Disordered Eating

catt952

Hi i am a female and young adult. I have been counting calories for 4 months.I sometimes read blogs about people who have overcome eating disorders and i wonder whether my eating is 'disordered' i realize this is only a forum, not a therapist office.

Is counting calories 'normal'? do normal people worry about the calories in food? or worry how many calories are in something that has no nutritional info contains? I realize this website is just a tool. But when family cooks something and offers for me to have some, i wait till no one is looking and weigh it to try and estimate the calories on this website.

I feel like weighing food and counting calories is something i have to hide,although i am close to being overweight at 5 ft 5 and 70 kg but i am a very private person too. I really dislike my body.

I only worry for my future, from what i have read, many people live their lives with an eating disorder. I do want to live freely and go out drinking and dinner with friends( something i don't do simply because i don't have friends right now) and not be hinder the rest of my life through this calorie counting.

vespiquenn

No, counting calories is not disordered eating, but it is not the norm. Many people then chalk it up to disordered eating because it's not mainstream.

Disordered eating relates more to the thoughts that go with eating, not the process. It goes beyond the normal guilt of maybe having too much cake at a party. Your self worth is linked to what goes into your mouth. So no, being tight on calorie counting is not disordered. People might look at you funny, but eating disorders boil down to a mental illness.

tonisha1821

There's a difference between being weight conscious and having an eating disorder. If you're not restricting calories to an unhealthy amount, binging, purging (by vomit, excessive exercise, laxatives, etc), starving yourself, or obsessing so much that you can't even allow yourself a treat every once in a while, I dint think you have anything to worry about. When I was bulimic, I counted calories, binged, vomitted, & worked out 5 times a day to get rid of calories that I might nut have been able to throw up. Today, I still count calories, but it's not an obsession. It's a way of ensuring that I eat only what nourishes my body & not over indulge, so I can lose weight & keep the weight off the healthy way & improve my overall health. Eating disorders are characterized by the poor relationship the person has with food. I ate food for comfort & emotional soothing instead of nourishment & developed a resentment for it when I gained weight.

suziecue20

To me calorie counting is [and should be] just a tool to enable me to reach and maintain a healthy weight.

TrickyDisco

Have counted calories off and on, mostly on, for the last 35 years or so and no eating disorder has arisen from it, just an increased awareness of nutrition which is no bad thing. I logged everything on paper when I started counting and still keep up a paper version now as well as logging here, my own 'shorthand' so doesn't take long to copy over from MFP; have years of food logging on not that many pieces of paper since it's written very small. Some would say that's unnecessary but I've found it was the only way for me to lose weight effectively. Occasionally I have a break for anything from a few days to a few weeks, especially holiday periods. That's also when I'm most likely to gain some weight though, so soon come back to calorie-counting.

BurnWithBarn2015

Counting and weighing food is NOT disordered.

In a way i did it my whole (adult) life. And one of the reasons was i had a restaurant with some very specific recipes. It was important to weigh out all the ingredients.
Also think in this matter of hospital kitchens and other facilities were almost all the food get weighed out. People with medical issues for certain foods and only can have or want a certain amount of a food. etc etc

When you bake a cake you weigh.... so at your own home kitchen you do the same only smaller and less often.

Now for some people it becomes important too ( like if you want to manage your weight) you start to 'control" your food intake. And one way to do this as accurate as possible is weighing your food. So nothing wrong with it.

Now it is worry some when you flip out or feel guilty when you come into a situation that you can not weigh out your food. Like a party, dinner out etc. That is life it happens and shouldn't matter at all.
But when you start to avoid normal life or feel guilty or dont eat at all because you can not weigh or count in a situation like that...that is or starts some disordered behavior. When you use your brains you will know that letting go of the control when you are going out isn't going to hurt your weight management. Except when you always go out of course.

For me i weigh ALL my food. So from spices to milk ( yes i weigh liquids too ) and i dont use cups or spoons.
I weigh my protein bars ( which are most of the time much more grams than the labels says) and i weigh veggies and fruits, meat fish etc....So ALL my food
But when i go out..i weigh nothing. I also dont always look at the menu to order the lowest calorie dish...i eat what i want! I enjoy the being out. Because a day out didnt make me overweight, but always eating to much did.

Some people indeed find it strange that i count, but i dont care. Its my life, and non of anybody's business. Its my health not theirs!

So disordered...no as long as you can let go too.
That is my opinion

Hope that helps

AnvilHead

Is calorie counting and weighing food disordered eating? No.

Can it be (or become) disordered eating? Absolutely.

It's all about the context. Some people take it to unhealthy extremes and suffer physical/mental issues as a result. Many, many others use it reasonably and successfully as a means of getting to a healthy weight while making the process tolerable, if not outright enjoyable.

Liftng4Lis

You're eating under 1000 calories a day. This is disordered! You stated you were recovering in another thread. You need to talk to your team.

blankiefinder

catt952 wrote: »

Hi i am a female and young adult. I have been counting calories for 4 months.I sometimes read blogs about people who have overcome eating disorders and i wonder whether my eating is 'disordered' i realize this is only a forum, not a therapist office.

Is counting calories 'normal'? do normal people worry about the calories in food? or worry how many calories are in something that has no nutritional info contains? I realize this website is just a tool. But when family cooks something and offers for me to have some, i wait till no one is looking and weigh it to try and estimate the calories on this website.

I feel like weighing food and counting calories is something i have to hide,although i am close to being overweight at 5 ft 5 and 70 kg but i am a very private person too. I really dislike my body.

I only worry for my future, from what i have read, many people live their lives with an eating disorder. I do want to live freely and go out drinking and dinner with friends( something i don't do simply because i don't have friends right now) and not be hinder the rest of my life through this calorie counting.

I'm just curious why you're counting calories? Are you trying to lose? Gain? Maintain after having previously lost?

I would say that if you have never been over weight but feel the need to count, that would be unusual.

zoeysasha37

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

You're eating under 1000 calories a day. This is disordered! You stated you were recovering in another thread. You need to talk to your team.

Yes ! This ! Please seek the help of your therapist or recovery team. 1000 is not enough ,please work on slowly bringing that number up ! Best of luck to you !

robertw486

catt952 wrote: »

Hi i am a female and young adult. I have been counting calories for 4 months.I sometimes read blogs about people who have overcome eating disorders and i wonder whether my eating is 'disordered' i realize this is only a forum, not a therapist office.

Is counting calories 'normal'? do normal people worry about the calories in food? or worry how many calories are in something that has no nutritional info contains? I realize this website is just a tool. But when family cooks something and offers for me to have some, i wait till no one is looking and weigh it to try and estimate the calories on this website.

I feel like weighing food and counting calories is something i have to hide,although i am close to being overweight at 5 ft 5 and 70 kg but i am a very private person too. I really dislike my body.

I only worry for my future, from what i have read, many people live their lives with an eating disorder. I do want to live freely and go out drinking and dinner with friends( something i don't do simply because i don't have friends right now) and not be hinder the rest of my life through this calorie counting.

There is nothing at all wrong with keeping track of things and bringing your weight down to a healthier level. If counting calories is the best way to do it for you, then do that. Taking charge of your own health is far from disordered thinking if you ask me.

Personally, I would suggest bringing it up with your family. You shouldn't feel guilty about looking at the nutritional content of what they are serving. Maybe they will assist you, or at least understand if you are trying to control portions. They might even get involved and start cooking healthier as it would probably benefit them as well.