Do you count calories on MJ?

[Aliceisagooddog]

Just that really, does anyone not count calories and still lose weight?

Just to add .. I am on a small dose (considering I'm 6mths in) and am choosing not to have mega 'suppression' so I need to to count calories 👍🏼

Yes I do, and I would say I am pretty adept at guesstimating where I can’t just because I have been doing it for awhile. That’s not to say I panic about going over, or not being able to manage to count when out. If I was out of an evening for example, I would eat as I would want to through the day, tracking cals, and then eat what I planned on an evening out, knowing I haven’t tracked accurately but living my life.

I honestly think people should (I understand EDs etc, but currently people with EDs are not recommended to be on MJ or the like!!) - I have NO clue what was high calorie before I did. Things like weighing my pasta, oil for cooking and not accounting for ‘little snacks’ maade me understand what I was doing!

I use Nutracheck btw, its great for even being able to tot up calories in a homecooked recipe and saving it for next time. I think once I got in to the swing of things, it became second nature. It doesn’t stop me living or make me panic. Maybe one day, I won’t need to count at all but I’m ok with needing to right now.

I'm over 100lbs down on Wegovy and have counted calories or WW points throughout.

My appetite hasn't been changed by the medication at all, it has worked by quietening the constant food noise so that I'm not compelled to think about food all the time. This one thing alone enables me to stick to healthy eating.

It's such a relief that the constant buzz in my brain is calm for the first time in my adult life.

My own history has been with emotional eating - portion sizes far larger than was needed, but over time I'd completely lost track of what 'normal' or 'reasonable' was. So I counted calories and protein for the first month, to get a sense of what various foods and portion sizes came to, but stopped after that because I didn't want it to be obsessives. I also wanted to hit 1200-1400 calories and 80-100g protein each day so needed to know if I was coming in under that on strong suppression days.

I don't count calories properly, but I bear them in mind. The lack of hunger means I'm usually easily under my calorie limit by only eating lunch and dinner anyway unless I eat out or have a larger treat.

I am not counting calories. I have spent some 50 years dieting in one way or another so I know precisely what and what not to eat in order to be slim. My issue was with emotional eating when under stress and a glass or 2 of wine most evenings, plus sitting on my backside for days at a time for work. Generally, I prefer healthy food and don’t eat large portions. Now that all the chatter that led to my downfall has been switched off, I don’t need to “diet” as such. I’ve lost 5.5lbs in 2 weeks, which is good enough for me.

I would imagine that anyone who has never looked at what a healthy diet consists of or how many calories are in certain foods might need to monitor calorie intake. Everyone will have their own way forward. My view is that calories are an incomplete and possibly damaging way of moving forward towards a healthy diet. No doubt it is possible to lose weight by eating 1200 kcals of chocolate a day.

I would imagine that anyone who has never looked at what a healthy diet consists of or how many calories are in certain foods might need to monitor calorie intake.

I'd have to agree with this (and the rest) as it seems new to some people when some of us are very familiar with it already. The problem wasn't the lack of knowledge but of consistently putting it into action. Now MJ helps with that.

I can tell off the top of my head roughly the nutritional info and how many calories are in different items especially the ones I typically use but I don't need to specifically count calories because just eating a much smaller portion of what I normally do and not snacking already do the job. In other words, lower calories.

Perhaps if these things didn’t help much, I'd do more, be more precise, weigh each item and count every calorie just to know where I'm going wrong and see if there's a different way to get the right results.

I think some people need to count calories but not everyone does - either way, it's obviously working.

I do count calories (using Nutracheck, which lets me calculate cals in home cooked meals). I do it mainly to check that I’m eating enough over the week, as even 2.5mg really curbed my appetite and some days I couldn’t eat more than 800-900 cals. I’m still titrating up to a full 5mg dose after 15 weeks on MJ as suppression is still strong in the first few days of my jab.

The other reason I count calories is because not keeping an eye on the amount I ate is part of the reason I became obese. I’m in my late 50’s and honestly think that being older I need far less than the recommended 2000 cals a day for women, so when I’m on maintenance I want to be able to see if losing or gaining relates to my food intake.

Also, full disclosure, I haven’t really stopped eating the foods I ate pre-MJ, I just eat less of them, so pasta, bread, biscuits and lattes are still part of my diet, but they are within my calorie range for the week.

I count calories but that is because I won't lose weight, regardless of MJ, unless I'm on roughly 1000 calories a day. When I was younger, I didn't need to be half so restrictive to lose weight, so I probably wouldn't have done.

Dieting is not a one size fits all thing. Different people will get on with different types of diet. You can't just eat as normal, take MJ and lose weight, you have to change the eating habits that have made you gain the weight. Individuals do that differently.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do @Aliceisagooddog

I don’t count calories and I’m losing weight just fine. I try to eat low carb and aim to consume 100g of protein a day. So of course I’m in a calorie deficit but the only actual info I look at on nutritional labels are the carb and protein figures.

Generally speaking I don't count. Like many on here, decades of calorie counting give me a very good idea of calorie content. I focus more on ensuring I eat well - sufficient protein, wide range of fruit and veg, no UPFs. I also do 16:8. My goal is to lose comparatively slowly and eat in a way that's sustainable post mj.

That said, I've been in a stall for four weeks (just lost 1lb over the last month). So I recalculated TDEE and calorie counted for a couple of weeks to ensure I was at least 500 calories a day in deficit. I was averaging 1100 to 1200 a day and, as I'm older, don't want to go below that because of health impacts (TDEE 1850). So I'm carrying on as is with the hope that I will lose, even if it is very slow.

The main thing is to find what works for you and do that!

I am taking MJ while (loosely) following WW. I'm trying to keep my dosage of MJ low-ish and largely as a way to help me stay on track, as I suspect I'll need to be used to better habits when I stop taking it. I can quite see, though, how people don't need to follow any sort of plan at all as your appetite is so suppressed that your portion sizes tend to be different. Also many people feel an aversion to sweet or fatty foods. I'd certainly fall into this camp, but am keep an eye on WW points anyway as a bit of a strategy.

Yes, I do because I want to make lifelong changes and I know once I come off MJ I need to be aware of what I am eating.

I tracked religiously for the first few months using an app. Now I'm familiar with calories in most things, I don't feel that I need to. Most days, I'm eating so little that I know I'm in a deficit.

Thanks, I was just interested in the approach people took. I would imagine most people starting MJ have used calorie counting before but didn't know how helpful it would be.

Yes at the moment, quite strictly on MFP and on 1900 calories. Im 4 weeks I and will move up a dose this week, and I am only noticing a small effect for now. Enough to drop about 3kg in the 4 weeks though. I'm reaching the end of the day without eating all the 1900 calories, which was pretty much unheard of for me before.