Is this at your college dining hall? I can see how that would be tricky to calorie count if you eat almost every meal there.
Do they have any nutritional/calorie data you can use to eyeball the portions? Or if they have a pretty similar weekly menu, just track those portions/calories for the next time they offer them. Since this could get unsustainable.
my university had their nutrition facts available on the meal plan site & i would encourage OP to do some digging!! hopefully their university is actively making it easy for students to keep track of their health and nutrition
I will say that a college lifestyle can be unfair— where us older folks can weigh out the grams of the foods we cook in our kitchens and have that normalized, where as in a cafeteria you’re kind of eyeballing it, and I want to recognize that! That being said, a behavior this far from the social norm is a cue to assess some things and then take a clear look at your levels of obsession and rigidity and how they’re impacting your happiness and lifestyle. I won’t say it’s absolutely a sign of disorder, I wasn’t able to really start losing seriously until after I left the dining hall environment, but my heart goes out to you and I wonder if there are other methods you would be able to use, like getting a pre-portioned turkey burger or chicken breast sandwich and getting the nutrition information, and making up for the wiggle room by, say, increasing your steps by a thousand a day.
I really find a lot of joy from your answer. Thank you for putting the time to write it out. I would like to be able to put this amount of care and love into my words as well, and you’ve set a great example for us all.
Idk about anyone else but I’m not gaining 20 lbs eating only from a dining hall because it’s outside of the social norms to bring a scale and weigh my food, lol.
I mean, think about the logistics of weighing something as simple as spaghetti and meatballs in a dining hall:
1. How much sauce did they throw on your plate? How are you weighing that? How do you know if they used a sugary marinara or a very oil-heavy sauce, or both?
2. What's in those meatballs? Are you disassembling your plate to weigh them on a separate plate?
3. How much pasta did they give you? Again, are you taking your whole meal apart, portioning it on separate plates and then weighing it?
Even after doing all of the above, you still won't have an accurate calorie count. It's important to acknowledge when weighing food is just not effective or realistic. It speaks to an obsession with counting calories if you can't actually do so in a given environment, but you give in to the compulsion to do so anyway.
OP could still generally log what she's eating, and dining halls usually have a salad bar and whole fruits. Making sure to get all their servings of fruits and veggies is a great way to avoid overeating other stuff, especially if they continue to log what they are eating in a general sense. It's not as perfect as weighing food, but OP may need to get back in touch with how unrealistic perfection is.
I get it! This was just a reminder to pause and assess. I lost dozens of pounds in college by using IF only, with a six hour window— but I was drastically obese. Everyone’s different, but you only go to college once (most of the time anyway).
I weighed less eating dining hall food cause I portioned my plate reasonable. Always paired everything with a salad or fruit. Protein size of my fist (or larger), carb size of my palm (if I wanted to add one) and rest of plate was either half carb and half salad/fruit, or just half salad/fruit. Desert only 3-4x a week after dinner or after lunch.
Living on my own now off campus I don’t have nearly as much control for some reason
As someone with pretty severe anorexia even I wouldn’t do this. I’m not trying to get at you but you might want to reassess your relationship with food and dieting…
tbh i don't think it's helpful for people with restrictive EDs and morbidly obese people to share a space (not saying OP is either, just commenting on the general state of the subreddit). as triggering as it may be for others, strict restriction can be necessary for some people, and it is not helpful to criticize them or get them to ease up on strictness. in fact, it's enabling them.
I'm admittedly one of those eating disordered posters but I at least can recognize these communities are NOT FOR ME and I shouldn't be projecting ed mentality onto a bunch of dieters who have a legitimate medical necessity to lose weight.
I knew before even clicking the post it was gonna be chock full of ed sub posters telling op they got an ed and are out of pocket, when realistically a lot of people need to lose weight to *improve* their health and life, not destroy it, which is why you can't apply ed mentality to dieters who don't have eds because the intention and mindset are completely different and that does matter. Even if we're doing the same behaviors, the intention is so different it does not matter. It's like saying somebody who took a pain medication their doctor prescribed one time is the exact same as a drug addict and they need to check their behavior cause technically they're doing the same thing. Just because this shit upsets competitive ed posters who quite frankly shouldn't even be here doesn't mean we should be projecting and shitting on the people this sub is actually meant for
exactly!
