I love it for many of theabove reasons, but mostly because it is the only thing that allows me to set limits for myself. It's my version of portion control. I love knowing exactly what's going into my mouth. I'm always aware of the calorie content. No excuses.

I agree with others response.. I never gave anything a chance..usually do for a week and bail out. Taking the chance and knowing others doing and succeeding this method.

Good thread,by the way! :)

Liliann

I love counting for lots of reasons - some of them have already been covered. I guess what I like best is that it makes me think about food in a different way - as a source of energy for my body, not as a friend/enemy/reward/punishment. I can figure out how many calories my body requires and make choices as to what foods I want to eat to get there - and like others have said, I can choose any foods I want. :carrot: :jeno: :cheese: :chockiss: :hun: :broc:

Another thing I love is that I can plan ahead for events where I want to eat more than I need by adjusting my intake down for a few days before. This means that in the long-run I can live a normal life, which is kinda the whole point, isn't it?

The freedom to choose whatever food you want is great, as has been mentioned many times already. The aspect I enjoy the most of that freedom is that it's made me more educated about food in general. I ask myself whether or not individual foods are really worth it, if I'm getting a good deal of nutrition and satisfaction for the number of calories they contain.

The learning process involved in calorie counting is my favorite part. Just reading labels and evaluating my logs makes me feel really proactive and in control of my own health. It's like a long term science experiment - one that I'm confident will help me to maintain my goal weight.

I am a very organized person and I like to be able to count and calculate to be sure I'm going in the right direction for real.

Because it works for me! Nothing is off limits - I just have to adjust for it.

Because it works for me! I hate being told I can't have something. I can have whatever I want - I just have to adjust for it.

I like this! You're right. If you're counting calories, labeling food 'good' or 'bad' and having a complicated emotional relationship with it isn't really helpful; you wind up instead choosing foods on the basis of their nutritional value, their fillingness and whether or not you really want them. It's a pathology all it's own, but it's more psychologically healthy than friend/enemy/reward/punishment/good/bad.

Hooray for calorie counting!

I love it because......

1) It's the only thing that's ever worked for me in finally taking all of my weight off.

2) Counting calories keeps me accountable for what I put into my mouth so I can KEEP the weight off.

3) Logging my food into fitday keeps me balanced because I'm able to see my cals/fats/carbs/protein ratios.

4) Logging my food also allows me to see where my nutrients are coming from and if I'm getting enough of them.

5) Counting calories has allowed me to eat healthier because if I know how many calories I've already had or how many more calories I still need, I can eat certain foods accordingly -and- it makes me more aware of what I'm eating, therefore I eat healthier foods.

I really enjoy calorie-counting. I've done it for 3 and a half years now and I still haven't grown tired of it.

:lol:

So true, and I've got it bad! They'll have to wrest my palm pilot food diary from my cold dead hand. :p

I love that it's based in simple everyday reality. Diet mysticism is the bane of our society's health. Bah! to it.

I love the accountability while still being able to eat things that I love.

I've learned so many healthier eating habits; I know what a true serving size is now.

All the wiggle room it gives! Even if you overeat or undereat one day, it all balances itself out, that's why I calorie cycle.

I totally agree with everyone. I have only been doing it officially for a couple of weeks, but I love it so far! It gives me freedom to eat what I want, within reason of course. I was doing South Beach, but I just got so tired of worrying what I could have or couldn't. I think those types of "diets" work for alot of people, but I needed something I didn't have to worry about so much. Plus calorie counting is easy and I use dailyplate to keep track of everything! It's something I believe I can do for life. ;)