Tips on how not to get obsessed with cal counting?? Considering coming back...

XCHOCOLATECRAZYX · January 2015

Hello everyone,

I did mfp last year after years of doing weight watchers and odd try at slimming world but found it stopped working so gave mfp a go..mfp has been the most successful diet I ever did I lost like clockwork 1.5/2lb every week on a nice 1700 cals I managed to lose 1st in around 2 and half month!

but for some reason I seemed to get really obsessed eg on a night out at a club I would sit down tracking my caloires for each drink rather then really enjoying my night...I find it's kind of the devil in disguise having my mobile on my 24/7 with an app which I can log as I go....I then went crazy reading lots of discussions on here and groups and started to try difference methods such as 5-2, high protein carb low carb...I also had massive pig out days on a weekend when I was hungover and instead of just accepting that people get the hangover munchies I tracked it all and 4000cals on that day felt really bad bet myself up and spent the rest of the week cuttin down to 700cals a day to compensate and get a loss which I did...but not heathy way to go

Such a shame I got this way because if I stuck it out I was only 11lb off my goal but it all got too much ...after 4 months off and gaining a stone and half I decided to go back to weight watchers as I do eat a lot of fruit and veg/salad I liked the fact I have some caloire control with the points BUT have some unlimited items so unlike mfp if I ate all calories I felt bad for going over with ww if I have ate all my points I can eat fruit and not feel bad ...although I dont go mad eating 10 bananas a day I still feel I'm over doing it. today as an example I'm using my "weekly points" (extra points you get allowed on top of the daily points to use whenever) which means before iv even added fruit and veg in for today I have ate around 2100 calories!

Any how my monthly subscription ends in two weeks reason I joined was because it was cheap for first month but now I don't want to pay double the price which it goes up too...so I have two ptions pay for online access for weight watchers which is £15 for 3 months face I may not lose as quickly as I would like and some weeks I may marinatin or come back to mfp which is free and I know does 100% work but my only fear is becoming obsessed how would you suggest not getting obsessed ??

Just to add I have a wedding in May which I'm wanting to lose 2st for desperately as everyone will be there!

Thanks

avskk · January 2015

Accept that real success comes with being obsessed with calorie counting. That's why you have the mobile app, and you were using it appropriately. Where you went wrong was in beating yourself up for an occasional overage and in over-restricting as punishment. Work on accepting the occasional imperfect day, adjust your compensatory measures (say, cut 200 calories a day for a week instead of eating only 700 total) to be reasonable, and realize that if you're out logging your drinks at the club and participating in the forums a lot that is how it's supposed to work. That's the point: accurately logging everything you consume in all circumstances, and learning new things about nutrition and health.

Kalikel · January 2015

It's hard to count them and not get a little obsessive because counting is kind of obsessive, especially if you're weighing all the food. It rather forces you to start thinking about what you've been eating and what you're eating now, which isn't a bad thing if you've had your head in the sand about it all.

If you're going to do it - and I think it's a good idea! - you need to be a little obsessive. Weigh things to get the best estimates you can. Look at patterns of where you get too much salt or days when you eat no protein - those are my issues, but you'll find your own. You can work on improving your diet that way.

Many people are shocked to find that one muffin can be over 1/3 of everything they get to eat for the day. I was! Who knew?! Well, some people knew. Not me.

It's a huge change and hard to make without working on it a lot, thinking about it a lot and planning how you'll get to the point where you can do it without thinking so much.

Obsessing and beating yourself up is pointless, though. You have to look at it more objectively. "Where can I adjust?" - that sort of thing. Make it a useful tool, not a way to make yourself sad. USE the info, don't let it make you an emotional mess.

Everyone has bad days. Anyone who worked hard to accomplish something over a long period of time - they had a bad day. Accept it. It happens. Brush it off and move along.

XCHOCOLATECRAZYX · January 2015

Thanks avskk suppose it does make sense... I Know in my head weight watchers I'm not been as accountable for my food intake and been "sloppy" and losing lee but in turn not been as obsessed and been more careless but with caloires counting yes I do get a tad obsessed but maybe that's what I need..just scary when I have a target I REALLY want to hit this time round I can't afford to make the wrong desicion and chop and change things x

michelefm1l · January 2015

The way that i keep myself from getting obsessed with it is to allow myself a"cheat" meal once a week. I've had to wrap my head around the fact that this is a life decision, not just a "quick weight loss" solution. Allowing myself to give in here and there. That said, 95% of the time, I'm strict about my calories because not watching them did get me obese. Just don't get upset if you go over here and there or splurge once in awhile. It happens, it's really not that important in the grand plan of losing weight. Just don't consistently do it.