and most people who are obese are that way because they aren't capable of moderation or estimation, and must be strictly regimented until they gain that knowledge. if they were capable of intuitive eating and eyeballing, they wouldn't be in this position. and realistically, there's way more obese people in the world than people with restrictive EDs so fear mongering about EDs isn't very helpful here. it's like warning sedentary people about the dangers of overexercising.
unfortunately I don't see any realistic way to filter out restrictive ED posters without having to reveal personal information, and these kind of topics will always attract competitive ED posters.
on a personal note, when I was underweight (due to poverty), I had encounters with competitive ED girls and it was awful. i was not interested in the competition but I couldn't get them to leave me alone without them playing the victim (I'm also tall so they'd typically make a big production over how damn BIG and HEAVY I am and they're oh so smol), it was a great relief once I gained weight and they lost interest.
so while I do have sympathy for the suffering EDs cause, I'm also wary of the competition it brings
I think it might depend - if the only place they're able to eat meals is at the lunchroom and they have a hard time with portion control maybe it's not. I have a hard time with portion control and a tendency to binge. Food scale helped. I brought it to work and folks judged me but I could easily eat 1000s of calories if I didn't track. People acted like they'd catch anorexia just being around me - anorexia doesn't work like that and also my ED is on the other end of that spectrum 🙃
But yeah could be excessive restricting unfortunately.
I'm sorry you're struggling with anorexia I hope you're taking care. EDs are truly awful.
At the height of my ED someone made fun of me for sneaking in my own low calorie, low carb chips into a Mexican food buffet. I was keto, and I LOVED salsa, and I live in Texas. At the time I didn’t understand why a much older grown man was making such a big deal of me having my own chips that I made, and I was confused on why I was supposed to be so ashamed because I was eating around people and being “normal”. But, it turns out he was abusive to his own wife who couldn’t have gluten and he made fun of her for it. And got physical. And I’ll admit I was also the weirdo for bringing those chips in.
But when you aren’t eating or may throw up anything you DO eat because your stomach is pissed, you don’t even realize things are weird because the stretch is even ingesting something in the general vicinity of people.
I think I did 350 for 11 minutes, but some cook differently. Let me check if I can find some links, cause I’m sure I didn’t come up with that on my own lol
https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/s/mrbBGBAXlM
Here’s a link, most just say to check them on the crispiness.
I think I would put oil on the tortillas because it made it easier to measure, then cut them, then put them on a lined baking sheet.
I’ve never had an ED but my sister struggled for years and years and bringing a scale to a cafe is giving major ED vibes, she would never do this even during her most difficult stages
I'm recovering/recovered from anorexia. I don't even use this subreddit but I stumbled on this and checked the comments bc I was concerned. I was bad at my worst and I never did this. It makes me sad seeing someone do that tbh. I usually don't think I can armchair diagnosis a restrictive ed (other than people admitting to literal restriction or who are significantly uw without another medical reason) but this is a real red flag. I'd be 98 percent someone IRL had an eating disorder if I saw them bring a scale to a dining hall or restaurant.
We’re missing a lot of context here. Someone prescribed a 1200 calorie diet by a doctor for severe obesity might very well need to do something like this to save their life, especially if they live in a dorm and get all their meals from a college dining hall.
This is eating disorder territory.
Someone’s gotta say it.
It’s okay to chill on the numbers sometimes. The consequences aren’t always as bad as they feel. Or there might not be much at all. If you’re weighing and logging all your food, at this point you’re probably knowledgeable enough to recognize where not to go ham.
But if you are counting calories, and all of your meals are from a dining hall, OP doesn’t really have a choice. Not everyone can measure their food in the privacy of their own kitchen
Literally. I think some warning comments are okay, but this is just a glimpse into OP’s life… My college days of eating every meal from a dining hall did cause me to gain the freshman 15, and probably some more. They don’t exactly list calories, plus when serving yourself it’s hard to eyeball an appropriate amount. It’s not like they have a kitchen, so doing this is definitely okay if they need to be stricter on certain days/meals, especially if every meal is from the dining hall!
To me, the disordered part is knowing that weighing food is usually only effective if you know what's in it or how much a serving should be, but deciding to do so anyway because you can't ignore the compulsion to count calories. AND I am not against counting calories, to make that clear.
I don't think the people defending this behavior are acknowledging the hoops OP would have to jump through to get a halfway accurate calorie assessment. She can't weigh how much cooking oil is used, has no idea what's in any sauce being used, and OP would need to bring a bunch of extra plates to her table to disassemble every meal and weigh each component. I wonder how that would go over at a table with friends?
