This is an aspect of my weightloss personality (yes I become a whole different person) which is currently driving me nuts. I find that calorie counting works for me - I understand it, it's easy and if you do it properly you get results. So that's the positive. However, I find that once I've decided how many calories I'm going to have in a day I'll eat them - come what may.

I usually aim for around 1400 calories. If I've got to 9pm and I've had 1300 calories I will go and find something for 100 - whether or not I'm hungry. This has often led to a mini binge as that one little extra thing has kicked off something in me that needs to eat.

Does anybody else do this? If you used to and you've stopped it then please tell me how you did it as it's playing havoc with my progress. It's not a doing something else distraction that I need it's advice on how to let go of the mathematics or something. Help

ok, now, im not a huge calorie counter, but i do pay attention to it...so i dunno if this is good or bad advice, but maybe you could set a calorie limit for the week as well as the day, then if you have extra calories at the end of the day they can "roll over" to the next day. just a thought.

Agreed . . . I track daily, but then really only worry about what the daily AVERAGE is over the course of a week . . . seems to work for me.

Yes I do that too. I do it more so though with my meals. I have them portioned out and if I have a few bites left though am no longer hungry - I almost always finish it. Sad, but true. I just can't seem to help it. But then again I rationalize it that it's healthy foods and there's no terrible harm in it, and there isn't. As for your situation I do that as well, though not as often. I guess I feel I am "entitled" to the calories. I am also trying, trying be the key word to stick to 1200 calories per day. So if I'm at 1100 I really don't want to stay there more then once a week. I just don't want to go below 1200. Of course I know it averages out because I always wind up with 1300 and 1400 calorie days as well. At this point I am still losing. If it gets to the point where I'm not I will definetely have to be more vigilent about it. It's an area if I can cutback.

I know this wasn't of much help to you. Just wondering though - are you still losing? If you are then whatever you're doing seems to be working and for now I wouldn't worry about if much - if not well that's a whole other ball game. The thing is you said it leads to a "mini-binge". If that's the case then you're really gonna have to reel that in. Maybe if it's the night time that is causing you to binge, don't leave that extra 100 calories vacant for the evening. Use it up during the day.

see, i tried calorie counting but that's what happened to me to...
i would be like, oh i have plenty of calories left and then end up overeating...
that method doesn't work for me.. you just have to try a bunch of different things and find what works best for you
even then, i have to switch it up every once and a while so i don't get bored

I am having lots of problems with calorie counting, and I do experience the same dilemma as you -- last week, I was only at 900 calories at 9 p.m. (and had worked out quite a bit that day!), so I had a banana with peanut butter and then a waffle with peanut butter. It didn't start a binge, but it just seemed a little . . . odd.

On other days, I overeat to a ridiculous extent and then don't track at all, which allows me to feel like that was okay.

Nosnah: What do you do instead of calorie counting?

I'm still not sure whether calorie counting is right for me, but I do like the overall idea.

I'm a calorie counter (about 1600/day), but unless I'm really low for the day (less than 1300) I don't really seek out additional foods to eat.

I also keep a lot of ~100 calorie options around, whole fruits, low- or nonfat yogurt, slices of cheese & deli meats. And the occasional square/piece of dark chocolate.

One thing that works well is drinking water or brushing teeth after meeting caloric requirement -- it helps wash the palate out so I don't crave more of the same.

Ok..
I use a calorie range (1100-1600 a day) and I write down as I go.. I love this way of dieting because if I end up at 1600 and it is 4pm.. I just skip dinner.. this way I have had anything (and everything) I have wanted all day.. and it is a little tough to skip dinner, but it's ONE meal.. not spending an entire next day trying to "make up for" the over eating from the day before..

If you do this instead of saying "I am having 1400 cal a day".. maybe that would help?

I agree with the "if you have 1oo calories left at the end of the day, just add them to tomorrows calories." That is definately a way to zig-zag your calories, which keeps your body from getting used to a certain amount. Whenever I hit a plataue, I would do that. Right now, I am just trying to get my body in the whole process of dropping a pound. I keep going up and down between 167 and 170...depending on what time of day, what day, what i am or am not wearing and blah blah blah......lol. I am trying to be really religious about entering it all in fit day so I can see what I may be doing right or wrong. Just hang in there. But definately, if trying to get that last 100 calories in at the end of the day leads to more than that, I would forget that last 100 and add it to the next day. Have a little something extra with breakfast. Hope that helps.

I rarely go under 1200, but I did once last week. I just went to bed--I wasn't hungry, so why eat? I'm pretty sure I made it up the following day at breakfast. If I remember right, I ended up eating a little more than usual that morning. All in all, I say if you average it up for the week, you should be okay. Isn't that kind of like the daily weighing vs the weekly weighing?