Has anyone managed to lose weight without calorie counting?

[ButteryNut]

It’s the only thing I’ve tried and it’s worked for me. But inevitably I stop and end up back where I started again.

I’ve tried getting back into the groove of it but it’s so boringly tedious.

I want to lose 2 stone.
How can I do it without counting every damn thing that goes in to my mouth?

I can’t do restrictive diets such as keto, low carb etc, I love potatoes too much!
I’m coeliac so I already have to watch what I eat and scrutinise every label.
And I do like how flexible calorie counting is, I can save enough cals for a treat now & then.
But when I’m cooking things from scratch it’s so time consuming…

Help 😢

Do you drink alcohol?

I'm very 'good' food and excercise wise on paper...

But alcohol is my downfall..!

I used to! Quite a lot tbh! Wine was my friend (or so I thought)

But I realised about 3 months ago that it was doing me no favours so I’ve cut it out completely.

Surprisingly, cutting it out has made no difference to my weight 😞

I've just shed what I imagine is almost stone in about 4 -5 weeks. as my jeans were so tight and I begrudged spending on more when the ones I have are perfectly OK.

Smaller plate - you can't fit excess portions on.
More veg less bread/potato/pasta - salad instead of a sandwich. Instead of pasta salad with the pasta topping I'm cooking everyone else
No snacks - just don't buy them
No alcohol - just don't buy it.
IF every few days just don't have an evening meal. I skip my least favourite of the options I regularly cook, so about twice in 10 days, or have busy days with no time to eat.

No weighing, it's dispiriting when nothing has shifted, I too can smash over 10k steps in a day if I keep my phone in my pocket rather than on the table. Instead go on 'does it fit better?'

I calorie counted for a week or 2 and now I've just stuck to those habits and portion sizes. For me it was excessive snacking and portion sizes totally out of whack, like eating 3 portions of pasta as one portion!
Weigh your food for a while, find out what a normal portion looks like or what size portion you need to be able to lose weight and then just stick to it.
This works for me because I eat a lot of the same or similar foods so I learnt the portion sizes I actually needed for me of the foods I eat pretty quickly. If you have a massive variety it might be harder. I also don't snack much now either.

Oh and I've consistently lost 1lb a week since April. A couple of weeks I've lost 2lb but fairly consistently it's one. 13lb down so far!

I'll let you know, when I weight myself again one day! I've focused on undieting (there is a well-recommended book, but I haven't read it https://www.amazon.co.uk/Undieting-Freedom-Bewildering-World-Diets/dp/1628604107) and just eating what I want to in moderation/what I need to fuel my body as I think my diet had become pretty good anyway. After years of trying various diets and cutting out and reintroducing various foods I have a pretty good idea what to eat and what does and doesn't suit me. I've just binned off any guilt about eating or any thought of dieting.

I increased the amount of exercise I do, joined a new gym very near to home as soon as it opened in November. I stopped weighing myself (as I always put a few pounds on when increasing exercise which has put me off in the past) but have gone from a size 14 to a size 12 and have visibly lost weight off my middle, plus I need to buy new bras, definitely more of a C/D than an E cup now, there is an inch of space in the cup and my body and limbs (and face!) look quite muscular and less rounded/doughy. I feel great though, that's the main thing. I didn't feel unfit before but now have a lot more energy and generally sleep better (and I'm 47- gaining energy at this age feels almost miraculous). Basically I added about 4 hours of cardio/weights a week to my existing exercise of yoga and 10,000 steps a day. This is a sustainable level of exercise for me and I enjoy it. My teenage DDs go to the gym with me. I also take oestrogen now - this has made a difference in no small part, after years on a progesterone only pill.

Again, I don't have a personal trainer and do my own thing in the gym. But as with eating, I've read so much about exercise over the years and tried so many things, and have had personal trainers before, so I'm probably the expert on what works for me.

And before the gym opened those same bras were getting very tight and uncomfortable. Was definitely edging more towards a size 16 back in late summer/autumn.

“I can’t do restrictive diets such as keto, low carb etc, I love potatoes too much! “

You are choosing to not lose weight. Just ditch the carb junk or don’t and stay the same weight.

I love my carbs: rice, potatoes, bread. I just eat much less of them. And balance it out. I won't have them at every meal.

When I was working out five times a week and my thyroid levels were correct, I lost some weight without trying. I was still measuring food out and not eating sweet things or convenience food.
Otherwise I need to calorie count. I can't deal with magic thinking.

Do you eat specialist gluten free products? I.e. pasta, bread etc.? They're often ultra processed even if the normal equivalents wouldn't be.

How compliant are you? Your description of your shape sounds like how I was before I was diagnosed.