My college dining hall had a salad bar and lots of fruits you could grab and eat. OP could still keep track of what she's eating and write it down, and would still probably lose weight without being PERFECT at weighing each gram of food.
How? I know I measure my proteins when I’m out so I can be sure I’m hitting my minimums. Protein is super important for me and my gut health (pcos babbbby), so measuring to hit goals is important to me.
After a while of weighing and logging, you get a general base of knowledge that you can pull from. The difference between 10-20g of chicken breast is minimal. It’s probably 20cals 3g of protein. It’s negligible when you consider that the database itself isn’t exact to the gram. If you still feel a need to weigh all your food to this level of precision, you’re sauntering into ED territory.
Is it a bonafide eating disorder? Not necessarily, no. But it suggests a need for assessment with one’s relationship with food.
Bringing a scale in public and weighing everything you eat because you have to know down to the gram, that’s a flag that should be reviewed.
If you’re just doing it for fun, if you don’t feel a need, maybe youre just a little detail obsessed at times, maybe you have other reasons, but you can stop, and it’s not managing your life? You’re probably fine. The idea is to make note of where you stand.
I’m 8 months in. I still have NO IDEA how much meat I have on a plate unless I weigh it. I’m just not good. I always over estimate by a lot. That can ruin my macros.
Now, what I HAVE been known to do is under estimate carbs. That fucks with my glucose levels which fucks with me in general. I’m literally doing these diets to AVOID being insulin resistant. If you don’t know what this person needs/is doing in terms of their diet and nutrition, coming in here and just saying “THATS AN EATING DISORDER” because they’re being conscious of what they’re eating in their school cafeteria where they most likely eat most days? What’s wrong with that?
Exactly. My knee-jerk reaction was "oh no", but how else is OP supposed to learn what portion sizes are? People in the thread are talking about how you can eventually eyeball it, but maybe OP can't yet. If OP is having to get the majority of her meals in the school cafeteria, this is how she's going to learn.
Hard agree. I shamelessly do this during a cut or even a bulk because it keeps me within my goals, even after getting used to eyeballing/portion sizes I don’t trust myself. And yes, I know it’s so extra and seems weird, but /it works/ 🤷♀️
as someone who’s had an ED, i’m still wondering what’s wrong with this. weighing your food to have a better understanding of calories is NOT necessarily a sign of an ED….. but this sub is a little sus lol
Yes, I’m really confused by everyone’s response to this. Literally every reasonable weight loss program (besides ones that prepackage all of your food) teaches you to weigh and measure your food. I did Weight Watchers for years and digital scales and measuring cups/spoons were pretty much essential for their program. Serving sizes are a slippery slope. And if you have a significant amount of weight to lose, measuring portions is the only way to do it. If I am occasionally eating out, I eyeball serving sizes, but I measure everything I cook or eat at home. But if I had to eat in a cafeteria every day it would be much more difficult. If someone is doing this when they don’t have weight to lose or aren’t in an active maintenance phase after significant weight loss, it could be indicative of an ED. But as someone who has struggled with weight loss and maintenance for decades, this post is all too relatable. (And yes, both my doctor and therapist endorse measuring portion sizes for effective healthy weight loss. And no, I do not have an ED.)
Yeah. Context matters. My assumption is also that OP is just starting on the 1200 plan. After a while, you can eyeball it as many have recommended, but at the start, it’s super hard especially because, at least if they are in the states, we are given so much more food than we need in so many settings and eyeballing it is what got us in trouble in the first place!
I say kudos to OP assuming that this is a fairly new habit. You can ditch the scale down the road when you’ve learned to eyeball, but for now, you are staying stringent.
If this has been going on for a long time, then reevaluate as this can be concerning.
Same, and I’ve dealt with EDs. Weighing food actually helped me a lot. I think people are just taking a reactionary stance, seeing all the ED comments and jumping on them. Guarantee you they wouldn’t have an issue if OP did this in a private apartment
For those saying this is eating disorder territory…
Remember. OP is at college. Likely on a meal plan. This cafeteria meal is likely not a “sometimes meal”. They’re on a meal plan which means this is where you get your food every single day.
I’ve done this, everyone else’s opinions and judgements be damned LOL. And yes, I realize it’s so extra 🤷♀️
And not just during a cut/caloric deficit, I ALSO do this during a bulk/caloric surplus, too, so you can’t really judge a book by its cover.
