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    MYSTICALBFLY   386
SparkPoints 		250-499 SparkPoints
 
 
Using the food tracker is not always a good thing.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

I love this site and I am going to continue to use the tools here, but I think until I get a healthier body image I should lay off the food tracker. I see the calories and for most people that would be a great thing. For an emotional binge eater it just helps me turn it into a real eating disorder. I will go days only eating a 1000 calories and than go and binge on things with not a lot of calories or some with a lot if I had a lot of really low calorie days. Do not get me wrong for about 95% of people tracking what you eat is great. There is the 5% though that instead it starts us obsessing over how much we have eaten when we can eat again what we can eat how much we can eat. When it turns food into your obsession than it is no longer helpful. I am just going to have to work out track that and just try to make healthy food choices with out the calorie counting.
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  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

1EMMA2011 1/30/2011 10:23AM

    Congratulations on working your program your own way - we are all different - find what works - for me it has to be about lifestyle this go round and this go round has to be the last one. I can't believe how different I feel at 50 and how important nutrition has become. Slow small changes are what it is about - building to consistency for me.

Thank you for your inspiration - I hope we can be sparkpeople friends!! emoticon emoticon emoticon emoticon emoticon

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DELANAE 1/26/2011 11:53AM

    I am feeling this way now when tracking my food. I obsess with it, but I always have when dieting. I guess me entering it on here and not cheating I see actually how I am doing. I do sometimes get stressed thinking about the next meal. Most of that is from me being a HUGE snacker. I cannot sit and eat a lot in one sitting but I sure can eat all day long. When I feel myself wanting to binge I cut up a green pepper or some other fresh veggie and have at it. Good luck to you!

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BESTMEPOSSIBLE 1/26/2011 10:34AM

    I can't say I understand your struggle, but I hope you are able to make the positive changes you need in order to gain a healthier relationship with food.

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AZTLAN777 1/26/2011 10:22AM

    It is your journey, however, the tracker when used in conjunction with your weight and height stats, comes up with the proper nutritional needs for your weight loss and exercise requirements for needed nutrition. At first, of course you become super involved with keeping track of your food, it is the only way you are going to relearn how to eat correctly. I did that in the beginning and now, I can eat without planning a meal and then after I input it to the tracker, I find that I was right on in eating the right amount and the right foods. I believe that if we are overweight, we obviously have a problem with disciplining ourselves to eat correctly and not binge or be addicted to food, it has to change through finding balance in our lives, a lot of self-reflection, and most important of all, our motivation for losing weight. Is it to be healthy, live a long life, or do we want a quick fix for something that took years to do (such as putting on the weight). Before anything can change for the better, we have to change the root of it, in this case, the reason for the "addiction" to food. All tools on SP are geared to "changing" our eating lifestyle. The tracker makes us accountable. we only fool ourselves if we think we can do it on our own, because obviously, it hasn't worked so far and thus, we are overweight. Is your method of "not" eating enough for days, then over eating because you under ate, going to really work? Under eating just gives an excuse to over eat. Good luck, in your journey.

Comment edited on: 1/26/2011 10:27:08 AM

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KRBISCHOFF2010 1/26/2011 10:03AM

    I understand this all to well. Just remember that the magic numbers are at the bottom of the page ( success doesn't happen in extremes) - challenge yourself to get as much healthy food as you can for the allotted numbers; knowing that the closer you get to that magic calorie allowance - the closer to you get to a healthier you! Going over and going under will both stand in the way of this goal. Good Luck!!!

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