Does CC help or hurt other efforts in your life?

Do you find that making the effort to count calories and eat carefully helps you be disciplined in other areas of your life? Or does it draw away energy that could devoted to other tasks? Or is it not either/or for you? Have you found a way to keep CC's effects positive?

Sometimes I find that I'm feeling so good about the progress I'm making that it gives me energy for my work (which is very self-directed and thus demands a lot of discipline) and even housework. At other times, I'm more focused on CC than other things that should be getting my attention.

Thoughts, experiences, advice? 

Life is all about choices and priorities.

At times I find CC has taken over my life and I almost always make it first priority. But if you think of it your health should be one of your top priorities. Take a look at what you have to do, and then make a priority list ..from there you can find out how much time you are willing to put into diet & exercise.

A lot of times, people put diet and exercise as a low priority and this inevitably leads to weight gain and an overweight society. Common excuse is always "well i dont have time". " i have other things to do".

When the main point is that your health should be your highest priority because it affects other aspects of your life. I think that CC took a lot of my time in the beginning, but now that I have been here for a year I found a way to make a healthy balance between CC and other things in my life.

I love CC!  It doesn't take too much time, but it does keep me focused every day on what I am eating and what I am doing and it keeps me motivated and on track!

Sometimes I find the way I buy and prepare food takes a lot of time because I do a lot of market shopping, and all on foot. It is cheaper and much nicer than the way most people eat though. CC is a part of this as well I guess. A huge amount of my time is taken up by food, thinking, planning, cooking, recording. But won't it be such a payoff, to give yourself the best chance at health your whole life by finding good habits now? So I do spend a lot of time on it, but I think it is worthwhile.

I enjoy the food logs like a geek and having a record of all the things I cook (I typically cook something new every night...) I find the forums... variable. I love the good sound advice and I'm so glad I came across this place with all its healthy priorities because I was probably marginally undereating before I started counting (have been losing weight slowly but successfully for about 6 years). However I find the... competition and the skinny-worshipping a bit difficult to rise above at times. I am maintaining at ~129lb, 5'3" and sometimes it seems no one else would be happy at that size! I try to look at my pics/the mirror happily and ignore certain comments!

I think if I hadn't found cc I could easily have ended up believing very unhealthy weight loss myths so I am definitely grateful to it on that front.

I feel that at times yes you are right cc can be impulsive and OCD. than again I have OCD so I cant say much. I also after having a baby have to get back into the grove of things and I have to obsess over something before it becomes a normal part of my day. At that point I can say I don't need cc and can just "wing it". But until I lose the weight and feel better about myself and develop a solid routine than I'm gonna obsess over cc, till I move onto another thing to obsess over. I have many thing to accomplish in my life and first is my health, I think its important enough to take up a good chunk of my day!

I started CC at a time when I knew I needed to turn my life around.  Eating healthier, exercising, and losing weight so that I could actually have the physical stamina and strength to take care of my kids and my house without hurting or being out of breath was the first big "goal".

Now that I've lost a little, and find it easier to get around, I am working on getting and keeping the house clean.  The same practice of slowly introducing new, better habits still applies.  It is all the same concept.  And I am still using the support here at CC -  THANK YOU LOUNGE!

And, yes, having that extra boost of self-esteem, that I CAN do this, that comes with seeing my progress here on CC really helps in other parts of my life as well.

I think I am a little OCD - I do have a compulsion to get on CC every day when I need a break, and I actually LIKE listing my foods every day, and this actually does a bit of harm in my other goals, but I am working on limiting my time here to a few minutes here and there, rather than all morning.  (It's not Bon-bons and soap operas for THIS housewife - it's cottage cheese and CC)

My experience is similar to Bairn's - I find myself spending way more time planning, buying, prepping and cooking really healthy meals. I am enjoying it and have never felt healthier/more energetic -- amazing what nutrients do for you!

Right now that's totally OK b/c I'm out of work and have the time - but I am afraid of keeping up this new good habit once the normal time pressures of work return. I MUST then get in the habit of of cooking in bulk once or twice a week, freezing all in smaller portions, and then having it easily available for lunches and dinner throughout the work week. If I don't make this a mandatory change in my life long term, I'm pretty sure I'm be back here again. 

In terms of how much time I spend on CC, that varies widely. Right now I feel like I'm spending way more time than usual on it, and its because I've reached a level of success that is making me get a little weirded out (lost over 60, with about 30 to go) - I can now see the end point and feel confident that I can get there. But I've been in this current weight range a countless number of times - the typical yo yo dieting story - and I'm going thru much sort of mixed emotions (there was a great post a few months ago on this that really struck a cord on this subject - the pride, the anger, the confidence, the embarrassment, etc, etc.). Well, I think they're all hitting me at once right now, so I do find myself spending way more time than normal on the forums. Seeing so many long term success stories and sensible advice (from the people who are serious about this process as a lifestyle change - certainly there are many posts here that just need to be ignored!) has been really helpful.   

Yeah I know the story/feeling as well. I'm more focused on calorie counting and what I eat then anything else, sometimes I wish my knowledge of calories etc etc, didn't exist. That I could just live normally and try to be healthy... without the constant calculator in my head adding it all up...

Personally I love counting my calories and keeping careful track of myself. I feel like when I'm not, I'm gonna miss something or slip up, so it really gives me peace of mind. I am actually a lot happier when I'm CCing then when I'm not. But, that's just me and I'm kinda OCD about everything I can be, since my life is chaos most of the time being a full time mom, wife, student, employee. Whew!