To not count calories in my dinner?!

[BiscuitBandit32]

OK I've got an idea.

I am around 3 stone overweight and SO CONFUSED about how to get the weight off. I'd settle for 1 of those stones off tbh. I've battled with several methods over the years but never found anything I can stick to. I tried calorie counting (again) recently but found it really impractical with a family. Yes, I know loads of mums do it and succeed but I'm just being honest, I struggle. And I don't think it's a coincidence that the people you see on insta pushing calorie counting are mostly either teenage girls or childless men. It's all well and good calorie counting if you are cooking for 1 and have no stress in your life.

So I had an idea...is this totally stupid??

Basically I thought I could count calories BEFORE my dinner only...so breakfast lunch and any snacks. I'd try and keep those below 800. Then I'd just eat my dinner as normal. I'd try to be mindful of portion size, increase my veg, try and make sure its a healthy nutritious meal but I would not count the calories in it. As long as I don't go mad or load up on pasta and butter, any meal would be well below 1000 calories.

The reason I'm thinking of this is because I really struggle with calorie counting dinner. I find it super stressful. Dinner time is chaos in our house and when I'm trying to plan, weigh, measure, track and log my calories it just feels like a HUGE chore, I get fed up and quit.
But I know I need to be in a caloric deficit to lose weight. And I can probably cope with tracking my own bfast and lunch and snacks as its not a complicated family meal.

My idea was that if my pre dinner food comes to 800, my dinner won't be more than about 800 (probably an over estimate really) so I would probably end up with less than 1800 total calories per day (wich is what most calorie calculators give me as a target.

Thoughts? Anyone else tried this way of doing things? I'm thinking it might take the pressure off whilst still reducing my intake.

OP, why not try logging your calories earlier in the day? If you plan your meals and know roughly what you're going to have for your dinner, add it to the app when you're adding your breakfast/lunch/whenever you have 5 minutes. Then it's done and all you need to do is make sure you've been realistic in what you've logged=what you've actually eaten. You could always go back and edit it later on at night if you've gone back for seconds or added extra cheese etc. I find doing it this way round helps me stay on track too.

Oh yes, good old Richie who has no experience of being a parent but thinks he’s the expert in what parents should be achieving

I don't understand how this would work though as I can't weigh my ingredients until I cook it? 🤔

🤣🤣🤣 thank you for saying what I really think 😆

This is what I do too.

You can also just import a recipe from the Internet and it will calculate the calories. You just edit serving size.

Yes this is how you accurately determine the calories in a meal. But as others have explained there are other less exact methods, once you do it once you have it for the next time, and on apps like MFP you choose from a database which can get you in the ballpark.

so don’t feel like you have to be perfect out of the gate. Choose a comparable to get yourself started, then pick one meal next week and do the measurements while estimating the rest, the next week pick another meal, and the next.

My real suggestion is to not worry about any results or overages for the first month. Just use that month to get used to everything and to build a routine. and to

Team RH are very obsessed with every calorie which is a little OTT I calorie counted 1800 calories a day and lost 3 stone and have kept it off for 2 years. During the time I lost the weight I put all my meals into MFP and I sort of know now what each one of them is. I don't think I would ever eat a 1,000 calorie meal in one sitting as the sorts of foods we eat you just wouldn't get to that amount - we tend to eat chilli (on its own or with cauli rice), fish, salad, new pots, fajita's, wraps with Schwarma Chicken, fish pie, beef bourgignon, chicken, pots and veg, bolognaise, chickpea and butternut curry, fishcakes, haggis (slightly higher calorie), roast, kebab and salad, fish and chips, beef stew, chicken in white wine mash and veg etc - all these meals come in around 400-800 calories.

I would aim for 600-800 in the day and then your evening meal and reassess in a month. If you have lost weight fab, if not then you know you're going to have to take a little more action into weighing and measuring the evening meals.

I will say though I sometimes think that all the weighing and measuring makes me eat UP TO 1800 calories and if I just went back to eating sensibly and making changes I would actually eat far less than 1800 calories.

Give it a go OP. Sounds like a good plan. Remember, you must eat the equivalent calories to cover your BMR otherwise your body will think starvation mode and will adjust itself to burn less calories = no weightloss! I'd have thought 1800 cals would be fine for weightloss at your height/weight atm.

