Welcome to Debate Club! Please be aware that this is a space for respectful debate, and that your ideas will be challenged here. Please remember to critique the argument, not the author.
Is counting calories/macros destroying our enjoyment of food?
Replies
-
princess0lexi wrote: »a lot of things are very high in calories and if i had the higher calorie things i may still be hungry but used up all my calories or have very few left for later.
I don't get what this has to do with OP's question. Surely if one is counting calories one would be sensible about making choices that would be satiating or otherwise wise investments. You are probably more likely to choose high cal things (or not realized they are high cal) if you are not being so obsessive, not paying attention.i try to eat lower calorie foods so i can eat more for the same amount
I sometimes do this too, but not everyone is a volume eater. I used to think I was, but now I think I'm more mixed. Having something satisfying (to me) with more calories can sometimes make me less likely to want to keep eating. (This includes things like cheese, for example, or definitely eggs with the yolk vs. not.)3 -
leanitup123 wrote: »Geocitiesuser wrote: »My constant obsession with calorie counting, hitting protein grams, and avoiding things I feel are not part of a "healthy" diet, are *borderline* unhealthy, and borderline ruin eating for me.
Only borderline. It's a little obsessive but it's nothing that's not controllable and definitely not damaging to me. But it definitely removes a lot if not all of the enjoyment of eating.
But in the same breath I HAD to remove the enjoyment of eating. Enjoying eating is what got me fat. It was comfort, it was reprieve from emotional and sometimes physical distress. It's how I celebrated and how I grieved. It was emotion. I correlated enjoying food with happiness like a heroin junky associates heroin with being happy. I was literally killing myself thinking I was enjoying what I was eating. When I stepped back, and looked at how all that food made me "feel", I didn't actually ever enjoy it. It did nothing but hurt me in the most horrible ways.
I still splurge. I still fall off track. But if we apply the pareto rule, I've removed enjoyment from probably 80% of what I eat now. Some of that is intentional.
That's exactly what this post is getting at -- the obsessive nature of calorie counting.
You mean the obsessive tendencies of some people? To me, calorie counting is not any more obsessive than washing my hands. I wash my hands several times a day, and I do it every time before preparing or eating food. Some people are truly obsessed with washing their hands to the point where it causes them anxiety. This is not the case for me, it's just something I do to minimize my chances of getting sick, and if for some reason I don't have access to water I don't feel anxious and my world doesn't end, it's just that I would rather wash my hands when needed than not.
Similarly, I count calories to minimize my chances of gaining weight. It does not cause me anxiety, and if for some reason I don't have access to the app my world doesn't end, It's just that I would rather count my calories than not. I wouldn't call it an obsession. Diligence maybe? Granted I am "obsessed" in a benign way with my calories because I like numbers and enjoy playing with them and solving number problems. I may go way off the beaten path to figure out the calories in something, use spreadsheets, or even quantify my entire year with calorie calculations, but none of that is done out of anxiety or an uncomfortable compulsion to micromanage.17 -
I don't eat foods I don't like. I think of my food budget like my money budget and stay within my calories. I don't dislike the way I eat but I sure enjoyed my old way of eating much more and would go back to it in a heartbeat if I could.
Some of the differences of opinion may come from a person's starting point and their habitual way of eating within their social structure.
If you use obsessive calorie counting to get underweight, that's a medical problem.
If you use obsessive calorie counting to go from morbidly obese to obese or overweight or normal, the doctors will cheer you on. Society will cheer you on. The only time you'll get negative feedback is if you lose that obsession and regain.3 -
I enjoy my food more for 2 reasons:
1. Because I only have so many calories, I pick what seems worth it. I pay more attention to eating it and it tastes so much better. Quality over quantity.
2. I don't have the guilt that surrounded my eating before. If I'm eating something, I know that I can eat it and still lose the weight.7 -
leanitup123 wrote: »Geocitiesuser wrote: »My constant obsession with calorie counting, hitting protein grams, and avoiding things I feel are not part of a "healthy" diet, are *borderline* unhealthy, and borderline ruin eating for me.
Only borderline. It's a little obsessive but it's nothing that's not controllable and definitely not damaging to me. But it definitely removes a lot if not all of the enjoyment of eating.
But in the same breath I HAD to remove the enjoyment of eating. Enjoying eating is what got me fat. It was comfort, it was reprieve from emotional and sometimes physical distress. It's how I celebrated and how I grieved. It was emotion. I correlated enjoying food with happiness like a heroin junky associates heroin with being happy. I was literally killing myself thinking I was enjoying what I was eating. When I stepped back, and looked at how all that food made me "feel", I didn't actually ever enjoy it. It did nothing but hurt me in the most horrible ways.
I still splurge. I still fall off track. But if we apply the pareto rule, I've removed enjoyment from probably 80% of what I eat now. Some of that is intentional.
That's exactly what this post is getting at -- the obsessive nature of calorie counting.
