Caloric Intake?

[NewStart2014]

Im wondering if anyone else monitors their caloric intake while they are doing the Whole30?

I'm trying to figure out what i happening here. I'm not hungry but I'm craving protein.

I have been tracking what I eat on Fitness Pal but only because it's an easy way to do it.

I have noticed though that I have not eating much more than 1/2 of my 1400 calories. It's 8:30pm and I don't think it's a good idea to eat this close to bed time.

i'm wondering if anyone else is having this challenge and if so how do you handle it?

[Laura B]

Calories have no welcome place in my brain. If you are still hungry you probably do need more protein and/or fat. I eat a TON of food. I tried to scale back my veggies once and my fat once and I was HUNGRY. I listen to my body, if I am hungry, I eat. I have no idea how much coconut oil I eat on a daily basis (a LOT) and I could not care any less about how many calories. My point is I do not measure anything.

My advice is to learn from your body, not from numbers or a website that has a database with almost any packaged food you can imagine.

[Tom Denham]

I'm going to quote from the guidelines: Your only job for the next 30 days is to focus on making good food choices. You don't need to weigh or measure, you don't need to count calories, you don't need to stress about organic, grass-fed, pastured or free range. Just figure out how to stick to the Whole30 in any setting, around every special circumstance, under any amount of stress… for the next 30 days. Your only job? Eat. Good. Food.

Let me state the highlighted part stronger: Do not count calories! Counting calories is as off-plan as stepping on a scale every day and nothing could be farther from the spirit of a Whole30.

If you want to succeed with a Whole30, you have to stop doing what you have always done and actually follow the guidelines. You can't blend your old diet practices with a Whole30 and make it work.

I know this is scary, but find the courage and just do it. Eat a piece of meat as big as the palm of your hand. Use a measure of fat as big as your thumb to cook your veggies and fill the rest of your plate with veggies. Repeat this at least 3 times per day. Eat this way 4 or even 5 times per day if you are hungry. You will succeed if you follow these simple guidelines.

Added note: Please allow me to apologize. I typically leave the Ladies Only section to other moderators, but I was working through the queue of new posts and did not see the category until after I had commented.

[kb0426]

I was someone that monitored my caloric intake daily for almost 4 years. It is so FREEING to let go of it!

There were days (ok, most of them) that I was controlled by that number. Not hungry but calories left? Eat? No calories left but hungry. Struggle to not eat. Is that the way to live? I thought it was. The whole30 is teaching me to let go of that mindset, and to listen once and for all what my body is telling me, and not a number.

[Snappy Shark]

Another type-A, lifetime Weight Watcher and former calorie-obsessed nut chiming in here: please, please, please do not count calories. It's a terrible way to have a relationship with food, and it leads to all kinds of negative thought patterns and behaviors.

I used to restrict my calories to 1200-1400 per day, and I counted once (I cheated!) on my Whole30, because I was curious about exactly how much more I was eating. I felt like a beast when I saw I was eating probably between 2200-2400 calories per day, but you know what? It works. I'm leaner, more toned and healthier than I've ever been in my entire life. Let me reiterate: calories mean nothing on this plan. You WILL eat more food than what you're used to.

The whole30 is teaching me to let go of that mindset, and to listen once and for all what my body is telling me, and not a number.

EXACTLY. It's super scary, but please try let go and have some faith in eating whole foods. You will feel so, so, so much freer and happier and I think you'll appreciate the changes in your body, too.

[Susan W]

My best advice to you...STOP. Don't track, don't count. Log if that is something that appeals to you. I don't even do that. I eat when I am hungry and ignore my inner brat when she tells me she is hungry, but I know better. Seriously, break free of what you have known and done in the past. It has no place in the new you.

[MelanieR]

Im a Personal Trainer,have watched my weight and councilled others on weight control for a long time, counting calories ALWAYS being part of that equation. You know what, I WAS WRONG and I admit it. I was obsessed with staying within my 1400 calories, added exercise time, deleting exercise calories, on and on and on. Its just not mentally healthy. I am so freed now by the fact that I dont need to do that. Its liberating! On day #16, I decided, just for fun, to see how many calories I ate, and it was a lot more then 1400, and I could feel myself get back into that prisoned mindset. For me, one of the main reasons I decided to do the whole30 was exactly to get away from feeling trapped with my food. It was to free me from this imbalanced and warped relationship Ive had with food for years. I already ate within the paleo framework so this whole30 is more to work on my psyche, my emotional and psychological dependence I have with food. If I were to give you any advice, it would be to NOT count your calories, throw yourself 100% into the program and trust it, give it your all and liberate yourself!