General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Intuitive eating vs. counting calories Rss Feed  
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2012-05-03 2:59 PM

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Petoskey, Michigan
Subject: Intuitive eating vs. counting calories

I have been debating whether to intuitively eat or count calories. As my training has increased in duration and intensity, I feel that I am always hungry. I counted my calories to try to keep them in an appropriate range, but find myself still very hungry (meals spaced out, healthy food, nutrient timing, etc). I'll feel so weak that I can't motivate myself to train. I know that counting calories works but I think it might be hurting my training. I am wanting to get leaner, lose 5 pounds or so; so I am calorie conscious. I tend to be so focused on food because of the counting calories that it might be hurting my weight loss AND my training performance. I'll get so tired of being hungry I'll eat until I am stuffed and then , of course, feel guilty. I know I am doing it because I want to feel full/content.  I always fear that intuitive eating will cause me to not get in better shape, but my guess is I'll be more focused on my training and less on food if I am not counting all day long. 

 

What do you do? What has been a successful route for you to get in better shape during training? Thanks! 



2012-05-03 3:35 PM
in reply to: #4188964

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Subject: RE: Intuitive eating vs. counting calories

I've done the food journaling and calorie counting.  Then I discovered Paleo nutrition and haven't counted a calorie since.  If you are concentrating on lots of veggies, protein, healthy fat and some fruit/sweet potatoes/squash, you really don't need to count and you will feel satisfied.  I follow this eating template year-around, not just during heavy training.  In March 2011 I went 100%.  I lost 20lbs in the first two months, and have stayed at 135 +/- 1-2 lbs for the entire year.  I've leaned up and made great gains in performance and recovery.

I eat about 4-5 times a day, and each "meal" has a similar makeup - protein, veg or fruit, fat.  The night before a heavy training session or race I will add extra baked sweet potatoes.  After a hard training session or race I will have a recovery smoothie.  I've gotten into a rather routine schedule because I work during the day, but rarely will I be "starving" between meals.  I'm a little more hungry on long swim days (?), and will sometimes eat a little extra, but general eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full.  I watch portion sizes, though, I don't go crazy.

There are lots of resources out there, but I particularly like and follow Nell Stephenson - she's a nutritionist and Ironman athlete, so she knows what works.  Her new book Paleoista just came out - I got my copy yesterday - can't wait to get into it!

2012-05-03 5:13 PM
in reply to: #4188964

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Subject: RE: Intuitive eating vs. counting calories

Combination of both.

You can count out 1800 crap calories and be hungry. Or you can include lots of fiber, lean protein and natural carbs and feel very full on the same calories. There are many ways to figure out your actual caloric needs.1800 is just an example.

I have more than another 50 pounds to lose, so I don't know what it looks/feels like to worry about 5. Honestly, at that point, if you're worried about race performance, then they may simply be vanity pounds. Weight loss does increase speed, but not if you're cutting so hard that you are weakening. I'm still at the stage where dropping major weight is my #1 priority.30 pound drops make a huge difference. 5? I think you're looking into an area of fine tuning that may be best answered by experienced nutritionists and coaches.

2012-05-08 3:09 PM
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Wichita
Subject: RE: Intuitive eating vs. counting calories

My question would be how are you counting your calories?  I will give you my example to explain:

1. current weight is 193 (been stuck there for weeks now) so my calorie intake to lose 1 pound a week is 1850 calories a day NET.

2. So if I go out and do a 4 mile run @ 100 calories/mile that equals me being able to eat. 2250 calories in a day to get my 1850 net.

3. So say I do the exercise and don't account for that in my counting and I do a 10 mile run (burns 1000 calories) and I only eat 1850 calories.  That is equal to me not working out and eating 850 calories.  Thus making me tired from not fueling my body properly.

with the little information that you provided I would guess that you maybe under fueling your body, thus making you tired.

2012-05-25 9:02 PM
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Subject: RE: Intuitive eating vs. counting calories

I have tried calorie counting too many times to remeber and I would ALWAYS feel hungry.  I have what may be a simplistic routine but I am down 31# in three months.

I NEVER eat ready prepared foods.  By making everything myself I am eliminating all the salt and sugar that are in processed foods.  I also think that I am paying more attention to portion size rather than whats in the container. 

I also look at labels for sugar and carbs.  I was amazed to see a lot of whey products with added sugar.  Adding 14g of unnecessary sugar in two scoops of whey (or anything else for that matter) can make a diffeence when you do that every day.

