Obsessed with Counting Calories
neiltillbrook
Posts: 26 Member
I've used MyFitnessPal.com for a while, on and off, with my most recent stint seeing me drop 3.5 stone over the last six months. However, family and friends are starting to imply I've become obsessed with counting calories.
Obviously, I need to count them in order to make sure I'm staying on track, but I also don't want to let calorie counting consume me. For example: If I can't find the nutritional information for something, a majority of the time I won't eat it.
What do people do when you can't find the information on something, do you put it down and walk away, or do you just accept it's not going to be 100% right all the time and just enjoy it - even though the difference could be 10-100 calories difference in some cases.
Obviously, I need to count them in order to make sure I'm staying on track, but I also don't want to let calorie counting consume me. For example: If I can't find the nutritional information for something, a majority of the time I won't eat it.
What do people do when you can't find the information on something, do you put it down and walk away, or do you just accept it's not going to be 100% right all the time and just enjoy it - even though the difference could be 10-100 calories difference in some cases.
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Replies
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Counting calories is unusual behavior in our society so it's easy for people to see it and think that we're obsessed.
Do you feel like you're obsessed? Would you be happier if you sometimes allowed yourself to estimate things when you didn't have a calorie count?
I am not going to live the whole rest of my life never eating things unless I know the exact information so I sometimes estimate. That's what happiness looks like to me. I log exactly as I can when I can so that I have room for the times when I want to make an estimate.20 -
Yeah, what jane said.
Even if you are entering every single bite, there's always room for estimating. I prepare most of my meals myself and that's easy enough to be fairly accurate, using my food scale and logging.
For those meals "out" I estimate.
Oh, and I've learned by experience not to discuss calories, nutrition, and logging etc. with people who are not on this site.
It just makes life easier.15 -
@janejellyroll: I don't think I'm obsessed, and I'll occasionally estimate the calories of something, but it tends to play in the back of my mind how close I was to the right value. I know a value isn't right all of the time, and even the values on packets average out over time, but I feel as though I have a figure to stick to and I should stick to it as close as possible.
I won't be counting for the rest of my life either, so I should be more lenient; I guess allowing myself to have a couple of weeks off of tracking over Christmas has made me think sternly about counting again.
@cmriverside: I know what you mean when it comes to discussing it, haha. I don't tend to say much to other people, but when someone mentions to topic of calorie counting and how they've done it before it's hard to get me to shut up.3 -
neiltillbrook wrote: »I don't think I'm obsessed, and I'll occasionally estimate the calories of something, but it tends to play in the back of my mind how close I was to the right value. I know a value isn't right all of the time, and even the values on packets average out over time, but I feel as though I have a figure to stick to and I should stick to it as close as possible.
I won't be counting for the rest of my life either, so I should be more lenient; I guess allowing myself to have a couple of weeks off of tracking over Christmas has made me think sternly about counting again.
I'm over ten years into "counting." It's the only thing that works for me. I can look at a meal and pretty much guess at this point - and I do have many days where I just go way over. It all works out. It's not an exact science. Stepping on the body-weight scale a couple times a week tends to keep me in line.
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@cmriverside Like most people I've tried several diets, but calorie counting is the only thing that's ever really worked for me, too. See, I've never really prepared my own foods that aren't either a ready meal or frozen things that I can throw in the oven. I know that's because they've nutritional information on and at least that way I know what I'm eating is the right information.0
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cmriverside wrote: »Yeah, what jane said.
Even if you are entering every single bite, there's always room for estimating. I prepare most of my meals myself and that's easy enough to be fairly accurate, using my food scale and logging.
For those meals "out" I estimate.
Oh, and I've learned by experience not to discuss calories, nutrition, and logging etc. with people who are not on this site.
It just makes life easier.
Yes -- honestly, only a small handful of the people in my life know that I count calories. There are a couple reasons I keep to the policy of keeping it to myself -- first, talking about diet/weight control/fitness is deadly dull to most people unless they happen to be into it and second, I don't feel like justifying/explaining it to has a pet weight control theory that disregards CICO.
