Do You Count Calories?

I have been doing this for about seven years now - it'a a leftover habit from disordered eating. I now just accept it as (a) something that works for me and (b)a comforting ocd type of thing.

Yes, I count calories but I don't like the wording on the "yes" answer. I do it because I'm on a nutrition plan, I count calories, protein, fat and carbs. I like it, I don't do it because if I stopped doing it I'd gain weight, I do it because it helps keep me balanced and it keeps me aware.

ugh, no. I would have no idea how to do it bc half the food I eat doesn't come with a nutrional label. Like, what is in 9 brussel sprouts and two zuchinnis? Too much work, I am lazy that way. I'd rather work out at the gym for my hard work of the day.

i try to, but quite often i give up and get frustrated. i just bought a new journal today though, so i'm totally taking this as a sign to keep it up even when i have to log the really discouraging indulgence days

When there's a label for me to look at, yeah, I keep an eye on what goes in. However, say my Dad has me over for his home made chili?... Sorry, I'm eating it and not going to worry about the 50 ingredients he put into it.

I do count calories. When I started, it was such a pain because I wouldn't eat something if I didn't know the nutritional value of something. I remember being in McDonald's and not knowing what to order. It is also hard while traveling. That why I keep my iPod Touch with me at all times. Those calorie counting apps are very helpful.

I look and see how many calories the food I buy has in it and what the ingredients are, but it's just for awareness. Sometimes healthy-seeming foods are definitely not! I've been surprised many times reading labels.

I have a journal that I write everything down in. But sometimes it's hard to count every calorie that you put into a home made meal. I just write down what ingredients I used and get the gyst of it.

I definitely keep an eye on calories. I tend to have the same foods in rotation in my fridge/pantry, so I know how most meals shape up, calorically. If I splurge on fast food, I'll sometimes look up the calories of what I ate online, but most times I just mentally assume some high number and then eat light the rest of the day. I used to literally count and keep a journal - that's how I lost nearly 20 pounds over the summer. Now I'm more focused on maintaining my weight, so I don't need to be as precise. Still, I'm one of those really analytic, over-informed people, so I can't just flat-out ignore calories. It's always a matter of balancing things during the day/week.

no, thanks. the best foods don't come with accurate calorie counts.

I loooooove the Lose It app on the iPhone. I used to think counting calories was way too hard, but with internet searches and the app it's pretty easy. I've lost almost 30 pounds since February, and once I get to my goal weight (about -10 more pounds) I wonder if I'll keep tracking...but I think I've established enough good habits that I won't get into too much trouble

I make a point to know the calorie count in foods i consume regularly, but my best weight loss method has always just been listening to my body and only eating when it tells me to.

i do track my calories on sparkpeople.com. i've become a bit obsessive about it but it isn't stopping me from eating unfortunately.

Sort of. Like Kimpossible, I keep track of other things, too. In my case, it's serving sizes, food groups, fat percentage, nutritional content, fiber, etc. Calories is only one factor. I weigh other factors, too.

Yup. I use a website to log in my food and exercise too! It can be time consuming, but so much easier than having to look everything up. I think I'll probably have to forever. Just to keep myself on track. Even after I've lost all the weight I want to. It's a big help!
You can also make "recipies" where you put in all the ingredients you use, and say how many servings there are & it calculates it for you. That is esp. helpful when making dinner dishes like soup, cassaroles, pizza.. etc.

When I'm grocery shopping, I definitely look at labels to check calories, fat, sugar, nutritional content and base my purchases on that. When it comes to what I actually eat daily, I just trust that my common sense will keep me in check.

Ooooh ella...which website is that that has the recipe function? That sounds awesome!

I write down everything I eat everyday and keep track of the calories. It keeps me aware of how much I'm consuming.

Yes, I usually count them at the end of my day, when I'm on my laptop, makes looking things up easier. I do it mostly for curiosity and because I hate, hate working out, so it keeps me honest.

I try to estimate homemade stuff and overrate them if I'm not sure, based on how much oil, meat, rice was in the dish.

I try to. When I don't as much I tend to gain weight or feel bad about myself. However I had anorexia in my teens and early college so I try not to obsess, but it's hard.

Uh, no. I don't. I run for almost 1000 calories a day, and at that level it's hard to overeat. I have little love for food that isn't healthy. I rarely weigh myself, either.

Calories.. no. Nutritional content such as protein, iron, etc.. yes.

I don't count calories because I rarely ever eat anything that comes out of a package. If I do, its cereal or oatmeal, maybe once a week.

sparkpeople.com is the best for tracking nutritional info. I also love their recipe calculator. I love that you can track everything (calories, fiber, carbs, fat, protein, sugars, etc.). It really helps you see definicies in your diet. It's also very motivating. I don't do it all the time, but when I need to lose a few pounds it is the ONLY way I can get it done.

