How to stop obsessing and calorie counting

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  • Nillalis
    Nillalis Posts: 71 Member
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    Hi

    To me it sounds like it's the stress around food and your every day life that is the biggest issue for you right now. You have spent 4 years doing this and most likely to maintain you can't drop that. I have read somewhere that it takes the body up to 7 years to accept a new weight and not wanting to get back to what it was before.

    My suggestion would be to work on stress and try to learn how to relax your mind. I have a great app that I like that talks me into relaxing like meditating, it's in Swedish so won't link but I'm sure you can find one you will like. Try use it every day for 3 weeks and see if it does a difference. Then in future if you feel you are obsessing maybe lissening to it and doing a few min of meditation can help your thoughts to relax.

    Good luck and grats on all the hard work you done especially the physical training.
  • gillian211179
    gillian211179 Posts: 27
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    Funny one, because I did it to be fitter and healthier and be a good role model for my daughter. Yes I was unhappy with my size but that was not all it was, but you do not think about other emotions that might come along the way!
  • veredit
    veredit Posts: 29 Member
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    I was overweight all my life until 2013, when I reached my weight goal, losing 57 lbs. Since than, your struggle is mine, too, and for me, maintaining is harder then losing. I discover myself all the time looking at food and seeing just calories. I eat a chocolate biscuit and immediately count that I have to fit that biscuit in my calories intake. I see calorie numbers flying all around and this can be so frustrating. Still, I'm convinced that I have to count all my life, if I want to maintain this weight and BFI. This said, I found this post to be very useful and I am curious about others dealing with the same problem.
  • CumberlandGrammy
    CumberlandGrammy Posts: 331 Member
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    Thank you for this post and to everyone who has offered their thoughtful insights and suggestions. Just starting my maintenance and can certainly understand how obsessed one can feel. Good luck to everyone!
  • kbeardmore22
    kbeardmore22 Posts: 283 Member
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    bump
  • karmstg
    karmstg Posts: 15 Member
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    I haven't been logging or counting since December, but I am mindful of what I eat. Eight months of logging taught me to better evaluate my choices, and if I'm making one I know is high calorie, I eat less of it...or if I really want the whole thing, I adjust my eating afterward to compensate.

    I'm a daily weigher--first thing in the morning. I know that's considered a no-no, but for me, it actually reduces anxiety rather than raising it. I start my day knowing I'm still on track. I have a mental range of 3 lbs, and if I weigh in at the top, while I know it could be simple fluctuation, I'm more mindful of my eating until it drops again. Mindful--not obsessed or stressed. I just pay more attention, i.e. how badly do I want that cookie today and if I really do, how about half instead? :)
  • gillian211179
    gillian211179 Posts: 27
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    Thank you for the good advice. I have felt so much better this weekend. I have not logged other than the odd thing to see what the micronutrients were but I have not logged everything. Tomorrow start of a new week and back to being mindful and logging, but that way I know at the weekend or when iam travelling with work this week I can allow myself a little flexibility. What really helps though is knowing I am working out. Regardless if I eat an extra bit of chocolate or a little too much at dinner, getting that work out in and pushing myself to be be mentally and physically stronger makes me feel so much better and in control.

    Not sure what has happened in the last fortnight but feel as though I am beginning to see light! Maybe it is this forum?????? Everyone's comment and thoughts are really sinking in, so a huge big thank you to everyone.
  • Firehawk734
    Firehawk734 Posts: 132 Member
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    Nothing wrong with taking 2-3 weeks away from hard calorie counting but I would still be mindful of what I'm eating.

    I wish I were one of those people who didn't have to count calories all the time, but the hard reality is it's important for those who struggle with their weight to know what they're putting in their mouth most/all the time.