I'm same as you...but have 4 stone to lose and 17 years older (menopausal) and have procrastinated so much, for months, reading all kind of books about weightloss and basically trying to avoid actually making the effort to start a healthy eating lifestyle that I know I can continue for life!

I've yo-yoed since I was 19....9stone at 30 and now 14 stone with ups and downs in between so I think I'm just so fed up with the constant battle to maintain a healthy weight, tell myself I won't achieve it so never bother properly.

I digress, sorry but def give your idea a go, sounds a good idea to me 😊

I hate calorie counting. I find it impractical as well when cooing for a family, or when DH cooks. I've lost a stone over the last few 6 months, 2 thirds of that over the last 2 months. I love the Four Pillar plan book by Dr Chatterjee when I've been taking the following approach:

-up my water (2 litres feel unachievable to me so I try for 1.2l)
-limit snacks to veg and fruit (I did this really strictly for the first month to wean me off UPF/refined sugar but now will have the occasional biscuit/cake)
-try to eat 5 different vegetables a day. This encourages me to snap on veg and add veg to my lunch/not just have a sandwich. I tend to have some kind of homemade soup or leftovers for lunch. Today I had a traybake of tomatoes/courgettes/peppers/onions/garlic/sweet potato with haloumi, with a portion for tomorrow and 1 for the freezer. Other days at home I have a jacket potato with spinach/mushrooms/cream cheese. I really try and avoid bread at lunch as it doesn't really fill me up.
-for dinner I'm also upping my veg, trying not to have a crazy amount of carbs but definitely not cutting out, and I still eat meat maybe 5-6 days a week. We batch cook a lot so most of our meals are cooked from scratch (probably 5 out of 7). I avoid UPF but if that's what my DH has made for dinner I'm not going to turn it down.
-For breakfast I have the same thing every day so I don't have to think about it! Boiled egg with rye toast and butter, coffee, water.
-I do not eat after dinner so have at least a 12 hour window (more like 13) when I don't eat.
-in the evenings I only drink water/herbal tea
-cut out alcohol completely

I feel so much better than I did 6 months ago. I'm also getting more fresh air, more steps in, doing strength exercises twice a week, no caffeine in the afternoons, no tech in the evenings past 8.30. All helping me lose weight as well as feel better. Calorie counting just stresses me out and makes me fixate on food. This way I know the rules and it's giving me the opportunity to focus more on other things for myself. The first few days were definitely tough but now it feels easy. I'm never hungry, not craving sugar or salty snacks anymore and can feel the befit in my body.

I lost a pound last week by not eating breakfast (just fruit if I did), calorie counting at lunch and not at tea. I also didn’t have desert and only had a couple of fizzy drinks. I feel like if the teas were healthier (they should be this week as we went off the meal plan last week) I could have maybe lost another pound or two.
I also did an exercise video, active play with my child (inflatable play area) or went for a walk every day 😋

I've done WW, SW, Keto low carb and calorie counting over the years. Unfortunately I'm one of those people who get obsessed with a diet. So calorie counting or 'syns/points' isn't good for me - I have literally been known to get tearful about going to a wedding when I was on a diet because I didn't want to 'eat too much and can't find a way of reducing the calories/points/syns'. That's a bad way to live for me. Food should be pleasurable. You can't live without it!

I am 60 years old (notoriously hard to lose weight for some women at that age) and was 1 stone 9lbs over my healthy BMI weight late last year. So, last November I had a call from the GP. Blood pressure had gone into the high area (something I have never had) and I was diagnosed with prediabetes. The GP told me the thing I could control was my weight and, if I lost half a stone I'd probably see a reduction in blood pressure. Get the lot off and I could lose the prediabetes in theory.

So I followed her advice and went on the reduced carb plan from diabetes.org.uk. I stick to 130gms of carbs or under each day. I have a small spreadsheet of my normal food and the carb values for each which was a one off job to set it up. Then I just put my planned day's food into the sheet, add it up and stick to it. If, like last week, it was a birthday in the office and I had a doughnut, I'll add that in later but not fret about it. I know I can 'tweak' the carbs for a few days afterwards to lose that.

