Around town there is currently a health challenge underway. Spurred by the popularity of The Biggest Loser, teams from businesses all around town were created and are competing to lose the most and earn $1000 (although I did the math and there are like 70+ teams who all put in $40 I think . . . so where does the rest of the money go??). Of course, it’s  not all about money, it’s about living a healthier lifestyle, and this is just a motivator to get started.

I know a number of people involved in the challenge, and they all have their methods (some working better than others), but one conversation I just keep hearing is about counting calories. On top of that, I was actually playing The Biggest Loser Wii game, and it has a spot to input your daily calorie intake. It also suggests how much you should be consuming.

In my desire to get more fit I thought I’d give the calorie counting a try; after all, it has been working for those using that method. How hard could it be? Breakfast was fairly easy; I pretty much always eat a bowl of cereal with milk, and I could easily measure how much to eat according to the serving size. And for the rest of my day I found a website that has a list of common foods and their calories, so I would just look up whatever I ate and input it.

I lasted for about 2 1/2 days. Then I cracked. I found myself hating myself for every little thing I ate; and being the perfectionist that I am, I was also pretty sure that some of the foods I entered were inaccurate due to my not really knowing how many ounces I ate, or not being able to find exactly what I ate. And what about things like homemade bread? I had some Amish Friendship bread that I had mixed with whole wheat flour and pumpkin, and—no surprise—it wasn’t on the list.

And the more I saw how many calories I was eating, the more I wanted to eat. I know, that doesn’t really make sense. But it sort of angered/depressed me at how much I was consuming, and as I am a stress eater, I just binged on more. And when I tried exercising control and limiting what I was eating, I was simply ravenous! My stomach would be grumbling and eating was ALL I COULD THINK ABOUT.

This made me cranky. Feeling hungry and angry at what I felt I couldn’t  eat left me very snappy. And I don’t want to be like that. I think for my perfectionist personality counting calories is not the way to go. I get too obsessive and eating is no longer a good experience; eating should be a good experience. I like food. I love cooking new things. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

Calories aside, moderation is still a wise decision. But I know how much I eat. And I know when I’m eating something unhealthy. And once I gave up the counting, I found I could cut back without knowing exactly the value of what I was cutting back. But I know throwing away the rest of that birthday cake that I was still working on was a good idea. I wasn’t angry anymore at the idea of not eating something. I will continue to make some wise eating decisions, and some foolish ones, but without thinking about all those numbers. And when I eat those Girl Scout cookies in my pantry I’ll be ok with it; might just add a few more jumping jacks to my day.

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