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calorie counting and food guilt
makinemjellis
Posts: 91 Member
I've always had some issues with food guilt. I'd treat myself to a milkshake or some other treat and immediately feel bad about the fact I was eating it.
I just recently started using MFP and tracking calories and while it was helpful at first, I'm starting to feel some of that food guilt creeping back in. I start feeling bad if I eat something with more than 100 calories, or if what I thought was a good options turns out to be much higher than I expected. I was hesitant to even start counting calories because I was afraid it would become obsessive and turn into something unhealthy.
Do y'all do anything to help combat food guilt or ways you keep from this becoming an unhealthy obsession?
I just recently started using MFP and tracking calories and while it was helpful at first, I'm starting to feel some of that food guilt creeping back in. I start feeling bad if I eat something with more than 100 calories, or if what I thought was a good options turns out to be much higher than I expected. I was hesitant to even start counting calories because I was afraid it would become obsessive and turn into something unhealthy.
Do y'all do anything to help combat food guilt or ways you keep from this becoming an unhealthy obsession?
3
Replies
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Food is fuel for my body...my body needs fuel...I don't feel guilty about fueling my body. Calories aren't "bad"...they are what your body survives on.4
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I've always had some issues with food guilt. I'd treat myself to a milkshake or some other treat and immediately feel bad about the fact I was eating it.
I just recently started using MFP and tracking calories and while it was helpful at first, I'm starting to feel some of that food guilt creeping back in. I start feeling bad if I eat something with more than 100 calories, or if what I thought was a good options turns out to be much higher than I expected. I was hesitant to even start counting calories because I was afraid it would become obsessive and turn into something unhealthy.
Do y'all do anything to help combat food guilt or ways you keep from this becoming an unhealthy obsession?
Ugh, same deals for me! I am borderline obsessed with making sure I have a calorie surplus at the end of each day. And not only that, I try and beat what I saved yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. I've just come to the point of being very routine in what I eat. So I know what calories I am consuming. I know not great, but I've been banking more surplus calories for Saturday, so I can have a shake or pizza, and it's been guilt free. So I dunno, maybe an option. But again, I am no pro and others will likely say that's terrible.1 -
Food isn't good or bad. Take your diet as a WHOLE into consideration. One individual food doesn't wreak your diet anymore than one day over calories wreaks an attempt to lose weight. We're in this forever. You want more good days than bad. Progress......not perfection.
Think in terms of calorie & macro goals. Are you meeting protein goals, getting enough fat and fiber? If you are meeting important elements and have some calories to spare....there's nothing wrong with a 250 calorie brownie.3 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Food is fuel for my body...my body needs fuel...I don't feel guilty about fueling my body. Calories aren't "bad"...they are what your body survives on.
Ya, but, to her point, not all calories are equal..so 300 calories in quinoa isn't exactly the same as 300 for a shake....4 -
HarveysBud wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Food is fuel for my body...my body needs fuel...I don't feel guilty about fueling my body. Calories aren't "bad"...they are what your body survives on.
Ya, but, to her point, not all calories are equal..so 300 calories in quinoa isn't exactly the same as 300 for a shake....
The calories are absolutely equal. Those foods have different macro- and micronutrients, but that's a different thing.3 -
janejellyroll wrote: »HarveysBud wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Food is fuel for my body...my body needs fuel...I don't feel guilty about fueling my body. Calories aren't "bad"...they are what your body survives on.
Ya, but, to her point, not all calories are equal..so 300 calories in quinoa isn't exactly the same as 300 for a shake....
The calories are absolutely equal. Those foods have different macro- and micronutrients, but that's a different thing.
So we just ignore all other nutritional value food has, like fibre and protein and sugars?5 -
HarveysBud wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Food is fuel for my body...my body needs fuel...I don't feel guilty about fueling my body. Calories aren't "bad"...they are what your body survives on.
Ya, but, to her point, not all calories are equal..so 300 calories in quinoa isn't exactly the same as 300 for a shake....
