All calories may not be equal

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Replies

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    As a newbie, I find the process of measuring and weighing everything to be tedious and very nearly overwhelming. IMO it's more important to make a habit of keeping track of what you eat. If measuring and weighing helps me to be more accurate when I keep track, that will be a good thing. But if it lengthens my prep time significantly, I'm probably not going to keep doing it. I'm not going to risk being late to work in the morning or play practice in the evening. I'm not willing to cut back on sleep, and I would certainly prefer not to cut back on what little exercise time I have.

    LOL it is not that time consuming to weigh your food.

    No, but it can be really time consuming to measure with cups and spoons which need scraping out and cleaning. Much easier to put toast on plate on scale, hit tare, add almond butter, hit tare, add honey than dinking around with tablespoons and teaspoons. And if you always weigh out the same amount, the logging is much faster too. I strongly suspect that most people who complain about the effort of measuring food are using cups/spoons.

    Ya, I left my scale at my OH's one day next week and the next day had to fuss with measuring cups, and look up cup equivalents for things like potatoes. Much faster and easier to weigh.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Well, I don't know if it's the weighing or the logging, but my previous post was just before I started making lunch for tomorrow, and I just finished logging it. So ~ 40 min, which is 2-3 times what it would take to just put things together.

    Now, in fairness, next time I make those particular recipes I won't have to type them in. We'll see how it goes.

    Recipes can take a while because the "matching algorithms" in the new recipe builder often don't produce good matches. Other than new recipes, weighing and logging takes me very little time as my common foods are all in Frequent. This time of year I'm doing a lot of grilling and haven't used the recipe builder since it broke a few months ago.

    I find new (whole) foods quickly by keeping https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods open in one browser to find the correct syntax for MFP system entries.
  • Shadowmf023
    Shadowmf023 Posts: 812 Member
    I weigh my food periodically to ensure I'm still eyeballing correctly. Currently I have the problem of my portions becoming smaller. So when I feel more hungry than usual, it's usually due to eating too little calories. (4 years ago when I started, like most here, I was overestimating)
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Mentali wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Let me be clear, the OCD comment was aimed at those who stress over weighing a pre-packaged, single serving yogurt just incase the calories are off by +/- 5-10kcal. Those who weigh restaurant food and pick apart meals "just incase".

    Counting calories is one thing but that is just not normal behaviour.

    The point about pre-packaged stuff being potentially off was a response to a poster who was claiming that it was better to change one's diet to be all packaged single-serving stuff vs. to have to weigh. IMO, saying you must use pre-packaged to count properly is way more neurotic than weighing one's foods*, and once you weigh it's not much of a hassle to weigh everything you put in a bowl or on a plate or use in cooking.

    *If I were going to make such judgments, but I personally think it's wrong to do so.

    I was that poster.

    Bottom line - the vast majority of people fail at diets, whether they count calories or don't count calories.

    My suggestion was that in order to make calorie counting easier for newbies, it would be much better to eat pre-packaged foods (including things like single-serve yogurts, cans of tuna fish and soup) or foods where you don't have to weigh or measure anything (like an egg).

    It's hard enough to start any diet (which is why most people fail). Making newbies weigh and measure and obsess over calories on Day 1 makes the situation even worse, and will result in more failure.

    The people here on this site who say its easy to weigh, measure and count remind me of vegans who say it's easy to be a vegan. Both are not easy.

    You've revealed one of your hidden assumptions here - that the failure of newbies is disproportionately related to being overwhelmed by weighing of food. I would say it's far more likely that the failure of newbies is disproportionately related to not being able to eat everything they want in the portions that they want, which is not resolved by limiting them to specific foods (that will still be off by hundreds of calories).

    In fact, you contradicted your own assumption at the start by saying that most people fail at diets regardless of counting calories. So why would counting calories in a way that severely restricts your eating solve the problem?

    You missed the point. If you want more people to join the fraternity of calories counters, it is suggested that they start out eating pre-packaged food, eggs, etc.

