Any of you guys diet without counting or tracking calories?

[JLB105]

If so, any advice you can give? I hate tracking food or counting calories.

I’m carrying probably 40 extra pounds that I’d like to lose within the next 6 months.

One of my downfalls is grazing on food late afternoon and late evenings. So I am going to implement a rule of no snacking between meals and no food after 7pm. The only exception would be a protein shake.

[Sopirate55]

Hey man. I feel your pain here. I'm just recently getting back at it from a prolonged layoff. It's possible to do it without tracking calories, but you need to write down everything you eat for starters. If you constantly graze then I'm almost certain you're eating more than you think. Just by writing it down, you'll also control some of that grazing because it will make you think about what you're actually eating.

If tracking just the food is a complete no go, try intermittent fasting along with clean food choices. High protein and high fiber will keep you full longer than simple carbs. Fasting may not be ideal but if you give yourself a smaller window to eat in and clean up choices then that will cut back on the calories.

Everyone is searching for the best diet, myself included. After going through them all as a lifelong fat guy, it comes down to going with something you can stick with.

[Charlie Davies]

I cut 17 lbs at about a 1lb/week rate a couple years ago, while maintaining strength, w/o counting calories.

My method was to cut all snacks (including beverages with calories) and eat three meals each day. I lifted as normal during this time, but didn't increase weights much at all. No extra cardio for weight loss.

My breakfast and lunch were small, and dinner normal sized. Even the small meals had >30g protein and plenty of fiber, they were just low in fat and carbs.
This left me pretty hungry in mid-morning and afternoon, but not in the evenings when my willpower was weakest.

40 lbs in 6 months is a bigger project though -- 1.5 lbs per week for 25 weeks in a row.

[Establishing Strength]

Hey, JLB105

I find that tracking calories and weighing food is the best way to go, and there are some awesome benefits that come with it. One of the awesome benefits is if you record your calories and protein then you can know exactly how many calories you have left to eat foods you like (I can't go a day without ice cream tbh). The other benefit is that once you start measuring your food and weighing it, within a month or so you'll be able to start eyeballing things far more accurately than you could before. Tbh, once you get into the habit it becomes really easy to just keep going with it. It's one of the reasons why I have been able to lose so much weight and not rebound.

However, if you're not convinced then I know there are certain techniques out there that may help you like measuring food with your hand to "eyeball" the amount and meal templates. Dr. Spencer Nadolsky is a pretty big fan of doing this stuff for his patients (he's an obesity specialist) and it might just be the ticket! Heres a link to his meal template video: Meal Templates - Dr. Spencer Nadolsky

Hope I helped!

[Jason Rakes]

Hey, JLB105

I find that tracking calories and weighing food is the best way to go, and there are some awesome benefits that come with it. One of the awesome benefits is if you record your calories and protein then you can know exactly how many calories you have left to eat foods you like (I can't go a day without ice cream tbh). The other benefit is that once you start measuring your food and weighing it, within a month or so you'll be able to start eyeballing things far more accurately than you could before. Tbh, once you get into the habit it becomes really easy to just keep going with it. It's one of the reasons why I have been able to lose so much weight and not rebound.

Agree fully here. Embrace the annoyance at least temporarily and reap the benefits for the rest of the cut. And if you use a tool like Chronometer you can also get a sense of your micronutrient intake very quickly.

[Dalton Clark]

I do not count calories or macros. I know how much of a protein source is 30g of protein (by weighing it first and eyeballing it once I've weighed it enough), and the caloric values of whatever food I add to round out each of my 4 meals. However, I also eat basically the exact same thing every single day so if I want to increase weight I can add more of X, or reduce X if I want to lose weight. Typically you either have to count calories and macros or have a very regular diet where you are able to control portions by observing long term changes.

[Nicky85]

When I was on some form of keto - apex predator diet - no I was not counting calories, high level mostly.

[John Weaver]

I've been tracking macros for 9 months and lost about 30# over that time. I feel like the counting adds a compliance aspect that I wouldn't otherwise have. If something is going in my mouth, it's going in MFP. It was tedious at the start, but now it's just what I do.

Also, tracking allows for small caloric/macro changes that you can't reliably do without measuring. I wanted to eat as much as I could while still losing weight.

[Eric Larousse]

I started out counting but overtime I pretty much know my count in my head.

[Neel Aggarwal]

I lost 80lbs using a combination of strength training and some HIIT cardio over the course of about a year... and I tracked it.

Having said that one thing you may want to do is create a kind of a meal plan. Calculate the appropriate protein, carb and fat totals (maybe start with 40/40/20 respectively) and see what foods you can eat in a day that help you hit those targets.

As long as you’re ok eating the same thing consistently day to day (maybe make one for week days Andre one for weekends) then you won’t need to track as you go.

It’s a bunch of work up front but it may help.

Good luck bud. It can be done!