That initial guilt? How do you get over it?

Nevi83

Brand new to this eat more to weigh less philosophy and I'm having one heck of a time wrapping my head around it. Yesterday was my first day where I netted around 2000 calories (I snacked on some almonds and cashews after I closed my diary >.<). Today I feel guilty as ever. I'm nervous about the weight gain (I use to net around 600 to 1000 a day) and my work pants where slightly tighter this morning. That didn't help much. I've calculated my TDEE using Scooby and for what I want to do it was suggested I eat 2200 calories or more. This sent me into a slight panic. With how guilty I felt after 1900ish how can I handle adding 300 more to the mix?

So the real question is how did you (for those of you converted from the starve yourself method) get over that fear of blowing up like a balloon and not stress about what you put into your stomach after you hit 1200 gross calories for the day?

Any advice would be appreciated. Friends too to help encourage me!

slammy1079

Food is fuel. Every time I eat, I think about how it's going to power me through my day, help me sleep better, improve my mood, have me kick a** in my next workout.

That also helps me to make healthy choices *most* of the time. Trust me, you only have to go to one bootcamp class on a night-before dinner of cookie dough to learn your lesson! Food is fuel, and you can't fuel your body on crap. Eat a variety of foods and try and stay away from processed stuff and lots of sodium.

That philosophy keeps me in line most of the time. Which means that, if I decide to go out for dinner or have a cocktail or ice cream here and there...I don't worry about it, because I know I can go right back into "food is fuel" mode without worrying that I've fallen off the wagon.

Good luck!

squishycow7

I slowly progressed over the past year, and have eventually wound up here. Maybe upping your calories in stages might be better for you- I mean mentally, but perhaps physically as well!

just try not to think about it. log, hit your goals, and put MFP away. I know I personally spend way too much time staring at my food diary trying to see what went "badly" or what could be improved, but to some extent that's not healthy. eat, log, move on.

bsinno

i still will randomly feel guilt but then i remember how nice it is to live life again! ,I can have a glass of wine and not sacrifice dinner for it! I can go to sleep without thinking about running to the pantry and gobbling a few spoonfuls of PB because i'm so starved! i can stop secretly looking up calories under the table when a friend invited me over for dinner.

and yes, realize that just because you can eat more - you shouldn't supplement with crap.

rebekahgo

think about that number 1200 for a minute. where did they get that from? how was it determined? seeing how every person in this world is different, why is everyone being assigned THIS number?!?

it's a completely arbitrary made up number. they might as well have picked it out of a hat. i imagine some stuffy dudes in lab coats standing around a hat and picking out random numbers.

number picking lab guy: 500?

lab dude #1: no, no, i think that's too low. if we say 500, we lose all credibility. most people know that a snickers bar has almost 300 calories, so that won't work.

number picker: 2000?

lab dude #2: no, no, that seems high. kids these days, they just sit on the couch all day watching tv and using that fancy new internet. we don't want to be blamed for the childhood obesity epidemic, so that number's no good either.

number picker: something in the middle then? that way we can't be blamed for anything. people will lose weight and then only blame themselves when they gain it back. 1200 maybe?

lab dude #1: perfect!!
lab dude #2: genius!!

and there you have it. that scenario makes about as much sense as whatever non-scientific method they did use to pull that number out of their *kitten*. forget that number. it's nonsense. don't let it psyche you out of a good thing.