    I don't want more people to join the fraternity of calorie counters. I don't count calories at maintenance myself, and have lost without counting calories even though for me counting is preferable (at least currently). What I want is for people to find a method of losing and maintaining their weight that is sustainable for them. Telling them they must change their diet to be based on single-serve packaged foods is IMO not workable or good advice for many people. Some like eating that way and thus they do it without it being suggested to them.

    Right, I only suggest weighing when people start threads wondering why they aren't losing weight. Not losing weight means something is off with their estimates of Calories In or Calories Out and it's easy to get more accurate with CI via weighing.
  • gonetothedogs19
    gonetothedogs19 Posts: 325 Member
    edited August 2016
    MissusMoon wrote: »
    Let me be clear, the OCD comment was aimed at those who stress over weighing a pre-packaged, single serving yogurt just incase the calories are off by +/- 5-10kcal. Those who weigh restaurant food and pick apart meals "just incase".

    Counting calories is one thing but that is just not normal behaviour.

    If I weren't weighing my food, I would be eating at least 200 more calories more than I should every day. Slices of bread, cups of yogurt, packaged food that says it has "about 1.5 servings" that really has more than three. I'm far from OCD, but yeah, I'm going to weigh all of that--because having lost 75lbs is better than not.

    The receptionist at my physical therapist's office and I got to talking. She used to be obese. She has peanut butter and apples for breakfast, and still weighs it all out. She's not OCD either. She's doing what she needs to do to maintain her healthy weight. Over five years and counting.

    Labeling people with a mental condition because you don't understand why they do what they do is ridiculous.

    If you have reached your goal weight, and five years later you are still counting every calorie and weighing and measuring everything you eat, it is OCD.

    God forbid you gain two pounds. Guess what? You can start counting again and lose the two pounds.
  • gonetothedogs19
    gonetothedogs19 Posts: 325 Member
    edited August 2016
    I was trying to make two points:

    1) If calorie counting, weighing and measuring is too difficult or you just don't want to do it, start off with packaged foods, eggs, etc. that just requires counting.

    2) I never said counting, weighing and measuring is OCD. I said a LIFETIME of counting, weighing and measuring is OCD. You've been counting, weighing and measuring for a year and you reached your goal. That one year has trained you how to eat. And as I said above, if you gain two pounds, start counting, measuring and weighing again to lose the two pounds.

    Sheesh!
  • gonetothedogs19
    gonetothedogs19 Posts: 325 Member
    Hornsby wrote: »
    I was trying to make two points:

    1) If calorie counting, weighing and measuring is too difficult or you just don't want to do it, start off with packaged foods, eggs, etc. that require no counting, weighing and measuring.

    2) I never said counting, weighing and measuring is OCD. I said a LIFETIME of counting, weighing and measuring is OCD. You've been counting, weighing and measuring for a year and you reached your goal. That one year has trained you how to eat. And as I said above, if you gain two pounds, start counting, measuring and weighing again to lose the two pounds.

    Sheesh!

    Yes, you have said all that and you are still wrong.

    Like I said, some of us have more goals than a healthy weight that require as much accuracy as we can accomplish. That's not OCD. That's being dedicated to something you ENJOY and working towards goals.

    So when you have a salad with lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, olives, etc., you actually ENJOY weighing and measuring each of them.

    Really?
  • DancingDaffydils
    DancingDaffydils Posts: 13 Member
    You still have no idea what ocd is

    Nope, not a freakin clue!
  • gonetothedogs19
    gonetothedogs19 Posts: 325 Member
    MissusMoon wrote: »
    Let me be clear, the OCD comment was aimed at those who stress over weighing a pre-packaged, single serving yogurt just incase the calories are off by +/- 5-10kcal. Those who weigh restaurant food and pick apart meals "just incase".

    Counting calories is one thing but that is just not normal behaviour.

    If I weren't weighing my food, I would be eating at least 200 more calories more than I should every day. Slices of bread, cups of yogurt, packaged food that says it has "about 1.5 servings" that really has more than three. I'm far from OCD, but yeah, I'm going to weigh all of that--because having lost 75lbs is better than not.

