Reactions to calorie counting

thatlittlebit

Full Member
Does anyone else find they get different reactiosn to calorie counting than say Slimming World or WW from the people they talk to?

It seems socially accepted to be on SW or WW but calorie counting is almost seen as obsessive or 'weird'. Obviously that's not what everyone thinks but I seem to have got those reactiosn from some people...
 
I have only told a select few, well basically my husband who says it is the CORRECT way to lose weight, rather than paying to learn some arbitury rules!! Lol. The only other person is my best ftiend who is currently doing slimming world, she just says she doesnt understand calories!!
 
Calorie counting seems to be the 'old fashioned' way of dieting but for me it's the best!!

Slimming World- ok, healthy ish food choices but absolutely no portion control!! For me eating unlimited pasta and potatoes is the worst thing you could say to me!!

Weightwatchers- absolutely all about promoting there own products, the meetings are more like an hour long sales pitch and promoting pre packaged foods filled with goodness knows what!!

I've done them both and still eat some w/w products but only because there low in CALORIES!!

Calorie counting - yes eat what you fancy but what I've learnt is that if I want to feel satisfied you automatically make healthier options and portion control is the absolute key.

So let them turn their noses up at CC but it works pure and simple :0)

Sorry for rant but as you can see I'm quite passionate about this being a 41 year old serial yo yo dieter !!
 
Lol I know what u mean, I think ppl assume ur starving urself if ur cal counting, oh and I am so sick of ppl commenting everytime I eat something, "oh I thought ur on a diet" or "are u ment to be eating that" x

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When my sister asked how I lost weight, I told her I count calories and she's like oh my friend does that...I thought it was cos she had an eating disorder or something. Maybe she hasn't. Haha. I also know she finds it weird that I weigh everything. Must come across as a bit obsessive or something.

Totally agree with what was said about Weight Watchers. I joined when I was like 15 I think. I never really lost much with it. I used to go there and stock up on low point sweets and chocolate stuff and eat too many when I got home! It just seems so pointless now, paying to use a service like weight watchers every week when you can do calorie counting yourself, for free. And it is very easy!
 
I tell people I am using Myfitnesspal and counting calories and that it's free :)
Quite a few of my friends have swapped from SW or WW to it I have lots of friends who use if for maintenance too :)
 
weightwatchers would be good if they didn't sell the garbage... the leaders preach at how important it is to eat healthy yet they promote the sweets and crisps which are full of sweeteners and fillers!!!

Slimming world does encourage healthier eating, but to me is a lot less flexible re going out - and i would've tended to just go off plan and ruin it, whereas i didnt on ww.

Calorie counting is the best but i still find it difficult to get info on eating out n suchlike (asides what is on mfp)
 
Tell them to mind their own! lol

I don't really get any comments. I know if I said I was taking pills I'd get the usual dribble from people who aren't qualified giving me their opinion that I didn't ask for. This was the same when I did LL and CD. Now I don;t really talk about it. If anyone ask's I just say I'm watching my weight.
 
I'm lucky, my OH supports me, we're both into science and figuring out how things work, and my best mate CC's as well, and no-one else in my life needs to know about it really.

I do think in general people are more confortable with brand-name plans like WW or Atkins than the simple idea of logging what you eat, and keeping below a certain level, but the people I've met who've been most dismissive of CC-ing are invariably the ones who have the biggest struggle with losing or maintaining their weight, because they're still looking for that magic food/combo/whatever that will make it all easy... :rolleyes:

Calorie counting is the best but i still find it difficult to get info on eating out n suchlike (asides what is on mfp)

Have you tried books, for example The Calorie, Carb & Fat Bible is a book that brings out a new edition each year with chain restuarants in (the burger bars + places like Caffe Nero, Benjy's, Pret etc) + estimates of general dishes like Indian food, pizzas, pasta, Chinese etc inside, it's an excellent book IMO. ;)
 
Like so many of you, I have done both SW and WW in the past, and they both worked for a while, but I lost interest or they just stopped working. I hate the whole "fat club" meeting situation.

My OH knows I cc and helps me look at labels when we go shopping and has really got involved. A couple of my friends just think I have become obsessed with labels and the calorie content of all food that they tell me it's not healthy. I personally think they are completley ignorant and possibly jealous!!!

