Not calorie counting?

[BumbleBee92]

Hi all,

I've started my diet in earnest. I'm following one of those meal replacement shake programmes as I can't be trusted with choice. I'm having two shakes a day, with mainly apples or soya plain yoghurt)for snacks, and then a sensible dinner.

Because I do research work and spend a lot of time travelling to archives, the shakes, which I make myself, won't always be practical and there will be times when I have to break my ideal food routine.

When I do calorie counting diets, I always end up thinking ohh 100 more won't hurt, and so on until I've not restricted at all. So I was wondering what you thought about writing down what I eat and keeping an eye on whether it looks like like I've eaten enough but not too much, ie judging my food based on whether I've met a meal quota rather than a calorie quota. I think I have a good idea of nutrition after years of worrying about my weight (and eating all the junk anyway) and will be able to judge whether a meal is roughly right for my diet, and might stop me eating for the sake of it because I've worked out I've got spare calories. The fear of going over and not knowing for sure whether I have seems like a tactic worth trying.

Has anyone else done a diet where you haven't counted calories? Am I kidding myself?

 

[Steve]

Remember... this is an experiment. It's about trying things and learning. There's only one way to find out whether or not this sort of approach will resonate with you or not.

I actually recommend a skill/habit based approach over a counting based approach for someone like you. Of my clients who've been most successful, they relied on systems that deviated from the numbers based approach to food. In fact, of these folks, the vast majority of them started with simply eating 3-4 meals per day without snacking. Some of them paired this with writing down their meals (rather than counting). Others paired it with taking pictures and either keeping a photo journal themselves or texting me the pictures. The possibilities are endless.

As one skill/habit automates, we'd add another. Examples include waiting 30 minutes before feeding hunger, practicing stopping at satisfied rather than full, eating sufficient protein per meal (making protein the base of each meal), minimizing junk food, drinking sufficient water, paying attention to mindless eating, etc. The list is endless. And it's not so much the exact habit you're working on at the moment that matters most... but rather the system of scaling habits to meet you where you are and progressing and cycling them as you see fit.

Really it's about slowly refining the skills that you feel your best version would have.

Not sure if that answers your questions... but I'd be happy to discuss this further if you have additional questions.

 

[bp562]

Remember... this is an experiment. It's about trying things and learning. There's only one way to find out whether or not this sort of approach will resonate with you or not.

I actually recommend a skill/habit based approach over a counting based approach for someone like you. Of my clients who've been most successful, they relied on systems that deviated from the numbers based approach to food. In fact, of these folks, the vast majority of them started with simply eating 3-4 meals per day without snacking. Some of them paired this with writing down their meals (rather than counting). Others paired it with taking pictures and either keeping a photo journal themselves or texting me the pictures. The possibilities are endless.

As one skill/habit automates, we'd add another. Examples include waiting 30 minutes before feeding hunger, practicing stopping at satisfied rather than full, eating sufficient protein per meal (making protein the base of each meal), minimizing junk food, drinking sufficient water, paying attention to mindless eating, etc. The list is endless. And it's not so much the exact habit you're working on at the moment that matters most... but rather the system of scaling habits to meet you where you are and progressing and cycling them as you see fit.

Really it's about slowly refining the skills that you feel your best version would have.

Not sure if that answers your questions... but I'd be happy to discuss this further if you have additional questions.

Thank you so much for such a thoughtful response and for your encouragement. I'll definitely keep in mind what you said as I relate to some of those things, particularly mindless eating and my meals being carb based generally. I'm glad others have had success without calories being their fundamental guidance, and will keep going