Counting Calories is an eating disorder?

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  • GameOfHealthy
    GameOfHealthy Posts: 3
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    It depends on how you face it.

    For example,would you eat a slice of cake that wasn't made by you or didn't know nutrition facts?
    Would you eat a piece of pie (salty or sweet) if it wasn't made by you or didn't know the nutrition facts?
    Would you feel worried after you ate something that you weren't sure about its calorie content?
    Would you be able to live without counting calories?
    Do you get upset when people think that calorie counting is obsessive/addicting/disorder?
  • mom2dzbnwe
    mom2dzbnwe Posts: 129 Member
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    I had disordered eating when I DIDN'T count calories and I DIDN'T recognize there needed to be a balance between intake and burn.

    YES!!! The fact that I was (at least) 60lbs over the TOP of my healthy weight range when I started, signifies that I had an eating disorder. I absolutely believe that I had (have?) and unhealthy relationship with food. I'm an emotional eater, and that's because I've always used food to make me happy. Sure, I have an amazing husband, supportive parents, 3 really beautiful boys, best friends, etc., but I've always relied on food to dictate my mood. THAT is a disorder!

    In the last 3 months I've tried to overcome that. I use exercise as a way to boost my mood (novel concept)! I've lost 47lbs and dropped 3 pant sizes! I have a heart rate monitor and I'm trying to be healthy.

    I make a meal plan (for my entire family) for the week, but I've been doing that for years! That's because I cant afford not to. I go to the grocery store with a menu and a list of meal specific ingredients and try to only buy what I need.

    I think about food, a lot. EVERY DAY! :) But, since we need food to live, I'm pretty sure that's not a disorder!
  • wild_wild_life
    wild_wild_life Posts: 1,334 Member
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    Don't think it's an eating disorder. However, I don't think it's the most healthy way to live mentally. I wish I was able to always stay a healthy weight without having to track calories or feeling guilt or plan way ahead and what I could do to make up for unhealthy decisions. A lot of people can stay a very healthy weight without ever really thinking about it and that probably shows a very healthy attitude to food.

    Don't mean it as a criticism because I don't think there's anything wrong with counting calories if that's what works for you but I wish I could live a healthy lifestyle without counting calories. Unfortunately my attitude to food isn't healthy enough but hopefully one day it will be!

    Well put. Anything can be obsessed over to the point that it becomes mentally or physically unhealthy. That point is probably different for everyone.

    I just read an amazing book called "how to have your cake and skinny jeans too", highly recommended for anyone interested in the psychology of dieting and full of really useful tips to adjust your attitude towards food (and eat like those people that stay at a healthy weight without thinking about it). I now believe we can all do that!

    http://www.amazon.com/Have-Your-Skinny-Jeans-ebook/dp/B00B9JKNBC
  • WhyFlowersExist
    WhyFlowersExist Posts: 78 Member
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    Seems legit.
  • MsPudding
    MsPudding Posts: 562 Member
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    I'm guessing the author is one of those people who ends up at the end of the week with lots of half-eaten moldy crap in her fridge as she's so adverse to planning meals ahead that she must buy food often and completely driven by momentary whims.

    Amazing to think that not too many decades ago not only did a household plan the week's menu, but actually even thought ahead to Winter and what foods they were going to can, pickle and preserve. Amazing that we even managed to stagger to this point in our existence with all those rampant eating disorders in our ancestral past.
  • ghhosstt
    ghhosstt Posts: 112
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    I just read an article saying if you are preoccupied with food and have to plan what you eat and log everything you eat it is considered an eating disorder. If you feel the need to exercise off calories you over ate it is an eating disorder.

    http://the****itdiet.com/2013/04/18/what-is-disordered-eating/

    Opinions?

    I think the article was stressing much more than just the planning, and saying that the disordered eating is more to do with a heightened level of anxiety/obsessiveness that surrounds it -- guilt, shame, and negative body image. I may be wrong, but think a lot of people intuitively know the difference between a healthy focus on diet/exercise and an unhealthy fixation on food and weight loss. I also think there are quite a few people who are a bit neurotic when it comes to food, especially in our crazy diet culture -- sad to say, but I barely know any women who aren't a little weird about their eating habits or body image or have been at one time. Personally I think this article is a bit over-dramatic and it could have been better written, but it makes a few good points about what to look out for.

    eta: I just need to mention also that the signs listed may indicate "disordered eating", not an eating disorder. They are cut from the same cloth, but still two different things.
  • dannyXoxo
    dannyXoxo Posts: 60 Member
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    So what your saying is that I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want and not even have to exercise and that is considered "normal"?