Breakfast is normally porridge with a scant teaspoon of sugar - I can't stand berries so sugar is the only sweetness I can use and I figured a teaspoon is a good compromise. Though it's high carb, porridge keeps me full.

Most of the time now I'm not hungry though at breakfast time so I have a coffee with double cream in it and that's all. When I was eating toast for breakfast I'd feel peckish mid morning which is weird as I don't get that any more. Some people with diabetes do report that 'overdoing' the carbs does make them want to eat more. I don't know if that's a 'thing' but I've noticed the difference.

I have salads at lunch time. Everything that goes in a sandwich can go with a salad so I just do sandwiches for the family, salad for me with the same fillings. Sometimes I'll have bacon and scrambled egg (if the family are having bacon sandwiches for example) or ryvita with a filling on top like bacon/lettuce and tomato with mayonnaise. Ryvita is half the carbs of bread.

I still have pasta but I weigh it all into a pot ready for the whole family and allow myself a third of a weighed portion. When I dish it up I just scoop out 1 measure to 3 of the same on DH/DS's plate. Then I add veg to my plate to take up the room.

Most meat and fish have few or zero carbs. So I'll make a Bolognese, casserole or curry, carb count the whole pot and divide by the three of us. I can have a normal portion. The family have the same dinner. No faff, no weighing. We all eat the same main meal but my 'sides' may be slightly different. Looking at my plate though, you wouldn't notice. I use cauliflower rice and make cauliflower mash for me. The rest of the family get normal rice and potatoes.

I do have chips but literally count out 10 for me. Because fish goes with chips doesn't it? My brain says so. So if I have 10 chips my brain says 'fine you've had fish and chips'. Then I'll do normal baked or pan fried fish - as much as I want, I don't hold back if I'm hungry - zero or negligible carbs. And I have roast potatoes with a roast dinner - but just stick to 2 medium sized ones. Pile up the veg.

I do a lot of sitting in my job and don't do running or counting steps. The only thing I have is a small 'desk' cycle (the cycles without handles - you use them by sitting on a chair). I put something on the TV lasting about an hour and peddle up to '500 plus calories' - which probably isn't really 500 calories burned but it gives me a target. I do that 3 - 4 times a week.

I've lost a stone since November - only put on two pounds at Christmas despite having chocolate and Christmas pud. My blood pressure is now normal and I'm two points down on my last blood glucose test so closer to losing the pre diabetes.

I won't be calorie counting any more. It doesn't work for me. This is so much easier for my lifestyle. And I think that's it. You have to find the diet that fits you. Because it will be a life long diet.

I'm doing this.

fruit and coffee for breakfast
grazing for lunch as I'm not actually hungry and then eating whatever I want for dinner. (Which stops me snacking in the evening)

@LondonJax well done on the weightloss. Your plan sounds ideal and as you say workable for life.

I did some calorie counting when I lost 2 stone 18 months ago but I only did it for a month to see portion sizes for things like cheese and cereal then have gone it alone.
what works for me is no breakfast but only because lunch is very early at work and I have soup/cereal/porridge and fruit. Then a milky drink and a snack mid afternoon when I finish and then a decent tea with half the plate veg or salad. Weigh in day I eat a sandwich as bread is not good for me and weekend teas are whatever we fancy with pudding and treats. It's kept the weight off and now I'm slowly losing again with knocking the treats down a bit.

I only ever estimate on MFP, unless I can enter it easily. I find it very easy to track that way and don’t gain weight, so I think weighing as you’ve been told sounds excessive and unnecessary.

I will caveat that though by saying you have to account for inaccuracies so if you are estimating dinners, give yourself a leeway of maybe 150-200 cals

Thank you @HowcanIgetoutofthisalive . The important thing for me is that I'm not obsessed. I don't think about food anymore. And I don't feel like I'm missing out. I bought a small 'Freddo' bar the other day and shared it with DH because I really fancied some milk chocolate. But I added it to my carb count and adjusted my other foods for the day to allow it.