I’m 100% gluten free. There’s no cheating, no ‘days off’, nothing. I have a reaction to even a small amount of cross contamination so I never risk it.

I’ve been diagnosed about 5 years now. I honestly thought my body shape was down to gluten as well. Gluten free diet has cleared all my symptoms but I still have the belly.

I agree GF foods are ridiculously processed.
I very rarely eat pasta and when I do, I only eat red lentil pasta.
Eat gluten free bread maybe 1-2 times a week. Mainly because it’s not very nice and stupidly expensive.

You do not need to do Keto or any other kind of restrictive diet to loose weight. My GP and several PTs have told me this. Whoever said that is at best very ill informed.

I don’t eat much ‘carb junk’.
If you read my OP, I said I follow a gluten free diet so that pretty much rules out a lot of junky carbs.
I don’t think a few new potatoes are the cause of me not losing weight.

It's 80/20 food versus exercise so I would focus on this. Exercise is important but you can't outruns a bad diet as they say.

I have never counted a calorie in my life. I fast each day, 14 hours if I can. This seems to really help.

I do exercise quite a lot but the diet has to be sound before this makes a huge impact.

What's a typical day's food intake for you OP?

For me it was making sure i did things i enjoyed. I think its hard enough to lose weight, its even worse doing it knowing you are more than likely going to just put it all back on when you take your foot off the gas.

I would knock the weight loss, calorie counting fad diets on the head for a while. Put all your concentration into finding something you enjoy which helps you burn a few extra calories (Remember exercise is only a small percentage of the calories you will burn each day - even those doing exercise every day only burn about 5-10% of their calories doing exercise). BUT exercising leads to good habits. You start to be happier, you start to be more social and just the act of exercising can, for some, lead to eating less or at least more healthily. Even just parking 15mins walk further away or walking up the stairs instead of lift makes huge differences.

By finding something you enjoy you are much more likely to stick at it and see the benefits long term. Who cares about how quickly you lose the weight. I see all these adverts for women who lost weight in 8-12 weeks. Its the shittest way to lose weight going. Starve yourself, work yourself to death and at the end of 8 weeks have a picture taken of you with less weight. How long do you think thats going to stay like that seeing as every day was an emotional battle? It also costs an arm & a leg.

Find something fun, keep an eye on your calories. Try to work out how many calories you need to be in a slight deficit and you will probably be surprised at how easy it is to maintain it. After that enjoy and let time work for you. I am 11 months in. I have enjoyed every second of the exercise and i lost 13kg in the first 6 months. Havent lost anything since and i think its the muscle i am building. But who cares, clothes i didnt fit, now fit and old clothes look like tents on me.

*I used to! Quite a lot tbh! Wine was my friend (or so I thought)

But I realised about 3 months ago that it was doing me no favours so I’ve cut it out completely.

Surprisingly, cutting it out has made no difference to my weight 😞*

Well done for making that choice. I had 3 months off earlier in the year and also didnt lose as much weight as I have done in the past when cutting it out. But I did also replace the alcohol with dark chocolate!

Keep at it. I think they say it takes a good 3 months before you really start to feel the benefits of quitting alcohol. Apparently it's not just about the 'calories' when it comes to alcohol & weight loss. I remember reading that alcohol actually affects the way we process other calories too.. and you only begin to see that after 3 months.. this is a vague recollection though!

Thanks, you’re absolutely right. I’ve lost weight many times (not in the right ways!) and every single time I’ve ended up back at this exact weight.

Last time I was calorie counting, I also go into exercising. Mainly brisk walking and apple fitness+
I especially loved the strength workouts.

I need to get back into that mindset but I just can’t bring myself to count calories atm.

Thank you 😊 I must admit, I am quite proud of myself for giving it up. It had become too much of a habit!

I wonder if the alcohol had a part to play in where I store fat?… but surely I would’ve seen some sort of difference by now?
Thankfully I haven’t put on any extra weight since going AF though so that’s something

Calorie counting doesn’t work for me, the only way I’ve ever lost weight is by volume eating. I think that unfortunately beyond calories in/calories out no one way of eating to lose weight will suit everyone so you have to try a few different things which can be time consuming and frustrating, especially when one way fails and you kind of give up before trying a new way. It took me years to lose weight before I heard about volume eating and nothing had worked - slimming world, Atkins, keto, intermittent fasting, calorie counting, slim fast, some tablets I forget the name of xl or something. It’s so hard so you have my sympathies and I hope you find what works for you soon.

Focussing on higher protein, minimally processed food. Incorporating intermittent exercise.Having goal items on smaller sizes so you can measure your progress.