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Is counting calories/macros destroying our enjoyment of food?

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  • Bry_Fitness70
    Bry_Fitness70 Posts: 2,480 Member
    I'm having difficulty understanding how tracking something ruins the enjoyment of it. We had homemade tacos yesterday and I entered and weighed every ingredient as I put it on my plate; it took me 3-4 minutes. Then I enjoyed eating tacos like everyone else in the family.

    If it makes you miserable to know that you are eating too many calories and/or an unfavorable macros mix: how is avoiding that understanding of your diet going to benefit you in any way?
  • VeggieBarbells
    VeggieBarbells Posts: 175 Member
    leanitup123 wrote: »
    Is counting calories/macros destroying our enjoyment of food? Interested in hearing your thoughts on this.

    I think putting on untold pounds of fat made me stop enjoying food. Its been a long journey but food fuels my body. I have some very tasty meals but my goal is to give my body what it needs along the way.

    My aim is to make that as healthy and as tasty as possible. Over time I learned that doesn't mean eating a load of *&%$ all the time. My bottom line was what's more important to me? Everyone makes that decision for themselves. There's no right or wrong.
  • jdlobb
    jdlobb Posts: 1,232 Member
    I'm getting really creative in my work cafeteria lately, that's an added bonus of being acutely aware of calorie and macros.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
    Bry_Lander wrote: »
    I'm having difficulty understanding how tracking something ruins the enjoyment of it. We had homemade tacos yesterday and I entered and weighed every ingredient as I put it on my plate; it took me 3-4 minutes. Then I enjoyed eating tacos like everyone else in the family.

    If it makes you miserable to know that you are eating too many calories and/or an unfavorable macros mix: how is avoiding that understanding of your diet going to benefit you in any way?

    It's not the knowledge that ruins it. But people are different. Having to weigh every ingredient ruins it for me. I just don't like to cook that way. I'm a little bit of this, little bit of that cook. Whether I"m making a recipe I've made a hundred times or am making for the first time I rarely measure anything. Why is it so hard to understand that different things drive different people crazy?
  • AllOutof_Bubblegum
    AllOutof_Bubblegum Posts: 3,646 Member
    Hell, no. Quite the opposite. When I plan for a meal that fits into my macro goals, I can enjoy and appreciate it to the fullest, without any guilt. So tracking my food makes me enjoy it more, not less.
  • ryenday
    ryenday Posts: 1,540 Member
    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    Bry_Lander wrote: »
    I'm having difficulty understanding how tracking something ruins the enjoyment of it. We had homemade tacos yesterday and I entered and weighed every ingredient as I put it on my plate; it took me 3-4 minutes. Then I enjoyed eating tacos like everyone else in the family.

    If it makes you miserable to know that you are eating too many calories and/or an unfavorable macros mix: how is avoiding that understanding of your diet going to benefit you in any way?

    It's not the knowledge that ruins it. But people are different. Having to weigh every ingredient ruins it for me. I just don't like to cook that way. I'm a little bit of this, little bit of that cook. Whether I"m making a recipe I've made a hundred times or am making for the first time I rarely measure anything. Why is it so hard to understand that different things drive different people crazy?

    Yeah for me food used to be about taste, smell, texture- the present moment while eating. Now it is about guilt, or not having another taste to savor because that would put me above calories, or about not being able to have it at all. Even when I can have something my mind is now so focused on the MATHS of it all most of the enjoyment the savoring the senses in the moment is pretty much ruined.
  • musicfan68
    musicfan68 Posts: 1,123 Member
    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    Bry_Lander wrote: »
    I'm having difficulty understanding how tracking something ruins the enjoyment of it. We had homemade tacos yesterday and I entered and weighed every ingredient as I put it on my plate; it took me 3-4 minutes. Then I enjoyed eating tacos like everyone else in the family.

    If it makes you miserable to know that you are eating too many calories and/or an unfavorable macros mix: how is avoiding that understanding of your diet going to benefit you in any way?

    It's not the knowledge that ruins it. But people are different. Having to weigh every ingredient ruins it for me. I just don't like to cook that way. I'm a little bit of this, little bit of that cook. Whether I"m making a recipe I've made a hundred times or am making for the first time I rarely measure anything. Why is it so hard to understand that different things drive different people crazy?

    I agree that it's not the knowledge that ruins it. I am NOT a numbers person, and cook the way the last poster quoted, does. It is tedious for me to weigh every single thing, and add it up. And when you realize you can't have the amount of food you want, it makes a lot of foods for me, not worth it, like cashews, or the pizza I like. I know I can get lower calorie pizza, thin crust, whatever, but that isn't what I like, so I can't enjoy it. (I am also short, and have a low number of calories - 1300 a day).

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