DawnieB1977 · January 2015

I think if you're losing weight you're going to get a bit obsessed over what you're eating, whether it's WW points, SW syns or calorie counting, and then you start getting obsessed over working out too! I don't think it's a bad thing, so long as it's not making you miserable. Once it starts taking over your life and stressing you out, then it's not going to work.
I've never done WW or SW, but I imagine it's far more restrictive worrying about points and syns and only having certain foods, whereas with MFP you can have pretty much anything so long as you're within calorie goals.
Sounds like maybe it's the drinking and hangover eating that's causing you the most problems. Maybe have 1 day a week where you don't log, say the day you're drinking, and have healthy snacks for the next day. Or cut down on the amount you drink. Or do an extra workout if you know you're going out drinking.
Also, don't feel like you have to lose loads immediately, just aim for slow and steady weight loss so you won't feel under pressure.

XCHOCOLATECRAZYX · January 2015

Aww thank you everyone it's nice to hear some positive nice comments on here! I could maybe consider one day a week Saturday probably were I don't track throw in a longer run and eat a healthy breakfast lunch and a cheat dinner and a few vodka diet colas I think that would probably suit me well actually Iam very calories conscious so I know I odulnt go too over board x

SergeantSausage · January 2015

"obsessed" ... You misspelled a word. Let me help you: "obsessed" ==> "accountable".

DawnieB1977 · January 2015

What's that quote...'obsessed is what the lazy call the dedicated'

Dnarules · January 2015

SergeantSausage wrote: »

"obsessed" ... You misspelled a word. Let me help you: "obsessed" ==> "accountable".

Did you read the post. She found that if she had a bad day, she would only eat 700 calories to make up for it. I don't think accountable is the word.

DawnieB1977 · January 2015

Dnarules wrote: »

SergeantSausage wrote: »

"obsessed" ... You misspelled a word. Let me help you: "obsessed" ==> "accountable".

Did you read the post. She found that if she had a bad day, she would only eat 700 calories to make up for it. I don't think accountable is the word.

Don't be silly, all these 'experts' on MFP don't need to read posts

keziak1 · January 2015

The problem I had with being obsessive/accountable was burn-out. It's not MFP's fault but I did fall off the wagon and regained most of what I lost. This time I am working on an "as if counting" method. I learned a lot about how various foods stack up and try to eat accordingly; really upping vegetables and fruits and controlling calories from starches; and checking the calories on most everything I eat from restaurants. I feel more relaxed this time and as long as I stick with the program I am losing.

ana3067 · January 2015

Figure out what aspect of tracking makes you get obsessed in a bad way. For me I realized that being super regimented with my approach did it. I would eat whatever I wanted, tracking macros of course for my body comp goals, but I had my day too structured. Forced 3 meals a day of equal calories, tried to stick to low carb for breakfast and lunch (overall eating ~200g of carbs though, so not low-carb lifestyle), and it just got to be too much. I would log before eating to make sure everything fit what I "needed" and that would take too much time, I got frustrated and cranky, etc.

Now I just meet my daily/weekly goals. I pick foods I feel like eating for breakfast and lunch, adding them to my log as I'm preparing the meal. So now my breakfast and lunch fluctuates by a few hundred cals, and I generally notice that I am eating less for these two meals than I previously did. Which I'm preferring, since I can now for sure go to bed feeling stuffed (which I like).

Another thing I realized was that it's good to take breaks as needed. Or if I can't estimate how much I'm eating (party, for e.g.) then I just don't log and I'll eat until I am feeling sated. If you want to go out and drink, then just do it. You may be over your cals but it's just one day. If you do this weekly, then I'd of course say figure out beforehand how much you can drink to still be within your needs, but if it's once in a while then go ham if you so desire and don't track.

And having a realistic goal also helps. Not restricting foods, not restricting calories, all makes it much easier to not go crazy about your eating habits when trying to lose weight.

jumblejups · January 2015

I found that just accepting (or, appreciating) that logging is just like a diary of what you eat, rather than a strict regime. You have goals for calories etc and you know if you are within them then you will lose weight. If you go over occasionally you will be fine. It's only if you regularly go over that you will maintain or gain, but having that record helps to see why or when you regularly go over. If you do go over you can try to offset it with some exercise or reducing on other days in the week, but I count that as a cushion if I'm up to it rather than a necessity, and I only do what I'm comfortable with, no punishment.

I did WW for a while and it worked, until I fell off the wagon, I actually got more obsessive with that than with MFP, I think in part because I wasn't fully appreciating the nutritional value of everything (never ate avocadoes because of the high points but had WW cake bars...) and because I think one of the most helpful aspects of MFP is actually the community and the info from others on exercise and nutrition.

