Need a Break?

krishnapu · June 2011

Hi Everyone!

I have been using MFP for about 4 1/2 months and have lost almost 25 pounds of my 50 pound goal. However, I am finding that the process of tracking all of my calories and exercise is starting to become a bit tedious. In fact, I feel like it's starting to dominate my life a little bit. I focus less on eating healthy or when I am hungry and focus more on the number of remaining calories I have for the day.

My question is: do you recommend taking a break from MFP when you feel that calorie counting starts to become an obsession? Is it okay to take a break and just listen to what my body is telling me in terms of what it needs to eat, when it needs to exercise, etc.? I don't want to get off track by taking too long of a break, but I wonder if a short one might benefit me by helping me to relax.

What do you think?

TinaS88 · June 2011

Personally for me.. no.. because my body tells me not to exercise and eat ice cream all day... lol lol

I actually love the calorie counter and yes it does restrict me of what I "want" to eat.. but that is the purpose. If I find myself hungry I will try to eat something with the least calories possible toward the end of the day.

With loosing weight, you have to restrict calories (and make healthy food choices) and exercise otherwise it's just never going to happen.

JMO

DON'T QUIT!

Jenscan · June 2011

Congrats on the halfway point! I hear you on logging being really tedious but it's super helpful. Like today, it helped me figure out I could afford Sonic and some wine.

There are good points to logging but man, I get SICK of entering stuff. I feel your pain.

What you do is up to you -- what is YOUR comfort level? Perhaps you could compromise and test logging just on weekdays? I don't really know an answer to this, to be honest.

chevy88grl · June 2011

You know what?

I am on day 1 of a month long hiatus from calorie counting, weighing and measuring. I felt like it was tedious and was too much of an obsession with me. So, I'm going to take 30 days off and see where I am after the 30 days.

haeden · June 2011

i think that maybe you should try and do this every other day or something?i dont think you should go off counting calories or trying to be healthy but its okay to cheat every once in a while and i think if you made it this far then i think you are in good shape and can stand to do it every other day and of course track your progress

dragonbug300 · June 2011

Hi krishnapu,
I've been considering this very same thing for a while.
I already had an unhealthy relationship with food... but now I feel like this site has exacerbated things. Calorie-counting isn't the be-all-end-all of health. I've had binge episodes in the past, but now they're even more frequent and detrimental because I tell myself "I can burn this off later!"

However, I do love this community. It's tough to leave, because my pursuit of a healthy lifestyle isn't supported by anyone else in my life.

But that's my baggage. As for you, I'll give you advice that I wish someone had given me: trust yourself. You feel like it's time to move on (or at least take a break) then do so. Focus on the quality of the food, rather than the quantity. Focus on your feelings of hunger and satiation. If you feel yourself starting to have 'withdrawal' from calorie-counting, it's a good sign that you're doing something right: because it shows you've developed a dependence on something that, in all reality, is an imprecise science anyway.

Take care, love.

krishnapu · June 2011

Thank you for the feedback, everyone. It's so helpful to know that others have shared experiences with the tedium of counting calories. Like many of you, I don't want to stray too far, but I think for my mental health (which is just as important as my physical health), I need to step away for a bit. Perhaps I will try it for a week and see how I am doing?

krishnapu · June 2011

Me too! I think I'll try a week and see where that gets me. Congrats on your success and on your willingness to trust yourself to make the right choices for your mind and body :-)

flutterbee3 · June 2011

I think counting calories and stepping on the scale can be just as addictive as food. So can exercise. I am going to use this site as a tool to help me guage what I need to be doing on a daily basis. Once I get on my way, I'm hoping that I don't feel the need to log everything I eat, every day. I don't want to keep a food journal for the rest of my life!! I think that if you are becoming obsessed with logging and calories than you probably should take a break for a week and then come back and see how you are doing. I don't know that I would be gone much longer than that though because that is when the food devil sits on your shoulder and says 'Go ahead, just eat it. No one will have to know' and that is where we got ourselves in trouble in the first place.

shreddingit · June 2011

Never been a fan of counting calories, its just not a way of life. I started with a log and just wrote down what I ate no counting cals, usually the food I eat doesnt have nutrition facts . As long as your eating a healthy balanced diet and exercising you'll be fine.

nimbi · June 2011

Would spending a few weeks on maintenance level (so more calories) be helpful? You wouldn't gain but it would be a lot more flexible in terms of how much you could eat.

Need a Break?

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