I can't decide if this site is right for me...

You can always try it for a few days and then see how you like it.

The thing I like is that you can look at reports...so if you want to adjust the amount of fat, or carbs, or sugars you consume, you can see trends over time, of how you're eating. There are days when I have more calories at the end of the day than I was expecting. If I didn't keep really good track of my food, I wouldn't know that. It would be guesswork.

But I agree, at first, it seems overwhelming. But if you can give yourself a little time and experience some of the advantages, you might even like logging after a while (or at least not mind it as much).

Good luck!

This is my first time using a tool like this in my weight loss and so far I am enjoying it. I think for me, I do stress over it, but I also remind myself that the bulk of my poor eating habits came from not eating better and missing alot of key nutrients. I am still consistently falling short on protein for example.

So I keep mindful of my caloric intake, but I try not to stress it because even if I go over what it tells me my goal is, I also work my butt off in the gym. Keep with it and just try not to stress out over it so much. You can do it

I personally got stressed out the first week and a half, but I have an anxiety disorder and I at first felt like by counting calories I was severely limiting what I could eat. But I stuck to it because I wanted to stay within a certain intake and it was easier than writing everything down and trying to figure out the calories from there.

Now it's more a convenience because I can check the calories on something here 9 times out of 10 instead of tearing up Google and I can keep track of my water intake and my exercise hours so I know I'm not under on either. Like everything, this method's not for everyone and some people just won't like it or never warm up to it and that's fine. As long as the method you're using is getting you the results you want, that's all that matters.

not everyone can be a doctor, not everyone can be a lawyer, not everyone can be educated. not everyone are meant to be in this website.

anything good needs work or hard work. if you think it's stressing your out then my advise to you is to go out of this site, maybe you have more better things to do than the necessary work for this.

my main message, find your happiness, but remember that anything worth it, comes work and persistence.

all the best.

I started this thing about a week ago. A true eye opener. I've never counted calories before, but it's not hard once you commit to it. It's much easier if you use the phone app plus the website. When I first signed up, I overestimated my weight by 4 pounds...wish I could go back and change that. Anyways, keeping track of things has helped me. When I do go over, I simply go for a walk and get in some extra exercise, something I would NEVER have done before.

if you feel like you are obsessing over calories you might be susceptible to developing an eating disorder.
please be careful

I feel the same way. Well not about counting calories...that is a MUST...but about the time it and being on this site consumes. I went off for a while becvause of time, and almost immediatly fell back into my bad eat whatever I wanted with no exercise ways. Needless to say, here I am a few months later 10 pounds heavier!!! I could dry about that...

But I'm back and I know that logging your food and exercise is def a good thing, because it holds you accountable for what your doing to your body. Def get the fone app and just log when you can. This time around Im not going to spend as much time reading and commenting on blogs, because that too eats up time. I'm a mom of 2, I work full time, and go to school full time so yeah I def understand the time thing, but the food and exercise logging is worth it. Especially when you see you got 200 more calories a day because of exercise, and still have some left over at the end!

Good luck with your journey!

I can relate to your frustration. This afternoon I only had 175 calories left for my dinner. I knew that was not going to work. So , I got motivated and jogged for 50 minutes and cashed in on 475 calories. I ate a good dinner and had some dark chocolate for desert. It looks like this tool empowers you to take control of not only your intake but also your exercise routine. It is all a matter of perspective.

I can relate to your frustration. This afternoon I only had 175 calories left for my dinner. I knew that was not going to work. So , I got motivated and jogged for 50 minutes and cashed in on 475 calories. I ate a good dinner and had some dark chocolate for desert. It looks like this tool empowers you to take control of not only your intake but also your exercise routine. It is all a matter of perspective.

Good for you! Way to take control!!! That is how you get it done!!!!!

I really love the idea of having friends to help keep me motivated here online, but I feel like tracking calories like this is too stressful. Everytime I go over, I feel bad, and I feel like it is making me obsessive over every little bit of food that I eat. Does anyone else feel this way? I can't figure out if this site is actually not for me, or if I'm just being a baby because staying under my calories is too difficult, and it would be easier not to bother.

