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Last Updated on March 1, 2022 by
So, Is It Possible To Lose Weight Without Calorie Counting?
It’s Complicated…
Ah, the age-old weight-loss question… Is it even possible to lose weight without calorie counting? Especially in 2022 with all the fad diets which you know I love (not really).
Well, the answer is complicated – yes you can! But you won’t if you do it wrong. Fundamentally, you can only lose weight if you’re in a calorie deficit.
It’s really that simple, in today’s age it can be confusing with all the diet and fitness misinformation.
The Cold Hard Truth About Losing Weight
Let me explain further, no matter what diet you’re on the goal is to be in a calorie deficit. This is so your body can utilise your stored fat as an energy source. Which results in fat loss.
Personally, I prefer to count calories. I believe it gives me the freedom to eat what I want, when I want (within reason). I can do this as long as my daily calorie intake stays within the targeted range at that time.
So what would an example of this be? I’m glad you asked; my cutting calories are around 1950 kcals, so I eat what I fancy but don’t eat above that amount.
How Can You Get Into A Calorie Deficit?
There are 2 main effective ways to get into a calorie deficit, arguably there are 3 ways. The 3 ways are as follows;
Diet
Shocker right? The easiest way to get into a calorie deficit is to cut your calorie intake from food and drink. It’s much easier to cut out 500 calories from your diet rather than 40 minutes of cardio which equates to roughly 500 calories. You can also do lose weight without counting calories by doing this.
Exercise
Another obvious way is through exercise. A mantra I love is “Move more, eat less. Simple but true! Exercise is a great way to burn off the calories, as well as being brilliant for your health.
Supplements
Supplements can help put you in a calorie deficit in many different ways. Some of these ways can be upping your metabolism, improving sleep, suppressing your appetite, and so on. These are great ways to lose weight without calorie counting. I’ve made an article devoted to just this here if you’d like to find out more.
5 Ways Of Losing Weight Without Calorie Counting
So, below I’ve made a list of 5 ways you can lose weight without calorie counting. Without further ado let’s get started.
1. Intermittent Fasting
One great way of losing weight without calorie counting is a little thing called Intermittent fasting or ‘IF’. Intermittent fasting refers to an eating model where you only allow yourself to eat in a set window of time each day.
Usually, this window is 16 hours fasting, 8 hours eating. Meaning for 16 hours of the day you’re not eating and for 8 hours you can. This could include 8 hours sleeping and a further 8 from when you wake up, then you start eating.
In theory, if you eat a big meal or two within your window, you’ll be too full to eat again in said window. It’s not a foolproof method of losing weight without calorie counting, but it’s worked for millions!
2. Daily Cardio
It’s not as scary as it sounds trust me! Daily cardio is a brilliant way to lose weight consistently without calorie counting. Cardio also has a slight ‘after-burner’ effect that will burn calories after your session is over. It also goes beyond saying that it’s great for your health too.
Doing 30 minutes of cardio per on the elliptical machine (my favourite) per day at a moderate pace will burn around 350-400 calories. Which is a massive amount when you add it up over the week.
By doing 30 minutes of moderate pace cardio every day, you can lose weight easily without calorie counting. Of course, if you’re silly with your diet it won’t work.
3. High Protein Diet
Eating a high protein-focused diet is a great way to build muscle and to lose weight without calorie counting. I follow this diet with calorie-cutting in mind, and it works great!
Eating a high protein diet fills you up, so it’s physically hard to eat more, isn’t that great? Protein also takes more energy from our body to break down, so technically you’re burning more calories for eating more protein.
Protein also is fundamental in building new muscle, so why not kill two birds with one stone? You can lose weight without calorie counting and make gains simultaneously.
4. Smaller Portions
Just eating smaller portions/meals is an excellent way to cut back on your daily calorie intake. It may sound too simple to be true, but it is!
A good rule to follow when implementing this strategy is to reduce your meal size by 20-30%. Say your average calorie intake is 2000 calories per day, by reducing this by 30% you’re eating 600 calories less every day!
If you want to lose weight without calorie counting, this is an easy way to cut 4200 calories per week, which is over 1lb of body fat.
5. Judging By Eye
I follow this strategy as it’s most flexible for me. But you’ll have to count calories for a few weeks before you do this to be accurate in your judgements.
After a few weeks you can judge calories accurately you can ‘eat by eye’. Even if you eat out or don’t prepare your food you’ll have a rough idea of the calories in the food just from experience.
It’s almost like you have laser calorie eyes, a gift from the aesthetic gods I say. Most professional bodybuilders follow this strategy unless they’re in a stricter plan for a contest or event.
6. Recommended Servings
The final strategy you could follow is that of following recommended servings on the back of your food’s packaging, provided by the manufacturer.
These ‘recommended servings’ are recommended for a reason. Nutritional scientists legally have to judge what is deemed a ‘healthy intake’ for these foods to be released on the shelf.
These recommended intakes may seem small, but if you follow the guidelines you’ll be able to lose weight without calorie counting. Plus you can still eat the food you love.
Bonus Strategy
Ok, hear me out… For any beginner attempting to lose weight, I would suggest strictly counting your calories for a short time, at least for a few weeks. This way you’ll have a basic understanding of calories in food. I cover this in one of my biggest articles along with an in-depth fitness program for beginners.
After these few weeks, you can use one of the strategies above and start losing weight without calorie counting.
Conclusion
Losing weight isn’t easy, but hopefully, these 6 suggestions will help you lose weight without having to count calories every step of the way.
Fundamentally it all comes down to calories in and calories out, and don’t let anyone tell you differently.
P.S. For any ladies reading this I’ve got a specialised weight loss article built just for you that you can access here.
Till next time Piit Crew,
Your Coach, Jack.