Getting obsessive about a calorie deficit is a requirement to escape from morbid obesity. Staying obsessive about overall calorie intake/output is a requirement to avoid weight regain plus some extra. The 95% who regain lost weight aren't staying obsessive.
The simplest, most reliable way to maintain calorie control for many people is calorie counting. Obsession is what got me where I am (near my goal weight) and I don't want to lose that obsession. I want to nurture that obsession. I want to be buried in a normal-sized coffin when the time comes.
This isn't obsessive. This is putting a tracking system around an unknown and no different than balancing a checkbook. The advent of smartphones just made calorie counting remarkably easy.
Simply put you identified a quality you wanted to change, developed a plan to change, and implemented this. That isn't obsessive. That is logic in action.12 -
Interesting discussion.
To answer your question, personally calorie / macro counting does not bother me, but I've been doing this since I was a preteen. I can tell you the nutritional information of a lot of foods off hand because I've been doing this off and on for so long.
To me, it's all just information. This food provides these nutrients and this much energy so on and so forth.
One of the things that I have found over the years is I'm going to eat what I want to eat regardless. Now the reasoning behind what I eat and why I eat it may be different. Maybe I'm low on calories for the day or I have a lot of calories so I decide to splurge or I need to meet my protein goal etc or maybe I just wanted to eat that food item.
Doesn't really phase me, but I don't eat foods I don't like. I know some people do eat things they don't enjoy for the sake of maintaining their weight or losing weight, but everything I eat is something I like and truly enjoy so I get the same enjoyment out of it if I'm eating it because I'm low on calories or if I'm eating it because I want to.3 -
leanitup123 wrote: »Geocitiesuser wrote: »My constant obsession with calorie counting, hitting protein grams, and avoiding things I feel are not part of a "healthy" diet, are *borderline* unhealthy, and borderline ruin eating for me.
Only borderline. It's a little obsessive but it's nothing that's not controllable and definitely not damaging to me. But it definitely removes a lot if not all of the enjoyment of eating.
But in the same breath I HAD to remove the enjoyment of eating. Enjoying eating is what got me fat. It was comfort, it was reprieve from emotional and sometimes physical distress. It's how I celebrated and how I grieved. It was emotion. I correlated enjoying food with happiness like a heroin junky associates heroin with being happy. I was literally killing myself thinking I was enjoying what I was eating. When I stepped back, and looked at how all that food made me "feel", I didn't actually ever enjoy it. It did nothing but hurt me in the most horrible ways.
I still splurge. I still fall off track. But if we apply the pareto rule, I've removed enjoyment from probably 80% of what I eat now. Some of that is intentional.
That's exactly what this post is getting at -- the obsessive nature of calorie counting.
Getting obsessive about a calorie deficit is a requirement to escape from morbid obesity. Staying obsessive about overall calorie intake/output is a requirement to avoid weight regain plus some extra. The 95% who regain lost weight aren't staying obsessive.
The simplest, most reliable way to maintain calorie control for many people is calorie counting. Obsession is what got me where I am (near my goal weight) and I don't want to lose that obsession. I want to nurture that obsession. I want to be buried in a normal-sized coffin when the time comes.
This isn't obsessive. This is putting a tracking system around an unknown and no different than balancing a checkbook. The advent of smartphones just made calorie counting remarkably easy.
Simply put you identified a quality you wanted to change, developed a plan to change, and implemented this. That isn't obsessive. That is logic in action.
Some people consider any calorie counting / food measuring obsessive and will give you grief about it. They like my results but feel that I'm doing it wrong and need to move to more intuitive eating. I would find intuitive eating more stressful because I'd not have the framework that calorie counting gives me.
I like amusedmonkey's term diligence. I get some anxiety when I'm in situations where I can't get as accurate a calorie estimate as I like but mostly I like having control over my consumption. I like playing with the numbers and balance of macros.4 -
leanitup123 wrote: »Geocitiesuser wrote: »My constant obsession with calorie counting, hitting protein grams, and avoiding things I feel are not part of a "healthy" diet, are *borderline* unhealthy, and borderline ruin eating for me.
Only borderline. It's a little obsessive but it's nothing that's not controllable and definitely not damaging to me. But it definitely removes a lot if not all of the enjoyment of eating.
But in the same breath I HAD to remove the enjoyment of eating. Enjoying eating is what got me fat. It was comfort, it was reprieve from emotional and sometimes physical distress. It's how I celebrated and how I grieved. It was emotion. I correlated enjoying food with happiness like a heroin junky associates heroin with being happy. I was literally killing myself thinking I was enjoying what I was eating. When I stepped back, and looked at how all that food made me "feel", I didn't actually ever enjoy it. It did nothing but hurt me in the most horrible ways.
I still splurge. I still fall off track. But if we apply the pareto rule, I've removed enjoyment from probably 80% of what I eat now. Some of that is intentional.
That's exactly what this post is getting at -- the obsessive nature of calorie counting.
Getting obsessive about a calorie deficit is a requirement to escape from morbid obesity. Staying obsessive about overall calorie intake/output is a requirement to avoid weight regain plus some extra. The 95% who regain lost weight aren't staying obsessive.