We would have to look at her diary to see what her needs are for the day. A shake may very well fit and quinoa may fit as well. But it's going to depend upon what else she has eaten for the day. One food is part of a diet....one food is not THE diet.3 -
janejellyroll wrote: »HarveysBud wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Food is fuel for my body...my body needs fuel...I don't feel guilty about fueling my body. Calories aren't "bad"...they are what your body survives on.
Ya, but, to her point, not all calories are equal..so 300 calories in quinoa isn't exactly the same as 300 for a shake....
The calories are absolutely equal. Those foods have different macro- and micronutrients, but that's a different thing.
I see what you are saying, you answered my question before I asked it - my apologies.0 -
..and we're off already.
OP, eat whatever food you enjoy. Log it, and ALSO pay attention to how the macros in that food fit into your day AND how that food keeps you feeling (not emotionally, but physically. Do you get sluggish and then hungry again right away? That's what too many carbs do to me.)
Adjust as you go.
I think there is room for any kind of food. I had Little Debbies yesterday. Last week I had ice cream. I don't have those things every day, but I could if I fit them into my plan.2 -
HarveysBud wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »HarveysBud wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Food is fuel for my body...my body needs fuel...I don't feel guilty about fueling my body. Calories aren't "bad"...they are what your body survives on.
Ya, but, to her point, not all calories are equal..so 300 calories in quinoa isn't exactly the same as 300 for a shake....
The calories are absolutely equal. Those foods have different macro- and micronutrients, but that's a different thing.
So we just ignore all other nutritional value food has, like fibre and protein and sugars?
Nobody is talking about ignoring other nutritional value (until you brought it up). Read the OP for context, OP is feeling guilty about *calories* ("I start feeling bad if I eat something with more than 100 calories . . . "). To make this a broader discussion about nutritional values isn't necessarily helpful to OP. The point is that calories aren't bad. They provide the energy that our body needs and there is no reason to feel guilty if you eat more than 100 calories at a time.4 -
Personally, I've found that calorie logging and pre-logging has reduced my food guilt. Instead of the voice in my head going, "Oooh! You just had a chocolate chip cookie! Fattening! There goes the weight loss. Here. Might as well take a brownie and some jelly beans, now that today is shot. You can start over tomorrow. As long as you've blown the day, you might as well live it up!", it's become, "I have X calories to use today. A chocolate chip cookie is somewhere between 90 and 150. I can fit that in easy." And then I have the cookie. And that's all I have. Not only do I avoid the other treats at the table, I also skip that negative voice and all the guilt that used to come with it.
8 -
Try to remind yourself that any day you eat under your TDEE (maintenance calories) means weight loss. Sure, it might just be a fraction of weight loss, but it is a calorie deficit! Celebrate it!
On the same page, one day eating above your TDEE isn't going to ruin all your progress. A pound of fat takes about 3500 excess calories to put on. So let's say your TDEE is 1800. You'd need to eat 5300 calories in one day to put on a pound of fat.
If you can kill your guilt with KNOWLEDGE and taking a rational, scientific approach to calorie counting... it really does help. I like to think of my calorie goal as a budget - just like money. Sure, sometimes I might splurge and go into debt to buy a pretty new dress, but as long as I'm slowly saving some money over time, I'll see good progress.
Good luck!4 -
i used to feel guilty and wreck my brain about it and when the scale didn't budge i realized while obsessing i was not eating ENOUGH! i follow the 80/20 rule and if i want a treat, i have a treat. it somehow fits in my macros and if i go over a certain macro, oh well *Shrug* i dont do if daily/often . for me, it keeps me sane , honest and from binging :-)3
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HarveysBud wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »HarveysBud wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Food is fuel for my body...my body needs fuel...I don't feel guilty about fueling my body. Calories aren't "bad"...they are what your body survives on.
Ya, but, to her point, not all calories are equal..so 300 calories in quinoa isn't exactly the same as 300 for a shake....
