The first reason is, I get very impatient when I have to deal with stuff that don't interest me 110%. I think that's a leftover of my incomplete growing up process. Have to admit, in my age I should've been there already... totally grownup, because let's face it... if I didn't manage to get there by now... at 47... it seems it'll never happen ;-).
Now, don't get me wrong. I do find lots of interest in the content of food. I check the labels on each box I'm looking at at the grocery store. If the amount of fat exceeds 4 grams per serving, I won't buy it. If there's lots of sugar/salt in it - I won't buy it. If the amount of calories seems huge per serving - I won't buy it. So this way, I do have some control of what I decide to put in my mouth by generally checking the amount of calories in foods before I buy them.
So, writing down every item I eat/use for cooking is a tedious chore for me. Tried it before, and didn't manage to stick with it for more than 2 days. By now, it got this kind of "Not a nice part of my life" status, so... it's not working for me.
The second reason Why I don't really count calories is, I'm trying to implement new eating habits into my new/healthy/right-for-me lifestyle, and make it a nutrition plan rather than a diet plan, since that's what I'm going to do from now on, for the rest of my life. I don't want to feel like I'm having an unpleasant chore. I'd like to get to the point where eating right will come natural to me, where I won't think about it all day long, where I won't get tired of its load on my brain & shoulder to the point I decide to give it up.
So, I've decided to become attentive to what my body tells me it needs 24/7, follow its lead and put only the good stuff into it, in the amounts that are just enough. When I sit to the table, I eat just enough to be satisfied and not to be hungry all the time. Somehow I managed to detect when my stomach is almost full, and if I had too much on my plate this time, the next time I'll take a bit less. If you ask me "How do you know how much is right?"... The answer is I don't know... but it works quite well so far.
Somehow, it's easy for me to control my portions now. It took few weeks to figure out how much I need to eat in order to leave the table satisfied, almost full but not too full. Few tweaks here and there, and after 2 months I can say that so far.. It works nicely, and I'm quite satisfied with how I feel, what I do, and with... not counting calories *s*.
Lorien @ 4:30 pm MT »
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2 Comments
Anne @ 02.51.pm | January 11, 2007
Lorien - I ran across this diet and it seems to encompass some of what you're talking about.
Lorien @ 04.07.pm | January 11, 2007
Hi Annie.... Will have to check that later, after my workout. Thanks :-)