How do you NOT start to obsess about your logs?

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  • spacecampsucks
    spacecampsucks Posts: 33 Member
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    I spent 24 years of my life not caring about what I ate. A little obsession can't be a bad thing at this point :p

    I wish I wasn't so obsessed though. Like yesterday I decided to treat myself to a takeaway. I had the best option on the menu and stayed under my daily calorie goal and I still felt really guilty afterwards. I don't want to feel like that after a treat...
  • aSunflower
    aSunflower Posts: 73 Member
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    I have been there!

    You are right, It is easy to obsess, especially at first. It takes a lot of time to get started, learning what to do and eat. If you have been at this for over a month and are still not living your life or are unable to get things done you need a little intervention. Plan your meals ahead of time and then put the MFP away. Go out with friends and don't talk about dieting! (If you were like me- you are driving them a little crazy anyway :wink: )You are not a one dimensional person- you have other interests and goals.

    Remember you cannot obsess for life, eventually you will have to do something else, then your diet will fail. You are more than your weight! Work on being a well rounded person who eats healthy -not just a dieter!


    Good Luck
  • AmberMagdalena
    AmberMagdalena Posts: 461 Member
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    Looking at my food and exercise logs everyday its an amazement that the entire united states isn't obese.

    Well, about half of the country is obese. Calories are hard to manage when food is so...available
  • mhankosk
    mhankosk Posts: 535 Member
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    At one point, I started logging gum. It was bad. I have backed off a little from that now, but I am ALWAYS checking my diary. MFP is open 100% of the time I am at work and I have the iPhone app that I am constantly checking! LOL. You're definitely not the only one! :flowerforyou:
  • junyr
    junyr Posts: 416 Member
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    Looking at my food and excersize logs everyday its an amazement that the entire united states isnt obese. The amount of calories in even a tiny piece of food is way more than at first percieved. I've cut back, started eating more healthy options, go to the gym 4-5 days a week for an hour at least, sometimes three, and my totals are still high. My question though isnt "Why am I not losing weight" cause I know why. My question is how does it not take over your entire life, how do you not spend every minute obsessing over failing and food? Maybe I'm just rambling.

    To me it's not a "pass/fail". I look at it as more of a puzzle, where you have a finished product you're trying to achieve (your daily logs meeting calorie intake and macros) and you have your pieces (food) that may or may not fit, but you have to try to get them as close as possible. Those are the battles, the war is my end game, my goal weight and body composition.
  • jkleon86
    jkleon86 Posts: 245 Member
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    this is all new to me and it might seen like I am obesessing over it but I am excited about a 10 lb loss in 4 wks I see it is working and I want to learn all I can and not mess it up and then make logging and planning a routine for me.
  • shirleyisblessed
    shirleyisblessed Posts: 21 Member
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    I don't consider my logging every thing to be obsessing, because by me logging everything I am holding myself more accountable. Also, I get to see what I am doing right and what I am doing wrong until I learn more healthy habits.
  • mbishop71
    mbishop71 Posts: 8 Member
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    There is plenty wrong with obsessing over calorie counting. When it takes control over your life and you can no longer do nothing but count calories, it's not healthy. Especially when you start eating less and less and less because you don't want those numbers to go up.


    Utter tosh.

    You've taken obessing about calorie counting and exrtrapolated that to a bloody eating disorder. Two totally different things. Tracking your intake in order to take back control over your weight is a positve and healthy thing to do. It doesn't lead to what you've described for normal people.

    Obsession isn't healthy. Ask any mental health professional.

    This is where it gets sticky. Someone define obsession as a place to start. I'm not a mental health expert so I won't try. It certainly seems that if it reaches the point where it takes over ones life it may well be a problem. But my local friends think that logging all of my food and exercise is obsessing. I beg to differ, it is merely taking control of my diet, fitness, and overall health through information and knowledge. I'm an accountant by profession so this all comes very easy and natural for me since I'm used to recording and tracking detail for a living. I could cross some line that crosses over into disorder but merely logging and tracking is by no means a disorder. Many folks here at MFP need to obsess (in the layman’s use of the term) for a time until they get things under control. If they can't then turn loose then it may be a problem.

    Taking control and being more informed and developing better habits, all good and all not obsession.

    Definition of obsession from dictionary.com: "the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc. "

    DOMINATION being the key word there. If thinking about your logs dominates your life, problem. If using them daily as the tools to better health they are intended as, not obsession and not a problem.
  • Kate_zumba
    Kate_zumba Posts: 7 Member
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    One of the reasons I was asking was I used to have an eating disorder and I was constantly told dont obsess, its unhealthy, youll sabotage yourself. So I'm trying to find the fine line between healthy obsession and dangerous obsession.
  • sunkisses
    sunkisses Posts: 2,365 Member
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    I have a balanced life that I love outside of the world of food and how I look.

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