tired and obsessed

well i've been counting my calories for about 3-4 weeks now and i am seeing semi results. however, i feel like counting calories has become somewhat of an obsession. almost all i can think about is food and how many calories are in it. no matter what i put in my mouth, i feel like i have to add it up right there on a piece of paper to see if it fits in my daily calorie allowance--and i usually do. i visit this site A LOT, several times a day, to look up what i ate, what i might plan on eating, or whats coming up for dinner. it seems like my whole life is about food. but i dont know if it should be. i feel like if i didnt keep such a harsh eye on what i ate i would be eating things that were totally bad for me.

for example, one night i had spaghetti (i had it with parmesian and some meatballs) i didnt even think to look at the calorie amount in the meatballs, but it turned out that they were 240. each. ever since then, i want to look at EVERYTHING that goes in my mouth. is this some sort of weird disease?

another symptom i seem to be suffering is being tired. i used to go to bed from 11:30 to 12, but now i go to bed anywhere from 9-10:30. this is very unusual for me. could this be connected to my cutting of calories? i still eat enough to get full, i'm not starving myself. i'm eating 1369 calories a day. it says that for my age and weight (14, 150) thats appropriate.

sorry for the long thread! please answer both questions if you can

I've been having the exact same problem ever since I joined 5 days ago!

Admittedly I have already lost some weight (about half a pound), but I do feel incredibly tired all of the time (and, like you, I've been eating aroun 1300-1500 calories a day).

And as for checking this site a lot...well...I think it's pretty much the only thing I've been doing since I discovered it. And that totally worries me. I've even begun telling other people how many calories are in the food they're eating! (I'm sure I've become incredibly annoying)

I'm actually the same exact way. If you look at random pieces of paper in my house (napkins, the calander, notebooks, post its, etc...) you can see a ton of addition problems. It's because I constantly add up things to see if it it will fit in my calorie allowance and all.

As for the bed thing, I find that i'm going to bed at 9-10:30ish too. I don't know why. Also, i'm 17 and i'm not even starving myself.

Its weird.

seriously! you guys sound EXACTLY like me. i've been telling people about their calories too! and i discuss my food habits sometimes! what is wrong with us?

I don't know, but I think we need to start a support group!

Hi Katie!

I know the feeling! My personal freak out was not meatball related, however.... I went to Ruby Tuesday's and ordered the Ruby's Minis and salad bar. I thought, "If I want a cheeseburger, I will eat one. A baby one, but a cheeseburger nonetheless."

Since I have discovered my two Ruby's Mini's contained a whopping 637 calories and 43 grams of fat, I have charted everything BEFORE I put it in my mouth.

I believe that once we become accustomed to counting calories and are not so reliant on the site, food will become less of an issue.

As for now, untill we are educated enough to gauge on our own, I don't believe checking back often is a bad thing! It's about eating the right foods and being healthy!

As for the fatigue, isn't there a different requirement for teens? I would check on that because I think this site offers a calculator for adults. You have to remember that your body functions differently as an adolesvent, and you need more fuel!   BTW, sleep is good. Get it in now, because later on in life, it is not readiy available!

woah! how mean! why do people trick you into eating like 700 calories? there should be calorie thingers on menus.

yeah i know i've heard a couple times that teenagers should go to a different site but honestly i think i stopped growing. when i was younger i could eat anything and stay the same size. mmmm all the ice cream and chips i wanted. now, its totally different. *sigh* i wish i was still growing.

It can also be a sign of not being active enough. The more active you are, the more awake you'll be, but the better you'll sleep so you'll wake up feeling more refreshed. I've noticed that after a tough kick boxing class, I'm wide awake for a couple of hours afterwards, but about 9-10 I'm tired and ready to go to bed.

I've had four kids and all teens are tired.  They are growing mentally and physically.  I suggest going for walks out in nature or a least the park, without a walkman and listen to nature.  Also get  a juicer and drink fresh juice.  Between the two I had so much energy I couldn't sleep.  I may not be a teen but I am 47 and my energy level isn't what it used to be.

Can I join you guys?

I'm OBSESSED at counting calories. And if I eat something (like a small portion of hamburger helper when im at a friends) I give it an estimate, not even below 300 calories (which is high) because I just want to be on the safe side.

I'm planning to break this habit soon enough though. I CAN'T LIVE LIFE LIKE THIS FOREVER.

Hi guys!  I totally hear you.  I've been counting calories for about 2 months now and I felt obsessive at the beginning.  Now, though, I feel like I'm in control. 

I've broken old habits and have gotten new good ones- like checking websites for nutritional info before I go out to eat.  I've also become pretty good at guessing the calories in what I eat- not enough to go a day without recording, but enough to eat out without constantly analyzing and re-analyzing until I can't hold a conversation.

My dad made a good point when I talked to him about feeling obsessive about calorie counting- when you first start eating differently, your brain is used to old chemical reactions based on what you used to eat, and it keeps asking you what's going on.  The nice thing is that it DOES wear off- just like the cravings for junk food.  It also helps that my friends all know what I'm doing and are used to it, so I don't feel awkward about that anymore.

