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Becoming more lenient

jess1992uga
jess1992uga Posts: 603 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everyone-
So I use MFP and I see a dietician and I am supposed to be moving away from calorie counting and towards more of an exchange based meal plan (basically have become too entangled in too many numbers). Along with this I am now back at school which means dining hall food which means not as precise measuring with the whole spoons, cups, scales debacale. So has anyone has success with not measuring food. I will admit it became an obsession and seeing as I have an eating disorder history, me and any obsession around food isn't good. Just wondering if people have experience with moving away from the measuring and obsessively logging and how it's impacted them. Also any tips?

Replies

  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    If you've been measuring your food up until now, you should have developed at least a decent eye for quantities. I measure some things, but eyeball most of it and err on the side of overestimating if I'm not sure. My wife and I eat out a lot and many of the restaurants we go to aren't "big chain" restaurants, so I don't have the luxury of their foods being in a nutritional database - so I have to do a lot of eyeballing and estimating. Even so, I've still managed to continue losing weight. I don't know anything about the exchange-based meal plans because I've never done WW, Jenny Craig or any of those plans, so I can't help you there.
  • uwdawg07
    uwdawg07 Posts: 372 Member
    Like said above, if you've been diligently tracking for some time you should have a good eye for portion size and calories.

    I count everything, but like you, I'm wanting to slowly start moving away from that. I get anxiety if I have to eat unfamiliar food, or go out to a restaurant...and that is just not okay!

    Good luck!!
  • AZKristi
    AZKristi Posts: 1,801 Member
    If you are basically at a healthy weight, just focus on good choices. Lots of fresh fruits and veggies. When I was in school the cafeteria food wasn't bad. You could always have a sandwich or salad for any meal. And at brunch you could get things like veggie omelets. Just focus on choosing lean protein sources most of the time.
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
    I am back to logging now, but I took a long break until very recently (and I still don't log every day now). I'm really glad I took the break because I was becoming a little obsessive, too. As the above poster mentioned, after having counted calories for a while I was able to a have a good estimate of measurements and how many calories were in most things. Generally at the end of the day I would sort of think through what I had eaten that day and make sure I was staying on track. For example if at the end of the day I realized I had eaten around 2500 calories, I knew I needed to be a little more careful in general (my maintenance is around 1800 calories). If I realized I hadn't eaten enough, I'd start making an effort to eat a little more.

    It worked well for me and I maintained my weight/actually lost a little. I've decided I want to lose a bit more so thats why I'm logging again for a more exact process, but taking a break from it definitely did me some good. Good luck!
  • flyingpurplemonkey
    flyingpurplemonkey Posts: 105 Member
    I've been taking classes through the summer, so I've been living in the dorms and eating dining center food for most of my meals for the last 6 weeks or so. In this time, I have lost about 17 pounds. So it is definitely possible to eat okay and lose weight at school. Having grilled chicken and salad for just about every dinner has not been too fun, but there are usually healthy (or healthier at least) options available if you want.

    It may also be an option to have your own mini fridge in your room, so that you can have some basics that you are control over, maybe for snacks or such. Just a thought.
  • jess1992uga
    jess1992uga Posts: 603 Member
    Thanks everyone. My nutritionist is really pushing me to take a break from cal counting and I will definitely keep staples in my mini fridge (like my nonfat yogurt which I can't live without). And b-fast will always be in my room because who wants to wake up at the butt crack of dawn to go to the dining hall when I get the same food in my room. Plus my dietician wants me to put on weight I just want to make sure it is healthy weight and not too fast. You all have been so helpful, thanks for your advice :)
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