If someone asks me straight up about my personal methods, I'm happy to share and answer any questions that they have. Other than that, I keep it to myself.
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neiltillbrook wrote: »@janejellyroll: I don't think I'm obsessed, and I'll occasionally estimate the calories of something, but it tends to play in the back of my mind how close I was to the right value. I know a value isn't right all of the time, and even the values on packets average out over time, but I feel as though I have a figure to stick to and I should stick to it as close as possible.
I won't be counting for the rest of my life either, so I should be more lenient; I guess allowing myself to have a couple of weeks off of tracking over Christmas has made me think sternly about counting again.
@cmriverside: I know what you mean when it comes to discussing it, haha. I don't tend to say much to other people, but when someone mentions to topic of calorie counting and how they've done it before it's hard to get me to shut up.
As much as you can tell about a stranger on the internet from a couple of posts, it doesn't sound like you have a problem. It sounds like you have a method that works for you. If you feel like you'd be happier letting go a bit more, practice it. Otherwise, why change what is working?3 -
@janejellyroll: Thanks, I appreciate that. Yeah, I'd say I'm fine with calorie counting, I guess I just wish I could be a bit more lenient with foods I can't find the exact details for. New Year's resolution perhaps?2
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If I can weigh it and guess at the percentage of carb, protein, and fat in it, I can calculate a good guess at a calorie value for it. 80% carb and protein * 4 oz is 112 * 4 * .8 which is 320 * 32 + 6, so the carb content of it is 326 calories, and if the other 20% is fat so another 112 * 9 * .2 which is 180 + 18 + 2, so another 200 calories and a total of 526 calories. That's in 4 ounces of a pastry. So, I'll have half that much.3
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Have you tried not logging for a couple of days?0
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@TavistockToad: A few weeks ago I spent some time reading up on 'diet breaks'. I've been logging regularly for the last six months so decided a couple of weeks ago that I'd take a two week controlled break over Christmas.
The first week I stuck to my TDEE minus 5% to stay in a slight deficit, however the second week over Christmas has been a free for all. I'll be going back to my normal routine as of 01/01/2018 (when the two weeks is over).
I think my issue is with wanting to make sure the items I'm logging are exact, rather than the fact I'm logging.1 -
neiltillbrook wrote: »I've used MyFitnessPal.com for a while, on and off, with my most recent stint seeing me drop 3.5 stone over the last six months. However, family and friends are starting to imply I've become obsessed with counting calories.
Obviously, I need to count them in order to make sure I'm staying on track, but I also don't want to let calorie counting consume me. For example: If I can't find the nutritional information for something, a majority of the time I won't eat it.
What do people do when you can't find the information on something, do you put it down and walk away, or do you just accept it's not going to be 100% right all the time and just enjoy it - even though the difference could be 10-100 calories difference in some cases.
In my book, that (bolded) is being obsessive, so you may need to really work on that before it consumes your eating habits.
As far as your question of what to do when I can't find the information on line or in the MFP database. I just eat less. I don't log or estimate the calories because know that it would not be accurate. Just increase exercise, don't eat all the exercise calories and/or carry a bigger deficit during the week to compensate for more caloric intake during the weekend.
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neiltillbrook wrote: »I've used MyFitnessPal.com for a while, on and off, with my most recent stint seeing me drop 3.5 stone over the last six months. However, family and friends are starting to imply I've become obsessed with counting calories.
Obviously, I need to count them in order to make sure I'm staying on track, but I also don't want to let calorie counting consume me. For example: If I can't find the nutritional information for something, a majority of the time I won't eat it.
What do people do when you can't find the information on something, do you put it down and walk away, or do you just accept it's not going to be 100% right all the time and just enjoy it - even though the difference could be 10-100 calories difference in some cases.
In my book, that (bolded) is being obsessive, so you may need to really work on that before it consumes your eating habits.
As far as your question of what to do when I can't find the information on line or in the MFP database. I just eat less. I don't log or estimate the calories because know that it would not be accurate. Just increase exercise, don't eat all the exercise calories and/or carry a bigger deficit during the week to compensate for more caloric intake during the weekend.
