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Am I wrong here? Counting but not to obsess...

Perhaps I am simply clicking on the wrong posts.. but is anyone else beginning to get discouraged with all this starvation mode talk? And talk about many who live around 1000 cal a day? Trust me it has been very helpful and interesting I just feel maybe some encouragement is in order...

Are there people out there who are a little worried about becoming overly focused on the numbers? I don't want to count calories my entire life, I want to just live and be happy. To know when my body is full of the nutrients it needs without referring to my calculator. Sincerely, I am not trying to bash this site or any recent post, I am just feeling a bit exhausted with it all.

I am starting to feel like I am the only one who eats more than 1200-1300 range! I honestly can say I vary anywhere from 1300 and 2000 a day. I workout everyday (one off day) and burn an average of 500. I thought these were healthy decisions! But now I find myself second guessing..

Anyone else sometimes feel low about it all?

are you getting the wrong idea about starvation mode? most people here would applaud u for what ur doing now than eating 1000 cal a day

0h my gosh, yes.

You have no idea how sick | get of my mind being constantly preoccupied with questions like these... And constantly thinking about meals, and food, and weight.. All the time.
When | wake up, and when | go to bed.

| feel low, blah, and worn out from it all.

The only thing | appreciate from this is that |'m not binging anymore.

There's some sort of balence that |'m trying to find in life with this, but it's so hard.

| hear you. | don't want to have to count all my life. | want to maintain without counting 24/7.  =|

I eat 1300-1800 a day.  I'm losing weight just fine. 

I starved myself earlier this year, it didn't go so well. 
I know first hand what it does, I seriously cannot understand what is happening to make people believe that all doctors and nutritionists, this site, and everyone else who has been through this is completely and utterly WRONG.  WE are clearly lying to them because, um, we want them to fail?

WTH, I seriously don't feel like coming back onto this forum.

I try hard to help people so that they don't fall into this pitfall.  But I turn around and someone posts right after me encouraging a 800-1000 calorie a day diet because "it's been working for me".

Curious - you're doing great!!!  Hey, the topics around here do follow some trends... in a few weeks this topic will go back to background talk - you'll see. 

I also find that after about a week of eating a certain number of calories a day, I find it hard to eat more than that.  My body notices it & feels too full.  That encourages me to think that I won't have to count my whole life - my body will become acclimated to a certain average number & it will know about when to stop.

I hope so, anyway!

Good luck.

:)

curious, the overwhelming majority of the thousands of people who use this site are eating a healthy amount of calories every day.  I personally eat between 1500 and 2000 a day, depending on exercise.

The difference is that those of us who are losing weight healthfully don't feel the need to justify ourselves constantly, and thus are less vocal about our methods.  But don't ever feel like you are alone with doing this safe and healthy way!

i'm glad I'm not the only one frustrated!

piffany- no I am not saying everyone who eats around 1000 is praised here on CC, I'm saying it just seems like so many people are close to that or arguing that its good, or only eat 1300 and to be honest is just makes me feel low and like I'm consuming some crazy amount!

And yes aio- i'm exhausted by all the counting too! Even if i don't write it down I find myself doing it in my head! And then comparing to what others are doing! I know its a fault on my character but just thought I'd share and see if others feel it too.

nocturne- i think it's good you try to help people not fall into this. I know last week I was eating 1400 a day and burning 600 working out, but its people like you who make me reconsider and feel better about consuming more for my body!

I'm thinking of stopping counting all together actually, or at least try to take a break from it.

pandajenn--thanks! that really made me feel better actually! i hope more people post about this!

and poohb- youre right that is encouraging!

Well I'm glad I could help.  Really, it's miserable to accidently starve yourself.  There is nothing wrong with eating the right amount, we don't need to suffer that badly to lose weight. 

I know all sorts of people who have trouble eating 1200 a day because they are full, some people who have a hard time eating under 2000 a day because they feel starving.  

Everyone here is SO different, but the one thing that is not different are our basic caloric needs for our bodies to function.

I love the idea that I have control how much I can eat depending on if I exercise or not.  I've also felt myself able to control my portions, if I do have a day where I decide not to count, I go and log it and I'm still under maintenance calories, the change that has taken place in my body already is so amazing.

curious:  I actually don't count.  I know i am one of the few people on here like this from previous posts, but it works for me.  I eat what I want, but try to eat healthy.  I try to avoid greasy or super sweet foods, but find healthy alternatives (e.g. if I want something greasy and salty I eat hummus and a pita, or cheesy rice cakes, or for something sweet I eat yogurt or fruit). 

I know I average about 1600 calories because occasionally I will log 1 day (about once a month to be sure I am doing okay) but I have no desire to monitor every calorie- I prefer monitoring the health benefits of food.  If I eat 3000 calories but it is in fruits and veggies and healthy foods, I don't care.  I'd rather be healthy and eat too much than eat junk but stay within a calorie limit. And, I don't want to hjave to count calories for the rest of my life.  This is supposed to be a lifestyle change, and I don't want my lifestyle to include logging calories everyday, so I changed in a way that was feasible to me.  And you what, I'm down 24 pounds, and much healthier than I've been in a long time.  If you feel preoccupied with counting and don't want to log, you shouldn't have to.