    There is nothing more annoying than having to lose weight you already lost.
  • merizzel
    merizzel Posts: 14 Member
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    You read my mind!!!!! Yesterday was disgusting! Pizza, 3 scoops cinema ice cream, popcorn, more for dinner, pretzels, nuts, rice crackers, cake!!!! No way I could track it all. Now this morning I should go for a run but I am on holiday this week and have decided to not go, give myself a break and have asked hubby to hide the scales until the day we go back to work . Who knows maybe giving it a break and my body a little bit of a rest/shock will jolt it back into play next week????
    I would suggest that when you get back from holiday go back to your normal routine and do not weigh youre self until the week after. Enjoy your holiday and your family dont think about food.
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
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    Flicking through your diary, I feel slightly concerned that you still seem to be eating to lose. A lot of the time your intake is around 1200-ish? Or are there just a few things you aren't logging?

    I think the anxiety is completely understandable. But I think your shift of mindset has to be a psychological one - of recognising that you are slim now, that you don't have to battle to be slim. Accepting your new body is a big deal, and difficult to achieve.

    Have you considered calculating and working to TDEE instead of using MFPs calcs and the variability that's produced by eating back cals? That might be easier to manage week to week?
  • AsaThorsWoman
    AsaThorsWoman Posts: 2,303 Member
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    Hello! This idea will probably fly in the face of what everyone says, it is my opinion and it will differ from what many say here, and that's fine, what works for everyone is different.

    I lost a lot following Paleo diet and not logging, then I hit a road block where I wasn't losing or gaining, but I wanted to keep losing, so I started adding calorie and carb restriction.

    My current plan is one I get to maintenance, go back to Paleo and not log.

    Like other said, if I gain more than a certain number of pounds (10?) I'll go back to logging daily until it's gone.

    But I never gained on Paleo, even when I ate a lot and was probably way over calorie, but macros and activity level, as well as hormones, play a lot into that as well.

    Good luck, and congrats on your achievement.
  • Sreneesa
    Sreneesa Posts: 1,170 Member
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    Great thread!

    And I totally understand and feel what you are saying.
  • gillian211179
    gillian211179 Posts: 27
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    Great start to week!!!!!! Three steps forward last week feels like twenty backwards today;( why is it that those closest to you make things so much harder or cause you to give in!
  • gillian211179
    gillian211179 Posts: 27
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    Hi what is tdee????
  • matt6050
    matt6050 Posts: 56 Member
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    tdee is total daily energy expenditure i think
  • GertrudeHorse
    GertrudeHorse Posts: 646 Member
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    Tagging for future reference.
  • gillian211179
    gillian211179 Posts: 27
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    How does tdee work and how do you work it out??? If it gives me more calories then I will try it, need something to justify the chocolate and nuts I have just devoured after lunch!!!!! How am I going to make it to dinner????
  • matt6050
    matt6050 Posts: 56 Member
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    This is a good tdee calculator:

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    TDEE is what you need daily in order to meet your goals (this is just what I understand it to be, so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt). So if you use this calculator, it should give you an idea of what you need on average daily to maintain your weight. It is very similar to what MFP does, except with TDEE, I don't think you eat back exercise calories, because those should already be factored into the TDEE amount.

    However, since your goal is to stop counting calories, it may not be the best thing to do...
  • billhilly1968
    billhilly1968 Posts: 75 Member
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    I, too obsess about calorie counting. I use MFP and obsess over it. I go to it numerous times a day to make changes or to ensure that I am eating the right things. I am obsessed with making sure that I eat the allotted amount too. As a task oriented person I view it as a job to be achieved. I mark off each item as it is taken in. If I do not eat it is good news, instead of bad. I know better in one part of my mind but the other part is in control. I am scared that I have developed an eating disorder. I will not eat something if it causes me to go over my caloric intake no matter how badly I am craving it. I am afraid it will make me fat even though the "right side of my brain " knows it will not make me fat. I will not eat it. I am tired of struggling. It makes me not want to track my food on MFP. I do not know if that is part of the problem. Please give input or advice. Thanks in advance .

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