    Well this explains the obesity crisis:drinker:
  • Rockstar_JILL
    Rockstar_JILL Posts: 514 Member
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    [/quote]

    As someone who suffered for years with both anorexia and bulimia, I can promise you that counting calories does not even come close to ED. ED's happen when the body image is seriously distorted and there are severe mental and emotional issues that coincide. Counting calories, carbs, fats, and logging on to MFP doesn't come close. As a Type I Diabetic, it is the best tool I have to keep my diabetes and insulin use under nearly perfect control. No obsession--just a great tool. If by chance, you are completely obsessed with it, have severe body image issues, starve yourself and purge several times a day, then you have a problem and need to seek medical and psychological help. As for MFP and logging food and exercise, it is a great fitness tool for those of us who wish to live a healthy lifestyle.
    [/quote]

    ^^^I agree with this
  • Deipneus
    Deipneus Posts: 1,862 Member
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    The domain name is a matter of public record. I guess we could ask her why she wrote that. Dooner, Caroline, New York, New York 10024, United States, caroline.dooner@gmail.com
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    I think it depends...I think if you're so obsessed that you eat an extra 100 calories or something and feel the need to do some unplanned exercise, that's some pretty messed up and disordered thinking. Thinking you're going to gain all kinds of fat when you go over by a few calories when you still have a substantial deficit from maintenance is some pretty disordered thinking. Remaining at your deficit level of calories when you should be maintaining is disordered thinking. I see all of these pretty regularly on MFP and a lot of people just disordered in general.
  • wishfulcharms
    wishfulcharms Posts: 22 Member
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    lmaoooooo I was thinking the same ****
  • quicklabs
    quicklabs Posts: 254 Member
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    With the url title, this article is meant to be a joke, isn't it? If not, well, it's still a joke.
  • HyacintheAlcuin
    HyacintheAlcuin Posts: 52
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    SheldonNo_zps12bec133.gif
    ha!! the sheldon "clearly you're so stupid that you don't know you're statement is wrong but luckily i'm here to correct that for you" head shake....
  • saschka7
    saschka7 Posts: 577 Member
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    Wow.....that article is so very badly written and I'm not even talking about any so-called facts or opinions--it sounds as if it was written by an 18 year old girl with lamentably poor writing skills. Not everyone is a decent writer, but....still.

    First paragraph:
    "As far as common knowledge is concerned, eating disorders are limited to only: Anorexia (very, very skinny, eats nothing) and Bulimia (throws up food). And sometimes there are people who have Exercise Bulimia, too (but what? Who? Because Exercise is always GOOD! Right? So that is like a helpful disorder. Or something.) Oh, and like a million people with no self-control have Compulsive Overeating Disorder, which might also be called Binge Eating disorder, but WHO knows about that, right?"
    ***************************************************************************************************************************************************

    I don't even care what the author is trying to prove: anyone who writes so poorly in such a juvenile style is not worthy of any serious consideration in my book. :noway:

    Go away, silly little girl with poor writing skills. Stick to updating your Facebook status and leave the real weighty matters in life to those who can communicate without making the reader want to proofread your article and send you back to school. Ouch. This makes me wince.:sad:

    ADDENDUM: Okay, I just realized that in the last paragraph my pronouns do not match (those/your). Mea culpa. May this save someone the time and trouble of pointing out that I myself did not write this impeccably and how dare I object to anyone else's poor style. Again, mea culpa.
  • etoiles_argentees
    etoiles_argentees Posts: 2,827 Member
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    Wow.....that article is so very badly written and I'm not even talking about any so-called facts or opinions--it sounds as if it was written by an 18 year old girl with lamentably poor writing skills. Not everyone is a decent writer, but....still.

    First paragraph:
    "As far as common knowledge is concerned, eating disorders are limited to only: Anorexia (very, very skinny, eats nothing) and Bulimia (throws up food). And sometimes there are people who have Exercise Bulimia, too (but what? Who? Because Exercise is always GOOD! Right? So that is like a helpful disorder. Or something.) Oh, and like a million people with no self-control have Compulsive Overeating Disorder, which might also be called Binge Eating disorder, but WHO knows about that, right?"
    ***************************************************************************************************************************************************

    I don't even care what the author is trying to prove: anyone who writes so poorly in such a juvenile style is not worthy of any serious consideration in my book. :noway:

    Go away, silly little girl with poor writing skills. Stick to updating your Facebook status and leave the real weighty matters in life to those who can communicate without making the reader want to proofread your article and send you back to school. Ouch. This makes me wince.:sad:

    I agree, you know why. ;) I couldn't get past the first few lines.
  • saschka7
    saschka7 Posts: 577 Member
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    ...another "genius" quote......

    "[Here are some things that define disordered eating:] ANY EXERCISE THAT IS IN DIRECT CORRELATION TO SOMETHING EATEN. Food is not burned off like gasoline in a car. Well, I guess at times it is, but your body is more freaking complex than a car. And you can quote me on that."
    *********************************************************************************************************************************************************
    BWA-HA-HAHA! :laugh:
  • skywaka
    skywaka Posts: 2 Member
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    I agree with Magerum...
  • Joehenny
    Joehenny Posts: 1,222 Member
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    Probably written by an over-weight, or out of shape American.

    It's not a disorder to care what you put into your body if it doesn't effect your quality of life. You see a guy on the streets with a nice car and he can tell you the mi's, last oil change, type of tires ect. Ask them if they're how much fiber they're in-taking, how's their blood pressure, do they watch their cholesterol...they'll have no clue.

    Something's wrong
  • RoadsterGirlie
    RoadsterGirlie Posts: 1,195 Member
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    no. if you're at goal weight and still counting obsessively then that would have some concerning elements but this is a learning process and while you're learning you need to keep track and be careful

    People gain back what they lose because they stop tracking.

    I've been at maintenance for two years and have tracked every day. I plan on doing so for the rest of my life

    If this is an eating disorder, than they will have to catch me first before they lock me up. I'm sure I can outrun them.
  • SarahxCheesecake
    SarahxCheesecake Posts: 169 Member
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    I do and Id agree with that...

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