Too Obsessed?

Thewatcher_66

I'm almost addicted to the myfitness pal app. I know it sounds like it might be a good thing but friends of mine are telling me that I am allowing it to run my life and I'm too rigid with my fitness and dieting habits. Anyone else out there getting any backlash from so-called "friends" or family about the same issue? Do you think that they may have some valid points and we should learn to lighten up?

ValerieMomof2

Kinda. My husband isn't saying anything, but he gets very frustrated when I start logging everything. He wants to be supportive because I had met my goal and then decided to do it without tracking calories. I gained weight back so now I am back because I make better decisions when I log. It is an obsession, but in a good way for me anyway.

st3f4real

Haha. I lost 19 lbs and then a family member said to me (OMG that is not a way to live your life tracking calories). Then I sent this same person a copy of a book about 10 common diet mistakes women make and one of the lines said something to the effect of "People who track their calories maintain their weight loss." Also, in the news lately there have been articles saying that people who look at labels are thinner.

MFP helps me do both (look at labels to calculate calories, and track what I am putting into my body).

PLEASE let their comments roll off your back and don't take them personally. You are not OBSESSED. I have let people mess up my health in the past by being insecure about their stupid comments. For our health we need to stay strong and keep seeing what we are putting into our mouths! Any nutritionist or dietician will tell us to keep tracking our calories. I have been meeting with mine and she thinks I am doing great!

CassieR1994

Logging everything keeps me on track. I don't think it is an obsession. "Obsession is the word the lazy use to describe the dedicated"

EmiBun

My eating disorder keeps me glued to myfitpal.
So yea it can become and obsession

honu18

I'd also be careful with this. I'm not going to lie, using MFP in tandem with my obsessive/addictive personality led me to have an ED, something I thought I would never have or a place I thought I'd never get to. Relax a bit.

nickfr21

Don't let it rule your life, but using MFP is the only way I've found to realiably lose weight. I have no problem working out, but if I didn't have MFP, I'd eat 3000-4000 calories and not even realize it. The snacking used to kill my diet. Now I don't eat it because I know I'll have to log it. If you used to have problems with this, I'd keep logging.

AggieFan2011

I think there is a difference between being obsessed and being dedicated to your weight loss goals. Yes, I tend to log everything right away after eating it and sometimes my friends think I'm crazy for looking at labels and trying to count up how many drinks I've had so that I can log them. However, I'm also not obsessed to the point of not allowing myself a little leeway and freedom now and then. If I want to go out to eat and enjoy myself then I do and I just don't worry about logging anything until later when I'm at home. While I think it's a good thing to be dedicated to logging on MFP, I also think it's important not to lose your perspective and let it control your life.

rockangel8907

Go ahead and call me obsessed....I say I am arming myself with the tools I need to be successful. I log every morsel that passes my lips I know exactly how many calories I have consumed. It takes me all of 2 minutes to log a meal....I am not withdrawing from my everyday life to log and analyze everything. I don't deny myself anything, if I want cake I budget for it.

Those who don't understand tend to be the first to criticize. As long as you are not letting the ap interfere with your life you are fine!

santhia

Same with me. Got obsessed with it. It drove my husband up the wall. I deleted the app from my iPhone, but I still use my calculator to estimate calories. I still weigh my food. I still check certain things on MFP's website.
My advice is to try to stop the obsession. I developed eating disorders from food restriction and calorie counting. It's horrible. I hope you are able to get yourself out of this.

loudgls89

Go ahead and call me obsessed....I say I am arming myself with the tools I need to be successful. I log every morsel that passes my lips I know exactly how many calories I have consumed. It takes me all of 2 minutes to log a meal....I am not withdrawing from my everyday life to log and analyze everything. I don't deny myself anything, if I want cake I budget for it.

Those who don't understand tend to be the first to criticize. As long as you are not letting the app interfere with your life you are fine!

This!!

ThunderMonkeyy

Obsessed is a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated.

sarahmoo12

my mum is always saying that and the ones I work with. I dont care what they think if I didnt use it I would still be over 11 stone!

