Getting obsessive with calorie counts

I had the same issue- I am fine during the day, and plan my breakfast and lunch in advance. But I know when I get home I will be more apt to eat too many calories. I have started to have some higher caloric items in my house. For example, if I'm having a good day and low on my calories I will use regular salad dressing rather than the light. I also started buying more foods that I would normally not consider- like cheese. When my day is ending and I am way under my calories I will have pita chips and hummus as my snack instead of fruit or lower calorie options. Hope this helps!

Try not to obsess. I know, easier said than done. The thing is..everybody needs a minimum of 1200 calories for the day. If you're exercising, you need more, and unless you're already a tiny person, you need more than that for existing. I wrote my own plan because nothing was working for me. I'm eating 6 times a day (this actually means I'm eating practically all day long). I usually have 2 or 3 items per meal to equal around 200 calories, except for one meal, which I try to push up to 350-450. My food diary is open for public viewing and I am keeping a blog at followkarisjourney.blogspot.com if you want to see what I'm eating. You'll see it's a similar list of foods each day, but it's working for me and I'm making small changes as I feel they're needed along the way. If I can help you, let me know. Feel free to add me as a friend here if you want.

My only concern is that by pre-planning my day, I leave no wiggle room for myself in case my plans change. My day-to-day life can get rather hectic, and I'm worried that I'll begin obsessing about planning out the perfect meals and then if I don't stick to them I'll get very angry at myself.

EDIT: If I did have a smartphone, it might be easier, but sadly, I don't.

That's not the point of planning your day. You plan your day so you learn what balance of foods you need to eat daily. That way, when things get hectic, you can say "well, OK, I had planned on X, which is a high-protein food, I'd better substitute something like Y, which is somewhat similar". Then when you get home you adjust your "plan" for the day to reality, and learn whether your on-the-spot decisions were good ones.

If they weren't, then you just learned something that you can use next time.

I bag a lunch and stick pretty slavishly to it, at least for the time being. But now that I'm eating a regulated, controlled diet, I'm starting to learn the cues my body gives me when it wants fat or protein as opposed to when a complex carb might be the right answer as opposed to when a few calories of simple sugar for a quick pick-me-up might do, and more importantly when I'm mistaking thirst or sodium overload for hunger (a common mistake, and the source of the myth that you get "hungry" 2 hours after eating Chinese food - actually, you are THIRSTY because the MSG has just hit your system and the sodium is dehydrating you badly).

One you start learning those cues, it gets easier to make on-the-spot choices. "Man, my tummy is all rumbly, time for some filling fats and proteins!" "Oh, my energy levels are dropping, time for a glass of water and some complex carbs!" "I'm just dropping on my feet and I have to be my best for the meeting in 10 minutes, time for a lifesaver, a big glass of water, then a balanced carb/fat/protein snack to keep the energy there when the sugar runs out!" The cues will probably be different for you, and your reactions might be different depending on the balance of foods you discover works for you (Atkins/low-carb fans will probably be burning off a lot of calories screaming NNNNOOOOO!!!! at my last two examples).

My bag lunch has all the calories I need to get through a day in decent balances. When my body craves something, I have it. But it's all in a bag that contains a set amount of calories. At the end of the day, I know what I ate because it all came out of the bag. I found the sequence of things to eat that keeps me the most satisfied, but I don't fear changing the sequence, adding the occasional off-list snack (cookie or something from a friendly co-worker), as long as I log it and keep track of it.

My only concern is that by pre-planning my day, I leave no wiggle room for myself in case my plans change. My day-to-day life can get rather hectic, and I'm worried that I'll begin obsessing about planning out the perfect meals and then if I don't stick to them I'll get very angry at myself.

EDIT: If I did have a smartphone, it might be easier, but sadly, I don't.

It sounds like you are going to obsess no matter what you do. That means that food isn't the issue. The issue is your mental process that won't allow yourself some flexibility.

Listen, life is all about wiggle room. So what if you plan a meal and something changes. That's life. Why are you choosing to fell bad about that.

You keep backing yourself into a corner and there's no way out.

Plan ahead - log what you think you'll have for breakfast, lunch and dinner, then add some snacks. If you still have clls to spare add extras to meals or snacks like fruit, avocado, cheese, nuts etc.
Don't forget to estimate your exercise too so you get a few extra cals earlier in the day if you have a workout planned.
If plans change - then edit your diary, but at least you can see what a healthy eating day looks like.

^ I do this too, it really does help!

My only concern is that by pre-planning my day, I leave no wiggle room for myself in case my plans change. My day-to-day life can get rather hectic, and I'm worried that I'll begin obsessing about planning out the perfect meals and then if I don't stick to them I'll get very angry at myself.

EDIT: If I did have a smartphone, it might be easier, but sadly, I don't.

You see, I find that planning give me MORE wiggle room, not less.
If I have planned my day and I know that I've built in (for example) 300 cals of snacks, then if there is a birthday at work I feel fine about eating a small peice of cake because I'll just drop off the snacks I had planned and substitute the cake.
Or, because I know what's for dinner, I can have something extra with lunch if something comes up, and I'll just have a smaller portion at dinner, or drop off the extra cheese or avocado or something.
Or, I'll just go over my calories today and know that I'll be under a little bit tomorrow so it will work out.

It certainly helps having a smart phone, but it's not essential. Really though, if the whole calorie counting thing is making you so obsessive, perhaps its not the right approach for you. We are all different and you need to find a way of eating that fits into your lifestyle. MFP has worked wonderfully well for me, but maybe you would be better with a different approach.

My only concern is that by pre-planning my day, I leave no wiggle room for myself in case my plans change. My day-to-day life can get rather hectic, and I'm worried that I'll begin obsessing about planning out the perfect meals and then if I don't stick to them I'll get very angry at myself.

EDIT: If I did have a smartphone, it might be easier, but sadly, I don't.

You see, I find that planning give me MORE wiggle room, not less.
If I have planned my day and I know that I've built in (for example) 300 cals of snacks, then if there is a birthday at work I feel fine about eating a small peice of cake because I'll just drop off the snacks I had planned and substitute the cake.
Or, because I know what's for dinner, I can have something extra with lunch if something comes up, and I'll just have a smaller portion at dinner, or drop off the extra cheese or avocado or something.
Or, I'll just go over my calories today and know that I'll be under a little bit tomorrow so it will work out.

It certainly helps having a smart phone, but it's not essential. Really though, if the whole calorie counting thing is making you so obsessive, perhaps its not the right approach for you. We are all different and you need to find a way of eating that fits into your lifestyle. MFP has worked wonderfully well for me, but maybe you would be better with a different approach.

great insight! thanks for sharing!