Learn how to stop counting calories without getting fat by adopting a simple portion control system for eating healthy balanced meals.

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Imagine a world where you can delete MyFitnessPal.

You won’t need to drag out your food scale to figure out how much oatmeal you can eat.

No more worrying about the calorie counts in a bowl of soup because you don’t know how to track all of the specific ingredients.

You’ll be free from the apps and food scales and still be able to look and feel pretty awesome without the stress and time suck of tracking every bite of food.

It opens up the freedom to eat like a human again.

And not some algorithm-trained robot that must hit macro targets without fail.

Yes this is possible to stop counting calories without getting fat.

No, you do not need to track in order to lose weight, or gain muscle or maintain any of the above.

Unfortunately, the biggest reason why most people keep counting calories is out of fear.

Fear of not knowing how many calories are in that food you’re putting in your mouth.

Fear of losing out on that MyFitnessPal record log streak.

Fear of letting yourself go and gaining weight.

Over my decade plus of coaching, I’ve seen so many people screw this process up because of their fear of getting fat.

The fitness industry needs to take responsibility for its part of the fear mongering around counting calories.

Look, FitPros love to talk about fitness and nutrition. It’s our passion.

Too many fitness influencers preach about counting calories and hitting your macros and being plugged into a damn app because it’s the “optimal way.”

They pour into the studies and research to find the science behind fat loss and muscle gain. And try to game the system as much as possible to help you do both in the most efficient way.

So if a calorie deficit is needed for weight loss, and counting calories is the most accurate way to ensure this deficit happens consistently, then surely tracking your calories is the most optimal path … for everyone.

But they miss the entire point. Everyone is different. And optimal is not practical for most people living normal lives that don’t care about perfection.

Counting calories is accurate. It does work.

But it is also time consuming, an added stress, and can lead to disordered eating habits.

I know this firsthand, because I went down that path.

It’s simply unnatural for human beings to weigh and measure foods while tracking everything in some smartphone app.

And it is simply unnecessary for you to count calories in order to get into fantastic shape.

Here’s why people end up screwing this process up:

• You’ve been so trained to count calories, you have no idea how much you’re supposed to be eating without a tracking app.
• You’re so afraid of gaining a pound that you develop an unhealthy relationship with eating through calorie tracking–it’s the crutch keeping your current progress upright.
• You’ve been convinced that this is the only way to ensure a calorie deficit is in fact happening, and therefore you are unwilling to learn a new way.
• You lack the patience to learn the actual skill of eating healthy. Counting calories to you is likely the quickest path to getting the body transformation you want.

That impatience is born out of wanting to lose an unrealistic amount of weight.

So you’ve used a calorie calculator to determine your macro targets at some crazy low number and you’ve convinced yourself that eating such little food (like 1200 calories per day) is required for weight loss. It is not.

Here’s a bit of an eye-opener for you: the vast majority of coaches you see online do not track their calories.

Especially the way they try to get you to do it.

Because in order for calorie counting to actually be as effective as advertised, you must be doing the following:

• Use a food scale to weigh every single morsel of food and drink that you consume.
• This includes vegetables, sauces, oils, that random gummy bear you grabbed out of the candy jar in HR’s office.
• It also includes every ingredient in that chicken soup or beef stew dish you ate at lunch.
• Yep, this also means weighing all of the food and ingredients every single time you eat a meal away from home.

And you need to do this every … single … day. Even weekends. And holidays. And after dinner when you want a bite of that ice cream your partner is devouring while you Netflix and chill.

If you are not doing the above, you are not counting calories. Instead, you’re doing what the vast majority of people do: just randomly plugging things in their apps to get confirmation bias that you are doing something correctly.

There’s a reason why competitive bodybuilders talk about the rigidity and misery of their practice. Because they make the ultimate sacrifice of eating in this fashion.

They miss out on social gatherings and meals out with loved ones because … they have to track all of their food.

Sounds awful. Sounds unnatural.

But … There’s hope.

