Calories

I'm 40 and have never counted a calorie in my life. I wouldn't know where to start. Would I have to weigh out every little component of a meal that I'm cooking and google the calorie content? Do people write it in a note pad or retain this information in their heads?

Although I recently had my body composition calculated at the gym, and was shocked to learn that, at my height and weight, my basal metabolic rate is only 1300 calories! I exercise a lot, so - alongside that - must have naturally always eaten the right amount of calories to maintain my weight.

However, if counting calories works for others, then that's the approach they should follow.

If you’re hungry, you can eat and not feel hungry anymore. Food noise isn’t hunger related, necessarily. It means feeling constantly obsessed about what you’re eating, feeling guilty for eating, feeling miserable if not eating etc

Im in my 40s. The only time in my life I have felt truly at peace is when I have a sickness bug and have had no appetite, which switches the food noise off. Otherwise it overwhelms me and stresses me constantly. It’s honestly pernicious.

I think it depends on various factors but yes I generally do count calories and have a good control over my portion sizes etc. This is because when I tried not doing that I ended up gravitating to 17.5 stone over a number of years. I have since reached 10.5 stone through careful calorie counting and controlled dieting. I have maintained my current weight for some time now and it is through being aware of my calories. Because of this I’ve voted YABU. However! My husband is like you and doesn’t ever need to count his calories and seems to have a natural awareness of portions etc so I do think it varies person to person.

I was always like you, same weight all my adult life. In the last year I have put on a stone, perimenopause I think. Have now started tracking calories to try to lose it.

I don’t ’count calories’ as such but I am careful about what I eat and have a general sense of things. I am just in the healthy weight zone but need to work very hard to stay there because I love food! So I skip breakfast, have a small healthy lunch (soup or salad, so I’m pretty sure it’s never more than about 500 calories). This way I can eat a normal/big dinner with the rest of the family and not really think about what I’m eating.

don’t drink much and try very hard to stay away from sweet things which are my downfall.

I do enjoy exercise which helps. But have a massive appetite so if I didn’t exercise some restraint I’d be huge and quite likely diabetic.

Eh? Humble brag about eating normally. I’ve read it all now. Crazy.

Loathsome humble bragging.
What a sad miserable life you must have to open this kind of thread.

I appreciate I'm probably quite fortunate, but I am genuinely astonished if it's really the case that everyone else is tallying up everything that passes their lips and weighing up whether it takes them over a particular number. Or is that actually just on Mumsnet and not in real life?

I weigh and count most things, but I often eat the same meals in the same combination, so I do not need to count calories every day because I already know.

I'm not typical though, I was diagnosed with restrictive ED as a young teen and have struggled on and off since.

Some days my food and calories overwhelm me and it is all I can think about. Most days I just eat my pre-planned menu and get on with life as normal.

she eats very healthily and will cut down on sugar and carbs if she thinks she has gained a bit

If I think I've put on a few pounds I'll cut back on said biscuits and maybe skip the occasional meal or stop eating earlier in the evening

OP, these are both ways of keeping an eye on your weight. They work because you/your mum aren’t significantly overweight. For people who are overweight, more of an effort is needed to lose weight - if you just cut out a biscuit or two you probably won’t get far.

No, I don’t think everyone counts calories @niadainud . I’ve just done a headcount of 5 friends. 2 formerly had EDs and are still very slender so hopefully they don’t count their calories . One is like you, naturally slender and loses weight without any effort if she feels she’s getting heavier. Two are overweight, both of whom eat very healthily, one of them may count calories in a loose way but I think is just conscious of calorie dense foods and not eating too much.

I counted calories for a brief period some years ago and thought I would go mad, I thought about food non- stop and actually gained weight. I’m trying to drop a few extra kg that I put on in the last few years (menopause and prescription medication) but atm am keeping my blood sugar levels low, eating fairly low carb, avoiding UPFs and having a shorter eating window. Calorie counting definitely isn’t the way for me.

Is say the vast majority of women are not like you, op

But good for you, it sounds healthy

So if you never discuss weight or calorie counting with family or friends - how do you know they’re not doing it? Why would your mum be weighing portions out otherwise?

Look at the number of active threads and how many are about this very topic. It’s a MN obsession.

I don’t count calories, I can’t see the point. If I gain weight, I cut out a few cakes or biscuits. Seems to work as I’ve been the same weight since school.

I should add, I don’t really eat anything other than fresh food. No real UPF’s. I expect my body can regulate itself. The cakes and biscuits are homemade.

Calorie counting, hasn’t that been debunked anyway?

Meet your macros 😂 it’s called eating a balanced diet and people managed to do it before there were tracking apps.

I have an idea how many calories are in food, but I don't do any sort of daily total. And the reason I'm fat is I eat too much chocolate and love crisps.

That can't be true? How do they know if they have met their macros if they don't keep a check. They'll get scurvy or ricketts or both

I’ve never counted a calorie in my life. I’m 40 and on mounjaro so probably should have done at some point but I just really enjoy food.
Still not counting calories now, just making sure I eat from across all food groups and reducing things that aren’t good for me. Not cutting them out entirely if I want them but not eating biscuits every day (mostly because I just don’t really fancy them at all).

Obviously the only people (by and large) who talk about this on MN are the people who are calorie counting or on some kind of disciplined eating.

Mostly the people who just eat stuff, stay a healthy weight and don’t worry about it don’t post.

It isn’t ‘MN thing’ as if everyone has a uni-mind and a shared metabolism .