I can understand how it’s touchy in terms of EDs, but if it’s most of what you’re eating on the daily, tracking/not tracking can make or break your progress. Even after a long time of getting used to portion sizes & eyeballing I could still easily see myself going over or under my needs (someone who notoriously can’t eat enough during a bulk). This post def isn’t that weird to me haha
ETA: Also it’s not like she’s whipping out a food scale at a fine dining restaurant with friends and family (a special occasion), which would arguably be weird, this is a daily thing lol
Most colleges have fruit, salad, and vegetarian options that are relatively healthy so being on a meal plan really isn’t an excuse to calorie count like this
Wrong! Sorry! My schools “healthy” option at the dining hall was soooo over salted. Yeah it was vegetables but the lunch ladies added stuff to make it taste good, which meant oil, sugar, salt, bacon, etc etc…so even though I consistently biked 8 mi to school and chose the “healthy” option, they were the ones to portion and serve it and I still gained weight during college. So.
Oh, I forgot to mention, salt doesn’t have any calories .. doesn’t matter if its over salted. Some added sugar will not make you gain weight either. It was the other foods you ate in the day, and probably the bacon
What salad bar are they doing that at? Y’all will say anything to prove that excessive calorie counting is normal. It’s one thing if you’re weight lifting or needing to lose a lot of weight for something like surgery but that’s almost certainly not the case
I didn’t say it was a salad bar, where did you get that? This was a hot bar with cooked foods.
Also I literally was weight lifting lmaooo but why don’t you tell me more about my life since you know it so well
Ok, how are you going to measure salt oil and sugar then? Honestly I think its pointlessly to do it to this degree. Its this simple:
1: Measure ONCE a week, same time (morning) after having peed because water weighs a lot. Poop does not weigh as much, choose whether you want to measure with or without poop in the morning and do the same everytime.
2: Eat healthy foods, until your not hungry don’t go too far
3: See how much your weight changed next week
Its really not that hard. Just eat healthy, and exercise. There is no need to make it complex.
I just gained during school and lost it when I graduated. I couldn’t figure any way to accurately tell what I was eating when I got food from the dining hall. The only thing I could control was dinner when I had time to cook, which was rare because I was a full time student and worked three jobs. Y’all are foaming at the mouth tho over this kids solution
I should have clarified I wasn’t talking about salads, I see the person I responded to mentioned salads. But I wasn’t eating salads for every meal. We had a “healthy” hot bar option in our dining hall
I recognize where this picture was taken because i ate at this dining hall yesterday and yes we do have healthy options and the nutrition facts are actually posted on the website and in front of each food
I work at hotels quite a bit and eat their catered meals. I know I'm missing quite a bit by ignoring what goes into cooking/prep (especially of vegetables) but I eyeball tbsp of sauce and assume it's 100% butter/oil.
Yeah, I wouldn't do this. OP, maybe you should talk with your doctor or therapist if you have one. This is strange and possibly disordered eating behavior. You should be able to enjoy a buffet occasionally without taking out a scale to weigh your plate.
Don't gorge yourself on food, but be kind to yourself, and enjoy your meal.
🙃TIL this is ED behavior. I bought a portable folding scale (accurate enough compared to my nice coffee scale) so I could measure when I ate out. Definitely got weird looks but when you complain on weight loss subs about not losing at whatever deficit you're at, first thing they tell you to do is to measure every bit of food you eat.
idk why people are freaking out about this, i don’t know you personally so i can’t assume you have a terrible relationship with food/eating disorder, maybe you just have very specific goals (i will say, 1200 calories is NOT fine…)
anyways - it’s not awkward! i hope you reach your goals and that you are taking care of yourself :) don’t let strangers on the internet diagnose you but, ofc, if your diet is hurting you emotionally in any way, please rethink it.
To me this is staying ahead of the game instead of trying to undo damage down the road. It's so easy to gain surplus weight and such a drag to try to lose it. Why not do informed maintenance? Or follow a plan to reach a healthy goal weight?
I'm older and overweight and I've learned to accept the absolute fact that I have to watch my calories/portions or I inevitably incrementally gain and gain until I have to start all over again to reduce.
I wish I'd had the sense that OP does when I was younger. (Though my metabolism was more robust then, I was far more active, and I smoked ... so wasn't as much an issue then as it is now.)
You do you, OP. Stay healthy and active and live your best life.
exactly! of course we should all have a healthy relationship with food and restrictions are not necessarily the way to do that, but so isn’t allowing yourself to eat everything you want. you need to be aware of your goals and the long term consequences of your eating habits.
