Do you ever wonder if you're getting too obsessive about food?

Kevalicious99

Honestly .. MFP is the most obsessive place on the planet. That can be a very good or bad thing. I read about people saying "I am going to log for the rest of my life". I think my sister put it best ... "that is for dieters". I agree ... I have been in maintenance for 5 months and haven't logged a single calorie .. it can be done without being obsessive. The whole .. I need to log is more for people with food issues .. and that is not me.

42carrots

Kevalicious - that's exactly what I thought, too. That MFP was for people who are overly obsessive and pedantic about exercise and food, without bothering to really learn anything about it I thought it seemed dumb, and like a huge waste of time. I thought I left my dismissive know-it-all days behind a decade ago for the most part, but signing up here has been yet another eye opener, I knew less than I thought about nutrition, and relatively speaking still know next to nothing about life in general I'm sure, haha.

AngelAura777

I am obsessed with food as well and I have had so many ups and downs with my weight! I work with it I think about it all day and I love to cook. I let it get me down for a while until I decided I wanted to use it in a positive way and study nutritional medicine. Hopefully I can learn how to look after my body more and help other people in the process.

42carrots

Studying nutritional medicine sounds awesome! Good way to turn a potential weakness into a strength instead, best of luck.

BMK1986

I think the fact you're able to come on here, post that and self check is a good sign all in of itself. Coming from someone who has gone to the extreme of literal calorie counting obsession and is in a treatment program now fighting to get my life back on track, I still can't give it up so instead I'm learning to spin it in a positive. It can get out of control in some people if its allowed to, but its such a personal thing that what happens with one person is not necessarily how the next will react. I think your ability to talk publically about it on here is going to help if you ever do start sliding that way because people can call you on it before it gets out of control. That being said it doesn't go that way for everyone, and I hope for your sake it never does

NoelFigart1

Sometimes a bit. Simply due to hunger, I'm looking forward to and planning meals a great deal.

If I start making life-limiting choices based on food (refusing to travel, or socialize, for instance), I'll need to re-*kitten*. But right now, I feel like I need to accept my appetite is broken, and I've got to track to eat the right amount. At least, until I can get some device that would notify me when I need to eat and how much based on my metabolism or something. I don't think something like that exists yet.

cwolfman13

It depends...there are a ton of people here on MFP who are total head cases with this stuff and way over the top. There are tons of people who are afraid of going out to eat at a local restaurant because they don't know exactly how many calories are in X, Y, or Z. There are loads of people who are afraid to even hit their GOAL...it's like they don't know the definition of that word...so they way under-eat and become ultra fearful of food. There are tons of people who do all kinds of hand ringing if they go over their goal by a few calories. There are tons of people who flip the hell out because they have a little water retention that is showing up on the scale...but they think they did something wrong and need to cut more. There are tons of people who over exercise and don't take rest days because they're obsessed and think if they stop moving for one minute they're going to turn into a beached whale or something...

For me, this was simply a tool...I liken it to training wheels on a bike. I logged for a good 9 months and lost about 40 Lbs. I didn't worry about the occasional meal out at a restaurant or a holiday or special occasion here and there like so many do...I am and always will be a big picture kind of guy. I used this tool to help me learn, not just to get to some number on the scale...like I said, training wheels...so when I went into maintenance I stopped logging and have maintained going on 20 months now without logging.

It just depends on the person...I think this place can be horrible for a lot of people and I feel sad for a lot of people here.

jgnatca

GlucernaBrand wrote: »

I really like your approach to managing diabetes, jgnatca. It sounds practical and something that works well for you. ~Lynn /Glucerna

Kind of ironic, isn't it, LynnGlucerna, when it was the Glucerna high protein that I learned to hate? LOL.

sheepotato

I am a neurotic person so when I track I get really obsessive with it. I had to adapt to find ways to use it without overthinking it. I try to prelog for the day so I can track without worrying too much about it, but I do find that even when pre-logging sometimes I will swap out planned meals or snacks for more nutrient or calorie efficient options. After the first few months even though I was steadily losing on target I still worried I wasn't doing it efficiently enough. So even though I was experiencing success I knew I had to just stop for a while.

