Counting Calories

My best friend has just begun an incredibly daunting task: counting calories. Whatever the end goal may be, from losing weight to looking good for spring break, we soon learned that counting calories can take over your life. No more random snacking throughout the day, no more chocolate chip cookies, and no more late night snacks.

When you count your calories, you become extremely aware of how much you really eat in one day. Everything really adds up by, which made it seemingly impossible for my friend to stay under 1220 net calories a day. She has to record every little thing that she consumes, from every sip of coke to each meal, and is constantly thinking about it.

So this got me thinking. Why does dieting or counting calories take over our lives? Why is it that when we diet, it is all that we think about? What gives it that power?

In short, we are controlled by the food that we eat, and cannot eat for that matter. Most of us who diet or count calories have an end goal in mind, like a specific weight or a size to fit in to, and will do anything, even count every single calorie consumed, to achieve it. I hope that my friend doesn't get too obsessed with counting calories, as it can easily spin out of control.

The thing that can be the most dangerous about counting calories is the guilt that it causes. Having a bowl of ice cream after dinner makes you feel awful when you are finished, or going 100 calories over you limit can ruin your whole day. Guilt or bad feelings can lead to more serious issues that may even risk your life.

So a word of advice, when you decide to count calories or diet, know that you are in control of your food, and your food is not in control of you.

Peace out, and rock on.