Okay so I know...consciously, my mind knows that not eating does not = success. I have to eat (or drink, if I'm doing the juicing thing) in order to keep my body out of starvation mode, blah blah yada yada...but what do you do when your body doesn't want to cooperate with that and there is a quiet voice in the back of your head questioning you everytime you even think about maybe putting a calorie in your mouth? this is why I've never calorie counted because I get obsessive and that is what I currently have going on...I am obsessing and as a result, on day one of initial calorie cycling/counting escapade thing, I've eaten a piece of toast with 1 tsp of cream cheese and drank some water and that is it and its 3pm...and each time i consider lunch...its like, o no, that's bad, that's calories and calories are bad...how do you get to a healthy place in your head where food is not the enemy? especially since i still need to do my jmshred and i'm like going to die without having eaten lunch...

I don't have an answer other than we must have food to survive and food does contain calories. Do you want to survive ? Than you must have food.

I would probably not calorie count if it takes you to that dark place. Instead I would try to focus on eating healthy food when I'm hungry and stop when I'm satisfied, not stuffed.

That said, I DO calorie count because I'm not good at taking cues from my body and stopping before I'm stuffed. I set a calorie range for the day and focus on staying within that range (not too high OR low).

I have a tendency to become really obsessed with calorie counting too. This week I have taken a little break from it all and just followed my instinct on whether or not I'm hungry. To try to keep it under control, I still weigh myself everyday so I don't overindulge. So far my eating this week has made me loose weight instead of gain. Maybe taking a break from calorie counting will be good for you. Just for a few days?

lol...ITS MY FIRST DAY! i haven't tried to calorie count since I was a teenager...and I'm a long way from that time...but it seems to be all coming back to me now...I remember not eating the whole day and then I would look up and its night time and I would find the most unheathy stuff and just eat it all...bad things...really bad things...okay we may be nixing the calorie counting thing...so now what do I do? I have to be aware of what I'm eating and taking in somehow...is it possible to just you know write it down but not obsess..or is that question I should ask myself...?

Would it help if you planned out your meals in advance? E.g. you work out that you can have x many calories per day, and allot yourself meals/snacks accordingly?

Perhaps if you know that your food choices will be within your calorie limit, you'll feel better about eating throughout the day?

Just a thought!

that's an idea...okay I will try that one.

UPDATE:

So I have issues with emotional disorders (depression, social anxiety, you name it...I probably got it or something similar) but as I grow and mature as a person and heal from some things, I sometimes am unable to *see* that growth, or um...maybe in this case feel it. Its like, I have a conditioned response to some things but its not necessarily the updated response so wheretho as a teenager, I couldn't handle calorie counting because I was in a way worse place then I am now...At this juncture in my life, it is significantly less daunting. What I'm saying, is that on day one...I was having my conditioned response...then as I thought on it and I reached out I realized that a) who I was is not who I am today and b) I can handle this so I am better and I am handling it and I haven't surpassed my calorie counts this week and I've been successfully keeping up and eating my meals and snacks etc...and its all okay. Thanx so much

That's wonderful that you are at a place where you can do this for yourself! Its never easy, so you should be really proud of any forward motion.

I agree bargoo

that's not good, girlfriend... although i can understand cuz sometimes that happened to me as well when i was calorie counting.

calorie counting makes me crazy, so i don't do it anymore. i just try to eat clean, and reasonable portions, and very low carbs, and i am not making myself crazy. it's much better for me. plus with the calorie-counting, it's easy to count wrong. and then i wasn't losing weight and people were like "maybe you're eating too little.... maybe you're eating too much..." and it just made me more frustrated.

i say you should find a way to diet that doesn't make your life ****!!

good luck!