Counting calories

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How important is tracking? For me the problem is not eating enough, but I think I haven't been adding the surplus I thought I was. Now that I have been focusing on eating more more often I notice I have been gaining weight. So I guess my question is can I track my diet intuitively and just watch the scale and listen to my body, or does anyone recommend actually learning to track my macros?

Also I do semi track them just not weighed out every meal.
 
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Do what works for you. I’ve been cutting for 3 months and have tracked every bit of food during that period.
 

motown1002

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I track everything. I make very small modifications to my diet based on the mirror and scale every couple weeks. Its even more important when I am cutting.
 

transcend2007

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Get MyFitnessPal .. its FREE .. tracks calories and macros ....

The truth is you cannot improve what you do not measure ...

The idea you're going to magically dial in your nutritional plan without effort is not likely to happen ... download MyFitnessPal to your mobile device ... 1 year from not you'll be glad you did!
 
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Get MyFitnessPal .. its FREE .. tracks calories and macros ....

The truth is you cannot improve what you do not measure ...

The idea you're going to magically dial in your nutritional plan without effort is not likely to happen ... download MyFitnessPal to your mobile device ... 1 year from not you'll be glad you did!
So true. I never tracked my food before, just went off of what I thought was right. Turns out what I thought was right was very wrong. Once I started tracking calories and macros, things started to happen.
 
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Ive heard countless people say that when they actually start tracking they realize they are grossly under eating or overeating what they thought. Alright I'll quit being lazy and discipline myself with that app.
 

CJ

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Don't give up on the MFP app. Entering your foods is tedious at first, but it'll end up remembering frequent foods, and you can save specific foods and meals for quick entries later. It gets much easier.

We all eat the same meals over and over for the most part, so you'll learn a lot.
 

BrotherJ

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MFP also has a barcode scanner so you can quickly scan in ingredients or things like PB, jerky, etc...it becomes habit after awhile.
 
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Actually I’m enjoying this app a lot so far today. would you guys consider a pound a week a viable goal? Should I set the app to try and gain 2 pounds a week? Im sitting at 181 and I want to push to 190 and beyond.
 

German89

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I'm a IIFYM kinda girl and use myfitnesspal. I'm ocd about tracking my cals. I think its important

I manually enter everything into the system. So I can really dial it in. If I want 32g of sauce instead of 52g, itll do all the math for you.
 

Viduus

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I wouldn’t pay for it, everythibg anyone needs is on the free version

The paid version lets you name meals and create more. That way you can have meal 1, meal 2 etc. There’s some extra features with adding your own foods grouped as a meal (different then the other meals I mentioned)

All in all its not needed but I use it.
 
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The paid version lets you name meals and create more. That way you can have meal 1, meal 2 etc. There’s some extra features with adding your own foods grouped as a meal (different then the other meals I mentioned)

All in all its not needed but I use it.
Everything goes in as breakfast for me lol
 

Grego

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Counting and logging is the only way to learn your body. Some find it necessary to do so others can count and log for a while and then wing it. I usually under eat if I’m not tracking
 

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