I've been using Calorie-Count on and off for a couple of months now, but today is the first day I started really using the discussion boards. The starvation mode talk is really unhealthy and I am glad to hear that these kinds of posts are rare. I have a very "normal" calorie intake (around 1800-2000 cal/day) and I am at a stable weight. I do want to lose 9-10 so I am hoping to start watching what I eat a little more, but mostly I want to hit the gym more often. I go about twice a week now and I am going to try to get in the habit of going 3-4 times/week.

Anyway, I totally think you are on the right track Curious! And there are a lot of us out here who are being healthy and non-obsessive about our weight loss / weight maintenance goals.

yes, I would imagine that many of us feel this way...everyone's made good points, and to add to that, the problem I have is that I struggle with feeling hunger at 1400-1800!  So I am frustrated with that and can not comprehend going lower (into "starvation")  and being a civil human being!!  Maybe I'm jealous, I dunno...

Maybe we need one of those encouragement threads for us 1600+ calories people to speak up (oh wait, that would be this thread! haha). I'm with you, I get sick of counting calories every single time I put something in my mouth. But right now, that's the only way I loose weight. Hopefully, when I get to my goal weight, I can just eat healthy and weigh once a week and cut back occasionally as needed.

Ditto to most of the things others have already said.

I aim for about 1450 cals daily, but lately I've been burning about 2200-2400 a day, so I end up eating about 1700 or so on those days.

I think the fact that 'starvation mode' is thrown out to someone who eats under 1200 for 2 days is the annoying part. 

"I only ate 800 cals today"  "Oh no you're going to go into starvation mode!"

...it's true, if it continues for like, a month.  But yes, it's getting carried away a bit.

Stick with what you're doing :)

I eat around 1600(sometimes a little less) and I am losing weight, too.

My biggest problem is reading about all the starving teens, I want to force feed them some WG bread or something! Their calories are way too low sometimes! It freaks me out, that is how eating disorders are made.

Personally, counting calories is just a way to keep me accountable for what I eat. I am coming from years of just eating whatever, with out any forethought or reasoning. It was very unhealthy, eating half a bag of doritos for lunch, ect. I need to get my habits under control before I give up logging every bite of food that goes into my mouth!

I'm really glad to hear all of this!

I hope this is helpful to others too

how much you eat depends on your height and your age.  At 4'11 and 59 years old, I can't consume as many calories, whether dieting or not, that a 5'8 25 year old can.

Even as short and as old as I am, I still consume 1350-1550 calories per day, and am losing weight at a steady pace.

I think one reason that so many members seek reassurance that they are doing it right is because of all the media hype that if you are not doing this or that you are wasting your time or sabotaging your efforts.  Everyone's paranoid about it, so they seek re-assurance.

You aren't alone!  I eat between 1700 and 2100 calories a day, and I lose 2-3 lbs a week.  If what you are doing works, don't change it, no matter how many folks post how they have trouble eating 1200 calories a day!

Another "Big Eater" checking in! :-)  I eat at least 1600 per day, 300-500 more on days that I work out.  Sure enough, the weight is coming off about one pound per week. 

What concerns me is that so many people new to this site seem to see the 1200 as the magic number, and so they immediately cut their intake to that, no matter what their height, weight or activity level.  So then we get the constant brouhaha about starvation levels. 

 I suppose the upside is, is that I've learned to figure out intake, expenditure, plus and minus, eating back, not eating back, backwards and forwards.   Doesn't hurt to get beaten over the head with good info. I guess. *rubs head*

I understand what you mean about not wanting to count calories for the rest of your life...my boyfriend is basically following what  am eating but not stressing about the calories.  He did count for the first few days but then has figured out basically what to eat for breakfast and lunch and then we sort out dinner together.  He's losing well but knows that if he reaches a plateau that he can always go back to counting.  I agree that too many people are talking about eating less than 1000cals/day!  At least you and I know we are doing it healthy, safely and in a way that our bodies are more likely to KEEP THE WEIGHT OFF!

As long as you base your meals around lots of fruit and vegetables (but make sure you at protein and carbs) then calories become a bit insignificant as the things that are the best for us have the least cals!

GOOD LUCK on your journey!

The reason I write this is because I feel these is an unjust negative sentiment (growing?) towards people that advocate 'starvation' as a way to loose weight.

While everyone on this site might very well have read all there is to know about nutricion and loosing weight, you must understand that newbies (like myself) have not read all this stuff when first signing on. And while starvation is not the right way to loose weight, it is clearly something that comes on the path of many of us. It does make sense also: you are fat because you eat way to much - if you eat less you will loose fat - if you eat very little you will loose a lot of fat quickly.

This is a beginners mistake. But a pretty common one. As more people understand the need to get a healthy weight, this mistake is probably going to be made more often, again and again. I made this mistake myself and do not feel ashamed of it - I do not even feel it was 'a mistake', I was simply misinformed.

Better information would certainly help. Making this a religious issue ("It is true because we all say it is true") does not work for many, and will only trigger them into debates, that are - because of the lack of information or understanding - almost always useless.

Having said that: I probably thank my health to this site, as it convinced me to get off the starvation path and take a more conservative approach. Thanks for that!