calorie counting and weight gain. bad or good?

okay for many people who haven't read the discussion in the weight gainers what did you eat today there has been a huge debate as to whether it is good or bad to count calories when gaining. feel free to vent your feelings and how it has or hasn't helped you.

there are alot of opinions out there and this discussion is not looking to criticize anyone and how they approach weight gain or recoverey weight gain. its simply here to give people new options and views and maybe change their perspective on how to make their life healthy again. because thats what its all about. becoming healthy.

hopefully this becomes helpful. if you need infomration about how this all started just read into the weight gainers what did you eat today and get ideas from there .

Hi Liney_Line,

i started CC on Aug 25th and since then i have gained 5 pounds. Counting calories is very difficult for me and i had no idea what i was actually eatting until i was counting every calorie. Im totally to blame for the weight gain as i have given into my weakness of Marble Slab Creamery on many occasions. I am noticing stretch marks on my stomach and it disgusts me. Im 23 with no children but it looks like i have had them based on my body!

Any suggestions on filling low calorie foods? Its when i am hungry i will go for the sugars and that MUST stop!

Personally, I am conflicted.

It may exercise more control for me to count, but counting make me want to restrict. I'd rather have a general idea than an actual number.

Agruskin, who is monitoring the weight gainers - what did you eat today? post, raises the VERY important thought about overestimating. People with ED's tend to overestimate what they have eaten, and so if someone is in recovery, THINKS they're eating 3,000 calories when its more like 2,000, that's not good.

But for me, counting, even when I came here in June saying I wanted to eat more, made me cut back even more. I wish I didn't just know the calories in foods. Sometimes I distract myself with "empty" calorie foods so that I can't keep track of an exact number.

BSH-ive saod it so many times, everywhere, how skewed portin sizes, enough, a lot, all that is for ED recovers, i strongly recc the person or someone counts.

i cant repeat myself anymore, i dont have that kind of time, im sorry, counting is my recc

I think there is a middle ground here - ways of making sure you meet a 'minimum' amount of calories without counting as you go along. when I counted it was far too linked with restricting for me and I always always ended up planning too little and figuring it would 'somehow work out' then having 800 calories hanging over my head at the end of the day. not fun.

a few things I do...

~ sometimes I count halfway through a day if I think I might have got something wrong or eaten particularly differently to normal. then I'll have an idea but I won't count the rest of the day, I'll just have in my head how much more I need.

~ sometimes I look back and log a few days from a previous week, especially if my weight has done something unexpected.

~ most days, I rely on the idea that my breakfast, lunch and dinner always have similar constituents and calorie values. I don't eat the SAME thing every time, but for example breakfast has recently always contained at least a large serving of cereal (200-250), soymilk (50-100) and an add-in, usually fruit. so basically I always get 400 there. other meals are similar stories. but my snacks vary and I sometimes add things into meals, like a glass of juice at breakfast for example. so basically, I know the 'basic' calorie count of the things I will always eat, like a skeleton plan. it's about...500-800 below what I need to gain I guess? and the rest is much easier to vaguely count without obsessing about it. it's easier on me psychologically and involves less obsessing to make sure I'm getting enough 'extras' than to count the whole plan! of course, an exchange system for 'dinner' type meals and sandwiches helps me here cause I get variety with lunch and dinner but I still always know they're close to being the same without counting calories.

ok that was long! but basically my answer is, yes I try to break away, but I have to take steps to avoid overestimating!

I know I can't double post, but for anyone who's interested I wrote something on the what did you eat thread about the whole thing-

It's not the counting itself that is "good" or "bad" as it's purpose.

If you're trying to make a change [even more so if that's a physical/habit AND mental change] you need some sort of objective for that to happen, day after day consistently until things are really different for the long haul.

Whether or not you use calories to do that is individual.  But just "going with your body" isn't hte way to make changes, as lovely as it is--that's the reward when you get to the goal and you are functioning [and thinking] with everything in order!

to echo the past 2 posts, a loosely structured plan where u eat roghly similar foods+therefore similar counts, could be a good idea. 

once ur healthy, do waht u want, but to make sure ur really changing ur actions and not just think ur eating more or enough, u need to know just how much ur eating.

I personally have to count calories. I'll definitely undershoot my goal by A LOT. Been there...done that.. Though as things start to improve, I'm going to try ease off the counting and attempt to eat intuitively and without a schedule.

I calorie count and I do it as a way of keeping track of my intake and if I see I`m low then I can plan how to make up for it. I see the plus and negatives to this, on one hand it helps me ensure Im definitely eating enough but on the other  hand I feel like calorie counting has really become a slight obsession for me and I focus in to much on trying to control the calorie content of every meal and snack and I feel the way I have attempted to structure my days eating can at times hold me back from eating certain things for fear of going over my calorie target for that meal/snack, sounds a bit silly I know since the aim is to gain but its just the way its taken over.

I really think if you can just get a good idea of your portioning etc it would be a lot better and probably less stressful to.

