Does the calorie goal mess with anyone else's head?

distinctlybeautiful

If I set it to a deficit, I have a sense of being deprived whether I am or not. If I set it to maintenance, I eat enough to hit the goal whether I need to or not. I recently tried tracking on paper - not calories, just food and amount (along with time and mood/hunger level) - and when I went back and put it in MFP retroactively, I found I was in a deficit. I hadn't felt deprived at all. Just wondering if the goal messes with anyone else too! (I did it for over a year without this issue, but it's something I noticed recently.)

kommodevaran

I'm sufficiently messed up already so I can't tell any difference
But I think you are pointing to a common reason as to why losing weight can be difficult and why there are so many "diets" - some people react negatively to having to consciously limit their intake. Others are fine with it, though, and like feeling "in charge". Losing weight is not about counting calories, but about having a sustained calorie deficit. You can have that even without knowing about it. I tend to lose weight on holiday, when I don't think about calories and portion control at all. But I also lose fine while counting calories. You have to find a strategy that fits your natural inclinations.

distinctlybeautiful

Thanks!

xLyric

I definitely have to think sometimes, "Am I actually hungry, or do I just think I should be hungry because I haven't met my goal yet and my goal's already low?"

I try to drink some water and maybe have a tiny piece of candy and distract myself, and then reevaluate later if I'm still feeling hungry. Doesn't always work, but working in a snack every now and then isn't going to hurt my loss as long as I'm in control.

JJS1979

OP that is super interesting, I have never thought about it in that way.

RelCanonical

I have a tendency to stimulate my appetite by thinking about what yummy things I could eat with the leftover calories I have for the day. That's why Halo Top is on the menu tonight.

MoiAussi93

I mostly ignore the goal...I just look at the end of the day when I am finished to see where it came out. When I focused on it, I tended to eat almost exactly that amount (adding a half serving of this or that to get as close as possible)...which is just not a natural way to eat, and not really healthy behavior in my opinion. Some generic online calculator really cannot determine exactly how much a person needs in a given day. I basically eat what I feel I need while being conscious of the calories. Some days I am a couple hundred below the "goal". Some days I might be a few hundred above. Occasionally I am spot on...by chance, not design.

It is more natural to go by how hungry you are, how active you are that day, what your energy level is like, etc. Rigidly being a slave to some calculator which only estimates your BMR and only estimates what you burn in exercise is just too artificial.

I have only used calorie counting on occasion...to get an idea of how much I routinely eat, to adjust to a lower amount, to learn what a serving size of various foods actually looks like, and to occasionally play with macros to see how they impact how I feel. Getting an exact number of calories was never the goal for me.

Others may have different goals and priorities, so I have no issue with those with different approaches.

jesslynn0520

The calorie goal was stressing me out too. I changed my goal to 0.5 pound loss a week. In my mind that's the max I can eat anything less (but not less than 1200 calories) and I will lose more.

kayeroze

I'm 5'2 and very overweight, and the calorie goal of 1200 or 1260 for 1.5-2lbs was too little in my mind, even with exercise, but 1500 at 1lb a week with exercise seemed almost too much. I keep it higher, but my goal net is around 1300-1400 calories without having to feel guilty

JohnnyPenso

I thought I might feel that way which is why I avoided counting calories until recently. Once I started counting it became a personal challenge for me to meet my calorie goals and feel satiated after and between meals. My focus switched to trying to be creative with my food choices rather than focusing on what I was missing. I found it wasn't that hard for me at all, even at 1600 calories so long as I followed a 400/400/800 split. Now at 2200-2500 calories I find I'm sometimes struggling to eat all the calories I'm supposed to

RaphaBianchi

Yes, I think I have the same problem. Before I started MFP I was just trying to eat sensibly and was satisfied all day at work. When I started MFP I ate exactly the same things just started logging it. Once I started logging and knew that I'd used my allotted calories all I could think about was food!

BeGrandLike

I set mine to a deficit. Then if I "go over" (by like 50-100 calories or so) I feel like I'm after giving myself a proper (semi-forbidden..) treat. But HA! I'm still under maintenance by like 450 calories so I'm still gonna be losin

deannalfisher

nope never guilty - food is fuel and if I want to perform to the best of my ability then I need to make sure that I am fueling my body

distinctlybeautiful

xLyric wrote: »

I definitely have to think sometimes, "Am I actually hungry, or do I just think I should be hungry because I haven't met my goal yet and my goal's already low?"

I try to drink some water and maybe have a tiny piece of candy and distract myself, and then reevaluate later if I'm still feeling hungry. Doesn't always work, but working in a snack every now and then isn't going to hurt my loss as long as I'm in control.

I think rating my hunger is a helpful part of the paper tracking, something I don't do when I log directly in the app. It helps me pay more attention.

RelCanonical wrote: »

I have a tendency to stimulate my appetite by thinking about what yummy things I could eat with the leftover calories I have for the day. That's why Halo Top is on the menu tonight.

I can relate to that! Overeating usually starts in my brain long before it actually happens.

deannalfisher wrote: »

nope never guilty - food is fuel and if I want to perform to the best of my ability then I need to make sure that I am fueling my body

No guilt here either. Just a sort of loss of a sense of how much I actually need to be satisfied.

UnicornAmandaPanda

Very very interesting. I am curious if I will do better if I just write everything down in my phones memo instead of logging as I go on mfp because I do think the calorie goal psychs me out big time