The simplest, most reliable way to maintain calorie control for many people is calorie counting. Obsession is what got me where I am (near my goal weight) and I don't want to lose that obsession. I want to nurture that obsession. I want to be buried in a normal-sized coffin when the time comes.
This isn't obsessive. This is putting a tracking system around an unknown and no different than balancing a checkbook. The advent of smartphones just made calorie counting remarkably easy.
Simply put you identified a quality you wanted to change, developed a plan to change, and implemented this. That isn't obsessive. That is logic in action.
Some people consider any calorie counting / food measuring obsessive and will give you grief about it. They like my results but feel that I'm doing it wrong and need to move to more intuitive eating. I would find intuitive eating more stressful because I'd not have the framework that calorie counting gives me.
I like amusedmonkey's term diligence. I get some anxiety when I'm in situations where I can't get as accurate a calorie estimate as I like but mostly I like having control over my consumption. I like playing with the numbers and balance of macros.
I like to think of issues in terms of the root behaviors. In this case I would frame this as behaviors leading to success vs behaviors leading to failure.
Tracking, trending, acting on accurate data = behaviors leading to success.
Intuition, estimation, acting on no data = behaviors leading to failure.
Not to say that either method is a guarantee of results, but there's a reason why successful people continue to be successful.6 -
leanitup123 wrote: »Interested in hearing your thoughts on this.
I spend a lot of time riding a bike. Cycling outdoors has become like a video game in some ways - stay with me here because there are parallels to food. We all use GPS computers to track where we rode, how fast we were, how many miles we did. There are sections of road and trail that have been designated as races, for the most part you don't know where they are until you ride one, which is like unlocking a secret, then you know exactly where to focus your efforts. In the bike world, there's a lot of similar hand-wringing about whether the GPSs are ruining our enjoyment of cycling.7 -
princess0lexi wrote: »it has and it helped start and make a eating disorder worst, a lot of things are very high in calories and if i had the higher calorie things i may still be hungry but used up all my calories or have very few left for later. i try to eat lower calorie foods so i can eat more for the same amount which means i don`t eat a lot of different cereals because they go over 110 and i know thats silly but its what i go through with and i really don`t like to drink things with calories because i feel that i will not be full and that could of been used on food and there are a lot of other foods i can`t or will not eat because of the calorie count, just to sum it all up its not fun but i can`t stop and life just is not the same.
I have to ask how is that an eating disorder? Just curious.
I don't eat certain things because their calories aren't worth it...for example hotdogs...very rarely will I eat them now because a bun and hotdog just don't make sense for the calories esp when I want to add in bacon etc. I prefer to eat a breast of chicken for less calories...and I won't drink things like regular soda or a milkshake or stuff like that either as the calories just don't make sense to me...I would prefer to eat food thx.
So lots of us do exactly what you describe but don't call it "disordered" but choices.2 -
leanitup123 wrote: »Geocitiesuser wrote: »My constant obsession with calorie counting, hitting protein grams, and avoiding things I feel are not part of a "healthy" diet, are *borderline* unhealthy, and borderline ruin eating for me.
Only borderline. It's a little obsessive but it's nothing that's not controllable and definitely not damaging to me. But it definitely removes a lot if not all of the enjoyment of eating.
But in the same breath I HAD to remove the enjoyment of eating. Enjoying eating is what got me fat. It was comfort, it was reprieve from emotional and sometimes physical distress. It's how I celebrated and how I grieved. It was emotion. I correlated enjoying food with happiness like a heroin junky associates heroin with being happy. I was literally killing myself thinking I was enjoying what I was eating. When I stepped back, and looked at how all that food made me "feel", I didn't actually ever enjoy it. It did nothing but hurt me in the most horrible ways.
I still splurge. I still fall off track. But if we apply the pareto rule, I've removed enjoyment from probably 80% of what I eat now. Some of that is intentional.
That's exactly what this post is getting at -- the obsessive nature of calorie counting.
Getting obsessive about a calorie deficit is a requirement to escape from morbid obesity. Staying obsessive about overall calorie intake/output is a requirement to avoid weight regain plus some extra. The 95% who regain lost weight aren't staying obsessive.
The simplest, most reliable way to maintain calorie control for many people is calorie counting. Obsession is what got me where I am (near my goal weight) and I don't want to lose that obsession. I want to nurture that obsession. I want to be buried in a normal-sized coffin when the time comes.
This isn't obsessive. This is putting a tracking system around an unknown and no different than balancing a checkbook. The advent of smartphones just made calorie counting remarkably easy.
Simply put you identified a quality you wanted to change, developed a plan to change, and implemented this. That isn't obsessive. That is logic in action.
Some people consider any calorie counting / food measuring obsessive and will give you grief about it. They like my results but feel that I'm doing it wrong and need to move to more intuitive eating. I would find intuitive eating more stressful because I'd not have the framework that calorie counting gives me.
