Bye everyone!

After a lot of thinking about my current relationship with food, I've decided to leave CC behind, along with counting calories.

I won't go into detail about my reasoning, but basically I need to keep developing a healthy relationship with food without the obsession and fixation on numbers. No more counting, measuring, weighing, obsessing..I need to focus on being healthy.

I need to do this on my own. So I'm going cold turkey, cutting myself off from calorie count.

I want to thank everyone for all their help and advice! Whether you rememeber me or not.

Thanks!

Good luck to you all.

Good luck!

You'll be back..
They always come back...

Good luck to you and I wish you health, happiness and full enjoyment of life. We should eat to live not live to eat and it sounds like you've finally found a healthy medium for yourself.

I started doing that recently. I just stopped counting. It would make me depressed when I went even a little over. So I sort of know I go slightly over 1200 calories or under, but without that set number I feel better.

I leave myself to eat by my best judgement (no candy, no ice cream) and am still here to talk to people and get motivated.

You can still stay and not use the counting function.

Best wishes! 

Remeber that if you are able to return without risking the healthy food relatoinship you are pursuing and for the forum support alone, we are here. 

Good luck to you!

I stopped counting 3 months ago and it has actually been great for me.  However, I still like the motivation and inspiration I get from the forums, so keep that option open to yourself if you need.

That takes real strength of character.

BEST OF LUCK in all of your endevours! It's a great big world out there ;)

Eat to live, not live to eat!!

congrats! I admire your willpower and am actually considering going cold turkey on counting myself.. though I'd miss CCers too much to leave! I wish you the best darling.

Good luck! I hope someday I will have it together so I can do this on my own....

But it is working for me now..and I am feeling better. I am shedding pounds... 

I had a conversation with my friend about this last night actually.. I find it scary that everytime I think about food or eat I automatically think about calories and how much of x food I can have and if I decide to eat x food I will have to go to the gym... ect.. It's not normal but I do it all the time..argh

I dont see the problem with counting calories.... you dont need to count every single calorie, but being aware of the general amount you are eating isnt bad (rough counting).

The only way to be aware of what you are really eating is to keep an eye on packages and keep up with learning how many calories are in the foods we eat (this involved breaking apart dishes in restraunts and trying to figure out just how much you were putting down.... our only option as restraunts dont make that information available most the time).

Food is great, food makes us feel good, food is fun.... BUT, there is the business side of what food is, the fuel to keep us going and allow us to opperate as we would like. You cant just ignore that serious side of it...you need to keep track of diets to make sure your body has what it needs (or doesnt go too far in what it doesnt need).

It would be like saying "im not going to pay attention to how much money im spending anymore". Thats fine...but dont be shocked to find yourself in a bad sittuation when you look around and realize you dont have the money for retirement (or the body, as would be the case with food).

It's not the part of doing it that is bad, it's the obsession over it that I find scary... 

Good luck to you!  We're always here if you want to come back.

I'm on a "Diet and Scale" vacation.  Also, too focused on numbers, so going to enjoy life without numbers, for a week.

If you start obsessing, yes that's bad. I find I really only take the time to count calories for one day every other week or so. It helps me keep my mental guage about good portion sizes in line. Otherwise, my portions tend to slide up slowly.

It's not the part of doing it that is bad, it's the obsession over it that I find scary...

Right but by definition obsession is doing something to an unhealthy extreme ( if there's another definition I'd like to hear it).

So being obsessed about your breathing is bad too - even though breathing is something that is rather healthy. :D

For me knowing that eating a packet of chips would cost me an hour in the gym (if I want to keep at my current weight) is empowering.

I'm not saying that it can't be done in an unhealthy way but it would seem that just about anything CAN be done to an unhealthy extreme.  If so doesn't it at least make sense to look at the mechanism rather than the thing being done?

I've lost weight before and each time thought that when I got to my goal weight, I could stop counting and just kind of estimate. If it had worked out, I wouldn't be here.

This time I am approaching this as a lifelong commitment. Hey, some people have to take insulin shots every day. Some of us just have to monitor our food intake.

But if it's not for you, it's not for you. Nothing wrong with that. If there's anything I've learned about weight loss and weight management it's that it's highly individualized with no one-size-fits-all approach.

Best of luck.

Sarkeizen, I believe it is unhealthy for me mentally.. Physically it's good and healthy..

I tend to agree with Loriklorik.

 I count calories daily... but only to keep me on track with portion size as I tend to overeat.  I don't let calories become an obsession though.  So if I go over my daily intake that's fine.  It just means I have to do a little extra at the gym. 

But counting calories isn't for everyone.  And that's fine too.  Do what works for you.  All the best!!!

It sounds as though she's gotten to the lifestyle that works for her...maintaining.  It's great that she's at the stage that she doesn't have to count calories...hopefully she's sufficiently educated in the healthy choice and can go on from here.

Good luck!