What Didn't Work for Me: Counting Calories

I'm back with another installment of "What Didn't Work for Me!"  When you have gained and lost weight as many times as I have, it becomes clear what didn't work in the past.

This time I'm talking about counting calories and how I do not do it.

In 2011 I did what a lot of other people do in January.  I went on a diet and started counting calories.  For several months I recorded every single thing I put into my mouth onto my online food journal on Sparkpeople.com.  I lost about 10 pounds.

Christmas 2010, right before I started counting calories.

I was definitely obsessive about it.  If I was trying out a new recipe, I would take the time to figure out the calories per serving.  If I was going out to eat, I would spend forever looking at the menu and mentally counting the calories.

My first wedding anniversary in 2011. I was in the swing of counting calories and thought I looked so skinny here.  I weighed around 200 pounds.

I was definitely eating healthier than I had in the past, but I was still eating a lot of junk food and sweets.  Entering those items onto my food journal made me feel ashamed and bad about myself.

Counting calories didn't help me learn to eat better. Instead it made me feel bad about myself because I was still making poor choices.  After a few months I eventually quit paying attention to what I was eating and gained all of the weight back and then some.

June 2011. I had quit calorie counting and was starting to gain weight back.

In 2012 I focused on eating clean.  I tried to only eat fresh foods like fruits, veggies, chicken, and fish.  I pretty much quit eating junk food and sweets.  I did a lot more cooking at home, where I could see exactly what I was eating. I changed my attitude about what I was putting into my body.  It finally occurred to me that if I gave my body good, clean food I wouldn't need to worry about calories.

 My 2nd anniversary in 2012.  I weighed 193 pounds

 August 2012, about 178 pounds

 Thanksgiving 2012, about 174 pounds

I was right. The weight came off easily.  After over a year of clean eating I rarely crave junk or sweet food.  Even when I am not working out consistently my weight only fluctuates between 1-2 pounds.

If counting calories works for you, that's great!  Let me know in the comments below!