I like amusedmonkey's term diligence. I get some anxiety when I'm in situations where I can't get as accurate a calorie estimate as I like but mostly I like having control over my consumption. I like playing with the numbers and balance of macros.
I don't feel counting/scale/logging is obsessive at all...and no one in my life does either...
I agree it's diligence on our part...and to me that is not unhealthy but just makes us aware of what we require to maintain/lose/gain weight.
I mean no one thinks using a calculator/spreadsheet/log book is obsessive for balancing your bank account...4 -
It actually makes me much more mindful of what I am eating and therefore I am appreciating my treats more2
-
princess0lexi wrote: »it has and it helped start and make a eating disorder worst, a lot of things are very high in calories and if i had the higher calorie things i may still be hungry but used up all my calories or have very few left for later. i try to eat lower calorie foods so i can eat more for the same amount which means i don`t eat a lot of different cereals because they go over 110 and i know thats silly but its what i go through with and i really don`t like to drink things with calories because i feel that i will not be full and that could of been used on food and there are a lot of other foods i can`t or will not eat because of the calorie count, just to sum it all up its not fun but i can`t stop and life just is not the same.
I have to ask how is that an eating disorder? Just curious.
I don't eat certain things because their calories aren't worth it...for example hotdogs...very rarely will I eat them now because a bun and hotdog just don't make sense for the calories esp when I want to add in bacon etc. I prefer to eat a breast of chicken for less calories...and I won't drink things like regular soda or a milkshake or stuff like that either as the calories just don't make sense to me...I would prefer to eat food thx.
So lots of us do exactly what you describe but don't call it "disordered" but choices.
I would say the difference here is that the previous poster feels disordered about it and you don't. If someone feels what they are doing is disordered and feels they can't stop, it probably is disordered for them.4 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »princess0lexi wrote: »it has and it helped start and make a eating disorder worst, a lot of things are very high in calories and if i had the higher calorie things i may still be hungry but used up all my calories or have very few left for later. i try to eat lower calorie foods so i can eat more for the same amount which means i don`t eat a lot of different cereals because they go over 110 and i know thats silly but its what i go through with and i really don`t like to drink things with calories because i feel that i will not be full and that could of been used on food and there are a lot of other foods i can`t or will not eat because of the calorie count, just to sum it all up its not fun but i can`t stop and life just is not the same.
I have to ask how is that an eating disorder? Just curious.
I don't eat certain things because their calories aren't worth it...for example hotdogs...very rarely will I eat them now because a bun and hotdog just don't make sense for the calories esp when I want to add in bacon etc. I prefer to eat a breast of chicken for less calories...and I won't drink things like regular soda or a milkshake or stuff like that either as the calories just don't make sense to me...I would prefer to eat food thx.
So lots of us do exactly what you describe but don't call it "disordered" but choices.
I would say the difference here is that the previous poster feels disordered about it and you don't. If someone feels what they are doing is disordered and feels they can't stop, it probably is disordered for them.
Hmm maybe by seeing that others do it too might make the poster feel less disordered.
I mean that's normal in a world where you are trying to maintain weight loss or lose weight...-1 -
leanitup123 wrote: »Geocitiesuser wrote: »My constant obsession with calorie counting, hitting protein grams, and avoiding things I feel are not part of a "healthy" diet, are *borderline* unhealthy, and borderline ruin eating for me.
Only borderline. It's a little obsessive but it's nothing that's not controllable and definitely not damaging to me. But it definitely removes a lot if not all of the enjoyment of eating.
But in the same breath I HAD to remove the enjoyment of eating. Enjoying eating is what got me fat. It was comfort, it was reprieve from emotional and sometimes physical distress. It's how I celebrated and how I grieved. It was emotion. I correlated enjoying food with happiness like a heroin junky associates heroin with being happy. I was literally killing myself thinking I was enjoying what I was eating. When I stepped back, and looked at how all that food made me "feel", I didn't actually ever enjoy it. It did nothing but hurt me in the most horrible ways.
I still splurge. I still fall off track. But if we apply the pareto rule, I've removed enjoyment from probably 80% of what I eat now. Some of that is intentional.
That's exactly what this post is getting at -- the obsessive nature of calorie counting.
Getting obsessive about a calorie deficit is a requirement to escape from morbid obesity. Staying obsessive about overall calorie intake/output is a requirement to avoid weight regain plus some extra. The 95% who regain lost weight aren't staying obsessive.
The simplest, most reliable way to maintain calorie control for many people is calorie counting. Obsession is what got me where I am (near my goal weight) and I don't want to lose that obsession. I want to nurture that obsession. I want to be buried in a normal-sized coffin when the time comes.
I disagree that overt calorie counting is needed to maintain weight loss, especially for people who find that it's an unhealthy means of maintaining energy balance.
There are other methods of portion control that can be learned and utilized by those who have issues with obsessive behaviors to maintain healthy weights that are habit/mindfulness based that work very well.
