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Is counting calories disordered eating? Shouldn’t we be able to not overeat?
fastfoodietofitcutie
Posts: 523 Member
I wish I could just eat like a “normal” person and not count calories.
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Replies
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Many or most so-called "normal" people have ways they control portions and cals even if not counting (also, increasingly the "normal" person is overweight, certainly the case in the US). Anyway, you may be able to transition to those kinds of ways. I think logging for a while and getting awareness about what you are eating and how caloric different choices are, as well as just learning to eat mindfully, can be extremely helpful in getting there.
Personally, I also found logging for a while (and occasionally since then) quite interesting and fun.27 -
I don't think counting calories is disordered eating, it's a tool to learn how not to overeat.
Having struggled with some disordered eating, I can say that it wasn't until I started counting calories I actually started to get a grip on my overeating. So whilst it can be a trigger for disordered eating in some people (particularly those suffering from anorexia) it can also help others.
It's very easy to gain weight over a long period by only slightly overeating. Overeat by 95 calories per day and that's 10lb gain in a year - that could be as simple as overpouring a teaspoon of oil when cooking.
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Especially with an American diet, people may have been eating too many calories their entire life, or empty/less nutritious calories, so they never developed that "instinct" for how to eat. I use calorie counting to counteract disordered eating (whether eating too much or too little, because I've swung back and forth between extremes). Getting the calorie goal in the app is really helpful to me because I make myself stick to it, even when part of my brain wants to go to either extreme. Although I do tend to look at my calories on a weekly basis too, because some days you might be over and some days under, so I like to just make sure it all shakes out to something reasonable by the week.17
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Define over-eating. I consider it over-eating to eat all the calories for the sake of using all the diary says I have remaining, especially when I am well over suggested minimum. I don't do it. Is over-eating having something conventional wisdom says you ought not have? I think that is denying yourself. Having an 8 oz slice of cake when 2 or 3 oz is just as good might over-eating . It's all judgement calls based on what you believe best works for you.2
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Here, reframe it like this:
"Is balancing my bank statement disordered financial management? Shouldn't I be able to manage my finances without balancing?"
Now, some people CAN manage their finances without balancing. But we don't consider those who do to have disordered practices.69 -
Some people can manage their checking account without keeping a detailed record. I cannot.
Some people can manage their calorie intake wi to our keeping a detailed record. I cannot.
There is sometimes the assumption that keeping a food log is somehow failing to “learn” how to eat. And that if you did it “right” then you wouldn’t need to log anymore.
I think some people simply have food preferences, appetites and activity levels that closely align with each other and some people don’t.
Just like some people’s expenses and spending habits closely align with their income and some peoples’ don’t.
It’s not a failure or a sign that you’re not doing it right. You’re doing what you need to do to manage your life. As am I.
Regarding overeating-well anything over TDEE is “over” eating. My TDEE on rest days is 1600. So, having a banana for a snack can be “over” eating.22 -
My husband doesn’t count calories and maintains his weight. How? He eats one meal a day every weekday and two on weekends (has done since we met, way before OMAD became a “thing” for weight management). He doesn’t eat what he doesn’t like and can stop eating when he’s had what he thinks is enough (not when he’s full). If he fees he’s getting too fluffy, he’ll cut out desserts or alcohol during the week for a while. Is that “normal”?
I count calories and log food to lose weight when my attempts to eat like a “normal person” inevitably result in a few pounds of weight creeping on over the course of a year. Is that “normal”?
I have no idea. Both hubs and I would look like “normal”, non overweight people but we have different ways of staying that way and neither of us just effortlessly maintain our weight without thinking about it/adjusting things at least every once in a while.
I was overweight for my much of my childhood and thought there were these people who never ever thought about their weight and just maintained. The older I get and the more people I talk to about fitness/weight, the more I realize that’s not normal. You may maintain in a range but it seems normal to butt up against the top of said range (jeans get tight, scale hits a certain number) and you make some changes to get comfortable again.22 -
fastfoodietofitcutie wrote: »I wish I could just eat like a “normal” person and not count calories.
Over 70% of the US population is overweight or obese. So I would say that the "normal person" for the most part is not very good at eating naturally and not overeating. Certainly some people are. But more are not.
Calorie counting is a tool. I do not believe it is inherently disordered. It is true that for certain people, it may not be the best tool as they can get disordered with it. But the same can be said about any type of weight management strategy.26 -
I know for some, counting calories is an anorexia trigger. For those people, counting calories is not advised, and to maybe consult a nutritionist for what might work best for them.
In these days of super salty, fatty food, good stuff, according to our survival brains, it's hard for a lot of us to know when to switch off. Because survival brain says that all this good food won't be here tomorrow, so better eat it now. For most of us, the food will definitely be here tomorrow.
To tame survival brain, we have to retrain it. A lot of people do that by telling survival brain that it's getting all it needs, and tweaking until we hit macronutrient balances that properly sates survival brain. So "natural" is an odd term to use, for me.5 -
2,300 years ago Socrates recorded that he was overweight and resolved to dance more.