I hope you guys find the same thing- that you feel more and more comfortable with this lifestyle until it feels like the real you.  Good luck!

hmm...the only problem is, I'm not a teenager :) I remember feeling tired a lot then, but this is different. I feel just plain worn down. To the point of not being able to even move. But I feel great after my work outs (two hours, six days a week), it's like three hours afterwards that I completely crash.

Welcome to the club Aeromancer, Katie, etc, go ahead and add me as a friend, I think we're totally in the same boat... WE CAN GET THROUGH THIS TOGETHER!!

I'm trying to get rid of this problem myself. At first, back in December, it was just being aware of how many calories went in my mouth, and then it turned into counting the calories in the cinnamon I sprinkled on my pancakes! So now, I think I've sorta found a system that works for me. I aim for 1300 calories a day whether I exercise or not. I usually have a large dinner. So, I keep my breakfast under 200 calories--that's like 2 slices of toast and 3 egg whites, or milk & cereal.. the list goes on and on. Anyway, I allow myself about 500 for dinner [Mexican greasy food ew]. I eat 600 in snacks throughout the day [I'm not really big on lunch]. If I know I've eaten less for dinner, I'll have another snack like an apple or peach after dinner. It seems to work for me, since 600 calories in snack is pretty hard--you can even have like 5 scoopes of ice cream in a cone for that much! [I'm not recommending that, but you know.] Since I started that, I've lost like.. what was it.. 10 pounds? And my metabolism went through the roof [before, it was functioning at 89%.. now it's 100%]. That was a month and a half ago. See what works for you! 

When I began about a month ago, I was counting every Calorie to the calorie.  Started to drive me nuts, though, as it seems to have some of you.

What's happened is that as I've become a better gauge of caloric content (gee, spaghetti has THAT many calories?!), I think I've been able to guesstimate my caloric content pretty reasonably.  At least, my weight is still going down, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

So, don't worry to put in that hard time figuring out what everything has calorie-wise.  But once you have a good idea, back off a bit and do it with fuzzy math.  You'll find your brain calming down and hopefully the obsession lessening...

i'm also obsessed with counting calories.  it's gotten so bad that i record it all in my phone and keep my intake and out updated constantly. 

I was obsessed as well, I've been here since March.  However over time you begin to naturally know what your limits are.  Now I put my stuff in just before dinner and I almost always am good and sometimes under.  So keep plugging, it will come to you soon.  I look at it as I'm at the computer not in the fridge!

It's alright! I used to feel really confused with myself too, about being so obsessed about calorie counting.

But now, after a few months of fighting frustration of CCing, and feeling obessed constantly, things are starting to balence out, and |'m adjusting. Now figuring out my calories are just turning into a second nature. Something in the back of my mind. So it's not as much work to figure out things.

So things do get better. They're getting better for me... You've just got to keep on counting or whatever, and things will balence out. It just takes time and patience.

We can do this! :o)

i hope so. i do feel like a crazy person. hopefully it will wear off eventually.

Honestly, it's a bad sign to be so young and obsessed about calories. There are so many other things to do out there, and I'd be willing to bet you aren't very overweight (if at all) by medical standards - which are the only standards that matter, please ignore Hollywood fakeness. Please don't think about calories in the context of "looking good" but rather of health; if you are not overweight (or only a little bit overweight) and are in perfect health, do yourself a HUGE favour and just live a normal life, forget this insanity.

Sounds like being tired, in your case, is a consequence of not eating enough food. I'm pretty sure that even if you are entirely sedentary, you are burning at least 2000 calories a day at 150 lbs.  And most teenagers run around enough so that they aren't considered sedentary (unless you are the exception and have an office job and drive everywhere, of course.)

When I was your age, I weighed about what you do and I thought I was fat. I wasted my most energetic and beautiful years feeling ugly and undesirable - yet today, when I look at those old pictures, I think "wow, what a lovely girl I was - why couldn't I see that?"  I was fortunate enough not to have developed an eating disorder - I never even dieted or counted calories - but I definitely had a mild version of body dysmorphic disorder (google that, you'll find it interesting). Fortunately, I did live my youth to its fullest nonetheless (and surrounded myself with love interests who told me - accurately, as I recognize years later - that I was beautiful).

So girls, stop trying to fit some fascist and ridiculous "standard" of beauty, designed and implemented by advertisers who want you to feel bad about yourself so that you'll buy their products to fix a nonexistent "problem".  (If you are unhealthy, fine -  work to fix it - but make damn sure that it's your doctor telling you you're unhealthy, and not Cosmo.)

If you are young and healthy, then you are already blessed beyond belief - and you are beautiful just as you are. Once you truly see this, everyone else will see it too; confidence IS beautiful (and sexy, too).

well according to this website i AM slightly overweight. many people have been telling me that i've been eating too little. my mom even brought me aside and told me she was worried about anorexia. but seriously, i'm eating more then enough! im just wanting to lose weight. just because i'm young doesnt mean i cant be losing weight. there's a lot of child obesity out there. i dont want to be another statistic!

but all that aside, i really am eating enough. i'm not hungry or anything. i've been losing weight, but not too much, too fast. i just have been obsessed with my calories lately because i'm not used to counting them. well, that's my theory anyway.

what is herbalife? where can i find this?