The calories are absolutely equal. Those foods have different macro- and micronutrients, but that's a different thing.
So we just ignore all other nutritional value food has, like fibre and protein and sugars?
who said that...
get out of the minutia and look at your diet as a whole. I eat really well...a milkshake doesn't erase all of the other nutrition for the day, and I don't get extra credit for more broccoli.
Nobody is talking about not paying attention to nutrition..typical MFP straw-man bull *kitten*.4 -
It's a journey. I have the numbers "193" taped to my fridge. That was me at my highest weight. While I have lost a ton of weight and changed my way of eating, I still feel that self loathing when I eat something outside of my normal diet.
I try to remind myself that this is a journey and humans who are fortunate to have plenty of food have a lot of rituals surrounding food. We eat when we're happy and we eat when we're sad. We eat to feel companionship with others and to celebrate.
I was at home for 3 weeks over the winter holidays and there were a lot of times that I know that I was going over my calories. But I had to ask myself this question: "Was it worth beating myself up and not enjoying being with the people I loved?" The answer was, "No, it wasn't." So, I tried to plan out what I was going to eat, make healthier choices, eat less of "everything" on the buffet and to forgive myself.
Similarly, since the weather has been so awful, I craved extra fat and carbs - Well guess what? My body knew what it was doing - 3 nor'easters in a row, the power went out, the house was 40 degrees and my body had told me to eat in advance (as a survival mechanism).
Listen to your body, try to figure out the why? Is it hormonal? Is it because of the types of food you are eating (I am very sensitive to carbs, if I eat them without a protein, I crave them -- all of them.... I cannot stop). So, I try to limit my carbs by half and always eat a protein with them.
This last year or so has taught me so much about myself... with support (on MFP) I have learned to take it one day and sometimes one meal at a time. While I have gained some weight back, I have also learned that I can't eat the way I was eating before and that this is a marathon, not a sprint.
(BTW, my favorite indulgence is over 100 calories -- 6 Trader Joe's mini chocolate chip cookies (75 calories ) with salted peanut butter between them (90 calories)).1 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »HarveysBud wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »HarveysBud wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Food is fuel for my body...my body needs fuel...I don't feel guilty about fueling my body. Calories aren't "bad"...they are what your body survives on.
Ya, but, to her point, not all calories are equal..so 300 calories in quinoa isn't exactly the same as 300 for a shake....
The calories are absolutely equal. Those foods have different macro- and micronutrients, but that's a different thing.
So we just ignore all other nutritional value food has, like fibre and protein and sugars?
who said that...
get out of the minutia and look at your diet as a whole. I eat really well...a milkshake doesn't erase all of the other nutrition for the day, and I don't get extra credit for more broccoli.
Nobody is talking about not paying attention to nutrition..typical MFP straw-man bull *kitten*.
Taker down notch. My personal trainer is all about the 'not all calories are equal' mantra, and that sugar is death to a diet. New to the game and taking his word for it. And why I love these forums so much - call out the BS. So rather have my ego hurt a bit by being called a kitten, and corrected, than believe the wrong info. So thanks, cupcake!0 -
HarveysBud wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »HarveysBud wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »HarveysBud wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Food is fuel for my body...my body needs fuel...I don't feel guilty about fueling my body. Calories aren't "bad"...they are what your body survives on.
Ya, but, to her point, not all calories are equal..so 300 calories in quinoa isn't exactly the same as 300 for a shake....
The calories are absolutely equal. Those foods have different macro- and micronutrients, but that's a different thing.
So we just ignore all other nutritional value food has, like fibre and protein and sugars?
who said that...
get out of the minutia and look at your diet as a whole. I eat really well...a milkshake doesn't erase all of the other nutrition for the day, and I don't get extra credit for more broccoli.
Nobody is talking about not paying attention to nutrition..typical MFP straw-man bull *kitten*.
