Taking the training wheels off - NO MORE CALORIE COUNTING

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has become obsessed with this site and with counting every single speck of food that we are ingesting. I've decided to give calorie counting a break for *gasp* a month (*fingers crossed*) and see if I can make it out on my own. I've learned a lot from everyone's input here on the forums. I also feel like I'm at a point where my body seemes to be stabilized as to the amount and type of food I should be eating. I also feel I have a good grip on my exercise routine. I don't foresee any obstacles (no changes in schedule, events, not going on vacation, etc.) and that would change anything I'm doing right now.

Has anyone else on here done the same thing recently? What are your experiences and what were the results? Any advice? Warnings? Prayers?

My experiment will begin on Monday and end July 7. If anyone else wants to join in and share their experiences, well, come on down!

Are you trying to lose still, or just maintaining?

I left calorie counting for almost 5 months.  I had been using this site for about 3 months and had a pretty good idea of the calorie counts of what I usually ate.  I did pretty good with the weight part even though I really didn't exercise.  At about the 4 month point I started putting back on some weight.  I gained a total of 6 pounds but about 4 of those were water weight as I lost them within the first 3 days.  I still weighed in almost everyday and once I saw those pounds coming back I came back to CC.  I am here to stay for a while now, I need to reach my goal weight of 138. I am currently at 151.

So take a month off and see how you do.  I am sure you will be just fine.

Good Luck!

I'll be interested in your achievement also. 

Sometimes I think I will snap or just totally go beserk if I count one more calorie or think about what I'm eating, instead of just eating.  At those times I have to take a break.  I've only had about 1 week break, not counting 1 month vacations where I knew I was blowing it, but didn't care. 

Good luck with this and enjoy your month 'off'.

I won't be counting calories for a couple of weeks either Not because I don't want to, I'm just going on vacation and not all the food there has nutrition facts (plus it's in a different language, so I won't even bother xD) I just plan on exercising a lot more and hope it works =]

Thank you everyone for your replies. The experiment begins tomorrow *shiver*!

Okay. So before it all begins, these are my stats as well as my goals.

I'm 5'4". Weight today is 127.6. I was at 125.5 sometime last week. My water weight is up by about 2.5% as well from last week. Great - I had to start this experiment during the TOM. LOL. Anyway, I had a proper weigh-in at the gym at the end of April and clocked in at 132 with a body fat percentage at 25%. I'm already at a healthy weight but am trying to get body fat percentage down to just under 20%. Once I reach that goal, I'll access to see if I like how I feel and look and may or may not opt to go even lower. I'm planning to get re-tested at the end of June to see if I made any progress.

Here is my current workout schedule: M, W, Sat = 90 minutes circuit training (with free-weights, cable machine, some medicine ball stuff, also using cardio machines like the treadmill and elliptical). Tues = 45 minute spinning class. Th & Sun = 60 minutes cardio. Fridays OFF.

I've been eating between 1700-1800 kcals. I have a high calorie day once a week, usually Friday or Saturday, where I get to go out for dinner and have a cocktail :-)

Alrighty then! I'll log on every few days and jot down my experiences, thoughts, feelings, cravings (hahaha) to keep some sort of a journal. I will still log my weight and activies on CC but will not log the food. Wish me luck!

DAY 1 - 126.8 lbs (down about a pound from yesterday; water weight is dropping off). I'm starting off great today. Nothing out of the ordinary from my regular Monday schedule today. I figured out if I ate 3 main meals that would equal 1200 kcals (about 400 kcals each) and 5 to 6 100 kcal snacks, I should be within my calorie allowance per day. My brain hurts a little from actually having to do the math in my head, LOL! It is definitely easier to have CC do the additions for me, but, I got to learn to let go! I do have to admit though that I saved about an hour out of my day from planning and logging in my food for the day. I, however, spent my evening last night making a grocery shopping list and planned out my meals for the week - lots of fruit and veggies, chicken and lean pork in bulk which I will put in freezer packs, Kashi bars, egg whites. I will be going to the gym this evening for one of my big workout days - it's circuit training day, so I will probably be there for about 90 mins. Just fueled up with a whole golden apple and a tablespoon of peanut butter - my new favorite power snack! It gives me energy for my workout plus it keeps me full since it will be about 2-3 hours before dinner time.