Bear in mind, I'm not one of those people, some form of counting will always suit me and my personality best, but I see no necessity for it in successful maintenance. What I do see a need for is some sort of plan to keep a focus on intake and monitoring one's weight.5 -
leanitup123 wrote: »Geocitiesuser wrote: »My constant obsession with calorie counting, hitting protein grams, and avoiding things I feel are not part of a "healthy" diet, are *borderline* unhealthy, and borderline ruin eating for me.
Only borderline. It's a little obsessive but it's nothing that's not controllable and definitely not damaging to me. But it definitely removes a lot if not all of the enjoyment of eating.
But in the same breath I HAD to remove the enjoyment of eating. Enjoying eating is what got me fat. It was comfort, it was reprieve from emotional and sometimes physical distress. It's how I celebrated and how I grieved. It was emotion. I correlated enjoying food with happiness like a heroin junky associates heroin with being happy. I was literally killing myself thinking I was enjoying what I was eating. When I stepped back, and looked at how all that food made me "feel", I didn't actually ever enjoy it. It did nothing but hurt me in the most horrible ways.
I still splurge. I still fall off track. But if we apply the pareto rule, I've removed enjoyment from probably 80% of what I eat now. Some of that is intentional.
That's exactly what this post is getting at -- the obsessive nature of calorie counting.
Wait... you presume that counting calories is inherently obsessive?
I disagree with that contention, much in the way that I'd disagree with the idea that budgeting one's finances is obsessive.
For some people, anything can become obsessive, of course, even the simple act of washing hands, for example. That doesn't mean that hand washing is inherently problematic, it means that the person has an underlying disorder.
The same is true with calorie counting. Anyone who becomes obsessive about it has underlying issues which the act of counting obviously triggers, it's not the counting itself.
For those of us without issue, it's a perfectly reasonable tool to use to manage our weights in the same way we'd use a budget to manage our finances.
If you or anyone else has a problematic issue with calorie counting, there are other methods of weight management to employ. However, realize that the problem lies with you, not with the method itself.9 -
[1] I think we've possibly come to view food a bit too much as a source of enjoyment rather than for sustenance. Not necessarily a bad thing to not get 'enjoyment' from food now that it is so plentiful, but rather to get enjoyment elsewhere. (food as a main source of enjoyment is how a lot of people get fat).
[2] On those rare occasions when you do make room for a burger or donut or a fine meal, they are so so much more amazing.3 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »leanitup123 wrote: »Geocitiesuser wrote: »My constant obsession with calorie counting, hitting protein grams, and avoiding things I feel are not part of a "healthy" diet, are *borderline* unhealthy, and borderline ruin eating for me.
Only borderline. It's a little obsessive but it's nothing that's not controllable and definitely not damaging to me. But it definitely removes a lot if not all of the enjoyment of eating.
But in the same breath I HAD to remove the enjoyment of eating. Enjoying eating is what got me fat. It was comfort, it was reprieve from emotional and sometimes physical distress. It's how I celebrated and how I grieved. It was emotion. I correlated enjoying food with happiness like a heroin junky associates heroin with being happy. I was literally killing myself thinking I was enjoying what I was eating. When I stepped back, and looked at how all that food made me "feel", I didn't actually ever enjoy it. It did nothing but hurt me in the most horrible ways.
I still splurge. I still fall off track. But if we apply the pareto rule, I've removed enjoyment from probably 80% of what I eat now. Some of that is intentional.
That's exactly what this post is getting at -- the obsessive nature of calorie counting.
Getting obsessive about a calorie deficit is a requirement to escape from morbid obesity. Staying obsessive about is a requirement to avoid weight regain plus some extra. The 95% who regain lost weight aren't staying obsessive.
The simplest, most reliable way to maintain calorie control for many people is calorie counting. Obsession is what got me where I am (near my goal weight) and I don't want to lose that obsession. I want to nurture that obsession. I want to be buried in a normal-sized coffin when the time comes.
I disagree that overt calorie counting is needed to maintain weight loss, especially for people who find that it's an unhealthy means of maintaining energy balance.
There are other methods of portion control that can be learned and utilized by those who have issues with obsessive behaviors to maintain healthy weights that are habit/mindfulness based that work very well.
Bear in mind, I'm not one of those people, some form of counting will always suit me and my personality best, but I see no necessity for it in successful maintenance. What I do see a need for is some sort of plan to keep a focus on intake and monitoring one's weight.
I didn't say that overt calorie counting was needed for either weight loss or maintenance, but that overall calorie intake/output control is. However a person does it, they do need to stay diligent about it or they're likely to have weight creep.
Each person needs to find what works best for themselves. There's nothing wrong with calorie counting or intuitive eating or any method that's healthy and comfortable for that person.2 -
I still enjoy food.
I also like logging my food.
Maybe I am weird.3 -
I don't particularly enjoy logging my food. It's a bit of a chore. But I enjoy having logged my food. I find it interesting to look at patterns and see how the macros play out.
