**** yeah!! I found my people!!! Ya'll had me laughing so hard.

I had the granola thing happen too. I was over a friend's house and she was on a diet and it was granola-eating time. Well, the correct serving is 1/4 cup. She filled up this huge bowl! I was like, "Congrats on being healthy and all but you do realize you're eating about 1500 calories in granola and almond milk."

I too kept my calorie counting a secret for as long as I could because I knew that as soon as people learned I was working on losing weight the Food Police would come. After much explaining and evidence (lost 70 lbs in 6 months), my family gets it. My closest friends get it. My co-workers - ehhh, not so much. I work in healthcare and it just doesn't compute to them how I can eat fast food or a candy bar from the vending machine during lunch and still lose weight. I must be "falling off the wagon" or "cheating". It always gets a raised eyebrow or two. Ehh - f' off! I'm fine. Mind your own damn business.

I have read somewhere about the idea that organic etc food has fewer calories, so you can eat more of it. I think it's called the "healthy halo" or "healthy aura" or something. And Wansink (the end of overeating guy) did a study that showed if a salad was included in a picture of a meal, without changing anything else, people rated the meal with the salad as having fewer total calories than the meal without.

My mom and my two aunts REALLY want to know about my weight loss, and keep asking me, so I explained about counting calories, and accurate poortion control, showed them my calorie tracking app. They all downloaded the app, but only put in some things, at random, and count everything as one portion no matter how big it is, lol. And then rationalize it by saying (they're German), "Ja, aber gutes Brot macht nicht dick." That is, "Healthy bread [or whatever thing they are eating at the moment] doesn't turn into fat." :)

Here's a funny article about the Health Halo in the New York Times. HEalth Halo can hide the calories.

LMAO at bronzeager - I have German family and you should hear the phrases I get :D

I've only just started calorie counting (for the first time ever) combined with doing Slimming World to see what effect the normal things I eat during a day have on my daily totals. very interesting to find that some "healthy" stuff I'm having seems to be anything but. Anyway, I digress....

I get loads of stupid comments too - the latest favourites run along the lines of "OMG you've lost too much weight now - be careful you don't get anorexic" What??? I'm only just in the healthy weight range for heaven's sake! Oh and then there's meeting people for coffee and the "oh go on have a cake - it won't kill you" lines. *rolleyes*

Thankfully most of my friends "get it" and have been totally supportive.

Ugh. I hate going into my plan for just this reason. It's like watching Homer Simpson piling toppings onto a rice cake, then declaring it's 35 calories. Speaking of Homer, I wish the Simpsons were still good.

My mom says I should write a book about my diet plan. I joke and tell her it'd be a really short book, like one of those religious tracts you find lying about at the train station. "1.) Eat Less. 2.) No, seriously. Eat less. 3.) ...puppies? I don't know. I have a page count, here..."

Rated up up up!

Freelance

Gabe, I just wanted to say that I think your blog is EXCELLENT. You are a fantastic writer, and I hope you'll at least think about turning the blog into a book someday. I know nothing about publishing and marketing and whatnot, but I think there are a million women who would relate to what you've written (all those in the second "woman on a diet" demographic!). I'd buy it. :)

My know-it-all SIL told me I was obsessive because I count my calories. There are some people you just wish you didn't know!

Obessive? I call it dedicated ;)

have only just seen this thread but its made me laugh so much. i heard through the grapevine that some of my friends were suspicious of my dieting methods becuse they had seen me eating mcdonalds on more than one occasion and yet still seemed to be losing weight. ive long given up trying to explain to them the very simple maths behind counting calories which means i can still enjoy sausage and egg mcmuffins :D