Taker down notch. My personal trainer is all about the 'not all calories are equal' mantra, and that sugar is death to a diet. New to the game and taking his word for it. And why I love these forums so much - call out the BS. So rather have my ego hurt a bit by being called a kitten, and corrected, than believe the wrong info. So thanks, cupcake!
Personal trainers often don't know what they're talking about when it comes to nutrition. It sounds like you may have encountered one of these in the wild.
Sugar isn't death to a diet. There are tons of great foods that happen to have sugar in them (I've been hitting the mandarin oranges pretty hard recently) and even sugar-containing foods that don't have a lot of micronutrients will still have carbohydrates (great energy source for active people). As long as your portion sizes are matching your energy needs and you're not crowding out anything else you need, sugar is fine.0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »HarveysBud wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »HarveysBud wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »HarveysBud wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Food is fuel for my body...my body needs fuel...I don't feel guilty about fueling my body. Calories aren't "bad"...they are what your body survives on.
Ya, but, to her point, not all calories are equal..so 300 calories in quinoa isn't exactly the same as 300 for a shake....
The calories are absolutely equal. Those foods have different macro- and micronutrients, but that's a different thing.
So we just ignore all other nutritional value food has, like fibre and protein and sugars?
who said that...
get out of the minutia and look at your diet as a whole. I eat really well...a milkshake doesn't erase all of the other nutrition for the day, and I don't get extra credit for more broccoli.
Nobody is talking about not paying attention to nutrition..typical MFP straw-man bull *kitten*.
Taker down notch. My personal trainer is all about the 'not all calories are equal' mantra, and that sugar is death to a diet. New to the game and taking his word for it. And why I love these forums so much - call out the BS. So rather have my ego hurt a bit by being called a kitten, and corrected, than believe the wrong info. So thanks, cupcake!
Personal trainers often don't know what they're talking about when it comes to nutrition. It sounds like you may have encountered one of these in the wild.
Sugar isn't death to a diet. There are tons of great foods that happen to have sugar in them (I've been hitting the mandarin oranges pretty hard recently) and even sugar-containing foods that don't have a lot of micronutrients will still have carbohydrates (great energy source for active people). As long as your portion sizes are matching your energy needs and you're not crowding out anything else you need, sugar is fine.
He even says no fruit past noon!! Thanks @janejellyroll1 -
HarveysBud wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Food is fuel for my body...my body needs fuel...I don't feel guilty about fueling my body. Calories aren't "bad"...they are what your body survives on.
Ya, but, to her point, not all calories are equal..so 300 calories in quinoa isn't exactly the same as 300 for a shake....
We would have to look at her diary to see what her needs are for the day. A shake may very well fit and quinoa may fit as well. But it's going to depend upon what else she has eaten for the day. One food is part of a diet....one food is not THE diet.
I think the idea of demonizing a particular food is often the start of a disordered relationship with food in general. It's important to consider a food within the context of an over all diet.2 -
I've always had some issues with food guilt. I'd treat myself to a milkshake or some other treat and immediately feel bad about the fact I was eating it.
I just recently started using MFP and tracking calories and while it was helpful at first, I'm starting to feel some of that food guilt creeping back in. I start feeling bad if I eat something with more than 100 calories, or if what I thought was a good options turns out to be much higher than I expected. I was hesitant to even start counting calories because I was afraid it would become obsessive and turn into something unhealthy.
Do y'all do anything to help combat food guilt or ways you keep from this becoming an unhealthy obsession?
You learn over time that your body NEEDS your TDEE, and that anything less is “corrective action”, like medicine to fix a health problem. You should never feel guilty for giving your body the energy it needs to run. It’s kind of like saying You Are Not Fat, You Have Fat, You Are Not Fingernails, You Have Fingernails. Also it’s about learning to live in the space BETWEEN success and failure, not at the end points (enjoy the journey) and not be so fixated on the goal, just enough to know your direction but to not cloud your daily choices. Also, it helps to plan your meals a day ahead so you can factor in those treats and not be surprised, just work around it ahead of time.
2 -
You’re all rockstars and I appreciate your help
0
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