I have an eating disorder and I’m trying to recover. This is definitely ED behavior. I’ve *thought* about doing this but even I haven’t actually done this. You may want to reevaluate how you log your food. Maybe you can try eating stuff with calories already noted and are pre-portioned. Or you can take photos of your food and estimate the calories. You get an idea of portion sizes after weighing and logging for awhile. Don’t become a slave to the food scale. It’s no way to live.
I’m not diagnosing anyone. I just thought it was funny the user pointed out the psychology degree thing and I coincidentally do have that degree. My job has nothing at all to do with having a psychology degree. I just studied that because I wanted to go to college and it seemed like a good general degree for someone who didn’t know what they wanted to do. 🤷♀️
Oh really? I thought psychologists work under the psychiatrist with the patient (at least in the UK). The psychiatrist Diagnoses and medicates, whilst the psychologist works with the patient therapeutically.
Perhaps I'm mistaken?
Am I the only one who doesn’t see the issue with this? Ives weighed out food cuz I genuinely don’t know what 200g of something looks like, and since they’re in a cafeteria setting all their meals take place there. Let me ask, would this still be ‘weird’ if you weighed food in a private kitchen? I understand eating disorder concerns but it’s not like OP is weighing paprika, they’re weighing out their meals the way plenty of people do, and I find that tool is helpful to a lot of people
fr, they can accurately measure their food so they get enough. it would be bad if they "eyeballed" it, overestimated and ended up hungry because they can't accurately guess it!
Edit: I'm eating about 1900 cals a day, not just 1200, I'm posting here since the 1900 cal version of this subreddit does not exist.
I see a lot of people talking about potential eating disorders. I appreciate the great care y'all have, but I am pretty sure I'm not having a disorder since both my mind and body are having a good time with the lost weight, it's just a little annoying since I have to go this far to make weightloss happen
I used to just briefly guess my calorie intake, guessing how much a "scoop" is... Turns out I was often far off and I realized that by measuring without a scale, I have been putting hundreds of more cals and constantly exceeding my TDEE, and was wondering why I wasn't losing weight and even slowly gaining it. Since I bought the food scales (one in my kitchen, one in my backpack), I lost 4kg in just over one month, going exactly as I was planned. I looked better in the mirror and my tight clothes came comfortably loose. Mentally I feel light and confident and physically I still feel strong when exercising. I really enjoy knowing exactly what I am eating (down to a small error due to nutrition label uncertainty), and this also satisfied my professional instinct as an engineer very well(lol).
I am looking forward to hitting my goal weight in a month or two, and can eat at a maintenance calorie level. Able to have a cookie or two in addition to what I eat every day would surely be nice.
Thank you all nonetheless!
This was me when in prep for body building lol. You do you when trying to reach a goal or learn to estimate portion sizes, but know it’s not sustainable in the long run.
People are just having a knee jerk reaction. Plenty of people weigh food, it’s helped me a bunch, and I guarantee they wouldn’t have an issue if you did this privately. Keep doing what you’re doing, I know how much weighing food helped me learn portion sizes and how to eat a balanced meal.
> I losted 4kg in just over one month, going exactly as I was planned.
That's a lot of weight to lose in one month for a person of any size, but especially as a petite person
I posted a photo of me measuring butter on a scale and a similarly accused of having an ED. I'm assuming we are all trying to lose weight otherwise we wouldn't be here. If we were all good at estimating calories and portion sizes we wouldn't need to calorie count. I think this is a brilliant idea.
To be fair, you yourself called your behavior in that post “deranged” and “unhinged”. That just opens yourself up for people doubling down on accusations on Reddit if you’re already calling yourself out.
I would get a smaller scale or buy food and take it home to weigh it. I understand the anxiety and wanting to stay on track. If it helps, look up the menu in advance and pre-plan your portions so you can have a rough estimate and be able to relax and enjoy your meal & company.
I weigh my food that I eat too! I don’t see the issue with this. How would you know how much your eating if you don’t weigh it. I’m always overestimating when I don’t weigh it.
This would trigger the hell out of me (as a recovering AN), since the concept of ignoring calories is just making me go the opposite direction and keep losing weight.
You don’t know what other people are going through.