I don't do chocolate often because of the pre diabetes rather than the carbs (keeping up with sugar isn't a good idea with pre diabetes). But sometimes you have to eat something to stop the craving. I just have a small piece now and I'm happy. Whereas on other diets I've resisted, resisted then eaten a whole bar of chocolate in a moment of weakness. Then felt bad about myself and that's not a good way to live for me.

Would portion control work for you?

If you look at vintage plates (1970s), they were much smaller than the ones we currently buy which means that small portions look lost. Put the same small portion on a smaller plate and it looks like a much greater amount of food which can trick the brain into thinking it's consumed more than it actually has.

Hi OP, I've lost 5 stone in the past using fitness pal - currently have an extra stone on though! I often log my entire day in the morning (or night before) and then just just need update the actual weight of my food. This saves time at meal times by not having to search for each food and it also keeps me on track a bit more because once its logged, I'm less likely to deviate!

With regards to recipes, I batch cook loads for me (vegetarian in a house of meat eaters) so I log all ingredients, input the servings and then dish all the portions at once into my tupperwares and on my plate. I do this as evenly as possible I.e. a ladleful of curry into each and then split the remainder. I figure at most it will be give or take a few calories. This has worked for me really well in the past :) I just update the weights in the recipe when it's time to remake I.e. I used 150g sweetcorn last time but 170g this time so edit it.

In response to your original question - give it a go! You'll soon know if it works or not and if it does - great! If not, maybe think about counting a little more strictly :) and batch cook! A couple of hours when you have the time will leave you with tonnes of meals that are counted and then you could cook as usual for everyone else or they can enjoy the calorie counted ones!

I’m also about 1600-1700 calories maintenance i don’t count anymore and eat what i want as i know most things now (lost 6 stone 10 years ago & have kept it off) but if jeans start to get a bit tight say after christmas or summer holidays i’ll drop back down for a bit to loose a few lbs. I think 800 the rest of the day and a dinnee under 1000 not tracking will be too many calories and you won’t lose weight. I had to drop to 1200 to lose weight.

So I was told (by team rh) that this is inaccurate and the only way to do it is to weigh every individual ingredient by the gram, weigh your pot, cook it, then weigh the full dish, minus the weight of the pot, then weigh your serving. Which when you have 3 screaming kids and the dinners burning and the baby has pood and the toddler is trying to murder the cat starts to feel like a huge massive faff on.
Do you just estimate a portion then? Like input your recipe and divide by how many people?

That's barmy. If you are weighing the ingredients for your recipe then your weighing is done. If you're making it without weighing then I would weigh the calorific things but estimate the others. Eg one onion on mfp is probably not that accurate but will only be a few calories different. But potatoes vary a lot more and one medium potato could be a lot more than you think.
I usually just estimate if it's a tray bake/lasagne. I would weigh pasta for example.
Tonight we had loaded fries. I weighed out my potatoes and partitioned them off so I knew which were mine. Two rashers of bacon easy. I weighed my cheese but guessed everyone else's and I just guessed with the onion because it's so low cal it won't make much difference.

It would be quite hard to loose weight this way, unless you are very disciplined.
I lost a lot of weight using my fitness pal to calorie count every day for about 6 months. Unfortunately after holidays and Christmas I gave it up and put almost all the weight back on. I still try to myfitnesspal but if I start days and don't stick to it in the evening (like you suggest) I find I eat more as I'm 'unaccountable' for the calories 😅
Just a thought.

I’m so sorry but no this wouldn’t work. Everyone underestimates the amount of calories if they just guess, there was a recent recipe for a veggie lasagna in a magazine which looked so nutritious but was 900 calories a portion and I could easily eat two portions! maybe get the pinch of nom books for recipe ideas for the whole family as tend to be lower calories due to food swaps

I’ve been going to ‘Fitfans’ for a while now and it’s so different to other slimming programs p, it’s aimed at people just like you, busy mums. I’ve been today and the lady who runs it is so practical, she said even if you only manage to calorie count three days it’s better than none, so yes I think if your plan suits you then you should give it a try as it’s better than nothing!

I suppose it depends on how much you usually eat before tea? If you usually eat 1200 calories by tea then reducing your daily calories by 400 is probably going to lead to weight loss. But if you usually skip breakfast and have a soup for lunch then you won't be reducing you calories enough to lose.