I absolutley love ccing. It works brilliantly for me, and the fact that I am in complete control and don't have to consult a book or diet leader everytime I want to eat something makes it the most simple and easiest "diet" I have ever used. :)
 
I totally agree with what everyone's saying. Here we're all the 'converted' though. I'm just sick of people thinking I have an eating disorder or thinking I'm obsessive about it because honestly I'm not, I'm not the best calorie counter in the world, I will have a handful of grapes and estimate how many I had, naughty, but I'm just not up at the moment for counting every single thing, yet they still tell me it's too much, that I've crossed a line.

I've had it all, I've had someone tell me they were concerned with my eating habits, I might turn anorexic. No!!! I'm not! When I get to my goal weight I'll continue through maintenance but once I've got the hang of it and can eye-ball things I'll do it but that's all part of this journey and for the weight loss part I need to measure, just to make sure.

Sorry for that rant...
 
Yup, I hear ya!
I lost the first of my weight on SW, and had no qualms about announcing it when people asked. Then the loss stopped, and gains began....I saw the light and discovered MFP, and have lost more in the last 4 months than I did the whole of last year.....but I HAVE noticed that I am almost apologetic when answering 'calorie counting' to folk who enquire! I always feel I have to justify it with '...properly, eating back what I burn', but that just puzzles people. My hubby does chuckle every time - he has ALWAYS supported me, but is loving that I now happily eat out a couple of times a week, where as it'd become a VERY rare treat in the three years I did SW :(

CC rocks - WHY don't more people know about it's magic powers? And WHY is it seen as restrictive and faddy, when it SO isn't?!!??!
 
I totally agree with what everyone's saying. Here we're all the 'converted' though. I'm just sick of people thinking I have an eating disorder or thinking I'm obsessive about it because honestly I'm not, I'm not the best calorie counter in the world, I will have a handful of grapes and estimate how many I had, naughty, but I'm just not up at the moment for counting every single thing, yet they still tell me it's too much, that I've crossed a line.

I've had it all, I've had someone tell me they were concerned with my eating habits, I might turn anorexic. No!!! I'm not! When I get to my goal weight I'll continue through maintenance but once I've got the hang of it and can eye-ball things I'll do it but that's all part of this journey and for the weight loss part I need to measure, just to make sure.

Sorry for that rant...

I actually think you can be as obsessive with ww/sw, if not more..... "is this free" "how many points is in this" "how many points/syns can I have?" and the inevitable starvation before weigh in, then binge after... which has GOT to be seriously unhealthy. Calorie counting in its basic form (not counting anything else like sat fats or carbs) is the MOST simple way you can lose weight....

Calories calculated with mfp, all automatically

Food has calories, no complicated sums, or special calculators to use... no dependancy on a leader/membership to get it accurate

Allowance-calories. Easy peasy.
 
I'm lucky, my OH supports me, we're both into science and figuring out how things work

I think that is one of the reasons it suits me too. I'm quite good at adding stuff up and working things out, but I suppose if I wasn't then something like WW might be easier. I'm also not keen on salespeople (sorry to any on here, I don't mean you personally, I just hate people trying to sell me things...especially when I don't think they're good value for money, like some of the WW things!), so I wouldn't like people telling me what to do. To be honest though, I don't discuss the fact that I'm calorie counting with anyone, so I can't really comment on reactions to it. Maybe it is just that people associated counting calories with unhealthy, potentially obsessive diets, and don't really understand that it's essentially no different to a 'points' programme like WW.
 
I actually think you can be as obsessive with ww/sw, if not more..... "is this free" "how many points is in this" "how many points/syns can I have?" and the inevitable starvation before weigh in, then binge after... which has GOT to be seriously unhealthy. Calorie counting in its basic form (not counting anything else like sat fats or carbs) is the MOST simple way you can lose weight....

Calories calculated with mfp, all automatically

Food has calories, no complicated sums, or special calculators to use... no dependancy on a leader/membership to get it accurate

Allowance-calories. Easy peasy.


CC is also quite obsessive though. You know what your daily quota is so you're forever adding up what is x amount of cals and how much stuff is. That said however CC does burn the fat faster I find :)
 
From what I've read, going into caloric deficit by any means at all is going to make you run the risk of thinking about food obsessively, and also thinking about weight, weightloss and so on. It's your body's natural primitive reaction - it thinks you're undereating because there's no food around, so therefore it primes you to think about food even more, and to be alerted to cues to eat whenever they occur.

Not saying that to put anyone off, but just to be realistic about it - very often it's better to be mildly more focused on this kind of stuff than on how miserable your excess weight is making you, and of course compulsive eating and emotional over-eating can make you over-aware of food and eating cues as well... :rolleyes:

Hence why so many well-adjusted men and women, smarter than thee or me, have lifelong problems with food and weight! ;)
 
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