This is just too stressful

If you truly want help that doesnt involve counting every little thing, here are some simple rules and tips.

Use smaller plates for your food.
Use the 1/4, 1/4, 1/2 method. Thats 1/4 of your plate meat or protein, 1/4 of it carby foods and 1/2 of it vegetation.
Restrict sweets
drink more water, less soda
exercise at least 3-4 days a week for at least 30-40 minutes.

Following these steps you can lose as well. Ive done it when I didnt have MFP. I use it now because I LIKE being able to have pizza or chocolate on occasion and lose. That and I love the community and reading about success stories. I eat what I want thats reasonable and at the end of the day, I log it. If Im under great, if not, I work on tweaking what I eat.

I found that it worked best when I picked one thing each week to change, let go of, or try. This allowed me to not stress over what was or was not happening. I know I don't think of it as something I'm going to fail at or not anymore. I look at it as a way to retrain my eating habits so it's not a diet, but a new way to eat. A way that I can live with now and into the future. I eat way more food now at around 2200 cals then I did when that would be one meal. I can't judge another persons OCD, but take it from someone who would bag their peanut m&m's by color and amount and then eat by size. This is doable and I log so I am accountable, but mostly to myself. This is about you, for you and by you. Don't worry about what others think, just do whats best for you. Maybe that is not logging in everyday, or maybe it's keeping your diary private. Hang in there and goodluck. I'm not losing super fast, but a year ago I was 64 lbs heavier and wore 50" pants and 4xl shirts. Today I wear loose 44's and 2xl and it's so worth the effort. Breathe! You can do this!

I haven't been on the site for some time and have decided to come back again. I understand your stress. I have found if I plan my day/week out before hand, it is a lot less stressful and I find I am more successful. I even plan my workout time. If you are not eating a variety of meals and you are eating repetitive items, you can save them. If this data entry stuff isn't right for you then don't do it, just post your progress good or bad. However, this is the reason I like to use the Food and Fitness trackers. If I don't lose as much as I think I should have I review what I have eaten, then I compare it to my history of meals to see what I was doing differently when I was seeing the positive numbers expected.

Don't be so hard on yourself, give it time. An earlier post had indicated it takes 21 days to create a habit. Try to create a habit.

Keep doing what you are doing. Talk through it. Like an earlier post said "BREATHE." Don't worry about posting your activity right now, you know you did it.

I also thought this may help, kinda deep but maybe this quote by Tansu Ciller will help:

"Nobody can resist a ripe idea. The idea today is change."

This site is for you! If you are not ready to do all the calorie counting or fitness monitoring, then just review other's posts. See their progress and hopefully you will find your motivation. I do believe tracking will be most beneficial to you but not if it is going to stress you. I understand STRESS and how debilitating it can be. Try to make slow daily changes.

Honestly, if I were you, I'd find some other way to do it. I mean if it's stressing you out (which stress can cause you to gain weight so in the end it probably isn't helping much) then you won't stick with it for long. You need to find something you can stick with. I HATED logging calories with a passion. It wasn't as much your reason, but that it was soooo hard for me. I NEVER make the same recipe twice, heck I never USE RECIPES. I'm a throw it all together and cook it type and it's always different! So I just gave up.

Something I want to try this year instead is just writing down everything I put in my mouth in a notebook so that I still acknowledge everything I eat. It's not counting calories but I honestly try more for eating whole foods, skipping processed foods, sweets, etc, etc. I can't see myself counting calories forever and always being concerned with calories so I want to try to find a habit I can stick with. I think writing down everything you eat is a good alternative. Maybe more so if you're already aware of the calories in the foods you in. Since I already eat fairly healthy things and eat most whole foods then I'm not overly concerned with the rest.

In the end stress will only cause you to gain weight...or at least stop you from losing so it's stupid to keep doing something to lose weight that is only stressing you out because it'll make you have to work even harder to lose the weight and you'll end up just getting more stressed that you're not losing the weight.

I know I go against what everybody else said and nobody will agree with me probably but I don't believe that you can only lose weight by counting calories. I know that's a BIG part of this website but I'm only here for the support I get from my friends on here and the forums (and to log exercise as motivation).

It was difficult for me at first also, but what I tell myself is that I am working on being ABSOLUTELY HONEST with MYSELF. I write down what I eat no matter how bad the day is because it's an exercise of being honest and acknowledging my behavior. I can't change what I refuse to acknowledge. If I tell myself "I eat pretty healthy" and then I eat twice the number of calories that I need in a day (real example), I am only fooling myself, but my body tells the truth.

Another thing that helped me is wearing a bodybugg. The bodybugg tells me how many calories I burn in a day, whether I sit on the couch, do no exercise at all but am active that day, or if I workout hard. It tells me the TRUTH about how many calories I have to work with. If I eat less than I burn, I lose weight. If I eat more than I burn, I gain. It's that simple.

The truth sucks! :grumble:

Hope that helps! :flowerforyou:

My problem isn't just the numbers. It's the actually activity. Even now I'm struggling NOT to input my stuff. I know I'm having an obsessive-compulsive moment and while it is good to log my info, I feel like if I do I'll be giving in to the compulsion. It's kind of like a smoker giving into a craving for a cigarette.

Honestly I wish I had never even heard of calorie counting.

I know it may be difficult to do, but perhaps you can use this site for tracking just your weight and exercise. Use an easier, less precise way to track your food - a notebook where you write down what you eat without being so specific as to weight or calories. In this way you can still have the benefit of thinking about what you are putting into your body without triggering your OCD. Not all weight loss "tools" work for everyone so take from this what works and ignore the part that doesn't.