If you haven't already then I would look at the announcement posts and work out things like your TDEE. By MFP's estimations I should be on 1200cals daily, but instead I do TDEE -20% (using Scooby's Workshop) which gives me around 1480cals. I'm losing well on this (9lb in 4 weeks, slowly steadying to around 1lb a week) and much easier for me to do compared with 1200. I eat back exercise calories separately as my exercise isn't regular so I don't include it with TDEE, that's just my usual weekly activity.

Good luck!

Fuchsiagenii · January 2015

Consider it more as healthy eating rather than a diet.
I did do WW and SW and other dieting programmes in the past. They all work, as long as you stick to their rules.

At the present time I am under the guidance of a dietician. I was not calorie counting the first 2 months, but eating healthy foods and snacks throughout the day and logging everything that I ate and drank and I was still losing weight. Xmas and the New Year was my downfall (I pigged out and drank too much alcohol) and I did put on some of the weight I lost. My problem is that I am not able to go for walks so I am relying on controlling my eating (and now calorie counting) to be able to lose weight.

But I am back on track again. I enjoyed eating at Xmas, but there is no point in beating yourself up about things - it's done. Get back on track, we all have "slip up".

As long as you don't go overboard with your alcohol and choose wisely, you should be fine.
And like one poster mentioned, if you do overdo things, do some exercise (walking, gardening, vacuuming, dancing, swimming) to help burn of those excess calories and also to get your metabolism ticking faster.

According to my calculations there are 15 weeks until we hit May. 2 Stone = 28 pounds (14 pounds = 1 stone). So work out using this website how many calories you can consume to lose that 2lb a week. Make healthy food choices by avoiding ready made meals, cakes sweets, processed foods etc. Weetabix, Shredded Wheat and plain porridge contains no sugar and are a better breakfast choice to some other breakfast cereals. Eat natural plain yogurts and add your own fruit to them rather than eating the fruited type yogurts (even the low fat variety contain too much sugar and sugar equals to empty calories and no nutrients). Make your meals from scratch using fresh ingredients so that you know what is in the meal that you are eating. Don't forget your portion sizes.

Losing 1-2lbs a week is a healthier way to lose weight. Consuming 700 calories a day, will not give your body all the nutrients it requires to function well and will slow down your metabolism. When the metabolism slows down, this is when it will be much harder to burn off the calories and stored fat in the body.

Even with WeightWatchers, the less you have to lose, the less points (sins) you will have to use, even if you can save them up for the week.

Best wishes.

XCHOCOLATECRAZYX · January 2015

Thanks all...I think we're it got messy with me as well was trying to pay too much attention to my macros now I know people say that it's really important to stick to them but I found myself scared to eat a tin of soup because my protein wasn't high enough for that day! I think my main aim is to keep things simple eat what I like which is generally healthy any ways lots veg fruit ect ....also every Sunday I will log my 5 days food for the week so it's all prepared and I have a "plan" to stick too as this works better for me....another thing I won't be doing is constantly coming on here eating the difference pages/groups as I just get tempted to try new things all the time when what I am doing works just fine....thanks again for everything said it does make sense x

ana3067 · January 2015

XCHOCOLATECRAZYX wrote: »

Thanks all...I think we're it got messy with me as well was trying to pay too much attention to my macros now I know people say that it's really important to stick to them but I found myself scared to eat a tin of soup because my protein wasn't high enough for that day! I think my main aim is to keep things simple eat what I like which is generally healthy any ways lots veg fruit ect ....also every Sunday I will log my 5 days food for the week so it's all prepared and I have a "plan" to stick too as this works better for me....another thing I won't be doing is constantly coming on here eating the difference pages/groups as I just get tempted to try new things all the time when what I am doing works just fine....thanks again for everything said it does make sense x

Macros are important, but their importance differs for every individual. Macros are important for me for body composition and energy reasons, so I monitor protein to make sure i get in enough and I think I need to start paying more attention to eating more carbs before a workout. But otherwise I'm flexible with macros. If I'm short one day I can make up for it the next day. For others macros might matter because of diabetes, or for satiety purposes.

Like for me, your 5 day planned log would be torturous for me. That's too structured, but then tracking macros is really easy for me because I can just opt for a high-protein soup if I wanted some soup (I make my own though). Just do things however works for you, change things when they stop working.

XCHOCOLATECRAZYX · January 2015

Thank you Anna

Unknown · January 2015

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clambert1273 · January 2015

I would prefer to be the oddball logging everything than to continue to be this weight lol

Tips on how not to get obsessed with cal counting?? Considering coming back...

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