And I don't think I enjoy the food itself any more or less than I otherwise would. I still get to eat things I really like. And sometimes I eat things that are good for me because I need sustenance. But since I'm paying more attention to what I'm eating I usually don't just eat whatever's around because I'm hungry. So I think planning actually helps me enjoy food more, overall.6 -
I enjoy food more because I eat what I enjoy instead of just grab something & eat till i'm full. I also eat more slowly & savor it. I've eaten more of a variety of foods that I haven't tried before. It's an adventure1
-
Looks like I am in the minority. Any time I start tracking what I eat and how much, I find it to be a chore, and I don't like it. Just tonight, I pre-logged food for tomorrow, and spent almost a 1/2 an hour figuring out how much of what I could have, and messing with # of servings, etc. That to me is tedious and I don't like it. I don't like numbers, so that might be part of it. It makes me just want to eat the same thing all the time so I don' t have to put so much time and effort into it. It does seem to make eating less enjoyable because I often change what I want to eat, just so I can stay at my calories. To me, eating is much more enjoyable if I'm not worried about the calories. But then I'm someone who doesn't get a lot of calories, being 5'0" tall and fairly sedentary.9
-
leanitup123 wrote: »Geocitiesuser wrote: »My constant obsession with calorie counting, hitting protein grams, and avoiding things I feel are not part of a "healthy" diet, are *borderline* unhealthy, and borderline ruin eating for me.
Only borderline. It's a little obsessive but it's nothing that's not controllable and definitely not damaging to me. But it definitely removes a lot if not all of the enjoyment of eating.
But in the same breath I HAD to remove the enjoyment of eating. Enjoying eating is what got me fat. It was comfort, it was reprieve from emotional and sometimes physical distress. It's how I celebrated and how I grieved. It was emotion. I correlated enjoying food with happiness like a heroin junky associates heroin with being happy. I was literally killing myself thinking I was enjoying what I was eating. When I stepped back, and looked at how all that food made me "feel", I didn't actually ever enjoy it. It did nothing but hurt me in the most horrible ways.
I still splurge. I still fall off track. But if we apply the pareto rule, I've removed enjoyment from probably 80% of what I eat now. Some of that is intentional.
That's exactly what this post is getting at -- the obsessive nature of calorie counting.
Getting obsessive about a calorie deficit is a requirement to escape from morbid obesity. Staying obsessive about overall calorie intake/output is a requirement to avoid weight regain plus some extra. The 95% who regain lost weight aren't staying obsessive.
The simplest, most reliable way to maintain calorie control for many people is calorie counting. Obsession is what got me where I am (near my goal weight) and I don't want to lose that obsession. I want to nurture that obsession. I want to be buried in a normal-sized coffin when the time comes.
@seska422 somewhere back in the 70's I lost my intuitive eating skills. Counting is a good crutch until we learn the physical/mental reasons that we eat more calories of food than we need. I finally found the macro that works for me that lets me stay stuffed and maintain. Now I eat all I want and just push back when I feel full unlike the prior 40 years. Calories are never the core cause of obesity for many people. The question that requires to be addressed is WHY we overeat to start with. Typically there is a physical and or mental health issue that triggers eating that can lead to obesity. Finding those underlying triggers and fixing them I found in my case was required to whip and fix the obesity in my case going forward.
Thinking about food all the time is not the freedom to enjoy life in my view. I know some that always will need crutches to walk and that is just fine but if we can heal to the point that intuitive eating kicks in and does our thinking for us it is awesome freedom in my personal experience.4 -
GaleHawkins wrote: »leanitup123 wrote: »Geocitiesuser wrote: »My constant obsession with calorie counting, hitting protein grams, and avoiding things I feel are not part of a "healthy" diet, are *borderline* unhealthy, and borderline ruin eating for me.
Only borderline. It's a little obsessive but it's nothing that's not controllable and definitely not damaging to me. But it definitely removes a lot if not all of the enjoyment of eating.
But in the same breath I HAD to remove the enjoyment of eating. Enjoying eating is what got me fat. It was comfort, it was reprieve from emotional and sometimes physical distress. It's how I celebrated and how I grieved. It was emotion. I correlated enjoying food with happiness like a heroin junky associates heroin with being happy. I was literally killing myself thinking I was enjoying what I was eating. When I stepped back, and looked at how all that food made me "feel", I didn't actually ever enjoy it. It did nothing but hurt me in the most horrible ways.
I still splurge. I still fall off track. But if we apply the pareto rule, I've removed enjoyment from probably 80% of what I eat now. Some of that is intentional.
That's exactly what this post is getting at -- the obsessive nature of calorie counting.
Getting obsessive about a calorie deficit is a requirement to escape from morbid obesity. Staying obsessive about overall calorie intake/output is a requirement to avoid weight regain plus some extra. The 95% who regain lost weight aren't staying obsessive.
The simplest, most reliable way to maintain calorie control for many people is calorie counting. Obsession is what got me where I am (near my goal weight) and I don't want to lose that obsession. I want to nurture that obsession. I want to be buried in a normal-sized coffin when the time comes.
