them than i thought?

[Ronin45]

If you hang in this section you will come across many people who have used this technique and it has served them well. I have just started my cut and as stated above you really don't notice what your taking in till you add it up. I personally love it cause it keeps your goals in your face. You can't cheat on the numbers you know? They don't lie.

[Droad87]

You can find basic info on things via google

Like if you eat a ribeye for supper just look at the weight on the package and google how many calories per ounce of a ribeye.

This website is nice spaced since I cannot post links yet
www thedailyplate com

[StevieMe]

I'm good at math so it's just easy and natural, I will probably do it till the day I die.

[Fots86]

Wow thats awesome! are you still maintaining that BF%?
I'm 28% BF, and the thing is, I don't eat heaps of really unhealthy foods, but I get the feeling I'm just eating too much or perhaps they have a lote more calories in them than i thought?

I'm actually dropping it abit more than that, aiming for 10%ish, but it'll come over time. So far I haven't hit any snags, so I'm just sticking to it.

And for your question earlier - if I can't find the macronutrients for something someone else cooked, I usually ask what's in it and get an idea from that. I generally stay away from anything that look like they have nasty sauces just so my estimates aren't off, but other than that I have a fairly good idea.

[Fixxxer]

I've lost 72 lbs. while counting calories. I would have been much less successful if I hadn't, personally. It's not really that hard, and I don't write anything down. I just keep track throughout the day and I do round the caloric values as needed to make it simpler. As long as I'm roughly hitting my goal (like +- 100 calories or so) then things are going to even out in the long run. You don't need to track everything down to the very last calorie in order to benefit from counting. But if you never count anything then it all becomes very subjective and it's going to be much harder to figure out why you are or aren't getting the results you want and very difficult to adjust your diet as needed.

Foods that aren't labeled (like a family meal) are trickier but you can find the calorie content of just about anything by googling it. Once you look the foods up a few times you can get pretty good at estimating how much you're taking in without having to weigh it out and look it up every time.

[Prine]

that's incredible congratulations on losing 72lbs! You must feel great!
Yeah look I think I'm going to give it a shot. So basically you just work out your maintenance calories and then subtract 500?

[ECU_Pirate1990]

I enjoy counting

[Prine]

Not tiring at all. I'm actually used to it.
The only thing that really sucks is foods that don't have any nutritional information provided.
Like at my sisters house last weekend, there was Red Velvet cake which I really wanted, but I didn't eat it because I didn't know how many calories were in it.

Sounds like you're really determined. I'm definately going to give this a shot, thanks heaps. Thing is, I'm from Australia, so everything on the nutritional information is in kilojoules! converting will probs get annoying unless I just become accustomed to counting kilojoules.

[BIGNHYOOGE]

beginners need that IMO

[Hzar]

at first it's good to count everything you eat.. after a while you just kindah know.. like I count everything I eat, but dont think I write everything down or anything.. usually if it's something I already know and have counted many times before, I just count it in my head.. after a while you just get used to it..

[iPerfectDark]

Get an account on fitday.com

If anything I eat has the values then I add it as a custom item, if not then I pick from what they have, and they have a lot of stuff.

After counting calories for 6 months I got some great results that I'd never seen before. Now I'm at a stage where I just started cutting again, and have been counting for the past few weeks. You really realise which foods to avoid, like pizza, and you get a sense for the amount and type of food you can eat in a day. I wouldn't have to look up the calories for most things anymore, I could guess and still be quite close but I choose to chart it. Charting it gives me the motivation to eat less and more healthily. For instance, if I know I've reached my calorie limit for the day, but it's 11:00pm and I'm starving, I won't give in to it.

[sakofan]

So what would you do if you consumed something, and couldn't find the macronutrients it contains or the exact number of calories in it?
I ask you this because I'm still young and I have meals with my family each night. I don't know everything they put in

http://www.nutritiondata.com

or

http://www.calorieking.com

If you have a nutrition label in kilojoules only and want the calories, simply divide kJ by 4 (rough, but close enough for smaller denisty foods) or 4.185 (much more accurate)

[sureshk]

Hi all,
I was just wondering, if anyone has actually successfully lost weight/fat by counting calories or macronutrients? Does it get tiring? Do you find it is obsessive? Did you used to do it, got your results and don't do it anymore?
I'm just curious to see what has worked for different people...
Would love to know

Cheers

Until I started properly counting my calories, I was actually eating about 500 / day over what I thought I was, which is why my fat loss wasn't as good at the start of my cut as it is now.

It takes some getting used to, but various sites out there can help. Once you get used to it, you can usually guesstimate the calorie content of most meals and work them into your daily intake if you are eating out, or don't have any nutritional data on the meal.

personally I think cutting properly without counting calories is very difficult, unless you are 30% + body fat, and cutting anything out of your diet will probably make you lose fat. It also lets you accurately set up your macronutrients, something which I used to have wrong too. Now I'm on a solid 40/40/20 p/c/f split with 1500 cals / day cut (1k deficit), all because I started counting properly.

anyways good luck on the fat loss!

[Prine]

awesome, yeah I'll get onto calorieking, the aus version though!

So i'm guessing you all have to make a rough estimate when eating fresh produce? You can probibly never be sure?

[sureshk]

I used fitday.com to track mine at the start, it's useful to know rough guides to things like fruit, which typically you won't know the nutritional info for if it's fresh (frozen berries might have it on the pack). e.g. I eat 1 banana before and right after my workouts, and the only way I know roughly how much cals is in one is from that website (~ 70 for a medium size btw).

