Hi all
I was just curious to see how many actually count calories on here? For now, I don't..although the more I read on here, the more I'm noticing everyone posting there calories. Why then is it posted in most of the books to not bother counting calories, to eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full, as long as you're eating what you're supposed to? The last time I worried about calories and tracked every last morsal, I never lost a thing! It consumed my entire life, tracking and worrying. Now I just want to lose the 20lbs although it's taking forever.
So I am very curious to see who follows counting and who doesn't , plus how's your progress using either. Thank you and I look forward to all your help and answers. Also, if you are tracking calories, are you using a specific website or program for this?

I do, but I'm trying to do it less. I feel like the constant tracking makes it impossible to hear my body's hunger because I'm always so food obsessed. I'm trying a less frequent tracking to see if that helps... so far so good!

I use myfitnesspal.com - I track my food a couple times a week or so just to get an average of what Im eating. I think it's a good idea especially when you eat something you don't normally eat so you know what kind of cals/carbs/protein etc are in it. Don't get obsessed with it though, it can take up a LOT of time.
good luck.

i use the iphone app from loseit.com I enter everything i eat into there. It just auto tracks calories. I don't limit myself to a calorie budget anymore.

Thanks everyone for all your responses. So far I've noticed most people are tracking, but what are you using for basis? Like based on being male/female, height/weight etc and how much you'd like to lose? I've been reading a lot on her of other peoples forums and such and a lot of people are eating 1200cals, 1400cals, some 1600cals, and a lot of other's are noting they're only eating under 1000cals because they feel so full. Me on the other hand am thinking I'd be starving eating those amounts with what I would do in the run of a day, which again makes me wonder if that's why obviously I'm not losing because I'm basically eating everything that I'm burning, so I just keep staying the same..ugh, it's so confusing some days, although at the very least I feel better, just not happy enough with my outer self and shape. 20lbs is the goal, but it's taking forever it seems...But thanks again and best of wishes to everyone out there bettering themselves.

I began tracking calories when I realized that some days I was getting less than 1000! So I track them mainly to make sure I am getting enough. My goal is to get between 11-1200. I also finally got far enough into the carb ladder to get to 30 carbs per day. So for the past week or so I've been 11-1200 cals, around 30 carbs and my fat at around 70%. My weight has finally stabilized (no bouncing up and then down and then back up) and today I saw a new low.

For some people calories DO count the closer you get to goal, but most people seem to need less rather than more. I'm not sure why I chose 11-1200. Probably based on posts I'd read here from other people. I just knew that less than 1000 was probably not enough and bumped it up a bit to see how it would work for me. I am still experimenting, but so far this is working.

This woe is such an individual thing. You just have to experiment and find what works for you. You could need more/less fat, more/less carbs, more/less cals, etc.

To lose weight I have to cut my calories. Just plain old low carb doesn't do it for me.

I'm a 5' 8" Man. Like I said I track my calories but I don't use that information to effect my intake. I'm relying totally on my hunger.

I eat on average 2000 calories per day. Some days its 1800 some its 2300.

And I'm loosing about 1.5 pounds per week. I also started out with about 15 pounds to loose, so we are in similar boats. I never got the big wosh most other people talk about or the 9 pounds in a week. I think when you have so little to loose, it just goes slower.

I'm 6 feet tall, 43,not very active and I've tracked carbs and calories since I started. The program I use to track the carbs does both so why not?
I don't obscess over the calories but I do try and stay in the 1800 to 2000 range. Less than that and I get hungry, more than that and ...well I don't know 'cause I don't stay too far above 2000 for long. I can gain fluid at the drop of a hat so even though I weigh myself almost daily I'd don't put alot of stock into the ups and celebrate the downs.

I am a slow looser. Maybe I would loose faster if I calorie restricted but I don't want the hunger. I practice intermittant fasting but 12-14 hours is the tops I can go without eating and once I break the fast I have to have the calories or I end up grazing until I get them.
I think its one of those things thats very individual. I could not imagine living on 1200 calories again.

QFT. I starved my self thin last year. At my lowest i was eating 1500 calories per day.

Wont do that again.

I just wanted to clarify that I am not starving by any means! I eat when I am hungry and eat plenty of food <for me>.

I think I'll try using one of the calorie counters just to scare myself to the realization of what I'm eating..no worries on getting to many carbs though, that for sure I know are low enough for what I do eat, but I love meat and fat, there are days that I seriously crave it..like a hamburger fried in olive oil, and I can eat 2 of them no problem on top of a plate of salad greens or with a cup of cauliflower or broccolli. My biggest down fall by any means would be full fat real mayo, although in Neaderthin it's not allowed unless you make it yourself, I love Hellmans with any sort of protein, so unless I add in some mustard, again a no no on neanderthin, but ok with Atkins, then I can eat more mayo then I'm sure would be sufficient. Right there you can rack up the cals, plus the 2 patties, and that's just in one meal. I do only eat 3x's a day, as that seems to work for me and makes me feel full and satisfied, although again I've noticed and read many people eat 5-6 mini meals to speed up their metabolisms to shed the weight and keep it off faster.
What about exercise for everyone, do you all incorporate excercise daily? I do 6days a week with both cardio(40mins-1hr) and weights,anyone else?

I do the primal blueprint fitness. The best way to sum it up is, walk all the time, lift heavy things 2x per week, and sprint x1 per week or two.

Hey Freckles - I didn't mean to imply you were starving yourself. I was refering to the low cal/low fat diets I struggled with in the past that had me trying to survive on 1200 calories and I was miserable.

Yesterday after fasting all day I mowed into a 12oz wing steak and buttered spinach and finished the night off with a cup of blueberries as my TV snack.

Exercise - I swim 3 times a week for 30-45 min, walk 3-4 miles over the week with the dogs (so brisk but not "cardio") and do some hand weights with WATP a couple times a week. I try to sprint in the pool every couple weeks for a few laps.

Same here. I keep an eye on calories, but I'm not fanatical about it. I do watch carbs when I'm in loss mode, as I am now. When eating VLC I naturally end up with fewer calories. Today was 936, for example, but I had plenty of food, I'm full. I ate all my meals until satisfied, so I'm not going to worry about sub 1,000 calorie days. Other days my calories are a bit higher. However, I know for sure that if calories are much higher than say about 1100 or 1200 on a consistent basis, I don't lose, simple as that. Perhaps because I'm older I don't need as many calories.