[ncuneo]

how differently you feel about food now. 4 amazing things have happened to me since I've started couting.

1. I'm not binging anymore. Instead I feel in control because I have a set amount of food I can eat and being a "perfectionist" I refuse to go over, or if I do I'm going to track it and I won't allow myself more than 100 cals over. This is a very big deal for me because I'm an emotional eater, but since I've been counting that urge to just eat is pretty much gone (except of course during TOM!).

2. I can endulge in a trigger food, but "on plan". I no longer have to have 1/4 cup or more of peanut butter. I can have 2 Tbsps with an apple and be completely satisfied. I don't need an entire pint of ice cream, I can eat a skinny cow and enjoy every bite.

3. I'm amazed how much food 100-200 calories can be. When I'm just plain hungry cause I exercised a little extra or it's TOM or whatever I can add 100-200 cals to my day and not kill my whole week, but be completely satisfied and generally still lose weight.

4. With a little zig zagging I can program a "cheat" meal into my "diet" and still be "on plan". Before this used to kill me. I'm one of those who just needs a day off, pretty much every week. Otherwise I don't stick with it. But now it doesn't have to set me back and I don't have to feel guilty about it.

I'm just amazed with how different my relationship with food is. Although I already lost 80 lbs before starting calorie counting I still did not have a good idea of what eating healthy for life was all about. I'm excited that I have found something that I can truely do for life. I can't wait to get these last 40 lbs off!

[Eliana]

Absolutely! I was on South Beach before, and though it worked, it was slow and restrictive and ultimately unsustainable. Before I started calorie counting I would have told you otherwise. I always said SBD was wonderful and a way of eating I could do for life. But I didn't, did I? I quit. Therefore it was unsustainable. But calorie counting? It's a whole different story.

Like you said, I can eat anything! Anything! And if I'm hungry I can have a bit more and it's not going to spoil my whole diet the way a forbidden carb would on SBD. If you go too far off plan, it sometimes takes starting over to get in control again.

And I didn't expect calorie counting to have the same effect on my cravings that SBD did. The one thing I'll give SBD is that it only took three days to curb the cravings. It took a good three WEEKS of calorie counting to do it. Those first three weeks were killer and took all my will power. But after that, it's been smooth sailing.

I love this. I feel better about myself and food does not control me. I'm not hungry because I eat every couple hours. There's simply no down side. I don't feel deprived and I don't feel like I'm starving myself. Hallf the time I forget I'm on a diet.