Normal is that in times of abundance, we eat too much. It is our individual obligation to be aware of our own intake and stop when our intake is sufficient for our needs.
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In and of itself, calorie counting is just a tool and weight management strategy. I don't do it anymore and haven't for going on seven years, but it was very educational when I did do it. I gained my 40 Lbs very slowly over the course of about eight years and was attributable more to going from a very active lifestyle in college to a sedentary desk job. I had difficulty keeping weight on in college as I worked landscape construction and didn't have a car much of that time and walked or road my bike most places. I put on weight very slowly after that, but I wasn't massively overeating and have never been a binge eater or emotional eater or anything like that.5
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I guess by your definition most of us are not "normal" on MFP. Counting is a habit to a lot of us. We just do it. You don't have to, there are strategies that work for some, or they work fo awhile. Good luck.3
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In what way would counting calories be considered 'disordered'? It is just a strategy to keep track of what you consume.8
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We SHOULD be able to "just not overeat", but here we are....counting calories strikes me as the least disordered way to do it, eat what you like while tracking sensible amounts - it's the diets that have all sorts of crazy and restrictive rules that I think are more likely to become disordered, and lead to weird relationships with foods.11
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While disordered eating can involve obsession with calorie counting, calorie counting itself is absolutely not a symptom of disordered eating. Like another commenter above, it has actually helped me in my recovery journey for an eating disorder.8
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In an ideal world we would all be able to judge to the last mouthful how much food was ‘enough’ for our individual heights, builds, activity levels etc but it’s never going to be an ideal world.
Take a 5ft woman, married to a man who is 5ft 11...plating the same meal because that’s how it often is...do you really think plated portions can be judged to the last necessary calorie on both those plates?
I’ll wager that for a lot of married/co-habiting women on here that sort of conundrum is a contributory factor for weight gain!10 -
I wish I could be one of those people that naturally feels full at my calorie goal but I don’t. If I could be an intuitive eater, then of course I would. That doesn’t work for everyone. I’m grateful calorie counting exists so I can get a handle on my weight.6
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I feel this all the time. I have had eds in the past. Now I'm just thinking more harm reduction, it's ok to live with disordered eating, isn't it? People are allowed to do many other things with their life. Why do we face stigma?fastfoodietofitcutie wrote: »I wish I could just eat like a “normal” person and not count calories.2 -
If for you, "calorie counting" means something like "I cannot eat without obsessing over the calorie count"--such as, you can't enjoy a family meal or an occasional restaurant outing without having negative feelings--then maybe your calorie counting would be part of a disordered eating pattern.
But if your calorie counting means "I will do my best to eat within my calorie goal, accepting that I cannot always know exactly how many calories I'm eating, and balancing that with having a healthy personal life," then it's just a tool some people use to keep their weight in a range that they and their doctor feel is healthy.
Personally, I see calorie counting as treatment for a medical problem. I had a medical issue: obesity. I also had multiple related medical issues: high cholesterol, high triglycerides, borderline insulin resistance, PCOS. I used calorie counting to treat my medical condition by losing weight until I was in a healthy range. I continue to count calories because my condition is being managed, not cured; if I stopped managing it, the same health problems would likely come back.26 -
JeromeBarry1 wrote: »2,300 years ago Socrates recorded that he was overweight and resolved to dance more.
Normal is that in times of abundance, we eat too much. It is our individual obligation to be aware of our own intake and stop when our intake is sufficient for our needs.
Since Socrates never wrote anything (at least not anything that has survived), I question your sources.10 -
If for you, "calorie counting" means something like "I cannot eat without obsessing over the calorie count"--such as, you can't enjoy a family meal or an occasional restaurant outing without having negative feelings--then maybe your calorie counting would be part of a disordered eating pattern.
But if your calorie counting means "I will do my best to eat within my calorie goal, accepting that I cannot always know exactly how many calories I'm eating, and balancing that with having a healthy personal life," then it's just a tool some people use to keep their weight in a range that they and their doctor feel is healthy.
Personally, I see calorie counting as treatment for a medical problem. I had a medical issue: obesity. I also had multiple related medical issues: high cholesterol, high triglycerides, borderline insulin resistance, PCOS. I used calorie counting to treat my medical condition by losing weight until I was in a healthy range. I continue to count calories because my condition is being managed, not cured; if I stopped managing it, the same health problems would likely come back.
Ditto to the ditto, and more ditto.
"Disordered" anything is about the mental state, i.e., not really about what one does, but how one conceptualizes the things one does.
if there is a mild problem with this sort of thing, it can be self-managed, analogous to how I can change a light bulb myself if my car's tail-light goes dead. If there's a major problem, one ought to see a professional, such as a licensed counselor or therapist, much as I would go to a mechanic if my car needs a transmission re-build, because I personally can't handle that well on my own (even though some people can).
There should be no more stigma to the professional help with true food obsession than there is to the auto mechanic's help with the transmission rebuild.
