Counting Calories as an Eating Disorder?
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What percentage of people actually track/log what they eat? I assume the percentage is low?
Isn't it common/usual for people to gain weight over the years, and to increase in bodyfat percentage?
To change your habits and patterns and to get specific results requires focus and discipline.
But if you let yourself go "naturally" would you like those results?
I think you are learning a LOT right now. Maybe later you won't be able to focus on yourself quite like you are now.
Maybe later you'll be glad you took the time and focus to figure this all out for yourself!0 -
tracyannk28 wrote: »I don't think you have an eating disorder. Maybe you're a bit on the obsessive side though.
Here's the thing (in my opinion): Being rigid with weighing/measuring/logging etc. can lead to an unhealthy relationship with food, which can lead to 'disordered eating', which can lead to an eating disorder.
Since so far you haven't experienced any fear or anxiety over altering your food log, you'll probably be ok. I think every once in a while you just need to 'check yourself' before what started out as healthy habits turns into something that's anything but healthy.
I agree with this. I don't think counting is, in itself, an eating disorder at all. However, I have been in the fitness community for several years and have interacted with a lot of folks who have recovered or are recovering from eating disorders - and one common thread I've noticed is that most of them started with an innocent attempt at counting calories or eating clean (or both), that eventually spiraled into something more. Calorie counting can kind of be a "gateway drug" to a disorder, if that makes sense.
Most clinically diagnosed eating disorders require that the person is underweight (or has a desire to be underweight). Your weight goal is healthy for your height, so I don't see anything to worry about.
I think it's also important to keep an eye on your mentality, though. For example, what if you slip in your plan? What if you accidentally go over your goal by 500 calories on a day that isn't one of your pre-determined holiday days? If you're able to just accept it and move on, no biggie. If you find yourself freaking out and feeling the need to hit the gym for 3 hours the next day to compensate, that might be a sign of an unhealthy obsession.
I think it's normal for friends or relatives to be cautious about this kind of thing. They care about you, and many of them aren't familiar with the huge effort it takes to be successful in weight loss. So when they see you doing all this planning, logging, etc, it can look a little scary to them. As long as you know you're being smart and healthy about it, it's all good!
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Counting calories CAN be indicative of an eating disorder, but it is the obsessive counting and freaking out over a 10 calorie overage that is disordered, not the actual monitoring of your intake.
This ^ is my first impression. That said, @neldabg, I can understand how your friend would have a hard time with the concept of planning meals two weeks out and rigidly sticking to them. It's just not that common. However, neither is balancing a checkbook, but I wouldn't call people who do that disordered.
I get that eating out makes tracking calories more difficult. Do you turn down invitations to meet with friends at restaurants?0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Counting calories CAN be indicative of an eating disorder, but it is the obsessive counting and freaking out over a 10 calorie overage that is disordered, not the actual monitoring of your intake.
This ^ is my first impression. That said, @neldabg, I can understand how your friend would have a hard time with the concept of planning meals two weeks out and rigidly sticking to them. It's just not that common. However, neither is balancing a checkbook, but I wouldn't call people who do that disordered.
I get that eating out makes tracking calories more difficult. Do you turn down invitations to meet with friends at restaurants?
Good point. I don't eat main meals that aren't homemade, so when my friends go out to eat with me, I go along for the experience. However, I don't turn down sleepovers, parties, offers to stay for dinner, etc, and will eat whatever's being served then.0 -
Good point. I don't eat main meals that aren't homemade, so when my friends go out to eat with me, I go along for the experience.
It's a fine line between staying committed to your fitness program and sitting there on a high horse while your friends eat the banished restaurant food. (No offense.)
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kshama2001 wrote: »Counting calories CAN be indicative of an eating disorder, but it is the obsessive counting and freaking out over a 10 calorie overage that is disordered, not the actual monitoring of your intake.
This ^ is my first impression. That said, @neldabg, I can understand how your friend would have a hard time with the concept of planning meals two weeks out and rigidly sticking to them. It's just not that common. However, neither is balancing a checkbook, but I wouldn't call people who do that disordered.
I get that eating out makes tracking calories more difficult. Do you turn down invitations to meet with friends at restaurants?
Good point. I don't eat main meals that aren't homemade, so when my friends go out to eat with me, I go along for the experience. However, I don't turn down sleepovers, parties, offers to stay for dinner, etc, and will eat whatever's being served then.
Well your first post didn't scream 'eating disorder' to me but this definitely does.. if you go out to a restaurant and don't eat...0 -
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I got the same responses the first time around I lost weight in 2011. When I got pregnant I continued to calorie count until I was 22 weeks pregnant (which my doctor knew about & then he told me enough was enough). *I* feel like I was addicted to calorie counting (like an eating disorder)..... I'm trying to track religiously again but I'm afraid of becoming obsessed .....0
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vivmom2014 wrote: »Good point. I don't eat main meals that aren't homemade, so when my friends go out to eat with me, I go along for the experience.