Question: wouldn't you want to log *something* even as a placeholder value so it doesn't look like you're way under for the day in question? Your log is your log, obviously, but I like having something there at least. My estimate is still going to be more accurate than "0."0 -
@Gisel2015: I will occasionally have a meal that I haven't been able to calculate for definite, but I'll have that nagging doubt in the back of my mind as to whether or not I've been able to guestimate properly. You're right, though, I think it's something that I need to come to terms with.
This is a lifestyle change, after all, and I haven't got a specific date that I need to have lost weight by. Having the odd item or meal where I haven't been able to be strict isn't the be all and end all. It's just something I'll need to work on.0 -
For me the logging helps me to be more conscious of what I am consuming. Sometimes I tend to think that oh its just a sandwich.. until I log it and say whoa wait.. this is a meal! It helps me to be alert and make wiser decisions. Not saying all the choices are healthy.. but being aware lets me know how to meal prep and also try new ideas of healthier eating choices.3
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I can throw a huge wrench in all this, I think
Those packages? Yeah - the exact calorie count can be off by as much as 20%, by law. Are you weighing everything? Even those prepared meals? Breads? Cereals? Everything? Doubtful.
I don't buy a lot of pre-prepared foods other than yogurt, bread, and some dressings. I weigh out all my home-prepared recipes and meals on a food scale, etc. I think it's a good thing to learn to do so that you can gauge a serving of any type meal.
It isn't an exact science. When you accept that - errors and all - you'll be better able to look at the Big Picture. I accept that I am making a couple hundred calories worth of errors on any given day, and that is how it is. Even using a food scale. I forget a bite here and there, add too much or too little to the food diary. Whatever. I'm still the same weight.
I do remember in the beginning of this I wanted so badly to get everything exactly right. It just isn't that way, doesn't need to be, and isn't possible.
Relax. Jump on the body-weight scale, do the best you can.7 -
neiltillbrook wrote: »@TavistockToad: A few weeks ago I spent some time reading up on 'diet breaks'. I've been logging regularly for the last six months so decided a couple of weeks ago that I'd take a two week controlled break over Christmas.
The first week I stuck to my TDEE minus 5% to stay in a slight deficit, however the second week over Christmas has been a free for all. I'll be going back to my normal routine as of 01/01/2018 (when the two weeks is over).
I think my issue is with wanting to make sure the items I'm logging are exact, rather than the fact I'm logging.
So Christmas week you didn't log?
What happens if you're not accurate? If you weigh in at least weekly then you'll know if you've overestimated over time?0 -
@cmriverside: Yeah, I remember reading and seeing on some programs that the information on packages can legally be off to a certain degree, and that they average out over time. I weight things like cereal, frozen veg, and anything that can be portioned (chips, etc.) not slices of bread, ready meals or things already in a portion (chicken burger).
I think that's the mentally I need to focus on. I need to accept that, though I weight a good 90%+ of the things I eat, that the details aren't always going to be accurate and day-to-day I'm likely to be a little up, then down.
@TavistockToad: I logged in the first week, but I haven't since Christmas Day. In the first week I'd put on a couple of lbs, but I expected that to happen. On a regular week I might lose, or not, or put on a 1lb, so it varies from week to week, but all in all it's a steady decrease over the six months I've been logging this year.
Before you say anything, I know that points to me doing all the right things, and I know I know that - it's just the niggling doubts in the back of my mind that stop me from focusing on it.
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neiltillbrook wrote: »@Gisel2015: I will occasionally have a meal that I haven't been able to calculate for definite, but I'll have that nagging doubt in the back of my mind as to whether or not I've been able to guestimate properly. You're right, though, I think it's something that I need to come to terms with.
This is a lifestyle change, after all, and I haven't got a specific date that I need to have lost weight by. Having the odd item or meal where I haven't been able to be strict isn't the be all and end all. It's just something I'll need to work on.
