This is always a concern for people.
They like the idea of not counting every morsel of food they eat for the rest of their lives, but the idea of giving up calorie counting is scary.
The tracking gives a sense of control.
Without it, it feels like you’re navigating in the dark.
So you worry that without that crutch you’ll overeat and gain weight, or you’ll never be able to lose any.
It’s understandable to feel that way. After all, there are probably many times in your life that you have lost some weight by tracking calories.
But if you’re still struggling with your weight, did it really work? Why did you stop?
What if the calorie tracking was the very thing setting you up for failure?
What I try to explain to people is that there is nothing inherently wrong with tracking calories…
…unless you have an unhealthy relationship with food and body.
If that’s the case, the tracking gets in the way of healing these relationships.
It keeps you anchored to past Diet Culture psychology and behaviors.
Here’s the thing – you don’t need to know how much to eat – you need to learn how to let go of control and trust yourself.
This is the key.
You’ve latched onto this idea that controlling your food = controlling your body = controlling how you feel about yourself.
That’s not the purpose of food.
The people who have healthy relationships with food and body don’t think about food the way you think they do, and they definitely don’t see it as a tool to control their body/confidence/etc.
Instead, they see food as a way to meet their needs. They just – eat… and then go about living their life.
Eating isn’t such a big focus point. They trust themselves around food. And they eat an optimal amount of it – naturally.
That’s what you’re working towards. And obsessing over calories isn’t going to get you there.
Instead of asking how much you should be eating, start asking how you can trust yourself more.
Start working towards the end goal.
Talk soon…