Re: How do you Stop Calorie Counting?

[Guest guest]

I can totally relate to this. I can't just eat a " muffin " without thinking of the carbohydrates...how many hours on the treadmill to burn this off and such and such.

I just try to face the issue head on...ok I am afraid that a muffin will make me fat. I ask myself, is that rational. That one food item will induce sudden weight gain. I also ask myself..how far has obsessive thinking/restricting foods due to their potential " fattening-power " gotten me.

The answer for me is that it has gotten me into a whole heap of mess. I am just starting to incorporate some of my " fear foods " into my diet...I think you have to actually expose yourself to the fear...albeit slowly..and see that it is a LIE...otherwise you'll be arguing with some pretty convincing demons..

 

-Kareemah

 

The only way I ever lost weight in my whole life was to calorie count, but I want to stop this " measuring " mentality that determines what I am allowed to eat.

Just like some people see flowers and know each name, I see food, and know (or want to know) the calories. I'm still living in the mentality that the food I eat needs to pass the calorie test or I can't eat it.

Do you just " block out these thoughts as soon as they arise? or do substitute it with another thought or question?I can't shake myself out of this. I wish I never learned what the calories of things were.

[Guest guest]

I can relate to this, too, but all I have to do is think back to how I was pretty easily able to switch from calorie-counting to carb-counting, to fat-gram counting, to counting WW Points, and I realize that I can really truly as easily change once again what it is I'm "counting": this time I'm counting: Do I actually want this particular food? Will this food make me feel physically and mentally good? Will I have energy and mental clarity after I eat? Am I really physically hungry now, or can I wait a bit? Have I eaten enough to satisfy my physical hunger, or should I eat more now?

I think for me it's not the "units" or the "counting" that's the challenge for me to change, but instead the mentality that I have to deprive myself when I'm hungry because otherwise I won't lose weight. Or that I have to exercise more than feels good on any given day, or else I won't lose weight fast enough. I remember Bob Greene (Oprah's one-time exercise guru) actually telling her that if she wanted to lose weight, then she was simply going to have to be hungry sometimes, because that was the only sign she was burning calories. And she had to exercise even when she didn't feel like it, because that was the way to burn fat.

Look where those rules got poor Oprah!

It is not only possible to lose weight by doing IE--it's possible to lose it and keep it off, something dieting never got me. I am slowly losing weight after months and months of staying the same weight while dieting. And I'm exercising again, because I know I am not going to make myself move when my body is telling me it's had enough for today. Personally, I feel great. It's starting to work for me, and by "work" I mean that I feel so good, not that I'm just losing weight.

And now I'm going to go eat, because I am in fact hungry!

Laurie

On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 3:22 PM, catlady2112 <answers.kategmail> wrote:

The only way I ever lost weight in my whole life was to calorie count, but I want to stop this "measuring" mentality that determines what I am allowed to eat.

Just like some people see flowers and know each name, I see food, and know (or want to know) the calories. I'm still living in the mentality that the food I eat needs to pass the calorie test or I can't eat it.

Do you just "block out these thoughts as soon as they arise? or do substitute it with another thought or question?

I can't shake myself out of this. I wish I never learned what the calories of things were.

[Guest guest]

I can relate to this, too, but all I have to do is think back to how I was pretty easily able to switch from calorie-counting to carb-counting, to fat-gram counting, to counting WW Points, and I realize that I can really truly as easily change once again what it is I'm "counting": this time I'm counting: Do I actually want this particular food? Will this food make me feel physically and mentally good? Will I have energy and mental clarity after I eat? Am I really physically hungry now, or can I wait a bit? Have I eaten enough to satisfy my physical hunger, or should I eat more now?

I think for me it's not the "units" or the "counting" that's the challenge for me to change, but instead the mentality that I have to deprive myself when I'm hungry because otherwise I won't lose weight. Or that I have to exercise more than feels good on any given day, or else I won't lose weight fast enough. I remember Bob Greene (Oprah's one-time exercise guru) actually telling her that if she wanted to lose weight, then she was simply going to have to be hungry sometimes, because that was the only sign she was burning calories. And she had to exercise even when she didn't feel like it, because that was the way to burn fat.

Look where those rules got poor Oprah!

It is not only possible to lose weight by doing IE--it's possible to lose it and keep it off, something dieting never got me. I am slowly losing weight after months and months of staying the same weight while dieting. And I'm exercising again, because I know I am not going to make myself move when my body is telling me it's had enough for today. Personally, I feel great. It's starting to work for me, and by "work" I mean that I feel so good, not that I'm just losing weight.

And now I'm going to go eat, because I am in fact hungry!

Laurie

On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 3:22 PM, catlady2112 <answers.kategmail> wrote:

The only way I ever lost weight in my whole life was to calorie count, but I want to stop this "measuring" mentality that determines what I am allowed to eat.

Just like some people see flowers and know each name, I see food, and know (or want to know) the calories. I'm still living in the mentality that the food I eat needs to pass the calorie test or I can't eat it.

Do you just "block out these thoughts as soon as they arise? or do substitute it with another thought or question?

I can't shake myself out of this. I wish I never learned what the calories of things were.