The thing is, no matter how accurate you think you're being, there are all kinds of inaccuracies built into the process of getting that nutritional info on the package. Calorie counting doesn't have to be 100%, or even 80%, accurate. You judge your accuracy by what you see when you weigh yourself over several weeks and adjust accordingly.
While I think logging/counting can be a not-obsessive lifetime habit, I would say that the nagging doubt and the not ever eating foods you can't be accurate with could become problems over time.- The doubt is unnecessary - judge how you're doing by your weight, and adjust if necessary, no biggie.
- Making smart choices to facilitate logging and reaching your goal is good. Depriving yourself of pleasurable or social experiences to ensure "accuracy" is not, at least in my opinion. Sometimes figuring out where that line is can be a challenge.
- The good news is that as you get more experience logging, it actually will make you better at estimating portion sizes and ingredients, so you can venture out more often with less risk.
I've been logging for @ 3 years. I eat dinner at my parents twice a week and estimate what I log. I eat fast food once or twice a week and don't weigh it, just use the posted info. I use the food scale most of the time at home. I lost weight as expected.
I normally agree with the fact that calorie counting is not a widely accepted or understood practice, so do what you need to do. But if a lot of people who know you well are concerned, I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand either. Are you seeing family and friends less often in an effort to avoid "guessing"? Do you talk about calories a lot? These are things you can work around while still logging well and maintaining a healthy weight :drinker:3 -
janejellyroll wrote: »neiltillbrook wrote: »I've used MyFitnessPal.com for a while, on and off, with my most recent stint seeing me drop 3.5 stone over the last six months. However, family and friends are starting to imply I've become obsessed with counting calories.
Obviously, I need to count them in order to make sure I'm staying on track, but I also don't want to let calorie counting consume me. For example: If I can't find the nutritional information for something, a majority of the time I won't eat it.
What do people do when you can't find the information on something, do you put it down and walk away, or do you just accept it's not going to be 100% right all the time and just enjoy it - even though the difference could be 10-100 calories difference in some cases.
In my book, that (bolded) is being obsessive, so you may need to really work on that before it consumes your eating habits.
As far as your question of what to do when I can't find the information on line or in the MFP database. I just eat less. I don't log or estimate the calories because know that it would not be accurate. Just increase exercise, don't eat all the exercise calories and/or carry a bigger deficit during the week to compensate for more caloric intake during the weekend.
Question: wouldn't you want to log *something* even as a placeholder value so it doesn't look like you're way under for the day in question? Your log is your log, obviously, but I like having something there at least. My estimate is still going to be more accurate than "0."
Nope! Since I am in maintenance estimates don't mean much to me. And honestly, I had the same approach before maintenance. I do write in the comment section of my food diary what I had and where I ate, but that is all. For the most part, I do know if I am under or over and as long as the scale and my clothes are good to me, I am fine with this approach.0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »neiltillbrook wrote: »I've used MyFitnessPal.com for a while, on and off, with my most recent stint seeing me drop 3.5 stone over the last six months. However, family and friends are starting to imply I've become obsessed with counting calories.
Obviously, I need to count them in order to make sure I'm staying on track, but I also don't want to let calorie counting consume me. For example: If I can't find the nutritional information for something, a majority of the time I won't eat it.
What do people do when you can't find the information on something, do you put it down and walk away, or do you just accept it's not going to be 100% right all the time and just enjoy it - even though the difference could be 10-100 calories difference in some cases.
In my book, that (bolded) is being obsessive, so you may need to really work on that before it consumes your eating habits.
As far as your question of what to do when I can't find the information on line or in the MFP database. I just eat less. I don't log or estimate the calories because know that it would not be accurate. Just increase exercise, don't eat all the exercise calories and/or carry a bigger deficit during the week to compensate for more caloric intake during the weekend.
Question: wouldn't you want to log *something* even as a placeholder value so it doesn't look like you're way under for the day in question? Your log is your log, obviously, but I like having something there at least. My estimate is still going to be more accurate than "0."
Nope! Since I am in maintenance estimates don't mean much to me. And honestly, I had the same approach before maintenance. I do write in the comment section of my food diary what I had and where I ate, but that is all. For the most part, I do know if I am under or over and as long as the scale and my clothes are good to me, I am fine with this approach.