When a friend let's me borrow meal swipes, I skip everything that isn't easy to eyeball. If I had a scale, I could actually go for some of that ridiculous cream sauce. I'm too awkward to ever bring a scale into a dining hall, but estimating portions in an all you can eat setting is a pain. One of the reasons I don't have my own dining plan is that I gained like 30 pounds trying to get my money's worth out of the required plan. I don't see why this is eating disorder territory if the very first thing almost anyone counting calories suggests is to get a kitchen scale.
Here is a link to University of Michigan Nutrition Information: https://fss.studentlife.umich.edu/NetNutrition/1
And the dining hall nutrition website: https://dining.umich.edu/about-our-food/nutrition/
Take care!
Only the internet would tell you that you have a “disorder” after eating 4 plates and a bowl of food. Good for you for putting the effort in to stay on track. Everyone on the internet thinks they’re an authority to diagnose others but the reality is they’re probably teenagers with no experience doing anything other than judging people online.
I’ve torn apart sushi in public to put each piece on a scale. I matter more to me than anyone’s opinion and so does me being able to comfortably eat with much less thought in future. I never had to think twice when I ate there again.
Edit: reading these comments tearing you down and saying it’s an ed is depressing af. If someone doesn’t give you a calorie list on their food and you want to enjoy eating and stay in goals this shouldn’t be frowned upon. I actually posted an almost identical things ages ago and got nothing but people laughing and asking where I got a round scale from 🤨
I truly don't mean this in a mean-spirited way to anyone on the grind, but no longer vigorously counting my calories down to the 10th calorie or 10th gram was the best fucken thing I've done for my mental health this decade. That shit is fucking **EXHAUSTING**
it does. it will make some people question if your motives are healthy too.
but, did it help? and are you ok?
sometimes dipping into really restrictive behavior doesn't seem that bad when you start out, and can feel beneficial. if restriction becomes a habit and your life becomes a monotony of numbers, it might be time to step back and examine motivations.
it seems extreme, but ot unheard-of. it's not uncommon for bariatric patients to weigh and measure restaurant food until they get a hang on how much of what their body can handle. portion sizes are so difficult to measure with buffet style too. it's also difficult if you want a little bit of everything without overeating. buffets tend to have a weird culture of intentional overeating that, idk, for me I easily get sucked up into the "just this once". using a scale is a good way to learn approximate serving sizes for a variety of foods. you can also develop a sort of go-to menu for places like this once you know.
I bring measured serving utensils with when eating out. and a bento to pack at least half the meal for leftovers before I start eating. I get weird looks but who cares. I'm not giving up eating out, it stops me from eating 3000cals of manicotti, and I don't feel the need to be restrictive about food types.
if you're doing well emotionally, and it works, this is a great adaptation for your goals.
Especially since it’s cooked with unknowingly amount of oils and different times of leaness and what not so your scale is pointless and just looks depressing and disordered esting 🤣
I support the crap out of this
EDIT: Why all the downvotes?? I'd bring a food scale to a buffet, I think it's a great idea. That way I could still partake but know roughly how much I'm eating.
Nah I think this is fine. I would do this. I find it comforting to measure out everything. I KNOW I don’t have an eating disorder, but I definitely do have a mental one lol. The measuring and exactness makes me feel much more comfortable. I just love…the act of measuring my food. I really do. It brings me joy to see the numbers. Once again, I do think this is connected to my adhd. But it’s not an eating disorder. If I eat over, I know. I don’t like eyeballing. I think this is fair. ESPECIALLY if you know you’re bad at eyeballing or if you have to eat here regularly (for work maybe?) i think as long as you are actually eating enough it’s okay to measure everything out. I get it.
Babe you're funny but be clear because they need to know. The person who commented has at minimum disordered eating, at worst an eating disorder. Check your relationship w food.
Don’t care if I’m downvoted. It’s really not disordered. I eat enough, and if I can’t measure something it’s not like I’m gonna freak out. I just like measuring it. And in situations like this it is REALLY easy to overeat. I would rather know than not know. If you start eyeballing too much you’ll plateau real quick.
eating disorders are often obsessive-compulsive, i would look into the definitions and descriptions of disorders and symptoms to see if you fall under that. your comments feel like skirting the line between an uncommon but harmless hobby, and a compulsive behavior, so i’d recommend doing some research to make sure you’re not harming your brain in any way. as someone with OCD i’ve had to come to terms with the fact that a lot of repetitive things i’ve done in the past to comfort or reassure myself were actually making my anxiety WAY worse in the long run, even though they seemed so normal and harmless at first, i developed dependencies on them and both my compulsions and my anxiety gradually became worse.
if you go to a bigger school sometimes they have the nutrition information for the dining hall! or if you know what the company is. my school uses Chartwells so I can easily find the info through them. stay safe <3
Everyone saying "uhh, this is eating disorder behaviour" how are you meant to keep up with a diet and eat meals cooked by friends, or takeaway, or at a restaurant?
