How to stop obsessing over calorie counting/nutrition

This isn't a good forum for hobbyjogger-specific threads. You would get better hobbyjogger-friendly answers on a hobbyjogger-oriented website like Reddit or RunnersWorld.

Honestly dude I would go see a psychologist and a sports nutritionist and work through these issues with both of them. My wife struggles with counting calories, obsessing and has recently become vegan and watches those vegan YouTube attention getting VLog channels (one of the youtubers on there with her own channel wasn’t getting her period) which I think doesn’t help things for her. I think she latches onto that to gain control of her own eating. I worry she’s not eating enough so my own psychologist (I see one for my own anxiety issues) advised me to have her do those things. Good luck bro and there’s nothing to be ashamed of.

It takes discipline to relax a little. Take little baby steps like going to buffets more often and not worrying about calorie count so much. Maybe count calories for one meal but not the other. Then do it incrementally.

Once you're a more experienced athlete, you can just eat based on your gut instincts. That's how I maintain my weight naturally and stress-free.

You're just afraid of looking fat, that's called like anorexia or something. As a guy that's developed a rather large pot belly I can truly say it was my massively larger intake of food in the last 2 years that did me in. If I would think about my diet just a little bit more and you a little less we'd both be better off.

When people are obsessive about counting calories and what they eat, it's because they're blocking out other stuff that they don't want to think about.

Get honest with yourself, get in touch with your difficult feelings and face the stuff in your subconscious that you're trying to block out and you'll stop worrying about the numbers.

FlyingFast wrote:

It takes discipline to relax a little. Take little baby steps like going to buffets more often and not worrying about calorie count so much. Maybe count calories for one meal but not the other. Then do it incrementally.

Once you're a more experienced athlete, you can just eat based on your gut instincts. That's how I maintain my weight naturally and stress-free.

Naturally and stress-free

Ah what I would give to feel that way to get to that level when it comes to nutrition/weight maintenance

I second the therapist. Sounds like there may be some deeper issues at play. At 20 you’re likely in or nearing a transitional time (graduating from college etc) Are you feeling some anxiety about the future, for instance? As another poster mentioned, the calorie counting can be a means of exerting control in one area even though anxiety about another area of your life may be driving the behavior. A good therapist may help you explore the source of the behaviors but will also teach you strategies to decrease/extinguish them.

konrad1198 wrote:

I'm a 6'2" 150-155 lb 20 year old male.

You sound like an anorexic.

tupacsiachump wrote:

konrad1198 wrote:

I'm a 6'2" 150-155 lb 20 year old male.

You sound like an anorexic.

19.3 BMI. Perfect weight for marathon runners. You can't afford to lose anymore.

Go low carb and don't look back. Once you are fat burning, you will literally not be able to eat enough meat and vegetables to gain weight while running any kind of volume, yours included. There are MYRIAD other positive health reasons to do this anyway...

19.3 is scrawny. OP should give up all carbs and eat, and more red meat. And he should lift heavy. Then he will be buff and ripped.

Obviously there is a line you can cross but tbh, that is a good way to be to an extent. You don't even know what it means to stay lean at 20. Best to understand your body and nutrition before the day comes when you actually have to work for it. Most people aren't concious of that stuff at all as a young adult and gain a bunch of weight that they never end up losing.

Get Nancy Clark's "Sports Nutrition Guidebook." I don't have your issues (mine are the opposite...I am not able to count calories with myfitnesspal though I wish I could) but her book has taught me a lot about nutrition for endurance athletes.

If it makes you feel better, I wish I was 6'2" 150-155lbs. If you are training regularly and eating enough, that's about perfect for a runner who cares about performance. People are too fat now.

The part that puzzles me is that you seem aware of your issues, yet you still have them. That makes me wonder if you are posting to get a particular response to justify your actions. Not criticizing you, however, if you know it is bad, then why don't you delete your myfitnesspal account and stop tracking calories?

Also, I hate to break it to you, but the 100 calories per mile thing is just a myth.

hobblejogger wrote:

Go low carb and don't look back. Once you are fat burning, you will literally not be able to eat enough meat and vegetables to gain weight while running any kind of volume, yours included. There are MYRIAD other positive health reasons to do this anyway...

That's because by excluding food groups you naturally eat a lower calorie diet. It's not the carbs, it's the intake that causes you to lose weight. If you ate all carbs, you would also lose weight.

Cheers,