    The receptionist at my physical therapist's office and I got to talking. She used to be obese. She has peanut butter and apples for breakfast, and still weighs it all out. She's not OCD either. She's doing what she needs to do to maintain her healthy weight. Over five years and counting.

    Labeling people with a mental condition because you don't understand why they do what they do is ridiculous.

    If you have reached your goal weight, and five years later you are still counting every calorie and weighing and measuring everything you eat, it is OCD.

    God forbid you gain two pounds. Guess what? You can start counting again and lose the two pounds.

    You are clueless about OCD and you have no business speaking about it. At this point I think you are purposely being disrespectful.

    I mean no disrespect and I do not mean to be argumentative. It is just beyond my comprehension that a healthy person who works out and has reached the correct weight by counting, weighing and measuring, would continue to count, weigh and measure meal after meal after meal, year after year after year.

    Just enjoy your food. Weigh yourself every day. I guarantee that nothing bad will happen to you other than gaining two pounds, which you can lose right away by counting, measuring and weighing.

    Sorry, but I do not understand the obsession. And it is, in my opinion, an obsession.

  • DancingDaffydils
    DancingDaffydils Posts: 13 Member
    MissusMoon wrote: »
    Let me be clear, the OCD comment was aimed at those who stress over weighing a pre-packaged, single serving yogurt just incase the calories are off by +/- 5-10kcal. Those who weigh restaurant food and pick apart meals "just incase".

    Counting calories is one thing but that is just not normal behaviour.

    If I weren't weighing my food, I would be eating at least 200 more calories more than I should every day. Slices of bread, cups of yogurt, packaged food that says it has "about 1.5 servings" that really has more than three. I'm far from OCD, but yeah, I'm going to weigh all of that--because having lost 75lbs is better than not.

    The receptionist at my physical therapist's office and I got to talking. She used to be obese. She has peanut butter and apples for breakfast, and still weighs it all out. She's not OCD either. She's doing what she needs to do to maintain her healthy weight. Over five years and counting.

    Labeling people with a mental condition because you don't understand why they do what they do is ridiculous.

    If you have reached your goal weight, and five years later you are still counting every calorie and weighing and measuring everything you eat, it is OCD.

    God forbid you gain two pounds. Guess what? You can start counting again and lose the two pounds.

    You are clueless about OCD and you have no business speaking about it. At this point I think you are purposely being disrespectful.

    I mean no disrespect and I do not mean to be argumentative. It is just beyond my comprehension that a healthy person who works out and has reached the correct weight by counting, weighing and measuring, would continue to count, weigh and measure meal after meal after meal, year after year after year.

    Just enjoy your food. Weigh yourself every day. I guarantee that nothing bad will happen to you other than gaining two pounds, which you can lose right away by counting, measuring and weighing.

    Sorry, but I do not understand the obsession. And it is, in my opinion, an obsession.

    There is a different between a habit and an obsession. There is a difference between a choice and a compulsion. There is a difference between having an obsession or a compulsion and having obsessive compulsive disorder. There is a difference between choosing to weigh and stressing about weighing. There is a difference between stressing about weighing and having obsessive compulsive disorder. Until you understand any of these differences, you need to stop throwing diagnoses around like they're Mardi Gras beads.

    So much this

  • gonetothedogs19
    gonetothedogs19 Posts: 325 Member
    edited August 2016
    MissusMoon wrote: »
    Let me be clear, the OCD comment was aimed at those who stress over weighing a pre-packaged, single serving yogurt just incase the calories are off by +/- 5-10kcal. Those who weigh restaurant food and pick apart meals "just incase".

    Counting calories is one thing but that is just not normal behaviour.

    If I weren't weighing my food, I would be eating at least 200 more calories more than I should every day. Slices of bread, cups of yogurt, packaged food that says it has "about 1.5 servings" that really has more than three. I'm far from OCD, but yeah, I'm going to weigh all of that--because having lost 75lbs is better than not.

