How to stay lean without counting calories or macros

Weight loss has been coming up a lot in my practice lately. I made the decision when I first began this adventure, that I would not be working in the weight loss field. That has not changed. However, the majority of my blog posts are inspired by conversations I have in either real life or clinical practice. If I keep getting asked the same thing, I tend to write a post about it. You may have noticed the increase in the world of food tracking, macros, and rigid meal plans. This has lead to eating as a brain-led activity rather than a body-led experience.

Maybe you have My Fitness Pal looming on your phone screen, or you’ve been trying to measure how many grams of protein you’re eating at each meal. I LOVE these elements as a learning tool- not as an every day experience. When we eat based on decisions formed in our brain, we lean away from our body’s natural signaling.

Here’s some things you may have noticed in the past:

You’re tossing egg yolks into thrash- too much fat. AHHH!

You’re no longer hungry, but eat more to get in your protein count.

You skip cake at the birthday party, because you can’t calculate the macros in it.

You’ve lots your 6 pounds… but the next month it’s back.

You’re eating tons of PBfit and other macro friendly processed foods- if it fits in the macros, it’s healthy- right?

You’re making cottage cheese ice cream with stevia…and not just eating plain ice cream with cream, milk, and sugar- like everyone else.

The Problem with Brain-Led Eating

When we rely on external rules—like eating at a certain time, tracking every gram of protein, or following arbitrary calorie goals—we override the body’s natural hunger and fullness cues. We stop listening to what our body actually needs and instead eat according to numbers on a screen.

Your body has a natural built in calorie and macro calculator. Have you ever thought about this? But we’ve stopped listening to it! We eat based off stress, convenience, boredom, and all of a sudden every one of your meals contains protein powder. Protein pancakes, protein pasta, protein muffin, protein shake- with cottage cheese … because of course- more protein.

If you’re a current or past client, you’ll know I most likely did give you some kind of protein goal. That’s because protein is typically so under consumed for women I work with that they never known what it feels like to eat adequate protein– that’s a big problem.

Stay with me here.

Related: How to build a balanced plate

Why Rigid Food Rules Backfire

You don’t need more food rules, protein goals, or perfect macro splits. The body is designed to regulate hunger and energy intake naturally. When you force yourself to eat according to rigid guidelines, you may:

Lose touch with hunger and fullness signals.
Overeat or undereat based on numbers instead of need.
Turn food into a stressful numbers game rather than an enjoyable, nourishing experience.
Eat macro friendly foods that ignore nutritional value

All of these take enjoyment out of the eating experience and disconnect you even more from your body.

When it’s Not All So Cut and Dry

I am all for reading the labels, and I do encourage clients to do so. I also could bet you’d feel best eating approximately 20-30 grams of protein at each meal. However, once you start learning what adequate protein looks like and feels like- is there still a need to weigh or micro manage your food intake?

I say, no.

Our body’s hunger cues (ghrelin) fluctuate based on activity level, hormones, seasons, and stress. Your body won’t want the same repeated meals and calories each day and this is normal and natural.

How to understand your body’s signaling:

If you have big energy rushes and crashes: you probably need to increase your protein.
If you have achy joints, hormone issues, or dry or flaky skin: you probably could increase your healthy fat intake.
If you feel extremely exhausted after your meal: it probably was too high in quick burning carbohydrates.
If you’re body is slow to heal or recovery from work outs: You probably need more protein
If you’re getting low blood sugar symptoms like dizziness, light headed and hangry within two house of your meals- you probably need to lower your simple carbs and increase your proteins and fats
If you are waking through the night tossing and turning: you probably need to pay attention your late night eating habits and possibly replace the stack of Oreos, with a dense snack – like cheese, olives, or pistachios.
If you’re overstuffed, bloated, and constipated: You may need to lower your protein intake and focus on digestive healing.
If your “hunger” comes on suddenly or in response to particular stimuli (like stress, happiness, or boredom) it probably is not true hunger at all.

Do you get the picture?

What About Body Composition?

Weigh loss is a common symptom of nutritional therapy- yet it is never the sole focus. This is because clients are eating based on body needs, and not cravings, overly processed foods, or stressful blood sugar crashes. This also means they tend to have more energy and start moving more. The combination leads to a gentle and natural form of weight loss.

If your sole intent in eating better is for weight loss, or to change your body composition quickly, calculating your macros and adding in strength training and low impact cardio would be a great bet I won’t discourage you from doing so, however- I also won’t guide you through it. It’s not my specialty or my passion.

I do however find the process interesting and see most people benefit from adding in these balanced habits and learning from them!

On the flip side, I also have had clients in the past that refer to calorie or macro counting as “Macro Trauma”- and I know just what they mean.

A calorie deficit will lead to weight loss, and I’m not discouraging you to do so. But doesn’t it seem a little unnatural to get your scale out to measure your mayonnaise? If your kids are watching you do this day after day, what does that say?

Ps: The secret to keeping weight off: Exercise. More info here

How to Stay Lean Without Counting – make eating natural again

Eat when you’re truly hungry – Not when the clock says so.
Stop when you’re comfortably full – Not when you’ve hit a target, or finished your plate
Be sure you’re eating based on true hunger and not emotions – this one I have to ask myself a lot
Choose nourishing foods you enjoy – Instead of forcing “optimal” foods.
Trust your body’s cues – It knows how much you need.
Ditch the all-or-nothing mindset – You don’t have to eat perfectly to be healthy.
Follow basic nutritional strategies – optimize your food intake with nutritional value.
Have easy access to quick protein or fiber rich foods – so you don’t get caught off guards when a craving hits
Be sure to address possible conditions that would make losing weight difficult – hypothyroidism, cortisol resistance, etc.
Slow down– let your body speak to you, and actually listen when it does!

What If I’m Never Hungry?

This comes up a lot. Hunger cues are from hormones. You may already know that when our hormones start to get off key, the whole symphony becomes chaotic and out of tune. One of those hormones in your symphony: Ghrelin. There are many other influential factors to perfect hormone harmony- beyond eating the proper macronutrients.

If you’re regularly not hungry, I would recommend eating small balanced meals in a regular pattern. This helps the body to feel safe again and start producing proper hormones at the proper times. Look for meals to contain approximately 20-30g in protein with adequate fiber, carbohydrates and some healthy fat. Adequate protein is essential to recovering from burn out.

Also, try out some warm lemon water in the morning to stimulate proper digestive juices.

With time, your body start producing proper signals, and you start noticing them again.

Your body already knows how to guide you—you just have to start listening.

Related: Burn out recovery project

Conclusion

I started my own experiments counting macros a couple of years ago. I wanted to learn how it worked and what tricks were practical and helpful. I truly learned a lot! For instance, with my Paleo influenced diet- I consumed a lot more fat than I probably would need to. This has helped me to be cautious of over consuming things like almonds, peanut butter or strictly full-fat dairy. In my mind, it was quality food- and it was- but the proportions were off. I wouldn’t have learned that without assessing my body’s needs.

If you’re the type who liked to follow rules and programs because it seems to make things simple for you-you probably would love to track your foods this way for weight loss.

If you’re someone who is overwhelmed with too much on their plate and running on stress + caffeine, you’d benefit from leaning into your natural body cues instead. Slow down, pay attention, and follow some of the tips above to stay naturally lean without counting calories or macros.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I do not recommend products that I have not personally vetted.