It was cathartic for me to take a break and try to maintain without logging. I had found that my obsessive quest to memorize the calorie content of foods I ate often and repeatedly weighing the same foods over a few months had helped me get a bit better at eyeballing. At maintenance I had way more calories in the day for margin of error, so that takes a lot of the pressure off. In doing so, an unexpected thing happened to me I started being able to just pay attention to my body's natural cues. I don't need to look at a clock or check the log to know when it's time for food anymore. It just feels like it's time and even though I do occasionally still weigh things out I will stop eating when I'm sated. It was an unexpected victory for me, but one that I am grateful for. It gives me confidence that I will be able to maintain when I am at my goal weight.

So for my mental health's sake, I have a long term plan where I have some months on where I restrict and track and then a break where I just focus on maintaining without logging but I make sure to get in cardio and strength training during that time so that I will be in better shape when I do eventually hit my goal.

Sometimes it's frustrating for me to put so much effort into being healthier but still be carrying extra weight when I know I could have been at my goal weight long ago if I had done it in one go. I just have to keep reminding myself that the weight loss is not my goal, improving my health is. Taking care of my mental health is part of that.

JoRocka

It's a tool... so no- I don't obsess over it- because how I feel/look and function in my day to day life- slots nicely with how I manage my food so its' fine.

middlehaitch

And a good tool, as you say JoRocka.

I have recently started a couple of new exercise programs so decided to log back in for a while.
Good job I did, my maintainance is too low with what I am doing now, and I have been slowly losing since Septrmber.
I am upping my maintainance by 200 in the new year and hope that I stablize.
Yup, a good tool.
Cheers, h.

Sabine_Stroehm

I've been interested in food and nutrition these last 14 years. I hear ya. I don't use the MFP counting tools currently (and didn't while I was losing). But I periodically have a glance at a meal or a day. My long term goal is to not rely on it, but to have the tools I need (calories and nutrition) to make good choices.
We sound a lot alike.

paradi3s

I'm having a problem with the calorie counting. I've become a bit too obsessed with what I eat and how many calories it has. Every time I'm eating out or planning my meals, I automatically whip out my phone to check how many calories it has. And it's not really something my parents like, either.

But honestly, it's such a nice tool to use. I don't mind being a bit obsessed with what I eat. It's probably just now because I'm still slowly going back to maintenance level and trying not to overeat or eat less of what I have to eat.

Tblackdogs

As people have mentioned, MFP is a tool. A tool used while building a better life, a healthier life, a thinner life or even a heavier life for some. While obsessing about anything isn't a good idea, look around at successful people in your life. People who are really successful in their career read a lot, take classes, and work hard. People who are really successful athletes research gear, routes, training regimes etc. and they work hard. People who are successful writers, read a lot, write a lot, edit a lot and work hard. So it makes sense that people who want to have healthy diets would read a lot, research, and work hard at it! MFP should never take up all your time, it should never replace human interaction or come before school or work but it certainly is o.k to spend time here to help you become a healthier person!

Velum_cado

Yes, absolutely. That's why I stopped logging what I was eating. I have a history of disordered eating, and logging calories turned into a game of trying to come in lower than I had the day before. I had lost 80 lbs before I even started logging, and when I stopped, I found I continued losing weight at the same rate, so it was obviously not a necessary thing for me to be doing anyway. I found my emotional well-being and relationship with food improved dramatically once I stopped. Obviously that might not work for everyone, but I found what worked for me. I still find that I need to rationalise a lot of my choices because I find myself feeling guilty over eating certain things, but I think I'll always have a bit of a dysfunctional relationship with what I eat.

deksgrl

As long as it isn't causing you to start unhealthy eating habits, such as deprivation, or swinging between deprivation and binges, then I don't think there is anything wrong with it.

KnM0107

Yes I have absolutely been obsessed with food. I was diagnosed with ocd when I was a kid and calorie counting has shown to be a major trigger. I become obsessed with numbers and I over restrict. This is one of the reason I don't log my food. For me, intuitive eating puts me in a healthier mindset. It feels more natural to me to maitain this way. Calorie counting isn't the best answer for everyone.