First Day: Anxiety over calorie counter

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sass_in_nyc
sass_in_nyc Posts: 2
in Introduce Yourself
It is my first day and the number of available calories being subtracted as I imput my meals gives me anxiety. It is mid day and I am mid-way through my available units- I fear they may run out.

Did anyone else feel this way? How do you reframe it?
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Replies

  • msshiraz
    msshiraz Posts: 327 Member
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    You know, calorie counter initially is your guideline to knowledge about yourself and your habits. Totally and completely normal for this to happen- especially on day one- you probably have a lot of habits associated with food (most of us do) that will need to be changed.
    You will get to know how to balance it all more as you use it, and learn about good choices vs bad. What was your typical caloric intake before?
    As you will learn for yourself, you will start to plan out your food to fuel you - primarily. Nothing wrong with some indulgence, but reality is that most of us have taken that indulgence to everyday lifestyle
    Also, exercise can credit out part of you caloric intake, but only as much as you are realistically burning- and everybody's body is different on how many will be burned for them

    Keep us posted and welcome~!!!
  • JodieP13
    JodieP13 Posts: 94 Member
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    This helped me, I actually track my whole day of food in advance including snacks. It takes a little preplanning, but then you have time to adjust if you go over before you eat anything.
  • hayatiggs
    hayatiggs Posts: 12 Member
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    It might actually be a good idea to take the first day or two and eat what you would have normally eaten, and track it all, just to see what you usually eat calorie-wise in a day. i did that and was really surprised at how much I ate. This helps you become aware of the habits (like msshiraz said) that you need to change. Once you do that, you'll start to make healthy choices about your food, and decide where to save some calories, and where to splurge a little. Good luck, I'm adding you as a friend! :)
  • kathyms13
    kathyms13 Posts: 497 Member
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    This helped me, I actually track my whole day of food in advance including snacks. It takes a little preplanning, but then you have time to adjust if you go over before you eat anything.

    this is the best way, i find it a great help.
  • apom36
    apom36 Posts: 13 Member
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    Adding alot of water helps to fill the void, also i save most of my calories for my favorite meal (dinner) which is the most likely time I will be the most hungry. I save calories for my snack after dinner, because I tend to get munchies again. Using this tool helps to realize we were over eating by sooo much, and we don't need all of that. It is crazy to think how much we were getting, and how much of it was crap and totally unecessary. It's hard to get use to smaller portions, I know!!
  • hunter624
    hunter624 Posts: 252
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    It is my first day and the number of available calories being subtracted as I imput my meals gives me anxiety. It is mid day and I am mid-way through my available units- I fear they may run out.

    Did anyone else feel this way? How do you reframe it?


    Friends are what matter here the support people on the site give can be extremely helpful. I'm 65 and had a whole lot of learning and unlearning to take onboard, check out other peoples food and exercise diaries.

    Good luck and enjoy the journey I am.

    :drinker:
  • somedaysoon84
    somedaysoon84 Posts: 82
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    i preplanned most of my days when i was getting started. took the stress out.... now i have a pretty good guess about what i'm eating and the calories (although at times, especially when out to eat.... its shocking in a bad way)

    make sure you are eating at least 1200 cals a day (don't know what you've set it to)

    eat normally, and see where you are for a day or two. or figure what you had yesterday, and see where that pans out...

    buy a food scale!!! i am really bad about what a portion is.... i weigh anything that i'm not sure about. i got mine cheap on amazon, 10 bucks i think.

    don't stress if you go over a wee bit once in a while.
  • Martin1946
    Martin1946 Posts: 22
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    I had to increase my exercise to increase my calorie count. doesn't necesarily mean gym just walking can help.

    Check out the excercise section to see the number of calories by exercise

    Works both ways, not starving yourself but body feels better all around

    Best to you
  • susan2396
    susan2396 Posts: 794 Member
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    I can totally relate as well. Until you really start tracking every single bite, you have no idea the foods you miss. Those foods add up and it's been a very tough lesson to learn. If I'm out or can't get on line, phone app, etc. . . I'll take a picture of my plate so I can calculate later. Now that I'm tracking everything to the best of my ability, I almost like to see how much healthy stuff I can add and keep the calorie count low. I'm making it a game even. So far so good.
  • janemem
    janemem Posts: 575 Member
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    Pre-plan and log EVERYTHING. When I first started here I weighed and logged everything and was really surprised at how awful my 'diet' was. A few months down the line and I have learnt so much about nutrition that I never knew about before and if you were to compare my food diary from 6 months ago to now you'd see such a change. I'm not only talking calorie wise, it's the quality of the calories I'm consuming that has radically changed and I feel so much better for it. I'm so glad I found MFP because I really do think it has saved me from going back down the ED route.
  • DanLichty
    DanLichty Posts: 14
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    Its really hard at first, but you will see in the first few days just how badly you are eating. I know it was that way for me. I still have days which I struggle and do not meet my goals. Just keep going and it will get easier.:noway:
  • jayne12469
    jayne12469 Posts: 52 Member
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    I used my entire first week as a learning experience and to figure out what things should and shouldn't be on my grocery list.