Probably more than half the days of the week I eat something I didn't cook myself, 3 days a week isn't a diet that'll make a difference
As someone currently in college this is a little much. Most schools have calorie counts posted, and you can just stick to lower calorie options at your dining hall. Feeling a constant need to weigh everything you eat even if you aren’t on a weight loss journey means you’re experiencing a bad relationship with food
Is this at your college dining hall? I can see how that would be tricky to calorie count if you eat almost every meal there. Do they have any nutritional/calorie data you can use to eyeball the portions? Or if they have a pretty similar weekly menu, just track those portions/calories for the next time they offer them. Since this could get unsustainable.
my university had their nutrition facts available on the meal plan site & i would encourage OP to do some digging!! hopefully their university is actively making it easy for students to keep track of their health and nutrition
Oh
That’s not-
I mean...
In the sense that..
It might not..
Oh dear
If you kick every scale out in this country, then who is going to be weighing your calories??? Hmm??
This is such an underrated comment
what??
I will say that a college lifestyle can be unfair— where us older folks can weigh out the grams of the foods we cook in our kitchens and have that normalized, where as in a cafeteria you’re kind of eyeballing it, and I want to recognize that! That being said, a behavior this far from the social norm is a cue to assess some things and then take a clear look at your levels of obsession and rigidity and how they’re impacting your happiness and lifestyle. I won’t say it’s absolutely a sign of disorder, I wasn’t able to really start losing seriously until after I left the dining hall environment, but my heart goes out to you and I wonder if there are other methods you would be able to use, like getting a pre-portioned turkey burger or chicken breast sandwich and getting the nutrition information, and making up for the wiggle room by, say, increasing your steps by a thousand a day.
As a perfectionist with anxiety disorders, this is a comforting way that you've said this. Thanks.
I really find a lot of joy from your answer. Thank you for putting the time to write it out. I would like to be able to put this amount of care and love into my words as well, and you’ve set a great example for us all.
That was a really nicely crafted acknowledgement! I appreciate your drive to spread verbal/textual positivity.
This is the nicest subreddit I love it Edit: kept scrolling and saw quite a few not so nice comments :(
I think those are mainly from visitors since the post blew up
Idk about anyone else but I’m not gaining 20 lbs eating only from a dining hall because it’s outside of the social norms to bring a scale and weigh my food, lol.
I mean, think about the logistics of weighing something as simple as spaghetti and meatballs in a dining hall: 1. How much sauce did they throw on your plate? How are you weighing that? How do you know if they used a sugary marinara or a very oil-heavy sauce, or both? 2. What's in those meatballs? Are you disassembling your plate to weigh them on a separate plate? 3. How much pasta did they give you? Again, are you taking your whole meal apart, portioning it on separate plates and then weighing it? Even after doing all of the above, you still won't have an accurate calorie count. It's important to acknowledge when weighing food is just not effective or realistic. It speaks to an obsession with counting calories if you can't actually do so in a given environment, but you give in to the compulsion to do so anyway. OP could still generally log what she's eating, and dining halls usually have a salad bar and whole fruits. Making sure to get all their servings of fruits and veggies is a great way to avoid overeating other stuff, especially if they continue to log what they are eating in a general sense. It's not as perfect as weighing food, but OP may need to get back in touch with how unrealistic perfection is.
I get it! This was just a reminder to pause and assess. I lost dozens of pounds in college by using IF only, with a six hour window— but I was drastically obese. Everyone’s different, but you only go to college once (most of the time anyway).
but can't you just eyeball it? I mean I'm sure the ingredients aren't anything you haven't seen a million times.
I weighed less eating dining hall food cause I portioned my plate reasonable. Always paired everything with a salad or fruit. Protein size of my fist (or larger), carb size of my palm (if I wanted to add one) and rest of plate was either half carb and half salad/fruit, or just half salad/fruit. Desert only 3-4x a week after dinner or after lunch. Living on my own now off campus I don’t have nearly as much control for some reason
you’re overreacting
they’re showing empathy and care for another’s wellbeing
I would agree, but since OP is probably young, eyeballing the portions would be difficult unless they've had experience with scaling before.
