Last week, after seeing it around twitter, I downloaded the My Fitness Pal app on my phone. I’m going to count calories, I thought. It was kind of a weird moment for me because I’ve told myself in the past that I would never count calories. It seemed too extreme to me. I liked the app, however, and it was sort of fun adding my foods to see how many calories they were and then adding exercise to decrease my calories. I kept mine at a 1500-calorie/day limit, and I stayed under every day. After a few days, though, I just didn’t like it anymore.
Last weekend, on Saturday, I went running for the first time in four months. I only ran .77 miles, but I was more worried about how many calories I burned. I also worked out on my Wii Fit for fifteen minutes (before my run) to burn some calories. Then, I went for a swim later that night. (Let me tell you, swimming burns a lot of calories!) I felt awesome. On Sunday, I woke up to sore legs, but I had to burn more calories, so I biked a little over three miles that afternoon. After I worked out on the Wii Fit, of course. By that point, I was sort of exhausted. I was becoming obsessed with the idea of burning calories. After that, I continued counting calories, and I did really well, staying under my 1500-calorie/day goal. By Wednesday, though, I was beyond exhausted. I took a nap after work, and I woke up with an intense hunger.
When I woke up, I thought, what can I eat that is super-low in calories? Maybe I should just wait until dinner? But I was still two hours away from dinner-time, so I decided I was done with counting calories. We decided to go out to eat that night, and I made sure I ate until I was full. My body felt confused, though, so I didn’t eat as much as I had wanted.
During this short experience, I forgot my number one rule: pay attention to how my body feels. I was exercising to burn calories, rather than exercising to make myself feel good. I was eating based on calorie intake, rather than eating when I was hungry and stopping when I was full. I could see exactly how eating disorders can begin. I became obsessed with calorie counting, and I didn’t care how hungry I was. Even though this all took place in less than a week, I could see that it was leading me down a path I didn’t want to go down.
I’m not counting calories anymore. It’s just not for me. Sure, I wouldn’t mind losing five pounds, but I mostly care about how I feel, and this week, I’ve felt exhausted and sick. I’d much rather spend my days feeling happy and full.
Do you count calories? If not, have you tried it before? What do you think about counting calories?
I do have to say that My Fitness Pal is a great app/website. If you’re wanting to lose weight, I believe that it can help you get there. Just remember: it’s less about the calories and more about taking in the proper nutrition so that you don’t starve your body of what it needs. Oh, by the way, this isn’t a sponsored post of any sort. I just really wanted to write about my experience with calorie counting.
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