It's a fine line between staying committed to your fitness program and sitting there on a high horse while your friends eat the banished restaurant food. (No offense.)kshama2001 wrote: »Counting calories CAN be indicative of an eating disorder, but it is the obsessive counting and freaking out over a 10 calorie overage that is disordered, not the actual monitoring of your intake.
This ^ is my first impression. That said, @neldabg, I can understand how your friend would have a hard time with the concept of planning meals two weeks out and rigidly sticking to them. It's just not that common. However, neither is balancing a checkbook, but I wouldn't call people who do that disordered.
I get that eating out makes tracking calories more difficult. Do you turn down invitations to meet with friends at restaurants?
Good point. I don't eat main meals that aren't homemade, so when my friends go out to eat with me, I go along for the experience. However, I don't turn down sleepovers, parties, offers to stay for dinner, etc, and will eat whatever's being served then.
Well your first post didn't scream 'eating disorder' to me but this definitely does.. if you go out to a restaurant and don't eat...
My not eating out has 90% to do with how I was raised, and only 10% to do with health goals. Sure, finding out about the gross amount of sodium and junk that most places manage to squeeze into food did make me finalize my decision to not eat non-homemade meals. However, people find it hard to believe, but I can only recall maybe five times growing up where my family and I went out to sit and eat at a restaurant. Focus at home has always been on home cooked meals, and that is what I stick to.
Also, even though I'm not eating along when at a restaurant, I'm not priding myself and looking down on my friends; I'm not that kind of person
They know the deal, and our conversations are not any less fun. As I said, it's all about the experience. 0 -
I can't add a lot to others' excellent comments about obsession. I'll just add that I've been fighting fat since high school fat wars with my mother, who *was* obsessive and demanded that I keep my weight at 125 (I was then 5-7.5, now 5-6). About 20 years ago I got down to 145 with Weight Watchers. After a while I stopped what I saw as obsessive attention to food and the fat crept back on. Then I also started allowing myself lots of candy, ice cream and chips. Topped out at 213.
I'm now back down to 145 (142 this morning - I want to stay 140-145) and resigned to logging all food and exercise for the rest of my life. (A Fitbit makes exercise logging *much* easier.) I recently bought a folding scale that fits into my pocketbook. I don't do much planning, but do log. Restaurant food takes a lot of guesstimation, using MFP'S database and figuring which Rogan Josh or duck salad best fits my guess about likely calories, or figuring that the duck salad has 2 Oz duck, a tbs of walnuts and maybe 2 tbs feta. But the fact that I'm maintaining means my guesstimates are close more often than not. (I made goal in early November.)
And yeah, I pull out the phone to log at restaurants. Lets me know that the luscious dessert has 1200 calories and I have 500 left, so I get 3 plates, choose my (smallest) third, and my companions fall on their spoons and sacrifice themselves for the cause.
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Here's my view.
Anyone who is not a professional in the field really has no business telling you what an eating disorder is. There are people with completely rational thinking that are simply more focused on particular things and it's an easy way for outside people to judge something.
That applies to people online as well. When I see people crying "eating disoder!" I have to wonder where they got their internet psychologist training at. Unless someone is really obviously out of their mind over nothing, even someone who appears to have a problem to most of us would probably better be served with a simple suggestion that they might want to go talk to a professional if they are in doubt.
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So, the question is: "Should we, or should we not, continue to track our calories, weight, and body measurements our entire lives, and measure out our food portions as well, while we are maintaining our weight?" I myself am doing all of this and so far, I have been very successful in keeping my weight down to normal. I do not think I have an eating disorder. I had my eating disorder 40 years ago, when I was an anorexic/bulimic teenager in the mid 1970's. What I am experiencing now, is nothing like that. Believe me.0
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For what it's worth, I doubt so many dietitians would recommend it, if it was an eating disorder. Food for thoughts...0
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If you look at our society and at how many people are overweight, obese or morbidly obese...then you have an answer. About 60% of our society displays an unhealthy relationship with food. Overeating chips, ice cream, pies , cookies etc is unhealthy , over consumption of food is disordered eating.
Eating beyond all reason is what is largely being done by many people. In order to balance your life and your meals, you may need to protect the information you share with others who have clearly "lost their way".0 -
The definition of an "eating disorder" is too variable in common conversation, but mostly - as others have mentioned - centers around binge eating, bulimia, anorexia, pica, rumination disorder, purging, avoidant-restrictive food intake disorder, night eating syndrome, or falls into something called "unspecified feeding or eating disorder".