@seska422 somewhere back in the 70's I lost my intuitive eating skills. Counting is a good crutch until we learn the physical/mental reasons that we eat more calories of food than we need. I finally found the macro that works for me that lets me stay stuffed and maintain. Now I eat all I want and just push back when I feel full unlike the prior 40 years. Calories are never the core cause of obesity for many people. The question that requires to be addressed is WHY we overeat to start with. Typically there is a physical and or mental health issue that triggers eating that can lead to obesity. Finding those underlying triggers and fixing them I found in my case to whip and fix the obesity in my case going forward.
Thinking about food all the time is not the freedom to enjoy life in my view. I know some that always will need crutches to walk and that is just fine but if we can heal to the point that intuitive eating kicks in and does our thinking for us it is awesome freedom in my personal experience.
I refuse to feel inferior for using a handy and convenient tool to lose and maintain weight. Intuitive eating is not superior to calorie counting, just a different way to manage things. If you can eat intuitively, that's great. If I can't, that's not a negative in my life, it's just a difference from people who eat intuitively. There is no one right way for everyone.
I don't belittle people when I see them pulling out a calculator to do math. I don't tell them that, as long as they put in the introspection and practice, they'll eventually get the hang of doing math in their head. We are both getting valid answers even though we use different ways to get there.15 -
For me right now food has become a chore. I was recently put on Metformin for insulin resistance and EVERYTHING makes me sick except for a few things. So coming up with a days worth of food that I can stomach and can easily also become a meal that my fiance will eat with few additions, is taking all the fun away from being a foodie. I have had some fun experimenting with substitutions and pre planning and figuring out macros and all that has really kept me on track. but I miss just grabbing and going. Or my work is adding a bunch of new items to the menu a bunch are actually my idea. But I wont get to try any of the new items because I know they will make me sick as a dog, and that upsets me because we are FINALLY getting my favorite bar food on the menu and I can't have it.
I also saw a comment about mandatory nutrient facts at all restaurants. I swear to all the big guns upstairs if I have to do that at the kitchen I run I will quit. I've had a few customers ask about calories or carbs and it drives me BSC. Its a bowling alley and you've drank 6 26oz beers since you've got here. Please eat a burger before you attempt to get in the car and go home. Now I do take extra care with allergies I have a menu of all items that are safe for people with milk, egg, wheat/gluten, nut, fish, and soy allergies and have all of my employees trained on how to safely prepare these items. But even as someone who does pay attention to calories and carbs I have no desire to figure out the calories on everything we sell to put on our menu.3 -
GaleHawkins wrote: »leanitup123 wrote: »Geocitiesuser wrote: »My constant obsession with calorie counting, hitting protein grams, and avoiding things I feel are not part of a "healthy" diet, are *borderline* unhealthy, and borderline ruin eating for me.
Only borderline. It's a little obsessive but it's nothing that's not controllable and definitely not damaging to me. But it definitely removes a lot if not all of the enjoyment of eating.
But in the same breath I HAD to remove the enjoyment of eating. Enjoying eating is what got me fat. It was comfort, it was reprieve from emotional and sometimes physical distress. It's how I celebrated and how I grieved. It was emotion. I correlated enjoying food with happiness like a heroin junky associates heroin with being happy. I was literally killing myself thinking I was enjoying what I was eating. When I stepped back, and looked at how all that food made me "feel", I didn't actually ever enjoy it. It did nothing but hurt me in the most horrible ways.
I still splurge. I still fall off track. But if we apply the pareto rule, I've removed enjoyment from probably 80% of what I eat now. Some of that is intentional.
That's exactly what this post is getting at -- the obsessive nature of calorie counting.
Getting obsessive about a calorie deficit is a requirement to escape from morbid obesity. Staying obsessive about overall calorie intake/output is a requirement to avoid weight regain plus some extra. The 95% who regain lost weight aren't staying obsessive.
The simplest, most reliable way to maintain calorie control for many people is calorie counting. Obsession is what got me where I am (near my goal weight) and I don't want to lose that obsession. I want to nurture that obsession. I want to be buried in a normal-sized coffin when the time comes.
@seska422 somewhere back in the 70's I lost my intuitive eating skills. Counting is a good crutch until we learn the physical/mental reasons that we eat more calories of food than we need. I finally found the macro that works for me that lets me stay stuffed and maintain. Now I eat all I want and just push back when I feel full unlike the prior 40 years. Calories are never the core cause of obesity for many people. The question that requires to be addressed is WHY we overeat to start with. Typically there is a physical and or mental health issue that triggers eating that can lead to obesity. Finding those underlying triggers and fixing them I found in my case to whip and fix the obesity in my case going forward.
Thinking about food all the time is not the freedom to enjoy life in my view. I know some that always will need crutches to walk and that is just fine but if we can heal to the point that intuitive eating kicks in and does our thinking for us it is awesome freedom in my personal experience.
I refuse to feel inferior for using a handy and convenient tool to lose and maintain weight. Intuitive eating is not superior to calorie counting, just a different way to manage things. If you can eat intuitively, that's great. If I can't, that's not a negative in my life, it's just a difference from people who eat intuitively. There is no one right way for everyone.
