mtalinm

quick confession here: I have lost (and found!) hundreds of pounds over the years on a number of diets: Scarsdale, South Beach, Atkins, Sugar Busters, you name it. this time around I am counting calories. boring, old calorie-counting. counting calories, who wants to do that? well I do. here's why.

I find that most commercial diets work via deprivation - by forcing you to avoid (often forever) foods that you really enjoy. sure, sometimes your taste buds truly do change, but I doubt this is true for most people. and so you spend much of your time in withdrawal. eventually you can't do it anymore, so you hit the wall, cheat, and feel huge GUILT. Whenever I've regained weight after one of these diets, it has almost always been due to guilt and deprivation.

When calorie counting, I don't feel deprived because nothing is off-limits. I can eat ANYTHING as long as I stay within my calorie budget. Want a scoop of ice cream? sure, but keep it small.

Also, I find that calorie counting helps me to be rational about "empty calories" like potato chips b/c I know I'll be hungry again soon if I waste my calories on foods like that. So, it helps me make good nutrition choices, not because Dr. Agatston says so but because I can do the math in my head.

And if I want to eat more, I put in some extra exercise. Also reminds me that I *should* be eating more when I exercise, but that I shouldn't reward myself with a trip to the buffet.

I use a simple BlackBerry app to jot down what I eat, instead of trying to remember it all at the end of the day. I don't like the apps that do extensive lookup of exactly how many ounces you ate of XYZ - it only took me a couple of weeks to figure out the # calories in the foods I usually eat, and I can look up the new stuff.

I've been doing this for about a month, tracking calories eaten vs. burned. The predicted weight loss from cumulative calorie deficit / 3500 matches the scale almost exactly.

posting here b/c I suspect other Clydes may have done the yoyo thing like I have...hope this is helpful to at least one or two people out there...

Wogster

If you don't have a crackberry or other similar device, a small pocket notebook will work just as well, write it down through the day, if you want to use technology, key it in later at home...

zoste

Which BlackBerry app are you using?

dahoss2002

I agree with you 100%. Counting calories was the only way I was able to drop below the 200 lb. mark. I'm slowly creeping back toward 200 so I guess I need to start counting again!!

wild animals

My best friend has an Android phone with an app that uses the camera to scan barcodes, then enters the calorie information automatically. haha. Wacky.

minnesotamongo

PREACH IT BROTHER!!

I use Livestrong.com and their "Daily Plate" application. I have lost 196.1 lbs since July 20th 2009 using this method. Calories in - Calories out. You will find out how fast those beers add up!

knzn

Works for me too!

jeneralist 

+1. The one I use is called, simply enough, "Calorie counter." Also lets you enter your weight, and will display a graph of how that's changed over time; you can also enter physical activity (say, bicycle riding at 13 mph for 30 minutes) and see how many calories you've burned.

Wogster

This is the problem with counting calories, it quickly loses it's appeal because in reality the process is boring, after a while you get bored with it, and stop counting or you reach your goal and stop counting, and that removes the control aspect of it. then all of a sudden your up 45lbs, and start counting again. The proper way to use counting calories, is as a training tool to retrain yourself to eat better. The oh **** I didn't know that X was that many calories realization is one that few of us really deal with. According to Livestrong.com I should eat about 2000 calories a day, logged breakfast as half my days total. Fortunately that doesn't include the 3 hours of heavy labour that is typical at work, which is worth 900 calories.

The problem with sites like this one though, almost everything is in US units, so for those of us outside the United States, you have to change almost all the units to US units, especially the food units. I can measure some items, but my food measures are metric and British, and these are different for US measure.

You really need to use counting as a retraining tool for food, so that you end up knowing what is better then what, to be healthy.

Seattle Forrest

This is what I learned by counting calories for several months. Hell, you can have the whole container of iced cream if you really want to, but you're going to be very hungry for the rest of the day. But fruits and berries turn out to be very filling for their kCals. And while I've always enjoyed them, they've become a much bigger part of my diet.

I stopped counting after a while; I used Google Spreadsheets, which was a pain, as I'd have to spend time in front of the computer every day. On a ride, if I ate something, I'd come home later and remember what, to enter it. Meh. But it's a fantastic tool, and over time, it helped me understand the budget part of weight loss or gain ... I think I used to just see some foods as "good" and some as "bad," but not really have any context. So it's not surprising that this is the only way I've lost much weight. And, having stopped counting, the weight is still coming off; everything I've learned has helped me refocus. An example is that I haven't had pizza in more months than I can remember, because I just don't enjoy it that much, and I've realized the "cost" of eating a few slices.

And you're right, too, that calorie counting motivates someone to exercise more - or, at least, it did for me. I'd really want a snack, so go out and ride or walk for an hour to earn it.

Sequimite

Burn more calories than you take in? What a great idea!

I'm using a food log website that tracks all the nutritional statistics as well as calories. Once I set up a new food its easy to record what I'm eating and there are many foods already in there.

I believe I need to build up a permanent understanding of what is in every bit of food I'm eating.

wild animals

I wish I could justify the money for full-on unlimited internet and a smart phone. My sister and closest friends all have an app for everything. The bike and fitness apps I've heard of sound rad. And as a sufferer of attention-related disorders, I'd love to have a fully featured calendar app

wild animals

PS: I don't believe in eliminating foods altogether, either, but the problem I have is that they just don't MAKE things small enough for me to buy them. I'd buy chips or whatever and just have to throw the rest of the bag away, which is horrifying and really hard to do.