So far so good. Will log another entry in a few days to give an update.

what's interesting for me is how much weight i lost my freshman of college. I started out at probably 139; I wanted to lose weight, but never counted calories. It was around this time that South Beach Diet became big and I followed that for bit. It was hard to eat such a restricted diet in a dining hall that I stopped dieting. Amazingly, 30 minutes on the bike and nondiet diet caused me to lose probably 15 (i wasn't weighing myself then). I went from a size 8 to a size 4, without even trying!

Since then I've put on between 25-35 pounds and I am constanting struggling between losing weight and gaining it back. And like you, I can't stop counting calories! I wish I could have the same mentality from when I was a freshman: If i wanted a snickers, i ate it.

My point is, the most successful experiance I've had losing weight was when I wasn't even trying. I think that you most def will be successful! Good luck!

I logged my foods for about a year but decided about a month ago to let go and stop logging. For similar reasons as you've mentioned and I wanted to try to listen to my body and eat when I was hungry. I was beginning to eat by the numbers- as in it's snack time- time to eat my 200 cals.  I don't for a minute regret the time I spent logging though, it really helped me to stay aware of what  I was eating.  I use to be good at not paying attention and logging really helped with that. 

Well after about a month I feel pretty good about the way things are going.  I didn't lose any weight, but I didn't gain and I feel like I'm finally at a place in my life where food has its place and I'm not using it for all the wrong reasons.  Oh I still have my days when I go overboard, but now I refocus and continue on. 

I do keep a running tally of daily calories in my head, but I'm not anal about every morsel.  I just want to stay conscious of what I'm doing as I still want to lose about 20 more pounds. Good luck it's nice to begin to trust yourself around food again-Dianne

skinnycow22 - I know what you mean about losing when not really trying that hard. I lost my first 30lbs that way. I wasn't totally strict about what I ate for the first 8 months: only thing I changed was cutting out soda COMPLETELY, cutting out my daily Starbuck's Caramel Macchiato (which I admit was the hardest thing to do - I just LOVED it!), and started exercising daily. The weight just came off while I wasn't "counting calories". It's been a struggle the last few months since I only have a small amount of weight to lose -the dreaded Last Ten Pounds! Seems like every single calorie counts this time around.

luzd - I hope to get to your point about trusting yourself around food. It feels so hard sometimes since I think I eat pretty well now (compared to everyone I know, at least) and I don't think I can "give up" anymore; I don't want to get to the point where I can no longer enjoy 28g of dark chocolate because I feel that it may make that much of a difference in whether I meet my goals for the week, you know what I mean?

I've never intended to become obsessive about being healthy. I just hope I can get to a point where I can just let my body do the talking, and trust that it is giving me the right signals. :-)

i think the most helpful aspect of this site is the forums, frankly. it took me a while to get into them, but i'm glad i no longer maniacally enter every last fragment of food i consume into here.

i just feel healthier not worrying so much. i hope you do, too. good on you!

I have been off my training wheels now for a week, and I am doing just fine. I am still losing weight, still not hungry, have learned how to portion...but alcohol is my downfall. But other than that, it has been a successful jump from the next. I don't feel guilty for not logging food which is a great relief b/c I actually started to hate eating.

I wish you the best of luck during your experiment and remember that you CAN do this!

DAY 8 - CW: 126.8 lbs. My weight has been fluctuating like crazy this past week. Compared to a week ago, haven't really lost anything. However, haven't been as bummed about the numbers as I would have been maybe a month or so ago. I can tell I am making some progress as my clothes as fitting a lot looser, my arms and feet are "vein-ier" plus I took some measurements over the weekend and I've lost another 3 inches all around since 4 weeks ago. It will be interesting to see how much slimmer my body will get since this is probably the slimmest I've been since... well I was a child. LOL! I've been weight-training like crazy so I'm hoping that the weight plateau is just a combo of losing fat and gaining some muscle. The true test will be the body fat test I will take at the gym next week. I'm hoping to be in the lower 20s percentile, if not better (last time I tested in April, I was at 25%).