Then i 'reward' myself based on how hard I workout (still good foods but things I like).  I am never hungry and never weigh or measure anything so I don't feel deprived.  This I can stick to.  Bottom line is you need to find something that works for you that you can stick with.  I have another 30 to go which is far more than I was hoping for when I started.  Keep with it and experiment until you find what works for you. Good luck.

2012-05-26 10:09 AM
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Subject: RE: Intuitive eating vs. counting calories
Counting calories wins.  With that said, I have never really tried to count calories.  And THAT is why I weigh 198 with 8 hours of training /week.


2012-05-29 1:39 AM
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Subject: RE: Intuitive eating vs. counting calories
Even with a "paleo diet" counting calories may be in order.

Some people will be satisfied and eat less later because of the diet and not NEED to count, others may net have the full effect and still over-eat.

I count calories ( loosely though ) but the more you do it, you can easily estimate the calories in a meal, or a quick look at an unknown ingredient or two, and you'll know about where it is.

I never go to the point of weighing out food, it's always an estimation, but so is calories burned during exercise, so if I'm not seeing results, I can tweak my habits a bit.

Over time, you get used to certain portions and foods, and no longer need to count them, and it almost becomes "intuitive" to a point.
2012-05-31 5:06 PM
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Subject: RE: Intuitive eating vs. counting calories
npenner02 - 2012-05-08 3:09 PM

My question would be how are you counting your calories?  I will give you my example to explain:

1. current weight is 193 (been stuck there for weeks now) so my calorie intake to lose 1 pound a week is 1850 calories a day NET.

2. So if I go out and do a 4 mile run @ 100 calories/mile that equals me being able to eat. 2250 calories in a day to get my 1850 net.

3. So say I do the exercise and don't account for that in my counting and I do a 10 mile run (burns 1000 calories) and I only eat 1850 calories.  That is equal to me not working out and eating 850 calories.  Thus making me tired from not fueling my body properly.

with the little information that you provided I would guess that you maybe under fueling your body, thus making you tired.



I've spent the early part of this season trying to get to an optimal race weight. I've used a smart phone app called My Fitness Pal to help me count calories consumed and burned. Honestly it makes it very easy because almost every conceivable food item is in the database it uses, and it automatically calculates calories burned from activities based on the personal data you input. Plus having it on the phone means I can imput data anywhere at any time.

2012-06-04 3:49 PM
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Subject: RE: Intuitive eating vs. counting calories

Calories are only one piece of a very much bigger puzzle when it comes to weight loss.  Sure, where your calories come from matters.  So does stress, sleep, food sensitivities, genetics (yes, there is a genetic test that determines if you are better at burning fats vs. carbs), hormonal and metabolic dysfunction.

Check out my Active.com article for more insight:  http://www.active.com/triathlon/Articles/5-Ways-to-Slim-Down-and-Speed-Up-For-Your-Next-Race.htm?page=2

Our bodies are chemistry labs, not bank accounts.  Relying strictly on calories for weight loss only gets part of the job done.

Miriam

2012-07-11 10:28 PM
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Subject: RE: Intuitive eating vs. counting calories

Despite all the micro-level evidence for factors that contribute to weight loss (or gain), on the macro level, calories are still the 800 lb gorilla.  If you don't find a method for re-engineering your diet so that your habitual intake is of an level appropriate to loss (and then maintenance), within the context of training, all the attention to glycemic index, cortisol levels, lack of sleep, healthy fats, etc, etc, etc, is going to be meaningless.

Personally, I realized that literally counting calories would be too much work to commit to for the rest of my life.  So I worked on portion control and flat-out eliminating "trigger" foods and items that are particularly calorie-dense from my diet.  And I moved forward from an intuitive approach.  Mind you, I have a good idea at any given point during the day of how many calories I've taken in (and burned), but I don't usually govern my intake based on that (only if I know I've blown it badly on a given day). 

All of that said, my wife had tremendous success with WW and she does best with a structured approach that includes logging.  Most people are pretty bad at intuitively grasping their caloric balance day-to-day...like with the mirror (vs the scale), your "intuition" can tell you what you want to hear if you aren't brutally self-disciplined.  One thing I had to learn to appreciate was the difference between actual hunger and what my mind had programmed itself to perceive as hunger...that's hard for a lot of people and I see that show up on BT in all sorts of ways all the time in a way that becomes a rationale for over fueling.

The biggest tool to my success (seven years since reaching goal with no re-gain) is daily weigh-in, btw.

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