I don't belittle people when I see them pulling out a calculator to do math. I don't tell them that, as long as they put in the introspection and practice, they'll eventually get the hang of doing math in their head. We are both getting valid answers even though we use different ways to get there.
I had to track miles I had driving when my fuel gauge was broken on a car to make sure I did not run out of gas. When my internal fuel gauge healed and started to manage my weight without math it was a plus.
Any way one can lower the risks of a premature death is just fine. Successful intuitive eating is superior because it means our health is better in most cases because our internal fuel gauge is working again. I am sure some people are born with their sense of getting full gauge broken. Recently I saw a picture of a 8 month old baby that was at the weight of a normal year old child.
metro.co.uk/2017/04/14/morbidly-obese-baby-weighs-same-as-a-four-year-old-6574102/
3 -
leanitup123 wrote: »Love reading everyone's opinions on the subject. Though many of you are saying that counting calories has no negative influence on your enjoyment of food, do you think it has had an effect on your relationship with food (example: looking at 2 choices on a menu and seeing only numbers, choosing the lower calorie option, etc.)?
Nope. When that happens I either pick the one I want more and take some home for later, pick the one I want more and try to budget it in, or pick the one I want more and say "screw it" and make sure I spend a few extra minutes excercising over the next few days.1 -
Looks like I am in the minority. Any time I start tracking what I eat and how much, I find it to be a chore, and I don't like it. Just tonight, I pre-logged food for tomorrow, and spent almost a 1/2 an hour figuring out how much of what I could have, and messing with # of servings, etc. That to me is tedious and I don't like it. I don't like numbers, so that might be part of it. It makes me just want to eat the same thing all the time so I don' t have to put so much time and effort into it. It does seem to make eating less enjoyable because I often change what I want to eat, just so I can stay at my calories. To me, eating is much more enjoyable if I'm not worried about the calories. But then I'm someone who doesn't get a lot of calories, being 5'0" tall and fairly sedentary.
I'm kind of weird maybe, because even though I love numbers and tracking, I dislike pre-logging and never do it. Being that precise in preplanning what I am going to eat immediately makes me feel like I don't want it, and I find it tedious. I've tried planning out weekly meals and cannot do it, it ruins cooking for me.
What I do is plan in my head, roll around things that sound good AND fit with the things I have on hand, that's enjoyable, and then I cook and note things down when doing it. I have some calories to work with (I'm cutting now, but still am reasonably active), but did this even at 1250. The only thing I log in advance are leftovers or meals I am taking for lunch.
My current thing is that I can't make myself log meals I purchase. I was just traveling (affected dinner yesterday, and then breakfast-dinner today), and I ate well and am pretty sure I was within my calories, but just the idea of trying to deconstruct and log it all seems depressing, so I'm not going to (granted I had a super stressful day and am exhausted -- if I wasn't so tired it might seem more worth it, but probably not).
3 -
Some people with OCD turn lights on and off repeatedly. Some will wash their hands dozens of times.
There's nothing obsessive about turning a light on or off, or with washing your hands routinely. It would be absurd to suggest that a person might be having their life ruined because they don't like leaving lights running, or practice good hygeine.
Same thing with calorie counting. The act is not inherently obsessive, but people with obsessive personalities may focus on that thing.12 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Looks like I am in the minority. Any time I start tracking what I eat and how much, I find it to be a chore, and I don't like it. Just tonight, I pre-logged food for tomorrow, and spent almost a 1/2 an hour figuring out how much of what I could have, and messing with # of servings, etc. That to me is tedious and I don't like it. I don't like numbers, so that might be part of it. It makes me just want to eat the same thing all the time so I don' t have to put so much time and effort into it. It does seem to make eating less enjoyable because I often change what I want to eat, just so I can stay at my calories. To me, eating is much more enjoyable if I'm not worried about the calories. But then I'm someone who doesn't get a lot of calories, being 5'0" tall and fairly sedentary.
I'm kind of weird maybe, because even though I love numbers and tracking, I dislike pre-logging and never do it. Being that precise in preplanning what I am going to eat immediately makes me feel like I don't want it, and I find it tedious. I've tried planning out weekly meals and cannot do it, it ruins cooking for me.
I never pre-log. In fact, most of the time I don't even have an idea of what I'm going to eat at the next meal until I walk into the kitchen and see what strikes me. I have a lot of "go to" foods and a pretty good idea of the calories/macros for each of them, so I can throw things together on the fly according to my needs. If my wife is cooking dinner, I just let her cook whatever she has in mind (she generally leans toward pretty well-balanced meals anyway, usually a meat/protein and a vegetable) and it almost always works for my calories/macros. If we're planning on going out to dinner at night, I go a little easier the rest of the day to make room in my calories so I don't have to sweat it at dinner. To be honest, I'm pretty laissez-faire about the whole thing, but it works for me.4
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 431 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions