I generally agree with the "just eat well" group.. However, you have to keep in mind that a handful of almonds, while healthy, have a ton of fat and calories, too.
To me, it's a balance, and if I wouldn't track what I eat, I'd be lost.
when it's healthy stuff, it doesn't matter. Your body gets freakishly good at maintaining itself when you're eating what you're supposed to be.
I used to be very different than I am now. Typical breakfast foods, cereal bars, cereal, toast, pancakes etc. I'd eat a ton at 7 and be falling down starving by 9. and i'd have to eat again.
Fast forward to today. If i start to fall back into that routine, I am the same way. if I keep with healthy fat and protein for breakfast, I can go till 2 in the afternoon and not even think of hunger. a good shake with a scoop or two of coconut oil can keep me going well past lunch.
but when i fall back into old patterns, the weight comes back, the cravings come back, the hunger and highs and lows come right back.
Though our country is very overweight, we are fat deprived in a way. It's amazing how people become "normal" again by eating better.
The typical Americans problem with fat is they're eating the wrong kinds, and it's usually associated with sugars and starchy carbs too. So your body doesn't become efficient at lipid metabolism and that satiation never really happens to any appreciable level