    The receptionist at my physical therapist's office and I got to talking. She used to be obese. She has peanut butter and apples for breakfast, and still weighs it all out. She's not OCD either. She's doing what she needs to do to maintain her healthy weight. Over five years and counting.

    Labeling people with a mental condition because you don't understand why they do what they do is ridiculous.

    If you have reached your goal weight, and five years later you are still counting every calorie and weighing and measuring everything you eat, it is OCD.

    God forbid you gain two pounds. Guess what? You can start counting again and lose the two pounds.

    You are clueless about OCD and you have no business speaking about it. At this point I think you are purposely being disrespectful.

    I mean no disrespect and I do not mean to be argumentative. It is just beyond my comprehension that a healthy person who works out and has reached the correct weight by counting, weighing and measuring, would continue to count, weigh and measure meal after meal after meal, year after year after year.

    Just enjoy your food. Weigh yourself every day. I guarantee that nothing bad will happen to you other than gaining two pounds, which you can lose right away by counting, measuring and weighing.

    Sorry, but I do not understand the obsession. And it is, in my opinion, an obsession.

    There is a different between a habit and an obsession. There is a difference between a choice and a compulsion. There is a difference between having an obsession or a compulsion and having obsessive compulsive disorder. There is a difference between choosing to weigh and stressing about weighing. There is a difference between stressing about weighing and having obsessive compulsive disorder. Until you understand any of these differences, you need to stop throwing diagnoses around like they're Mardi Gras beads.

    OK, here is my new diagnosis - it's odd.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    MissusMoon wrote: »
    Let me be clear, the OCD comment was aimed at those who stress over weighing a pre-packaged, single serving yogurt just incase the calories are off by +/- 5-10kcal. Those who weigh restaurant food and pick apart meals "just incase".

    Counting calories is one thing but that is just not normal behaviour.

    If I weren't weighing my food, I would be eating at least 200 more calories more than I should every day. Slices of bread, cups of yogurt, packaged food that says it has "about 1.5 servings" that really has more than three. I'm far from OCD, but yeah, I'm going to weigh all of that--because having lost 75lbs is better than not.

    The receptionist at my physical therapist's office and I got to talking. She used to be obese. She has peanut butter and apples for breakfast, and still weighs it all out. She's not OCD either. She's doing what she needs to do to maintain her healthy weight. Over five years and counting.

    Labeling people with a mental condition because you don't understand why they do what they do is ridiculous.

    If you have reached your goal weight, and five years later you are still counting every calorie and weighing and measuring everything you eat, it is OCD.

    God forbid you gain two pounds. Guess what? You can start counting again and lose the two pounds.

    You are clueless about OCD and you have no business speaking about it. At this point I think you are purposely being disrespectful.

    I mean no disrespect and I do not mean to be argumentative. It is just beyond my comprehension that a healthy person who works out and has reached the correct weight by counting, weighing and measuring, would continue to count, weigh and measure meal after meal after meal, year after year after year.

    Just enjoy your food. Weigh yourself every day. I guarantee that nothing bad will happen to you other than gaining two pounds, which you can lose right away by counting, measuring and weighing.

    Sorry, but I do not understand the obsession. And it is, in my opinion, an obsession.

    I am sure it is a very small minority that still uses a scale after reaching their goal years and years ago.
  • VividVegan
    VividVegan Posts: 200 Member
    Don't know if the following OCD comment(s) was referring to my original one (that implied my diagnosed and struggle with OCD and MFP) but basically people with OCD often obsess about small things. Just like when I joined MFP and started counting every calorie, I double checked everything and became obsessive over it and its been time consuming. My step-mother has been helping me break this cycle of obsessing over things for years. She's a psychologist with a PHD. With me, the less I know, the better. It didn't hurt my progress before joining MFP anyways. My first 50 pound loss or so was completely intuitive. Have lost a few from MFP but no doubt, its harder (IMO).
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