Thanks for sharing your approach. I like to hear about all the different ways that people make logging work for them.1 -
@janejellyroll
Thank you Jane. I need to add that I am old, short and petite and that I only had about 12 lbs to lose when I joined MFP over seven years ago. Since I never had a weight problem before and I am not a foodie, losing and maintaining was/is not too much of a problem. Although I still weigh and log my home made food.0 -
cmriverside wrote: »I can throw a huge wrench in all this, I think
Those packages? Yeah - the exact calorie count can be off by as much as 20%, by law. Are you weighing everything? Even those prepared meals? Breads? Cereals? Everything? Doubtful.
I don't buy a lot of pre-prepared foods other than yogurt, bread, and some dressings. I weigh out all my home-prepared recipes and meals on a food scale, etc. I think it's a good thing to learn to do so that you can gauge a serving of any type meal.
It isn't an exact science. When you accept that - errors and all - you'll be better able to look at the Big Picture. I accept that I am making a couple hundred calories worth of errors on any given day, and that is how it is. Even using a food scale. I forget a bite here and there, add too much or too little to the food diary. Whatever. I'm still the same weight.
I do remember in the beginning of this I wanted so badly to get everything exactly right. It just isn't that way, doesn't need to be, and isn't possible.
Relax. Jump on the body-weight scale, do the best you can.
Not to mention that your "calorie out" estimate is even more of a crap shoot, especially if you're trying to factor in cardio burns. The only way to really get a good handle on things is to find out what works. If you're losing weight at a steady pace, keep it up. If not, make some adjustments until you are.2 -
You can use your scale as your logger. If your weight goes up eat less. Less accurate than logging everything but much easier and it has worked for me for a couple of years.2
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I think having a new year's resolution to work on accepting some uncertainty in your logging could be a wonderful idea. As people have mentioned above, both calories in and calories out are always estimates; there's no way to be 100% accurate in measuring either of those variables. That means you're already living with inaccuracy and uncertainty, but you're sort of artificially convincing yourself that it doesn't exist.
Could you start by doing something like taking one day per week where you don't measure your food so exactly, or eating one meal per week where you can't log it accurately? Keep watching your overall weight trend and adjust if necessary, but purposefully introduce something that can't be logged to the degree of accuracy that you're using now. One meal isn't enough to derail your weight loss (assuming that you make intelligent choices and don't use it as an excuse to overindulge).
Some techniques you could use include:
*Eyeballing or using measuring cups/spoons (still tracking, but more loosely than you are now)
*Choosing an entry that basically matches what you ate (I do this when I eat at independent restaurants that don't post nutritional information -- I just choose basically the same thing but from a chain restaurant and figure that it's more or less accurate)
*Just plain guesstimating and using a Quick Add2 -
neiltillbrook wrote: »@cmriverside: Yeah, I remember reading and seeing on some programs that the information on packages can legally be off to a certain degree, and that they average out over time. I weight things like cereal, frozen veg, and anything that can be portioned (chips, etc.) not slices of bread, ready meals or things already in a portion (chicken burger).
I think that's the mentally I need to focus on. I need to accept that, though I weight a good 90%+ of the things I eat, that the details aren't always going to be accurate and day-to-day I'm likely to be a little up, then down.
@TavistockToad: I logged in the first week, but I haven't since Christmas Day. In the first week I'd put on a couple of lbs, but I expected that to happen. On a regular week I might lose, or not, or put on a 1lb, so it varies from week to week, but all in all it's a steady decrease over the six months I've been logging this year.
