How to Stop Counting Calories Without Gaining Weight
How To Stop Counting Calories Without Gaining Weight
Written by Jonathan Fletcher
Caitlin Counter loved counting. It didn’t matter if it was sheep when she was struggling to sleep, cars passing her on the freeway, or shells on the beach. Counting was her jam.
After college, Caitlin married her high school sweetheart Phillip Filer. You can probably guess what his obsession was.
After a few years of wedded bliss, Caitlin found herself counting a few extra holes on her belt that she hadn’t used in the past.
Like a lot of her friends, the busyness and responsibilities of married life led to more takeout, drive-thru’s, and about 25 extra pounds that she didn’t love.
As an avid listener of the Digital Barbell Podcast, she knew that the key to making those unwanted pounds disappear was her nutrition. She knew that she needed to get in (and stay in) a calorie deficit so her body would burn that unwanted fat for energy.
She downloaded the Free Calorie & Macronutrient Guide on digitalbarbell.com and off to the calorie-counting races she went!
At first, it was a bit cumbersome. But after some practice, and reading the “How to Use MyFitnessPal Without Screwing it up” article, she became a calorie-counting force to be reckoned with.
Over the next 6 months, Caitlin Counter calorie-counted her way to 25lbs of fat loss. She felt amazing and accomplished.
Calorie counting worked for Caitlin, but if she was being honest, even as a lover of all things-counting, she was a bit sick of it.
She was ready to enjoy the fruits of her fat-loss efforts without the extra steps of counting calories every day.
But even though she was ready to hit delete on MyFitnessPal, she was nervous to stop counting.
What if she ate too much some days? What if she didn’t eat enough protein or too many carbs? Would she regain the weight?
Luckily for Caitlin Counter, she came across this very blog article that you’re reading now.
She was able to follow the simple steps below and move on confidently to maintain her killer progress without continuing to count.
Here’s the plan that she followed to stop counting calories without regaining the weight:
Week 1: Pick one “normal” weekday, eat your normal food, and don’t track any of it in your app.
Notice that I said a “normal” weekday. Having jury duty isn’t a normal day. The day you have 45 random errands to run isn’t a normal day. The day you are flying across the country for vacation isn’t a normal day.
This untracked day should be as routine as possible to set yourself up for success.
Week 2: Repeat week 1 again! Yep! Practice makes perfect.
At the end of week 2, take 10 minutes and reflect on the days that you didn’t log.
Did you feel "normal”? Were you anxious? Did you feel free? Was it no big deal? Did you overeat because you didn’t track?
If everything was copacetic, move on to week 3. If things felt wonky, stick with not logging 1 weekday for another week and then reevaluate.
Caitlin Counter felt great after week 2, so on she went.
Week 3: Pick two “normal” weekdays, eat your normal food, and don’t track any of it in your app.
Yep! Now you’re up to 2 untracked weekdays. Just keep eating your normal meals and snacks, just don’t use the app to log them.
Since you’re probably used to weighing and measuring your food by now, you can even keep doing that from time to time just as a spot-check.
At the end of week 3, go through the same reflection you did at the end of week 3. If everything is going well, take week 4’s steps. If you’re feeling anxious or you find that you’re overeating, repeat week 3.
As for Caitlin Counter, she had an interesting week 3. She picked Monday and Wednesday as her untracked days. Monday went fine, but on Wednesday she noticed she ate quite a bit more than she wanted at lunch and dinner. She felt sick to her stomach and knew that since she wasn’t counting she went a bit overboard. She forgave herself quickly, learned from the experience, and repeated week 3 before moving on.
On to week 4!
Week 4: Pick three weekdays eat your normal food, and don’t track any of it in your app.
Notice that we dropped the “normal” part now. I don’t know about you but our clients are always getting curveballs thrown at them during the week. In week 4, we’ll start testing our habits on those crazy days when everything is going bonkers.
Caitlin Counter crushed week 4. She had a successful dinner out with her husband, and the whole week was a win.
Weeks 5-8: Pick three weekdays plus one weekend day, and don’t track any of it in your app.
That’s right! In this step, we’re taking it up a notch. Over half the week with no tracking, and we’ve added in a weekend day.
Staying true to your nutrition is harder on the weekends, so it’s important not to skip this step.
Notice that this step has some flexibility as far as how many weeks you’ll spend here. This is the final step before you stop counting altogether, so don’t rush the process. Stay here as long as you need to. You should feel confident that the skills you’ve built around portions and listening to your body’s hunger cues are solid before moving on.
As for the star of our show… After week 6, Caitlin felt amazing, and the freedom from counting was even better than expected. In week 7 she went cold turkey on counting and hasn’t looked back since.
If it takes you 7,9, or 20 weeks don’t sweat it. You can do this.
Let’s wrap this story up with a few critical tips that Caitlin Counter used to stop tracking her calories without regaining the 25lbs that she lost.
1: She continued to weigh herself multiple times per week, and calculate her weekly average weight.
Caitlin knew that her weight fluctuated quite a bit throughout the week. She saw many crazy ups and downs in the process of dropping that 25lbs and knew it was just the way fat loss worked.
So to keep herself aware, and accountable while weening herself off of counting, she kept weighing herself daily, and calculating her weekly average weight. She knew that if her weekly average kept going up and up that spot-checking her calories would help her make sure that her portions weren’t accidentally inflating. It happens.
2: She kept eating mostly the same meals and snacks that she did while losing that 25lbs.
This tip was huge in Caitlin’s success. She knew that one of the reasons she was so successful at losing weight was that she had a solid routine most days.
You don’t have to be a robot and eat the exact same food every single day, but when you’re weening off of counting you don’t want to throw in too many wild card variables. Keep it simple, keep it successful.
3: She stayed active and kept exercising.
Maybe you were surprised that when Caitlin Counter set off to tighten up her belt she put her main focus on her nutrition and not just doing a bunch of extra calorie-burning cardio.
As a Digital Barbell Instagram follower, she learned that while exercise and training are important for building her strength, and fitness… Nutrition was the key to fat loss.
While Caitlin lost her 25lbs she followed the free Digital Barbell: Arms, Abs, & A.. Training Program, and shot to get 8,000 - 10,000 steps every day. You can download the same workout program for free below!
Research has shown that while exercise isn’t mandatory to lose weight, people who work out as part of their weight loss journey are much more likely to keep the weight off if they keep working out.
Think about it like this. Gasoline is expensive, and you want to conserve as much as you can to keep your budget in check. You feather the gas pedal as you accelerate, and you try to avoid speeding since your car burns more gas the faster you go. And it works! You improve your gas mileage by 5mpg and save some coin over a few months.
And then gradually you kinda forget about your goal to save gas and you go back to your foot-stomping race car antics. Guess what? You’re right back to guzzling gas and growing your budget.
What I’m trying to say is that in order to keep the great results you get, you have to keep doing what got you there! Makes sense, but this little tip is often overlooked.
This goes for your nutrition habits, and your training.
Caitlin Counter was able to keep those pesky 25lbs off with ease because she kept exercising, stayed active, and kept up with the great habits she built along the way.
If you’ve used calorie counting, food logging, or macro tracking to lose weight, you are a rockstar.
We’ve used the process and tips in this article to help hundreds of clients lose weight, and keep it off. We hope it helps you too.