[Prine]

Until I started properly counting my calories, I was actually eating about 500 / day over what I thought I was, which is why my fat loss wasn't as good at the start of my cut as it is now.

It takes some getting used to, but various sites out there can help. Once you get used to it, you can usually guesstimate the calorie content of most meals and work them into your daily intake if you are eating out, or don't have any nutritional data on the meal.

personally I think cutting properly without counting calories is very difficult, unless you are 30% + body fat, and cutting anything out of your diet will probably make you lose fat. It also lets you accurately set up your macronutrients, something which I used to have wrong too. Now I'm on a solid 40/40/20 p/c/f split with 1500 cals / day cut (1k deficit), all because I started counting properly.

anyways good luck on the fat loss!

Okay you have definately convinced me! thankyou

[thenexlevel]

If you have an iPhone, download the free app called "LoseIt". The best app out there that keeps track of everything, if you set a goal of how much you want to lose a week and total weight, it'll plan out the amount of calories you can eat. You can also see the % of fats/carbs/protein you have within the day. I love it and is pretty obsessed about using it, weight loss is just basically about being consistent so find whatever you can to help you keep at it.

[Gusthebus]

Hi all,
I was just wondering, if anyone has actually successfully lost weight/fat by counting calories or macronutrients? Does it get tiring? Do you find it is obsessive? Did you used to do it, got your results and don't do it anymore?
I'm just curious to see what has worked for different people...
Would love to know

Cheers

It's really not all bad I count everything in an app on my iPhone just type it in then bam! I have info I get to see how much cals I can waste when I meet my protein needs. Likeyesterday I needed 300 cals left so I ate a ice cream sandwhich which was 160

[Prine]

It's really not all bad I count everything in an app on my iPhone just type it in then bam! I have info I get to see how much cals I can waste when I meet my protein needs. Likeyesterday I needed 300 cals left so I ate a ice cream sandwhich which was 160

can you get that app on an iPod touch?

[justanothagirl]

im not able to eat without counting calories ever since i started it like 6 years ago. my common sense when it comes to eating has left me. there is not a day that goes by without me knowing how many calories i took in

[MCrow]

I think most people who are overweight underestimate the amount of calories they eat by anywhere from 10-30%. Even when making an effort to eat less they may still eat close to 20% more than they think because they don't know what a proper portion size is or can't estimate how much "a cup" is by eyeballing it.

So you might set you intake at 1500 calories but actually be eating around 1800 which would slow or stall weight loss.

Counting calories and measuring food is the best method to start with.

I've gone from 250 to 228 in 15 weeks by simply finding my maintenance level (some trial and error there) and then exercising 4-5 days per week. I eat at mainentance (assuming inactivity) and then burn around 700-800 calories in workouts 4-5 days per week. I have one meal every other week where I eat whatever I wan't but otherwise I stick to 220g of protein and don't track other macros. However, I make an effort to avoid carbs where possible but am certainly not on a low carb diet and don't even count the carbs. I'll do things like instead of having a sandwitch with 2 slices of bread, I'll eat a half sandwich (one slice halved) with double meat, season chicken with herbs and spices instead of breading it...ect.

After a while you can estimate pretty close what most stuff has for caloric content.

Good place to start is multiply your bodyweight x12 to get your maintenance level. Eat at that level getting about 1.5 g of protein per pound of Lean Mass for a couple of weeks and see if you lose, maintain or gain weight while exercising 4-5 days per week. If you maintain weight drop calories by 10-15%, if you gain weight drop it by 20%.

[SlimmJimm]

I bought a scale that has in it the macronutrient value of 999 different foods. I just type in the food code located in the book and put the food on the scale. It tells me how much protein, carbs, fat and even sodium is in the food on the scale. Pretty handy if you ask me.

[harshathlete]

I personally dont count calories any more. But when I started off, I did count calories. So there is a definite advantage when you are getting started, to know how much you are eating.

Now I just have 3 meals a day and I go with the following rules...

1. Eat a moderate portion of food.
2. No second helpings.
3. Eat slowly to ward off after-meal-munchies.
4. Stay away from buffets.

My goal is always to eat just enough. If I feel full, then I know I have overeaten, and I balance it out over the next meal or the next day. Or I will offset that by doing some extra cardio.

Since I need to eat between 1800-2000 calories to lose weight, I have an overall breakdown of my meals...
Breakfast - Around 400-500 calories.
Lunch - Around 700-800 calories
Dinner - Around 600-700 calories
Coffee with cream - 1to 2 cups - Around 100 calories.
Total = 1800-2100 calories

I tend to eat more during the day since I am at work. Being hungry during the day, gets in the way of being productive for me, so I tend to eat more during the day and taper down(a little) at evening.

Since I have been on a cut for over a year, it does get daunting at times... When it does, I only focus on giving it my best for that single day. It becomes a lot easier to focus on a short term goal during these times, especially when you have about 10-15 pounds more to go ( after you have been working hard for a year )....

But stepping on the scale every Monday ( my weigh-in day ) and the scale ( and tape readings ) go lower, makes it totally worth it.... Not to mention the definition in my muscles, more vascularity in my arms and of course how well the clothes fit... as well as numerous compliments from co-workers and family.

HTH
Harshathlete