    Week three, and I'm still using my food diary to learn more about myself, such as how much fiber and protein eaten at breakfast and lunch keeps me from eating the entire pantry when I get home from work.

    Good luck on your journey...you can do it!
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,370 Member
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    Luckily I started this after a few weeks eating 1500 a day on my own so was delighted when the site gave me almost 500 more a day to play with but this has dropped with my weight.

    If you have a big appetite you soon learn the value of exercise calories and how to get more food on your plate for fewer calories.

    You may want to consider breaking yourself in gently reducing your goal by week so that it doesn't hit you hard from the start and looking at other members' diaries will give you a good idea of what foods offer calorifically and how to put meals together within you allowances.


    Good luck!
  • bokids3
    bokids3 Posts: 3
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    I am with the idea of kind of "pre planning" my day. I was the same was as you initially. I found i would skip meals at the fear of going over. So, I eat & record a healthy breakfast, then I figure an estimated calorie count for my dinner. So then as I go into lunch and snacking at work, I know about how many calories I need to have when I go home for dinner.

    Don't worry. I gets easier. You find the foods you like to snack on, and what you like to have that is healthy for breakfast and lunch and find you know the calories on "regular items" without even thinking about the fact that you need to track them. Hang in there!!
  • TheArmadillo
    TheArmadillo Posts: 299 Member
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    for the first week, just log what you eat and see how many calories you are eating and where/when. Once you have an idea then you can make adjustments.

    There are lots of websites out there with healthy recipe ideas. I like the 'healthy' section of bbcgoodfood.com and skinnytaste.com is another good one. They will give you an idea of the stats (calories, protein, carbs, fat etc) for each recipe. You can put your recipes into the recipe calculator and that will work it out per portion for you.

    You can't immediately be an expert on this - you need to learn it. Start bit by bit by first learning what you eat, and then making adjustments until you hit your goal. Lots of people have open diarys so have a look at what they are eating to stay within their goal.s
  • summer_cici
    summer_cici Posts: 24 Member
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    I couldn't believe how much I ate during a regular day when I first started logging my food intake. I eat so much crap too, such as chocolate, crisps, sweets, junk food of all sorts. And I realised I was just eating out of boredom!

    Learn from what it's telling you about yourself. Why do you eat certain things at certains times and could you get yourself into a routine? I really hope you begin to feel comfortable using MFP and that it works for you eventually, but I'm sure it will take time. Good luck! x
  • jaj68
    jaj68 Posts: 158 Member
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    I totally understand your anxiety. I've been logging food for two weeks. I am on a 1200 calorie a day.....and just eating breakfast, a third of them can be gone.
    I splurged the other day and had two mini candy bars.
    Dinner time came around and my husband said......aren't you going to eat? I said....no....I still have calories I can have but no fat grams left. (our house was out of fresh fruit)

    I think after you have been here awhile, you will learn to think about things you are putting in your mouth....and maybe eat less of it, or move to a healthier choice. And others are right when they say it is a guideline. Good luck. Drink water, and add exercise.
  • dbanks80
    dbanks80 Posts: 3,685 Member
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    I didn't have anxiety but it did open my eyes as to how many calories I was consuming so quickly. Therefore I exercise so I can have even more calories to use if I need to go over my allowed calories. It also taught me to choose more lower calorie food items.

    Welcome!!!!!:flowerforyou:
  • sass_in_nyc
    sass_in_nyc Posts: 2
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    Thank you, everyone- I appreciate your kind words and insights.
  • fitfunk
    fitfunk Posts: 119 Member
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    Great tips - thanks!
    for the first week, just log what you eat and see how many calories you are eating and where/when. Once you have an idea then you can make adjustments.

    There are lots of websites out there with healthy recipe ideas. I like the 'healthy' section of bbcgoodfood.com and skinnytaste.com is another good one. They will give you an idea of the stats (calories, protein, carbs, fat etc) for each recipe. You can put your recipes into the recipe calculator and that will work it out per portion for you.

    You can't immediately be an expert on this - you need to learn it. Start bit by bit by first learning what you eat, and then making adjustments until you hit your goal. Lots of people have open diarys so have a look at what they are eating to stay within their goal.s

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