I think initially it is vital as when you have an ed you are confinced you are eating more than you are. but i think as you progress and know the basis of your meals its betterto become more flexible as long as you know its 2500 or above its healthy to begin to not count as much. i guess everyone is different . but as a sufferer from ocd i have found it rather hindering to count, but on another breathe it has been helpful to get me bk on track   h xx

I have raised this point before on other posts but my dietician has told me not to calorie count and she won't tell me how many calories my meal plan is as she says that will trigger me. I am sure other dieticians/nutritionists may go with approach of counting calories or maybe using exchange plans. It is just interesting to consider what the different 'professional' approaches are...

thanks everyone for your input. im still sticking with no calorie counting though. i just feel so much happier doing so.

tears to triumph i especially like your idea of not having to calorie count as being the reward.

overestimating or under is really a good point though. i think im an underestimater though, i may be a dictionary but i try really hard to not be too precise. i just found out one dried pineapple ring is over 100! i thought two were 100, so i have been underestimating for quite some time for my breakfast.

sweeney. low calorie foods that fill you up? peanutbutter with apple, nut and fruit, yoghurt and milk, dark chocolate with nuts, oatmeal really just eat nutritionally, dense foods. personally i think its quality not quantity. but you might have joined the wrong thread here cause im trying to gain weight, seems like you want the oppisite but from your photo i don think you need too. dont be so disgusted by your body, nurture your mind and body and reep the rewards. thats my advice.

Original Post by tears2triumph:

But just "going with your body" isn't the way to make changes, as lovely as it is--that's the reward when you get to the goal and you are functioning [and thinking] with everything in order!

 Yes!  So the sooner you get to your goal weights, the better:)  But until that point, you can't simply listen to your body's signals, because they aren't functioning properly yet.  I like your thinking tears2triumph!

And calorie counting is not good or bad.  It is either effective or ineffective, and each person has to be honest with themself as to which it is for them.

Thanks for the shoutouts guys!

Kind of along the same lines of "the ideal [reward] is at the goal} lines is another thing Gi Jane brought up f on another thread:

Someone who goes on a diet to lose weight has to make some sort of deliberate changes, whether it's counting calories or eating a certain way [sacrificing a food they prefer for something healthier/lower calorie/more filling, using mypyramid, etc.].

We are trying to gain weight and that means the same principle in reverse.

Making some sort of deliberate change for our goal result-counting to make extra calories come in, deliberately making a normal choice higher calorie [and not compensatin], or some sort of plan.

And of course it's not ideal, natural-that's why it's making a change.

Do you know many people on a diet who just love the rules of it-wha they get to eat on their plan or wouldn't they really prefer to just eat whatever sounded good, however much felt right?

Of course the later is true--but when you're on your diet to change your weight, you prioritize for the goal.

A healthy body can then have whatever it wants as it happily functions normally AND gives you the best results out of it!

I use an exchange meal plan that is not rigid but adds up to the range of calories I need. I am a calorie counter so it is helping to not do it so much. I have noticed that many and I am not saying all say I don't know what I am eating because I don't calorie count but I can tell you from some of the posts that it is no way a weight gain meal plan. So if one does not count one has to make sure they are being adequate and not use that as a reason to restrict. Listen the proof is in the pudding. If you have been on this board for ex for a year and are not at a goal weighth then something is not right. Listening to ones body in recovery I think is impossible. At Renfrew I ate 4500 a day. If I listened to my hunger I would of never met that. Also people who listen to their hunger cues don't have an ed mindset where mental issues control their intake. I really encourage the exchange meal plan as most of the ip for ed places I have been use them and it allows oe to get in their needs to gain but also not be rigid

For someone beginning their recovery I think Calorie counting is essential.

1) Many anorexics minds are dominated by calories, to suddenly stop them from knowing the calories in there foods, doesn’t mean they wont me approximating them in their minds – causing more anxiety.

2) Counting calories allows the anorexic to be in control of there weight gain. Not only does it allow them to slowly build there calorific intake (rather than being suddenly given a “normal” persons diet plan) but it also gradually reveals that eating more calories wont make you “fat” and it actually takes A LOT of calories to gain weight.

3) By giving an anorexic more responsibility regarding their weight gain, and the freedom to count their calories, they are less likely to suddenly begin restricting once they are weight restored (as they have recovered themselves, rather than someone else doing it for them). You understand how to maintain weight.

I quit the running tab in my head of counting calories about 6 months ago. I never really did the journaling thing or the official caloric countdown for everything that I had eaten in a days time. However I did have a general knowledge of the calories going in my body for the day. Since I quit the running tab I have put on 35lbs! I don't attribute it all to calorie counting I also did a downspiral with my working out. I think for me it's all been a tumbling effect. I stopped doing one thing so therefore I eventually quit it all. Now im trying to get back on track and do the things right like I did when I first started so it's almost like I'm completely starting over.

I definitely believe that at the beginning of recovery, calorie counting is almost completely necessary. Going from having an ED and being completely obsessed with calories to suddenly being expected to eat "intuitively" is not a very feasible situation. For me, whenever I would try to eat on my own without counting I ended up feeling horrible and anxious all day, and couldn't figure out when to eat, how much to eat, etc etc. The only way I have been able to do well is if I count up to a certain number, and then I feel in control while not having to restrict.

I think calorie counting is good at the beginning of recovery, I also think that it is good at the start of each stage of progression in recovery. Doing this helps to build up calories and then get into habits of maintaining a higher intake habit.

I think I agree with everyone here - counting is probably essential at the beginning of recovery, and then when you can trust yourself and your body it's important to try and follow a more relaxed plan.

I had a very difficult time recovering, because it wasn't voluntary. I was already seeing a psychologist for other things when I got referred to an ED clinic. My ED counselor turned into my biggest enemy. She actually made me worse, because she was so intent on making me stick rigidly to this plan, that I became completely obsessed with counting all the calories and making sure that I never ate any more than was on the plan. I made the decision to stop seeing her and (I think) I'm slowly doing a little better.

So for me, the single most important way to recover is that it has to be your choice - you HAVE to want to do it!