I've often thought about this since I got on the MFP wagon 2 years ago to trim away my visceral fat for health and my bike racing reasons. Whether I was reading interviews, the book "Racing Weight", using an online calculator (such as - http://racingweight.com/rwe/#/), watching a video interview of a professional runner or bike racer talking about the discipline required to maintain weight for racing season, following these forums - or hearing things such as the OP said from friends, family, colleagues - the definition of "eating disorder" can get misconstrued by many observers.
Those of us who have lost weight via a calorie deficit (with or without exercise) understand the discipline required in the math to achieve that weight loss. And those of us who have maintained our weight understand the daily discipline required in the math to achieve our maintenance weight and keep it there. I don't want to say that bulking up is an easy process for everyone because for many, it is very difficult.
Counting calories to lose weight, maintain weight, or bulk up I believe is misconstrued by many as a "disorder" - or so it seems when we get comments from friends, family, colleagues. Is there any crossover with some elements or symptoms from some of the "disorders" with one who is using CICO to achieve or maintain their goals? If it is misconstrued by some that those who lose weight, or maintain weight using the math discipline required to do either could be labeled a "disorder" when they encounter said discipline (such as the OP mentioned in her post), then isn't eating more calories with no care for one's weight gain also in the same camp?
The discipline required to achieve one's goals is not easy as it does involve a great deal of both mental and physical elements.
The OP stated:
I see people say that they regained once they got complacent with accountability. I'm determined to not be a re-gainer, so that's why I do such big planning and stick to my plans.
That's simply good discipline. And even if a little weight gain happens, life goes on and the OP knows the discipline in her math to get back to her maintenance weight.
In terms of restaurant food, with all of the nutritional information available, portion sizes, Apps that help guesstimate what we are about to order or eat or what we just ate - sure, one can socialize and still remain disciplined. Go out and have a good time, but keep the discipline. That's normal. Not a disorder...0 -
Here's what I tell people: We live in an unnatural, unhealthy, obesogenic environment. Many (most) people in that environment will need to work hard if they want to maintain a healthy body. You sound fine to me.0
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robingmurphy wrote: »Here's what I tell people: We live in an unnatural, unhealthy, obesogenic environment. Many (most) people in that environment will need to work hard if they want to maintain a healthy body. You sound fine to me.
I had to look that one up!
The term “obesogenic environment” refers to “an environment that promotes gaining weight and one that is not conducive to weight loss” within the home or workplace (Swinburn, et al., 1999). In other words, the obesogenic environment refers to an environment that helps, or contributes to, obesity.
Is it politically correct to say? ;-)
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SingingSingleTracker wrote: »The term “obesogenic environment” refers to “an environment that promotes gaining weight and one that is not conducive to weight loss” within the home or workplace (Swinburn, et al., 1999). In other words, the obesogenic environment refers to an environment that helps, or contributes to, obesity.
Oh, so everyone is being force fed and forbidden to exercise in our society? Nope. Not buying it.
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If your body weight and composition are healthy and you're able to work and have relationships, I think you're fine.0
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Hmmmm, this term "obesogenic enviroment" stopped me in my tracks.vivmom2014 wrote: »SingingSingleTracker wrote: »The term “obesogenic environment” refers to “an environment that promotes gaining weight and one that is not conducive to weight loss” within the home or workplace (Swinburn, et al., 1999). In other words, the obesogenic environment refers to an environment that helps, or contributes to, obesity.
Oh, so everyone is being force fed and forbidden to exercise in our society? Nope. Not buying it.
While United States is not force feeding or preventing exercise, our society, big business and politics does not promote that healthy of a life style. We moved to Northern Italy in May and difference in our societies is amazing. We frequently see 70 and 80's out for bike rides and walks everyday. Everyone in my small town goes to the farmer market once or twice a week for fresh vegetables, fruits, seafood, cheese and meats. The lattisere has fresh milk and yogurt...not chocked full of preservatives. There is not one fast food place in town except on American base. Pizza and pasta place make everything fresh. Gelato has much less sugar than ice-cream. There are miles of walking and hiking trails in our city. From 1-4pm is Riposa. Shops are closed as Italians workers go home for a cooked meal and nap. Then they walk back to work. You can set your clock by it.
In United States there is so much cheap, non- nutritious food all around plus so many convinces. This is from the NIH:
"More than two-thirds (68.8 percent) of adults are considered to be overweight or obese. More than one-third (35.7 percent) of adults are considered to be obese. More than 1 in 20 (6.3 percent) have extreme obesity. Almost 3 in 4 men (74 percent) are considered to be overweight or obese."
High fructose corn syrup, aspartame and trans fats should have all been outlawed if our society cared enough about health. There would not be so much resistance for healthier food plans at schools if our society has a high value on nutritious foods for our children. The goal of a lot of diets is to lose weight quickly to look better not to be healthier.
While we are each personally responsible for our food intake and exercise there is a lot of pressure in our society to eat foods that are not healthy and to observe athletes rather than be one.0
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