The End of Counting Calories

I've been calorie counting and dieting for the past 7 years. It's worked great for me in the past. It helped me get to my all time low weight of 165. However, I still gained weight back. I still feel obsessive about food. I still let my mood be dependent upon what the scale says that morning. I still emotionally eat. Calorie counting has helped me, but I'm beginning to realize it's not the answer to my journey to living a healthy and happier life.

I've reached a point in my life where calorie counting just isn't working for me anymore. If I really think about it, did it ever really work for me? Yes, it got me down to my lowest weight, but was I happy? Was it the best thing for me? Was it maintainable? I don't know. When I look back at my history of dieting and counting calories, I'm not sure it was that healthy.

I understand why counting calories works. Calories in vs. calories out. Basic math. I don't regret learning about calories because it really helped me recognize that I was having portions that were WAY too big and I could eat a lot more healthy foods that would equal the same calories as a tiny serving of junk food. I just became way too obsessed with the numbers.

Too many numbers!

I let all these numbers dictate how I could eat for the rest of the day. If I only had 200 calories left after lunch, then I would eat a tiny salad for dinner even if I was STARVING. I was ignoring how my body felt and strictly relying on the numbers! I would freak out I had to go eat at a restaurant because I wouldn't be able to know exactly how many calories I ate. I became obsessed with measuring everything out. Exactly 1 cup of cereal, with exactly 0.5 cup of milk with exactly 0.25 cup of blueberries. It was exhausting. I also am recognizing that realistically I can't count calories forever! I already know how out of control I feel when I go on vacation or out of town for a few days and I'm away from my phone's app or calorie counting websites on my laptop. Sure, calorie counting worked for me on my own, but what happens when I have children? I won't be able to obsess over my foods then. I don't want to! I don't want to teach me kids to have the same hangups about food that I do. It's time to stop calorie counting. It's just what I need to do right now.

I recently started reading a book called Intuitive Eating after seeing a recommendation on a blog. It really hit home for me. I follows 10 principles which I'm going to outline in my upcoming blog entries so I can talk about my experiences with each of them. I'm excited about posting more and updating my readers (if I have any?) about my life right now! For now - I'd really recommend reading Intuitive Eating if you're sick of counting calories, obsessing over food and being on one too many DIETS!