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Stop counting calories to start losing weight

I lost 14 pounds in just four months during the busiest part of the year (the start of school during Fall, football season and through the holidays). 

And I did not track a single calorie to do it. 

I’m going to show you exactly how to get away from this ridiculous practice once and for all.

Warning: this is not some quick overnight fix. 

Avoid the urge to try it for three meals, get mad because your weight randomly spiked and then curse my name because I made you fat.

This is more of a long-term practice. You are learning a new skill. 

And just like kids learning how to do math, there will be wins and there will be mistakes. But if you stay with it for a few weeks, you’ll get better. 

And then you’ll be free.

First thing’s first: The science is the science. A calorie deficit is required for weight and fat loss. Period.

This is not some invite to stuff your face hole with however much sustenance you can obtain. We still manage how much we eat. We just won’t be counting calories and using food scales and tracking apps to do it.

Instead, you will focus on big levers that drive the deficit:

• Prioritize adequate amounts of protein.
• Add more plants to your plate.
• Manage how many processed and liquid calories you consume.
• Develop a system for portion control.
• Manipulate the window of time available for eating.

We’re going to do all of this in five steps.

Stop Counting Calories in 5 Steps

Step 1: Delete MyFitnessPal

(or whatever calorie counting app drug of choice that is feeding you quick dopamine hits)

You will not learn how to break free of calorie counting until you finally remove that app. Rip the bandaid off.

I’ve been coaching for almost 20 years now and have seen this with my own coaching students. 

Every once in a while, I’ll get a student that doesn’t trust this system so they devolve into some hybrid of portion control and calorie counting. 

“There ain’t no such thing as halfway crooks.”
– Mobb Deep, Shook Ones Pt. II

You must remove that crutch from your phone, otherwise you’ll find random reasons to check back into it. 

Take a good month or two to really commit to this approach and this approach alone. 

No halfway crooks, yo.

Step 2: Implement the first of the 3Ps – Protein

Protein is going to be your priority as it provides several unique advantages in our quest to stop counting calories.

Protein is muscle-sparing. 

This simply means that in order to lean down and tone up, you want to lose fat and keep (or spare) muscle while in a calorie or energy deficit. 

Protein (along with even a minimalist strength training program) will ensure that you hold on to the crucial muscle.

And protein burns more calories in digestion than carbs or fats.

We call this the thermic effect of food. Your body needs energy (aka, calories) in order to properly function on everything from breathing, walking, training, to even digesting your lunch. 

It turns out that protein needs more energy to be broken down in the digestive process. 

About 20-30 percent of the calories from protein are burned away in digestion. So it’s not earth-shattering, but it does provide a boost.

Protein is more filling than carbs or fats.

The biggest enemy of healthy eating is hunger. 

If you’re constantly hungry, you’re more inclined to go off-plan and stuff your face hole with a bowl of processed junk. 

By simply adding a protein source to each meal, you’ll increase the odds of prolonging satiation and staying fuller for longer until the next meal.

Step 3: Implement the second part of the 3Ps – Add more plants

Plants (vegetables and fruits) are going to supply some fiber to help keep you full along with that protein.

They are also lower in calories. No one ever got fat eating mostly plants. 

For the lower carb enthusiasts, plants are decidedly lower in carbohydrates. Even fruit. 

A cup of blueberries is going to be much lower in overall energy (calories) and carbs than a cup full of cereal.

By increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables, you are lowering your intake of processed foods. 

It’s not that processed foods are necessarily bad or unhealthy. But, they are calorie dense and typically lacking in essential nutrients. 

The more natural foods you consume over the processed variety, the easier it will be to stay fuller for longer while ensuring that calorie deficit remains intact. 

Step 4: Plate proper portions to stop counting calories without getting fat

This is where you’ll really make that calorie deficit work for you. Without counting the calories to do it.

You’ve satisfied protein and secured tons of nutrient-dense foods with more plants.