I also love reading the message boards on here and looking through my newsfeed thing, but I feel like this just makes me spend a large block of time thinking about weight loss, and it stresses me out

I was thinking of just keeping an actual journal of my daily food intake, but not tracking the calories alongside it. Any thoughts on this idea?

TDEE is a very important and calming number.

I know that with MFP set to 2k daily ill lose weight.

I also know that TDEE for me is 2500 so ANYTHING below this is weight loss.
No stress!
No stress=weight loss!

Dont overthink this ****!
Just cut calories and research and have fun!

The way I see it, a lot of people spend their time feeling depressed about what they aren't eating when trying to change habits, so I tell myself that logging everything is far better than staring sadly at the pantry or eating well but feeling sorry for myself; in the past those things led me to give up.

Oh, and to actually address what you asked, I hope that you continue to track calories; this would be good for keeping an objective look at what you're taking in, as the inability to be truly objective got at least some of us (well, me) in trouble in the first place

If seeing red numbers freaks you out, then you can always set up your diary in a different way. If you set up your goals for maintenance (choose "stay the same weight") then you can still log your food and then you get to choose what your calorie deficit is for the day.
If you eat exactly that number you should stay the same.
If you eat more you will probably gain weight.
If you eat less you should lose weight. MPF calculates numbers using 500 cals/day = 1 pound of weight loss per week so you can use this as a guide to how much under you are each day.

I suffered for years with an eating disorder (not sure you ever completely get over them, though I am MUCH better now). For the first few months on MFP I only tracked my exercise because I tend to obsess and stress. (However, I didn't lose weight until I began tracking calories.) One size does not fit all. This may not be the best method for you, but give it a month and see if you can handle it. Don't worry overmuch about staying under your calorie goal at first. Just concentrate on being accurate. Then you can look at it objectively and say, "If I avoided eating<insert high calorie food here> for lunch every day and ate <insert favorite low calorie food here> and took a 10 minute walk instead, I would be under my calorie goal each day without trying too hard."

Good luck and best to you!

I don't think this is the place for someone with an eating disorder - its great that you have admitted it, that's the first important step, now share it with someone you can trust, yr mum, an older friend, a dr. I am worried that this site will just make you more obsessive. good luck with your journey to a healthy life

I just started a little bit ago, so I'm still trying to decide if this is going to be a good fit for me, too. Historically, probably because of an eating disorder when I was younger, every time I started counting calories I turned dangerously OCD and completely lost my appetite. It was like the act of counting the calories tripped a switch in my brain. I expected that this time, too. I was really nervous about even trying it. But I've found that for some reason... maybe just time and age, this is working better for me. I think partly because I'm tracking thins like fiber and protein, too, and focusing less on calories and more on balance.

Another big thing for me is that I've pushed myself to be as objective about my results as I can. Instead of eating what I want to write down, I eat exactly what I want, record the results, look at it objectively to see how I could make positive changes, and then try to make those changes. If I decided to eat 6 Reese's Peanutbutter cups, I would eat them, write it down, and then look to see how that choice affects the rest of my diet, my overall nutrients, and how I feel.

Before, what I ate would have determined if I had a good day or a bad day. I'm trying hard to take the moral judgment out of it and look at my diet with as much objectivity as I can.

I got tired of listing things like Maple Nut Goodies or Cold Stone Creamery Cheesecake Fantasy ice cream under "snacks", and added another category of meals called "Crap I Shouldn't Have Eaten". Not a completely judgment free sounding category, but it is what it is!

You might learn some interesting things about your diet if you can open your mind to the possibilities and not get shut down with concerns about failure. For instance, one time I learned that if I went nuts and ate all the Reese's I wanted that I actually didn't go over on calories that day... turns out that eating all that saturated fat (or something) kept me satisfied and my total calorie consumption that day was on the low side. Of course, other than the calorie count, the day looked like a disaster... practically nutrient free and very calorie dense. Not a good way to go. But I learned something from it.

Maybe start out thinking of this as an experiment, not a report card. See what your eating and how it relates to how you feel. What gets you closer to the sort of nutritional balance you want, and what moves you away from that balance. This is a tool, not a angry disciplinarian waiting for you to slip up.

That said, if it is causing you undue stress and preventing you from finding happiness, drop it. Try it out later. Things change. This may not be the right thing for you now.

Shannon