*deficiencies

I don't count calories, either. I tend to eat foods that are not processed...lots of fruits, veggies, nuts, lean proteins, etc. Most of the foods I eat are difficult to get into caloric overload if you eat too much of them, so I don't worry too much. I only count calories in my "treats" so I keep myself honest. Plus I am very active, so it's usually tough for me to eat too many calories in a day.

I tried because I had trouble getting enough calories everyday. I did it for a couple months, but I just can't be bothered to keep track of every little thing anymore.

I stopped doing this a few years ago because it became an OCD type habit, and I was miserable. I felt trapped. Now I just work out, eat smart, and indulge a little every day. I maintain my weight, and I'm content with that.

I do like to track calories, just to be aware of what I'm eating. But I don't have a certain number of calories that I have to eat per day or anything. I mean, hopefully it's not way over 2000, but that doesn't really happen. If it does, I'll still eat "over" that if I'm hungry. So I keep count, but don't stick to any particular count. I think that would turn me into an anorexic.

I was wondering, all these websites have these warning to NEVER drop below 1200 calories even if ur trying to lose weight - but is that for everyone? Like dead-rock-bottom?

I'm only 5'3, and honestly, most days I've had enough food at 1100/1000 so long as I avoid sweets.

It's that low b/c I've cut soda and sweets (most of the time) and it seems stupid to go eat a cookie just to get to 1250 and I'm too full to eat another serving of veggies/protein/bread.

I'm curious about that too! I typically eat anywhere from 1500-1800 calories a day...but I also exercise 5-6 days a week, so my NET calorie intake is below 1200. Is my body going to go into "starvation mode"?

If I didn't keep count of how many calories I'm eating, I would gain so much weight. I love my food journal, and I also hate that I have to use it.

I track macro-nutrients, so I indirectly track total calories.

I track what I eat and exercise through the weight watchers website and iPhone app - great way to stay honest and it has food lists to help determine the points.

100% of the time I do, yep. www.fitday.com is my vice!

I do at the moment.. but it's not so I don't eat to much, but so I don't eat to little. My foods of choice tend to be low cal so I have to add it up and work out how much extra I need to add in so I don't completely burn out.

Obsessively. I do it obsessively, and I wish I could stop! It was helpful when I was losing weight, but now it just makes me overthink food and contributes to disordered eating. I wouldn't want to go back to the way I used to eat - far too many lollies and takeaways, and an extra 30 kilos to go with it, but I wish I could find a happy medium now. I have a few OCD tendencies and now that I know the calorie content of a lot of foods, my brain just automatically starts counting.

I count calories in packaged foods, mostly because thats what I have as a snack. As for meals, well I just try to make them uber healthy and don't let myself be too limited.

On a very day, yes. Most days, I don't give a s**t.

But it's more that I go for healthy (read: low cal) foods on a good day, on a bad day I don't care what I'm eating and so it's high cal.

I did. It's one of the ways I lost 20+ pounds (that and exercise). It's kind of become second nature for me so I don't literally count any more. It is nice to know that if I ever do gain weight, I know that I can log in to fitday.com, track my calories and nutrition and up the intensity of my workouts and get back down to a healthy weight.

AZDaisy - I use nutrimirror - I like it! It's free, which was a big thing for me. It doesn't have every food possible, but it has a lot of them. And if you have a new food, you can always add it.

No, unless I've been out of track for a while and my jeans seem a little tighter. Then I might make a rough estimate to make sure I'm cutting back.

Because I'm working on losing weight, I do count calories. I figure once I'm in maintenance, I will be more focussed on rough guideline than on being strict. I'm not insane about it though, and it's also important for me to know the carb/fat/fibre/protein content of what I'm eating,

I love how people are saying they don't need to count calories because they eat healthy food. Healthy foods are packed with calories too! I was very surprised to find out that a banana has 100 calories!

I count calories because healthy ≠ low fat. I manage to work my favorite healthy high fat foods into my intake like avocados, coconuts and olive oil.

I've lost 40+ lbs counting calories and it works for me.

I use the Loose it! App on my iphone to track. It was instrumental in helping me get to my goal weight. Now that I'm here, however, I still track. Partially because my goal wasn't just to loose weight, but loose fat and gain muscle, so nutrition is still important. Unfortunately, like many of the other members, I think I obsess a little bit too much.

Not really but I am thinking about starting a food journal and maybe break my horrible habit of eating sweets.

I use the online logs from Self or Glamour to keep track. It's a pain in the butt to go on every day but it keeps me in check on eating healthy and working out everyday (except Sundays)

I try to, especially on livestrong.com b/c I have a problem with overeating. It also helps me see how much carbs/fat/protein I'm eating a day, which I think is a good thing to know.

Absolutely. I've lost 28 pounds counting calories (with 20 more to go)! But I also have a question like some of the other posts did...they say to never go below 1200 calories. But if I eat 1300 and burn off 200 to 250, is my body going into starvation mode? Does anyone know?