Before you say anything, I know that points to me doing all the right things, and I know I know that - it's just the niggling doubts in the back of my mind that stop me from focusing on it.
use your results to nullify your doubts, you're doing so awesome...and yeah i don't think stopping counting is the answer. EVERY TIME i stopped, i regained weight! counting calories and weighing yourself daily or at least weekly are the keys to long term success...1 year, 5 years, 10 years from now. my dad lost weight 7 years ago and still counts daily. he just gets as close as he can when logging, and doesn't worry about it, because the results speak for themselves. i think in time your doubting demons will lessen, and you'll know it's not exact, but you are close enough to meet your body's needs and reach your goals!2 -
I have an interesting observation to add to this post. For my first 6 months on MFP, I didn't own a food scale. I simply logged my best "guestimates" of food portions. Nonetheless, I managed to lose 12 lbs over 3 months using this method, while also going to the gym regularly. I've been on maintenance since September.
For Christmas, I finally received a digital food scale. For curiosity's sake, I spent the last two days checking the weight of ingredients in some of my routine meals (shredded wheat at breakfast and spinach and avocado salad at lunch, for example).
I was surprised by how far off my "guestimates" were. 1 cup of shredded wheat wasn't 47 grams, it was 70! That banana that I thought was 6-6.5 inches long was much smaller once the peel was removed. My 75 gram avocado was actually 100 grams.
In my case, I assume that these mistakes must have evened themselves out over the course of 6 months. I lost the 12 lbs and managed to maintain my weight between 132 and 134 these past few months, although I have to admit that I didn't eat back any of my exercise calories most of the time.
Even so, there's a lesson to be learned here: buy a food scale if you're serious about losing weight. No one can accuse you of being obsessive if you've been trying to cut back on your portions, but just can't seem to make any headway simply by eyeballing it.2 -
neiltillbrook wrote: »@cmriverside: Yeah, I remember reading and seeing on some programs that the information on packages can legally be off to a certain degree, and that they average out over time. I weight things like cereal, frozen veg, and anything that can be portioned (chips, etc.) not slices of bread, ready meals or things already in a portion (chicken burger).
I think that's the mentally I need to focus on. I need to accept that, though I weight a good 90%+ of the things I eat, that the details aren't always going to be accurate and day-to-day I'm likely to be a little up, then down.
@TavistockToad: I logged in the first week, but I haven't since Christmas Day. In the first week I'd put on a couple of lbs, but I expected that to happen. On a regular week I might lose, or not, or put on a 1lb, so it varies from week to week, but all in all it's a steady decrease over the six months I've been logging this year.
Before you say anything, I know that points to me doing all the right things, and I know I know that - it's just the niggling doubts in the back of my mind that stop me from focusing on it.
use your results to nullify your doubts, you're doing so awesome...and yeah i don't think stopping counting is the answer. EVERY TIME i stopped, i regained weight! counting calories and weighing yourself daily or at least weekly are the keys to long term success...1 year, 5 years, 10 years from now. my dad lost weight 7 years ago and still counts daily. he just gets as close as he can when logging, and doesn't worry about it, because the results speak for themselves. i think in time your doubting demons will lessen, and you'll know it's not exact, but you are close enough to meet your body's needs and reach your goals!
There are many people in maintenance in this forum that don't log anything at all or very sporadically, and they are very successful. And there are other members that gained weight after they stopped weighing and logging their food. We are all different so you can not say that the only way is to log for ever. Sorry that it didn't work for you.
I have been in maintenance for over 7 years and I log sporadically and without much accuracy and I have been keeping my weight within 2 lbs. I don't consider myself a special snowflake.4 -
I think I am somewhere in between. I am in my maintenance. I also enjoy eating out a few times per month and I know that I cannot know the exact calories in something unless I prepare it myself. I try not not to eat on a whim. If I am going to eat out I like to know what I am going to eat and therefore have some idea of the calories. Sometimes I do feel like I cannot enjoy food because I am thinking of the amount of calories. I do not offer calorie amounts to others, but everyone that knows me knows that I am conscious of calories. It does not bother them though. I do not know why, but the hardest thing for me to enjoy is a big burger and fries. Even if if fits in my calories for the day. I may have one every couple of months if I really want it. For me it also makes it more pleasurable if I do not make decadent food items part of my regular menu. I enjoy them more when I do not have them all the time, but I must have some type of chocolate every day.1
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do it long enough and you get pretty good at estimating.0
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