I'm sitting here and all of the sudden freaking out about not counting calories for the past 4 days.  I was doing soooo good and now all of the sudden I am in a panic thinking I've eaten about a million calories in the past 4 days and won't ever be able to eat normal again once I hit my goal weight and need to maintain.  I'm really, REALLY freaking out.  Why?!?!?!?!

Logic says too many calories=weight gain=good thing

My screwed up mind says too many calories=never be able to maintain a healthy weight in the future=fat slob

 God I hate this

ah ! i know exactly what you mean. i cant stop counting calories or i freak out, and cant breathe. its messed up.

 

"My screwed up mind says too many calories=never be able to maintain a healthy weight in the future=fat slob"

 

thats exactly how i think too, its so stupid =/

The thing is that I know I don't want to look like I do.  I want to weigh more.  I am just paralyzed with fear that now that I have started eating 2000 or 2500 or 3000 calories or however many I've been eating that I'll never be able to go back to eating less.

UGGGGHHHHHH.  This is THE WORST FEELING EVER.  I am literally in a panic and completely FREAKING OUT.  I have a few moments where I can rationally see how ridiculous this thought process is, but they are fleeting and then I start freaking out agian.

Don't panic. If you fall off for a few days, just start over again. Counting calories is a science. Start by weighing yourself all over again and recalculate your BMI. Then figure out how many calories you can eat to maintain, lose or gain weight and set a realistic goal for yourself. I'm sure it's all the stuff you've been doing, but don't feel bad about neglecting the counting or you might binge in a state of defeat, which would be way worse. 

 

 

NOOOO!  I can't count calories because I start obsessing over every calorie and start restricting.  I am attempting to eat intutively like a real live normal human being rather than calculating every single thing I put in my body. Counting calories in my initial attempt to gain weight is what led me to start restricting and how I developed this completely messed up relationship and outlook on food and eating.

Edit: I just had a revelation while responding to another post:

I think I need to stop coming on this website.  All weekend I didn't have access to a computer and I was fine and now that I've been on here I'm freaking out.

Original Post by lilminime:

NOOOO!  I can't count calories because I start obsessing over every calorie and start restricting.  I am attempting to eat intutively like a real live normal human being rather than calculating every single thing I put in my body. Counting calories in my initial attempt to gain weight is what led me to start restricting and how I developed this completely messed up relationship and outlook on food and eating.

Edit: I just had a revelation while responding to another post:

I think I need to stop coming on this website.  All weekend I didn't have access to a computer and I was fine and now that I've been on here I'm freaking out.

Yup, when you're trying to gain weight you need to shed the diet mentality, which means getting rid of resources you used while you dieted: calorie counting books, heart-rate monitors to calculate calories, dieting websites, low-fat cookbooks (the memory of cooking low-fat to lose weight can sneek back when you return to the familiar recipes). Delete your account or get rid of your internet access. Throw the books away. If you keep them around, it will be too tempting to reach out for them for comfort.

A while back I went on a 14 day cleanse diet and lost about 10 pounds (starting from 6'4" 187 lbs I figured those were pretty good results).   I probably wouldn't do it again, but I do watch what I eat more now.  Usually what I do now is stick to lower caloric intake during the week and then relax the restrictions on the weekend by eating more (and probably less healthy choices too :-\ ).  Even when I keep track of my weekend calories, for the week I'm still keeping a good average caloric intake.

I think that strategy helps me not get too crazy in either direction.  I don't binge, and I don't nitpick everything I eat.  If I feel like I had a particularly gluttonous weekend, then I just work out more to make up for it.  Remember:  it's all about calories burned versus calories eaten.

Some people (i.e. http://rippednaturally.com/zig-zag-diet.html ) actually recommend this 5 days low calories 2 days high calories strategy for fat loss.

Hmm.  You did make it a whole 4 days without freaking out.  You can do it again.  At least you are aware of your problem and apparently willing to deal with it!  This is a very good thing and means that you can handle this mentally.  Just try to reason it out in your head, writing about it here or in a journal is a really good step too! and take it easy on yourself.  You can do it, dear.