Do I Need to Count Calories?

Viking Power said:
Just curious:


I have a good 15% bodyfat or 60-80 pounds to lose (maybe more FFS!)-------------->Does that mean I don't need to worry about counting calories if I follow the clean eating guidelines in the FAQ's?

Sorry, if it seems like a dumb question its just that I have started out to lose bodyfat on MANY occasions by counting calories only to quit in frustration because frankly, I don't like being that obsessive and anal. I have enough to worry about with financial responsibilities, work, etc. Why add another burden that is a constant one like counting every freakin' calorie that enters my mouth.

Comments?
Click to expand...

wow you weight 400-566 lbs.? you probably shouldn't eat as much as you want to then.
 
My recommendation would be to either get a very firm grasp of the general caloric content of your most frequently eaten foods, or just eat very small amounts very frequently such that you always have the tiniest lingering hunger. Eat until you're just satiated, not full. That's how it felt when I was losing weight anyway. Also doing HIIT like Guerilla Cardio 3 times a week will make your efforts a little easier, and act as a little insurance that you'll burn fat. Just don't ruin it by gorging as a reward.
 
When I recently started a weight management program part of that included seeing a nutritionist and she made me keep a record of what I ate everyday including counting calories. I did find that it helped keep me eating cleaning because I was too embarrassed to write down junk food and get bitched at and I did not want to cheat by not writing things down because I knew that would only cheat my and my goals. I also found that I was actually not eating enough. She set my goal daily calorie intake at 2600 cal. per day and at first I was stressed because I thought I would be eating like a bird but when I started counting calories I found that I actually had to make an effort to eat that many calories. Also by eating something every 3-4 hours I pretty quickly lost 15 pounds over a few weeks. That included doing cardio but I was happy about it. Now everything is on hold while I am recovering from shoulder surgery but I am still trying to eat right but I have not been writing everything down. I will start doing that again once I am cleared to start the program again. I am in the same boat as I am trying to loose another 50-60 pounds. I am down from 320 to 305 so the progress has been very motivational. Sorry for the rambling.
 
WhiteLightning said:
My recommendation would be to either get a very firm grasp of the general caloric content of your most frequently eaten foods, or just eat very small amounts very frequently such that you always have the tiniest lingering hunger. Eat until you're just satiated, not full. That's how it felt when I was losing weight anyway. Also doing HIIT like Guerilla Cardio 3 times a week will make your efforts a little easier, and act as a little insurance that you'll burn fat. Just don't ruin it by gorging as a reward.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. Now to go look up Guerilla Cardio!
 
I say count calories and eat variety... eventually you'll have to start remembering how many calories are in diff foods, the goal is to lose fat and keep in shape so you'll be developing a lifestyle change really, Your not ganna wanna be sticking to the same foods you know for the rest of ur life.
 
Endorphinaddict said:
I say count calories and eat variety... eventually you'll have to start remembering how many calories are in diff foods, the goal is to lose fat and keep in shape so you'll be developing a lifestyle change really, Your not ganna wanna be sticking to the same foods you know for the rest of ur life.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
 
id say go ahead and count calories. i finally did and found it useful to better achieve my goals. also you can figure out the nutrition info on each of your 5 or so meals a day and see where you can add or remove certain things to better balance things out. i just wrote everything out in a notepad document to get a good overall picture and to see how i could plug in different foods and at what times.
 
Nubster said:
When I recently started a weight management program part of that included seeing a nutritionist and she made me keep a record of what I ate everyday including counting calories. I did find that it helped keep me eating cleaning because I was too embarrassed to write down junk food and get bitched at and I did not want to cheat by not writing things down because I knew that would only cheat my and my goals. I also found that I was actually not eating enough. She set my goal daily calorie intake at 2600 cal. per day and at first I was stressed because I thought I would be eating like a bird but when I started counting calories I found that I actually had to make an effort to eat that many calories. Also by eating something every 3-4 hours I pretty quickly lost 15 pounds over a few weeks. That included doing cardio but I was happy about it. Now everything is on hold while I am recovering from shoulder surgery but I am still trying to eat right but I have not been writing everything down. I will start doing that again once I am cleared to start the program again. I am in the same boat as I am trying to loose another 50-60 pounds. I am down from 320 to 305 so the progress has been very motivational. Sorry for the rambling.
Click to expand...



Good work in dropping that weight and being responsible to yourself and for your actions. It's good to hear about.
 
you gotta eat sensibly man. dont cheat yourself by just saying "a few of these wont hurt" for the most part, healthy eating is common sense, but if you are confused on the right foods, do a little research, and only keep those things in the house. avoid the temptation. also, it really helps to eat 6-8 small meals a day. not only does it regulate your ****bolism, it will promote lean muscle growth which destroys fat. good luck.
 
just keep good protions and have healthy food, counting calories always made me over think it and then caused me to cheat really bad
 
Honestly, if you are working out on a regular basis, and you are eating clean, you can eat A LOT. I mean a heaping plate of veggies and chicken breast is probably less than 300 calories.

I was in a similar situation as yourself (and will be again soon) and I just worked out on a regular basis going to judo and the like, and ate as much healthy food as I wanted. The weight just came off. Add a cup or two of veggies to your meal and it's less than a hundred calories and fills you up.
 
Probably get reamed out for this but you asked for comments etc.... to be carrying around that much bodyF you could be a bit insulin resistant... although i have never been that big before i did start to gain body fat form eating to many mostly simple carbs at the wrong times which made me tired and gain bf no matter what exercise i tried. After a bit of study and some quality advice for some regulars on here, i threw my self into a carb cycled ketonic diet regimen for a set period and counted calories down down to 1800 all clean etc with approx 300 cal burned during resistance training... results 84kgs down to 73kgs in 4 weeks.

Now i am on mega low GI carbs only for pre workouts 50/50 PWO and starting to really feel the staying power that i never seemed to have before lifting.

Even seeing the little abs poking through...

And no, filing up the glycogen stores hasn't returned the bodyfat as some would tell you. it just seems to bulk me up size wise and adds about 2 to 3 kgs until the next depletion stage
 
jadasi said:
Probably get reamed out for this but you asked for comments etc.... to be carrying around that much bodyF you could be a bit insulin resistant... although i have never been that big before i did start to gain body fat form eating to many mostly simple carbs at the wrong times which made me tired and gain bf no matter what exercise i tried. After a bit of study and some quality advice for some regulars on here, i threw my self into a carb cycled ketonic diet regimen for a set period and counted calories down down to 1800 all clean etc with approx 300 cal burned during resistance training... results 84kgs down to 73kgs in 4 weeks.

Now i am on mega low GI carbs only for pre workouts 50/50 PWO and starting to really feel the staying power that i never seemed to have before lifting.

Even seeing the little abs poking through...

And no, filing up the glycogen stores hasn't returned the bodyfat as some would tell you. it just seems to bulk me up size wise and adds about 2 to 3 kgs until the next depletion stage
Click to expand...

Did you carb load for 24h per week or how did you do it?
 
the loading was only ever done 2 1/2 hours before training with a high qual wholemeal bread. Post 40 grams protein and I Introduced about 30 grams CBH with Dexy (to cause a spike to protect muscle degradation and also shuttle glyc in there rapidly) combined with low GI steelcut oats and then small re feeds every 15 minutes for the next 3 hours then back to protein/fat only... I suppose you would call it more timed ketonic than cycled... Soz! Finally after sticking to this diligently my sensitivity started to really pick up. Props to MikeMartial for alot of his supplied info
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,264,750
Messages
57,301,909
Members
175,630
Latest member
PussyDestroyer1405

Share this page

Back
Top