I like those chips at Subway (and sometimes on the snack rack at grocery stores) that are probably still too big, but at least you can share them with someone and be done with it. Last time we barbecued (with four of us) we got two little bags of barbecue Lay's and it was more than enough. We didn't have a bunch left over calling my name as I walk by

exile

I'm glad you found a way for you that works. Without paying much attention to the calories, I simply changed out some foods I knew were bad and replaced them with alternatives. Don't lose to much or you'll be politely escorted from the clyde forum by our bigger brethren.

cooleric1234

Could not agree more. Plus, I just can't get over terribly inaccurate estimates for home cooked meals, which is every dinner for me. And I'm not the one cooking, so I don't even know what goes into it. I'm sure they're not all inaccurate, I just know that a little sour cream that's in one recipe but not another, for example, can make a huge difference and you may not be able to tell.

As others have said I basically just estimate calories in my head. I lost my extra weight by having no more seconds, no snacks, and limiting myself to reasonable proportions in the first place. I didn't eliminate any foods. Now I'm at about 12 % body fat. But going lower than that is tough, if I really want to I will have to limit desserts, each more veggies and fruits, etc.

mtalinm

Brio calorie tracker, free version

Wogster

Part if the issue is serving sizes, sites often don't specify serving sizes, or specify them in units that don't make sense, like 1 plate. Is that a dinner plate, a desert plate, a salad plate, they are all different sizes..... The actual numbers don't matter, all that much. Where counting can be helpful is as a learning tool, most of us underestimate incoming and overestimate outgoing, seeing on paper or silicon that you on average over a week ate 3500 calories and burned 2500 is why your up 2 pounds when you thought you were doing well, is a reality check.

This is where you start to look at those numbers and you see that certain foods add a lot of calories and not much else. For some it's the serving size that does you in, one Chocolate chip cookie isn't going to affect you all that much, yes it's 110 calories, but that in itself isn't really that much. But there are people who think a serving size for a chocolate chip cookie is the entire bag, and that watching the TdF on TV is somehow a replacement for getting their fat *** on a bicycle and doing the tour de 'hood every couple of days.

bubbymac

i also use livestrong.com/myplate and it is awesome. I have gone from 415 to (last weigh in 2 weeks ago 364) since april 12, 2010. Since using that program/ app i'm very proficient in knowing the serving size and calories of the item. I have decided to get back into riding after a 10 year hiatus. Tonight was my first 2 mile stint and it killed my legs but it was nice. Tomorrow night maybe i can get 3 mile in.
BTW this is my first post and I ride a giant Rincon SE

jb_alphamale

I use CalorieKing Nutrition and Exercise Manager from calorieking.com $45 with lifetime db updates. It does have both imperial and metric systems and calculates the foods as well as the exercise. Its db has 50k foods and then you can add as many as you want customized. Service size available.Also customized exercises available. I'm very happy with it.

jet16lg

You make a very good point. About 4 year ago I made a conscious effort to reduce my portion size. I did not restrict myself from food, I just made myself eat helping of smaller portions and it made a HUGE difference. It was tough at first, lol. I so wanted to get more food becasue I was used to doing it. Now that I'm getting back to regular exercise, I need to get back to what I was doing before. I think the smaller portions thing will work for a while then I'll have to start counting the calories more once my weight loss slows down.

mtalinm

good for you! keep riding!

OiS

Yes, I am finding it very useful! It hasn't been that long for me, just getting started really, but I had Livestrong.com recommended to me by another on this site, and it really is great!

I haven't have a burger for a few weeks (yeah I know, it aint that long! lol), but tonight after having not had too many calories during the day, I was about 33km done off my 36km ride, and knew a burger would fit well within my daily calories after accounting for my ride, so I indulged It felt good, I don't feel guilty, and with watching my weight generally, am I pretty sure I now wont feel the urge for another burger for a while now. I do think of it now as a treat rather than just another item in the range of options for dinner.

OiS

Oh, and welcome to the forums! I am a newbie myself, but the more the merrier eh (as long as we are not talking calories of course! )

BasicJim

Hmmm... On the Livestrong site I noticed that you can adjust your calorie count based on your usual lifestyle. If you work in an active job, you can note that and it gives you more calories. I am a computer guy that is sitting most the day and I adjusted my calorie requirements to show as much.

I think the good thing for me about calorie counting is it HAS educated me as to what I am eating and what the calorie costs are. It IS teaching me a new lifestyle of eating. The first thing I learned was that the daily 6-pack of Mt. Dew had to go!!

Now when I go out to lunch with the guys, I can look at a menu and make reasonable choices and have a decent idea of the calories I am taking in.

I may get bored with counting calories eventually (Livestrong.com makes it fun) but when I do, I will know what I should be eating and how much.

Just MHO,

Jim

Mr. Beanz

Not sure about how long it takes to prove a method is just not another yo-yo trick. But isn't this like a wheel durability report after a week?

How long did you stick to the other methods, err I mean yo-yo's and what makes sticking to this one any different without any long term data?