But how you plate those portions will make all the difference in whether you lose weight, maintain or just get fat. Controlling portions is the lifestyle-friendly answer to calorie and macro tracking. 

How does this look in action?

Aim to make your plate look similar to this setup:

To break it down:

• 1/4 plate = protein
• 1/2 plate = vegetables and/or fruit
• 1/4 plate = carb source (preferably a complex carbohydrate like sweet potatoes, brown rice, quinoa, etc.)
• Optional 1 tbsp of a fat source (preferably a healthy fat like olive oil or avocado)

This is a balanced meal. 

It’s not something taught in the calorie counting world, but it’s how you are meant to eat. 

A full plate of all macros that all play together to keep you energized, properly fueled and satiated for longer.

How to really make this work individually for you

Your job is to eat this way 3-4 times per day. Play around with the frequency here to match your goals and progress.

If you’re a bigger individual or super active, you might need four balanced plated meals per day. If you’re smaller, aim for three.

Do not eat fewer than three meals a day. This is already low enough in calories.

You might find that you need a snack. Cool. Mimic this plate approach, but make sure the snack fits in the palm of your hand instead of a bigger plate.

If you train a bunch and want to satisfy even more protein, add a protein shake before or after your workouts.

It doesn’t have to be more complicated than this. 

Utilize this portion control approach as a starting point. It’s up to you to play around with it for a few weeks to really get into a groove.

Remember, this is not an overnight fix. It’s a process to stop counting calories so you can learn the skill of eating like a regular human. 

Step 5: Adjust your feeding window

Once you’ve learned how to control your portions, we can explore one more aspect of the game to manipulate that calorie deficit and ensure long-term success.

Adjusting your “feeding window” is not about intermittent fasting. 

I’m not here to tell you to stop eating at 8:00 p.m. and then starve until 3:00 p.m. tomorrow. 

But, the premise of fasting is quite solid: If you have less time to eat, you’ll be less likely to overeat.

The simple adjustment I make with my students is to encourage them to shut down their kitchen 2-3 hours before bedtime.

This removes those random late-night trips to grab processed, high-calorie junk. And that alone may save enough calories to keep that deficit running smoothly.

Allowing your digestive system to rest before bedtime will guarantee higher quality sleep, which is a major contributor to:

• Overall energy levels
• Metabolism
• Health in general

If you’d like, you can even explore extending this mini fast to about 1-2 hours after you wake up. 

Do not push breakfast any farther than that. It’s unnecessary.

Because doing this alone will put you in a 12-hour daily fast. 

Much more manageable than those silly restrictive 20 hour fasts that all the Elon Musk wannabes preach about on the socials.

Putting it all together so you can Stop Counting Calories for Good:

Here’s the 5-step plan that you’re going to implement so you break free of the food scales, measuring cups and macro tracking apps to stop counting calories:

1 – Delete MyFitnessPal so you can fully commit to the process over the next 2-3 months

2 – Add protein to each and every meal (and snack)

3 – Include a fruit or vegetable to each meal

4 – Decrease overall processed foods by properly plating balanced meals using the plate template above (1/4 plate protein, 1/2 plate plants, 1/4 plate carbs + 1 tbsp fat)

5 – Adjust your feeding window by shutting down the kitchen 2-3 hours before bed and perhaps pushing breakfast back 1-2 hours after you wake up.

Now it’s your turn to stop counting calories for good.

Be patient. You’re going to mess up, but that’s okay because you’re learning an entirely new way to eat.

If you give this time and really commit to making it work for you … it absolutely will work for you. 

But sometimes, you might need an extra hand for accountability, which is where you can apply to work with me in my Lean4Life coaching program. 

This is where I’ll help you build this new eating skill into a life-long practice, along with a complete workout system you can utilize for life.

Until then … I hope you found this helpful. 

If so, I’d appreciate it if you could forward it to one person that you know who’d enjoy this newsletter article, too.

And of course, if you have any questions on how to make this work for you, please feel free to hit me up anytime. 

I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “how to stop counting calories” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Talk soon,
Pete