Do You Count Calories?

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Do You Count Calories?

October 27, 2009

While reading through the most recent issue of Women's Health, I was surprised to learn that Kristen Bell admitted she counts calories. She's says it's almost comforting and helps her stay conscious of what she's eating. If you're trying to lose weight or maintain your current figure, you've got to be aware of portion sizes, and for some, that means reading labels and monitoring their calorie intake. They may even keep track in a food journal. So tell me, do you count calories like Kristen Bell?

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51 Comments

bsprague01 3 years 19 weeks

I do not count calories much. I focus more on counting carbs and my intake and bad fats. As long as you practice portion control I don't see the need to count calories unless you don't work out at all.

mtiger 3 years 19 weeks

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?

ckeller825 3 years 19 weeks

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.

bchicgrl 3 years 19 weeks

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) :)

GummiBears 3 years 19 weeks

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

FitBnnie 3 years 26 weeks

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.

DivaDivine 3 years 29 weeks

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.

AZDaisy 3 years 29 weeks

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!

cg130 3 years 29 weeks

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,

sourcherry 3 years 30 weeks

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.

ella1978 3 years 30 weeks

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.

syako 3 years 30 weeks

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.

itsthatgaljay 3 years 30 weeks

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.

Autumns_Elegy 3 years 30 weeks

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.

Wild Magelet 3 years 30 weeks

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.

biarose 3 years 30 weeks

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.

Retro23 3 years 30 weeks

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

mek123 3 years 30 weeks

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.

insanitypepper 3 years 30 weeks

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

lizzie008 3 years 30 weeks

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.

AZDaisy 3 years 30 weeks

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"?

zeze 3 years 30 weeks

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.

3 years 30 weeks

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.

Lo Lo 3 years 30 weeks

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.

Pistil 3 years 30 weeks

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.

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51 Comments

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