As far as the diet is going, I still found myself counting the calories in my head all day. I'm sure I'm either underestimating or overestimating by 50-100 kcals at several points - I'm hoping this won't make too much of a difference in the long run since I'm still exercising a lot. I did however observe that I wasn't thinking about food as much; before this experiment, I would always pre-log my food intake the day before and would constantly check the site to see what I had to eat next, whether I was really hungry or not. This time around, I would just automatically "feel" it was time for a meal or snack every 3 or 4 hours. I think my body's "trained" at this point to expect a meal at specific times. I don't have any cravings and I don't feel deprived.

I did think about reorganizing my fitness goals this past week. I was just thinking about how hard I've been working out and watching my diet and I actually feel confident that I can stick to it for.. ever. The only thing I feel nervous about is getting to my maintenance point (which isn't very far away) and staying there. I keep reading articles about how much harder it is going to be to maintain my weight as I get older and that I have to keep working harder and harder it to do so - more intense exercise, cleaner diet, etc. I'm already pushing myself as far as I've ever gone and it is daunting to think that once I get to my goal weight/ fitness level, it's going to get even harder! No coasting by any means! How am I going to do it?

I'm determined to never let myself slip ever again especially after all the time and effort I've put in these past 2 years! to even get this far, and I didn't even lose that much weight (about 40 lbs) compared to a lot of people. I feel great now, but how much better am I going to get myself???? At what point do I say, okay, you're never going to be Ms. Fitness America or look like a swimsuit model, and you can quit trying so hard and just be happy now?

Here are my thoughts: 1) I'm still not comfortable with showing up at the public pool or the beach in a bikini. 2) Saw a recent picture taken of me last week and didn't think "Wow, I look skinny/ toned/ pretty damn good!". 3) What else in my diet can I give up forever so I can push myself farther? Absolutely no more cocktails once a week, my 28g of dark chocolate once week, no more sugar in my coffee, etc, etc,? 4) Am I being unrealistic or haven't I given it a complete 110%?

Maybe I have a problem. I'm trying to look for signs that I might have a body image issue, an ED, whatever it is to try to make sense of my obsessiveness as of late, but nothing concrete. All I know is that I'm not alone because I'm sure 98% of us are here on this site with the same thoughts, no?

So, I'm done ranting now. LOL! Thank you toscaandsage and nikinowak for your replies. It's comforting to know that we have some similar experiences at the same time. Keeps me less insane. :-)

DAY 10 - CW 124.4 lbs. Could it be????? I haven't seen that low a number... ever!!! Just to be sure, I'll check in the next few days and see if the number sticks... fingers crossed.

I do not log my calories in this web every day, to see if I ate 100 or 200 more, At this point I know how much have every food that I eat, portions, mesure, weight, or just reading labels, I write down in a papper or just in my mind. Pretty easy.

Poor thing, I read your "rant" and let me tell you how we must share the same mentality. I actually DO have a body image issue, I've had back surgery years ago to correct scoliosis, and I have NEVER been comfortable with myself. Losing weight and being on CC has mademe obsess about what I put in my body, how many inches are around my waist and arms, and what the scale says. So, I decided to relax a little after sitting down to eat with my husband and kids, and felt like I was going to throw up because I felt disgusting (keep in mind, I have NEVER had an ED or purged, etc). So my advice is to give yourself a break, enjoy what you eat so it doesn't become your enemy, and do not stress out b/c stress will make the weight stay... and we don't want that!

I hope your outlook and weight become lighter!

4 weeks and 2 days later...... - CW: 122.2! I made it through the month and am still slowing losing weight without logging in my calories! It was definitely not an easy month since I've been intensifying my workouts while keeping an keen eye on my food intake. Without the Calorie Count analysis, I felt I had to pay even more attention to my balance of Protein/ Carbs/ Fat and I found myself spending more time staring at the nutritional info on every package analyzing every ingredient.

I'm happy to say that I'm feeling pretty confident that I can do this! So close to my goal weight of 120, and now I have to think about what I have to change to maintain... Hmmmm.... It just never ends, does it? ;-p