I've been calorie-counting for quite sometime now. I'm getting really close to my goal weight and I think I am becoming WAY to obsessed with my counting!! It seems to be all thats on my mind. I came home to make a quick lunch before starting a second shift at work, but before I could even begin I had to plan what I was going to make myself for dinner tonight. I keep adding, subtracting, substituting, look at different options, etc.
Yesterday, my boyfriend and I were planning to have dinner with his dad, BUT we had to go to a restaurant that had their nutritional info online. I had to know before lunch time so I knew what my game plan would be.

Its starting to stress me out a little, any ideas how I can just tone it down and bit and become a little less frightened by numbers?

Thanks =]

This sounds like pretty normal calorie counting to me. If it's working don't fix it.

I'm working on that too. I can't live like that forever. But I view it as a learning experience to live that way for a while. But if I can't plan everything ahead, I don't sweat it, I just use common sense and portion control. One day a week not perfectly planned isn't going to ruin everything. Sometimes I just have to tell myself to chill and go with it.

Do you have some set calorie limits for each meal and snack and for non-water beverages? For example: 100 cals per snack, 300 per lunch/breakfast, 500 per dinner, 200 for non-water beverages, or something like that? (numbers would vary, depending on your daily calorie limit) Having a framework helps simplify calorie counting for me, so I'm not weighing food or keeping a notebook every day.

I also break each meal down, too...not so much breakfast or snacks, but lunch and dinner, might be 100 cals for veggies, 250 for meat, which on the above plan would leave room for a sauce, dessert, or other side dish...see what I mean? When I shop, then I just buy in bulk and pre-portion food when I store it. For example, I buy half a salmon, and cut it up, weigh it, season it, and put it in individual freezer bags, so that one portion of salmon equals one portion of chicken breast equals one portion of steak or whatever other "meat" I might buy. Same for veggies, I can just bag them up so each baggie holds 100 cals worth of whatever it is. Meal planning is as simple as picking a veggie, picking a meat, then picking a side or sauce or dessert. This keeps the day-to-day stuff easy, and eliminates the need to write everything down every time I eat.

For eating out, I just have a few rules: I don't do it often, maybe 2 times a month. When I do eat out, I make sure it's worth it: I'm not going off plan for a trip to Taco Bell, you know? I'm going off-plan for something special, and yes, I'm having the dessert! On these occasions, I don't count calories at all. If I'm working toward a specific weight goal, I'd rather put off the special dinner than have to count my calories and obsess about it, when it should just be a good time, not all about the food.

If you did want to count those cals, then having set guidelines for each meal can make it easier. Say, you skip one snack that day, make the other half the size it was, and skim 100 cals off lunch...save all those for dinner, then you've plenty of cals to eat out, enjoy yourself, and still come in close to your goal for that day. If you go over, you can always skim a little off the next day to make up for it, if it's bugging you.

When I get stuck with "obligatory socializing" that will involve food I do not want to eat, I just make sure I eat at home before I leave, or at the least, scarf down a protein shake, which will carry me through several hours of watching other people eat. Hope that helps! (and WTG on your weight loss so far!)

Hm. Sounds pretty normal to me too!

I use dailyplate.com to track my meals and usually what happens is this: in the morning I enter my entire days worth of food, as I've planned it. Throughout the day I add and subtract items as I need to ... so I'm always thinking about it off and on.

Same with eating out ... I always check the restaurant online before I go out so I know what I can and can't have. And if I know early enough in the day that we're going to go to a restaurant, it lets me make adjustments to my lunch and snacks to accommodate that as well.

I dunno. I think I dn't really freak out about the numbers. I just keep an eye on them. And doing so multiple times a day really helps me stay aware of what I'm eating.

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I too do that. I look at the online nutritional value so that I don't blow my diet. My computer just broke down, the first thing I thought about was the fact that I was not going to be able to count my calories online. Thankfully I am using my fiances computer for the time being. I do also obsess over calorie counting b/c its worked for me this far along in my diet. Don't stress over it just be conscious about it you are almost there!

Thanks for all the advice ladies! I have got to realize that I can't have everything in numbers! As long as I portion control I should be fine.

I can NOT wait til Sunday! It's my free day where I throw my journal in a drawer for 24 hrs so I can be human for once!

=] =] =]

Great! I was just going to suggest that maybe you could just not count calories once a week, but looks like you already do that, so you sure don't need my advice!

I have only been at this calorie counting thing since Monday June 30 but I would love to be that way. I am working on getting a little more strict with myself every week. I agree with bargoo, "If it's working don't fix it."

Hey!

It sounds pretty normal to me, too. I think it feels "obsessive" because we just aren't used to paying attention. Somehow we equate "mindless eating" with "normal." Hmmm, lessee, how was it that I became fat?

In contrast, mindful eating means paying attention. After one has been doing this for awhile, you pretty much know what a portion size is and how many calories you're dealing with. But you have to do it for awhile.

I understand the feeling.... Just a caution, though--don't equate being normal or being human with not watching what you eat. If you're truly making a change in the way you live, and aren't just "on a diet," then these habits will become what it means to "be human" and won't be something strange, weird or abnormal for you.

Jay

I am exactly the same way, I am very much obsessed with making sure I know what goes into my body, I feel like I am being a pain in the.... some times but it is what it is. I insist on restaurant's with calorie counts on the menu when we go out but the whole family and all of my friends understand why I am insisting and never put up too much of anything but cooperation My mother in law even has a special me section in her fridge for when we stop by, and she always has Green tea on hand because its all that I drink

but yeah I agree with the last thing Jay said, if it is a lifestyle change then its just that, we bigger folks gotta be careful not to resort back to our former ways, after all that is how we got large right? i think that being obsessed with your health and well being is never a bad thing, especially when you are over weight.

As Ever
Me

I think what you are doing is perfectly normal. I was exactly the same way while I was losing. Eventually you may be able to lighten up on the number crunching a bit, but you'll never be able to eat the way you used to.

I've been on my lifestyle change since January of 2007 (I've been working on maintaining awhile) and I still go back to the calorie counting when the scale starts to creep up.

For the most part I can eye ball stuff now though. After over 1.5 years I know how many calories are in what I normally eat and I can estimate fairly well. I still pay attention to everything that goes into my mouth and I'm very conscious of portions (I still measure certain things like starches and fats.) So, what I'm saying is, you may not need to always be a slave to your notebook.

BTW, I usually eat lighter the day after we eat out, since restaurant food is always higher in calories then it should be.

YESSSS! I have recently become more acutely aware that 95% of "skinny" people are doing it on purpose. I know only one person (a guy, of course) that can eat boatloads of food and never gain weight. But all of my other thin friends, coworkers, etc. are pretty darn careful about what - or at least how much - they eat. They already learned the thing that we are working to learn!

Just like driving a car, or typing, or using any other skill, after lots of practice we won't have to think about it so much anymore, it will become more and more automatic.