Is Counting Needed

[Alley]

sounds like more fun also

[mossypockets]

I’m not a tracker, but found it essential the first couple weeks. Otherwise, I didn’t eat enough, especially protein. Tracking everyday would make me crazy, and want to quit. I have enough work to do, and obsessing over my food intake wouldn’t be healthy for me. I’ll track when my energy is off. I’d rather spend the time researching new recipes.

If you titled this thread, “I stopped counting”, you wouldn’t have gotten the defensive posts. Telling others what to do never goes over well.

[Alley]

i could not name it that, due to the fact i never counted, i had no need, eat meat and eggs, and toss in a few other things, just no grain or sugar stuff

[M_Graham_S]

@Happyheart how much weight did you lose in 9 months? I pretty much have the same rules as you. I have a carb tracker on my phone that I use when I’m really unsure about how many carbs are in a food.

[Chipmunk]

My 2 cents.
Tracking is like training wheels for emotional eaters or for ppl who have problems with achieving the sensation of satiety no matter what they eat. It shows you what should be sufficient for your body.
It can also be a help when a stall happens if you started keto journey in more relaxed non counting mode.
I personally do not mind or even like tracking.
I try to do that most of the days. Other days l like to see how am l doing when l’m more spontaneous and it is difficult to track. It is like a test run to check whether l’ll start to over eat because of some emotional reason. My keto goal has been to separate emotions and eating and l proud to say that l’m there!

Keto is flexible. We have keto carnivore, keto vegetarians, lazy keto, strict keto, OMADS etc…Whatever works for you!
KCKO

[Happyheart]

I was around 189 in January (almost 200 a few months before keto). I’m around 132 now. About 60 pounds.

[Alley]

bravo, very tidy loss, good for you

[Happyheart]

Thank you. I am just happy it worked so well for me. Giving up sweets was the toughest part of it for me. Now it’s so much easier.

[Alley]

yes sweets and bread seems to be the hard things. Before i even heard of low carb i cut all sugar, that was hard with out increase of fat

[dlc96_darren]

I came from a vegan/vegetarian background so I normally like veggies. I had to figure out which ones I had to leave behind. Potatoes were huge but it had to be done. Grains had to be left behind too. I was a bread baker and ground my own wheat so if you think that wasn’t hard, think again. But I had to let it go. Pasta, which I was also making, same thing.

You’re a good example for people who say, “Oh, I could never give up…”

God, bless you!

"Yea, I’m dirty lazy keto, punk. Whatcha gonna do about it?”

That may become my new motto!

[dlc96_darren]

I have never counted a single Macro, Never tested my blood or urine. Have eaten far to many calories for my body size every single day.

I think a lot of folks already do this, including myself. - I’ve simply tried to keep carbs to 15 or so a day

I did not get to weight I am because I could control what was going into my body. I need to track

When I started tracking I started eating a descent amount more, had better energy and was able to bump up the metabolism.

I count nothing and track nothing, but some people need to and that’s their choice.

Alley I eat the same way and it works great for me. I personally don’t do well with tracking but that’s me.

I am a data nerd so all data all the time…

I never tracked. Nor restricted calories. I just ate when hungry.

I’m currently not a “counter” but it’s been an evolution and a goal.

Myself, I count when I’m troubleshooting but otherwise I eat instinctually.

In the beginning, I looked things up a lot to see what kind of carbs or protein or fat they might have. Most of it has become intuitive at this point

I’m slowly converting to this, from full-on data nerd, tracking and counting every bloody thing, to simply living life

So, again, not tracking I think is fine but, it is also a good way to identify if you are an outlier, plateauing on stress/sleep problems or have accidentally fallen into bad habits

I’m in the “what gets measured gets managed” camp.

Thankfully, I can track in my head so when I say I don’t track, that may be a bit of a lie. It’s subconscious now.

I tracked religiously for the first month and have started tracking again 9 months down the line

I didn’t track at all until five months in. I’m at maintenance now and want to stay on top of things.

These days I only use cronometer to check on something I’m not sure about. But that doesn’t mean I’ll never track.

I’m not a tracker, but found it essential the first couple weeks. Otherwise, I didn’t eat enough, especially protein.

I have a carb tracker on my phone that I use when I’m really unsure about how many carbs are in a food.

I try to do that most of the days. Other days l like to see how am l doing when l’m more spontaneous and it is difficult to track.

This, is why I LOVE this forum, and this Way Of Life!

Keto is SO adaptable, and can meet SO many with their needs.

How could you not love keto?

[juice]

agree there choice, but they have 300 threads to talk in, want one for us non counters.

A smarter subject line would have helped, then.

[Chipmunk]

I always thought that non counting keto is called lazy keto? I’m not the biggest fan of the negative connotation related to the word lazy TBH.
FreeKeto? EasyKeto? Relaxed Keto?

I support the attitude of “whatever works for you”.
Enjoy keto!

[Shortstuff]

A smarter subject line would have helped, then.

Agreed. The chosen wording for the subject makes it sound like a directive to those who choose to count.

[Alley]

but it did get 55 replies in one day so maybe not so bad,

[Shortstuff]

No not bad, if that’s your objective, but the results don’t fit with your earlier comment relating to the purpose of this thread.

My intent of this thread was to have a place for conversation with non counters.

[Alley]

was not the intent but gave me a day of entertainment. I was hoping more to talk and help people that are not interested in counting everything. But i guess if you need to count so you know not to to eat something then do what works.
Maybe the thread can get to my desired topic zone, seeing name is changed, if not oh well.

[Gillybean]

Tracking is like training wheels for emotional eaters or for ppl who have problems with achieving the sensation of satiety no matter what they eat.

This is me😳. If I track and stay within macros I’m not full. If I eat to ‘satiety’ then I’m way (way way) over my macros! What do I do??

[Alley]

i say be over your macros, as long as you keep the carbs low. To much food will slow down fat loss, but big meals are good, Now take that extra fuel and use it to extend the time to next feeding. If you are feeding 3 or more times a day and eating to much even if low carb your weight loss will be very slow. However if carbs are low this will be much healthier than the SAD. Eat lots in your meals but keep working on reducing the hours of the day you put food in your mouth.

[Chipmunk]

@Gillybean
May l ask how long are you doing keto? What are your goals? The full picture helps with an appropriate advice