RunDoozer

Obsessed is a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated.

Not really obsessed is a word about doing something that is at the expense of other important things in your life. Dedication is being able to do those things with out the adverse affects to other responsibilities. You can be intense either way just depends on how much.

meaghan2008

yes!!!!!

wellbur

MFP is now part of my life, if i stop logging the pounds creep on, i'm not really to worried what people think, i am so much happier having lost this weight and keeping it off. I think this site is fantastic and i have some wonderful supportive friends on here that have helped me change my life :flowerforyou:

sc1572

I'd also be careful with this. I'm not going to lie, using MFP in tandem with my obsessive/addictive personality led me to have an ED, something I thought I would never have or a place I thought I'd never get to. Relax a bit.

^This. I started out just using it as a helpful tool, but then it backfired on me and I became too obsessed. I also developed an ED, went to therapy for about 6 months, and no longer use MFP to log. I stay because I have amazing friends and support, and I like to enter and save recipes to use for later. But, I never plan to log again. It's great as a tool, but don't let it run your life.

gonzo2802

I'm almost addicted to the myfitness pal app. I know it sounds like it might be a good thing but friends of mine are telling me that I am allowing it to run my life and I'm too rigid with my fitness and dieting habits.

IMO, I think it depends on what you & your friends mean by "allowing it to run my life". Logging in everything you eat and trying your best to stay within your calories & macros, isn't an obsession. It's you taking an active role in your health and fitness, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. It may seem rigid to people who don't do any of that stuff, but it doesn't mean you have an unhealthy addiction.

Now, on the other hand, if you're dictating every place you and your friends can and can't eat when you hang out....or you cancel plans with them so that you can stay home and workout because according to MFP you need to burn another **** calories to meet your goal for the day. Well, THEN you could be looking at an unhealthy addiction and might want to think about lightening up.

Thewatcher_66

Gonzo--- I think you might have been spying on me. LOL. Yes, that's starting to sound like me. I even counted calories on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm also training for a marathon and perhaps once it's over in early March, I can probably lighten up by then.

EmilyOfTheSun

They are jealous that you're doing something good for yourself and they're stuck in their bad habits. Don't listen. I get the same *kitten*.

weird_me2

I'm almost addicted to the myfitness pal app. I know it sounds like it might be a good thing but friends of mine are telling me that I am allowing it to run my life and I'm too rigid with my fitness and dieting habits. Anyone else out there getting any backlash from so-called "friends" or family about the same issue? Do you think that they may have some valid points and we should learn to lighten up?

What do you think? Honestly, I make sure I am logging every single thing I'm eating and even weigh most things when I'm at home, but I haven't had any comments about it. I think it's because I keep it very low key. I don't say "I have to log X" right now or I have to weigh my portion, etc. I also don't talk about it at all really. We had a small gathering last weekend and I eyeballed most portions, didn't have seconds, logged everything and then when we were having dessert, I weighed my portion. I waited until almost everyone had theirs then quietly got out my food scale and weighed my ice cream. No one said anything about it.

I've found that when I'm all gung ho about something and excited about it I tend to talk about it a lot which annoys those around me. Or, if you are constantly saying I can't do XYZ or eat ABC or even I ran 5 miles in 30 minutes today, etc., that tends to get annoying, too. Maybe that's what's happening?

KristenRidl

Logging calories definitely made me uncomfortably obsessed. My thoughts seemed to consist only of calorie intake, food, what I would eat for my next meal, etc. I was finding it difficult to think of other things. My diet would become too restrictive, and this led to eating too much on several occasions. I have decided to STOP tracking calories all together. (And have stopped for about one month now.) I haven't noticed a decline in my weight loss, but I have noticed a better state of mind. As someone who has struggled with disordered eating, it is better for me to not worry about each calorie entering my body. I try to make healthy choices, eat appropriate portions, and workout 30 minutes/day. So far, so good. (And I still love logging into MFP.)

serenapitala

I am a little obsessed with logging as well, but I'm not super rigid. I'm (almost) always under my TDEE, but to varying degrees. On Christmas my family were less than supportive of my logging and when I break down everything in a dish because it isn't in the database people think I'm over the top. It doesn't really bug me. I also wear an armband calorie tracker. I'm down over fifty pounds. People can say what they want. MFP doesn't run my life, but it is a part of it. I'm sure there is a point at which it is too obsessive, but I don't know if you are there or not.