Some people can count calories without obession, because they conceptualize it as a health problem that needs to be managed, as apullum says; or as some other minor practical logistical problem that they can solve on their own. Others of us will need help from dietitians, personal trainers, sometimes medical doctors, sometimes therapists . . . and we should go get that help.10 -
BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »In an ideal world we would all be able to judge to the last mouthful how much food was ‘enough’ for our individual heights, builds, activity levels etc but it’s never going to be an ideal world.
Take a 5ft woman, married to a man who is 5ft 11...plating the same meal because that’s how it often is...do you really think plated portions can be judged to the last necessary calorie on both those plates?
I’ll wager that for a lot of married/co-habiting women on here that sort of conundrum is a contributory factor for weight gain!
Yes, my OH is a foot taller than me and we used to split pizzas - now I eat 3/8 and a big salad and he eats 5/8 and a smaller salad.6 -
I don't believe that planning and counting is disordered. However I don't like the way I calculate down to the nearest peanut. But I do it anyway.4
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fastfoodietofitcutie wrote: »I wish I could just eat like a “normal” person and not count calories.
Speaking as someone who maintained her weight within a normal range most of her life, presumably your definition of a "normal" person ...
I've been loosely counting calories since I was 17.
I have a rough idea how many calories the things I normally eat contain ... and I have a rough idea of how many calories I'm burning in a day. And if my weight goes up a bit, I eat less or exercise more for the next few days.
Maintaining weight doesn't happen by chance.8 -
kshama2001 wrote: »
Yes, my OH is a foot taller than me and we used to split pizzas - now I eat 3/8 and a big salad and he eats 5/8 and a smaller salad.
This is how I resolve pizza night too (every week, because my skinny husband loves pizza). He eats 2/3 of his pizza, I eat a big salad and the remaining 1/3 of the pizza. We split a dessert. I've tried everything and this is what works for us--we're 65 and 66.8 -
An eating disorder is a mental disorder. It's not caused by tools or concepts. Calorie counting is just a tool for managing your calories. Like many other mental disorders, tools and concepts are sometimes used by those who have eating disorders. It's just like hand soap can be used by some people who suffer from an obsessive-compulsive disorder that presents with a hand cleaning obsession. Hand soap does not cause the disorder and is just a tool for cleaning your hands.
If you ask a "normal" person who isn't overweight and doesn't count calories, many of them use other methods and tools to manage their intake. Outside of a minority who have smaller appetites (which isn't normal, as evidenced by the obesity rate) or are active enough to not gain weight with their current eating habits, a "normal" person keeps certain boundaries around food. Be it portions, types, frequency, mindfulness, small rules, general awareness...etc. Not all normal people eat as much as they want whenever they want and don't gain weight.
Food seeking is normal behavior for all beings (again, as evidenced by the obesity rate). You're not abnormal for taking advantage of food abundance and being the product of habits driven by abundance and modern conveniences. Weight management is not a quest to return to "normal" behavior, it's seeking to adapt and manage your normal behavior around a food and activity environment that encourages fat gain.
You can use any tools you want to control your weight, whether or not you count calories, but don't ever feel like you're somehow broken for not being thin.
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Same here - i'm just over 5 foot, husband is about 6 foot. So I make a point of giving him a larger portion of everything (although I could easily eat the same size as him). I've been counting calories (although not very precisely) for maybe 3 years now - it definitely helps me stay at a weight that stops me feeling like a stumpy dwarf. I still think i am a little dysmorphic, but its not so bad now i manage to maintain under 7.5 stone.0
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kshama2001 wrote: »Here, reframe it like this:
"Is balancing my bank statement disordered financial management? Shouldn't I be able to manage my finances without balancing?"
Now, some people CAN manage their finances without balancing. But we don't consider those who do to have disordered practices.
Perfect analogy!3 -
nighthawk584 wrote: »
Perfect analogy!
I plagiarized from someone here but do not recall who deserves the credit
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I am one of those people that @AnnPT77 eluded to that counted calories obsessively. I use to pre-log all of my meals a week in advance and would never stray from what I logged.
I have an eating disorder and OCD for which I have been seeing a psychologist weekly for almost 8 months now. My calorie-counting obsessiveness was very helpful in losing almost 250 pounds. However, I have been maintaining that loss for about 2 1/2 years now and that obsessiveness caused me severe anxiety and has harmed my relationships. I would get super stressed about situations where I wasn't sure what food may be available. I would never go to lunch with my co-workers or out to dinner with friends because I hadn't logged it (they don't bother inviting me anymore). My family was supportive but I could tell they were annoyed.
My therapist worked on me for months to be more flexible. A couple months ago she convinced me to stop logging on the weekends. I finally felt free! It went so well that I stopped logging completely last December. Things have been going well and I am starting to repair those relationships. This was in addition to stopping weighing myself (she had me stop because it would cause me to binge when I was under my goal weight). So, I am still uneasy about the unknowns but the freedom I finally feel has been great.
So, is counting-calories a disordered way of eating? No, I don't think so. However, it can cause issues if you have an eating disorder or OCD. I am grateful for MFP. It was the one tool that was indispensable in my weight loss.25
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