Sherbog

No...but perhapsn like cell phone respect you might want to be lower key and not attract attention or talk about it so much. Usually I wait untill no one is around to do my logging in.

StephCoff1969

My husband was saying it to me all the time at first.. I kept telling him it kept me focused and started showing him everything..
He then started asking me how many calories was in whatever he was eating... Ha.. I got him to sign up a week ago and he now comes home from work showing me his stats for the day... I call that a win, not an obsession...

Chikipiwi

I get that from some of my coworkers all the time... they swear they are concerned about me. Funny thing is, when I was eating all the bad foods they weren’t concerned at all... mmmm kind of makes you think????

MizSaz

When I first started, about a year ago, I tracked everything I put in my face down to the gram. No joke. And if it was something I couldn't track, I simply wouldn't eat it.

I was learning back then. I was becoming consciously aware of my eating habits so I could create healthier ones. For the first probably 3 months I was a calorie nazi. And in that time, I lost 20 pounds! Now that I've created that awareness and knowledge base for myself, I definitely HAVE dialed it back a little, mostly because I know that a cucumber will get me further than a serving of corn niblets, without having to look at it and see it in black and white, but I only know this because I've done my due diligence.

Don't sweat the commentary, unless of course, you find that you really are getting extreme. As long as you're living a healthy, balanced life, it's nobody's business but your own how you get there.

Colleen118

Logging everything keeps me on track. I don't think it is an obsession. "Obsession is the word the lazy use to describe the dedicated"

NICE! I like that quote!
It might be an obsession but it is a healthy one. IF they are complaining you are spending too much time on the app, then track and go, spend less time in the forums. If they are complaining about the minute it takes to log something, you have every right to defend yourself and tell them it keeps you aware and accountable to maintain what you have set as your goals and you are sorry it bothers them but it only takes a few seconds. If possible, log meals before you eat or go out with them. Plan what you will have and order just that, eat what you said you would. Then you don't have to take the time away from those friends.

My wuestion is though, are they jealous of your success and just too lazy to do anything to get healthy? I actually had an FB pal message me privately and asked me to stop posting my success statuses because I was putting her down and making her feel bad about herself because she CAN'T lose weight. I told her to remove me from her feeds or friends but that I won't stop sharing my success with my friends and family because I have a right to be proud and share those stories the same as I would when my daughter graduates high school....

koshkasmum

I don't know if I'd call it an obsession, but I am logging food and exercise as accurately as I can a minimum of twice a day. It takes all of 5 minutes. I do it for my health because everything I have read indicates that people who log what they eat have better weight loss success than those who don't.

I really don't understand why this would bother family and friends. Do other personal care activities like showering and brushing your teeth seem obsessive to them, I wonder? Perhaps there is something else at work here. Maybe having a good example of someone taking responsibility for their own health and well being is uncomfortable for them.

Thewatcher_66

Well...when I'm hanging out with friends or having dinner, almost everyone at the table will pull out their smart phones to check messages, send texts, etc. I take mine out to log what I've eaten. I only tell them what I'm doing if they ask me. I try not to throw anything in anyone's face. However, if someone asks me, I feel that is my obligation to tell them what I'm doing especially if they are living unhealthy lifestyles themselves. If I didn't, I guess it would make me a pretty lousy friend.

I will also add that I've been pretty successful in getting a few personal friends to sign up for it and they are also having success. As for the haters, as the old expression goes, "misery loves company."

slboling

Sometimes when you are focused on your goals then everything else is secondary. When friends/family are not a part of that goal they feel that you have focused away from them when that is not an intent.