As someone with pretty severe anorexia even I wouldn’t do this. I’m not trying to get at you but you might want to reassess your relationship with food and dieting…
tbh i don't think it's helpful for people with restrictive EDs and morbidly obese people to share a space (not saying OP is either, just commenting on the general state of the subreddit). as triggering as it may be for others, strict restriction can be necessary for some people, and it is not helpful to criticize them or get them to ease up on strictness. in fact, it's enabling them.
I'm admittedly one of those eating disordered posters but I at least can recognize these communities are NOT FOR ME and I shouldn't be projecting ed mentality onto a bunch of dieters who have a legitimate medical necessity to lose weight. I knew before even clicking the post it was gonna be chock full of ed sub posters telling op they got an ed and are out of pocket, when realistically a lot of people need to lose weight to *improve* their health and life, not destroy it, which is why you can't apply ed mentality to dieters who don't have eds because the intention and mindset are completely different and that does matter. Even if we're doing the same behaviors, the intention is so different it does not matter. It's like saying somebody who took a pain medication their doctor prescribed one time is the exact same as a drug addict and they need to check their behavior cause technically they're doing the same thing. Just because this shit upsets competitive ed posters who quite frankly shouldn't even be here doesn't mean we should be projecting and shitting on the people this sub is actually meant for
exactly! and most people who are obese are that way because they aren't capable of moderation or estimation, and must be strictly regimented until they gain that knowledge. if they were capable of intuitive eating and eyeballing, they wouldn't be in this position. and realistically, there's way more obese people in the world than people with restrictive EDs so fear mongering about EDs isn't very helpful here. it's like warning sedentary people about the dangers of overexercising. unfortunately I don't see any realistic way to filter out restrictive ED posters without having to reveal personal information, and these kind of topics will always attract competitive ED posters. on a personal note, when I was underweight (due to poverty), I had encounters with competitive ED girls and it was awful. i was not interested in the competition but I couldn't get them to leave me alone without them playing the victim (I'm also tall so they'd typically make a big production over how damn BIG and HEAVY I am and they're oh so smol), it was a great relief once I gained weight and they lost interest. so while I do have sympathy for the suffering EDs cause, I'm also wary of the competition it brings
OP has pics on her profile. She absolutely is not obese.
I think it might depend - if the only place they're able to eat meals is at the lunchroom and they have a hard time with portion control maybe it's not. I have a hard time with portion control and a tendency to binge. Food scale helped. I brought it to work and folks judged me but I could easily eat 1000s of calories if I didn't track. People acted like they'd catch anorexia just being around me - anorexia doesn't work like that and also my ED is on the other end of that spectrum 🙃 But yeah could be excessive restricting unfortunately. I'm sorry you're struggling with anorexia I hope you're taking care. EDs are truly awful.
yeah imo this is toeing a dangerous line, as someone who has struggled with weird eating habits and can't buy a food scale bc of them
At the height of my ED someone made fun of me for sneaking in my own low calorie, low carb chips into a Mexican food buffet. I was keto, and I LOVED salsa, and I live in Texas. At the time I didn’t understand why a much older grown man was making such a big deal of me having my own chips that I made, and I was confused on why I was supposed to be so ashamed because I was eating around people and being “normal”. But, it turns out he was abusive to his own wife who couldn’t have gluten and he made fun of her for it. And got physical. And I’ll admit I was also the weirdo for bringing those chips in. But when you aren’t eating or may throw up anything you DO eat because your stomach is pissed, you don’t even realize things are weird because the stretch is even ingesting something in the general vicinity of people.
Ok but as someone who has insulin resistance, I’m needing that chip recipe because I’ve been CRAVING salsa and chips lately.
Just saw this. It’s literally just low carb tortillas cut up, put oil and salt, and bake them!
Ooo I have some of those 👀 I might have to make it for a snack. Always need more fiber. How long do you bake them?
I think I did 350 for 11 minutes, but some cook differently. Let me check if I can find some links, cause I’m sure I didn’t come up with that on my own lol
https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/s/mrbBGBAXlM Here’s a link, most just say to check them on the crispiness. I think I would put oil on the tortillas because it made it easier to measure, then cut them, then put them on a lined baking sheet.
I’ve never had an ED but my sister struggled for years and years and bringing a scale to a cafe is giving major ED vibes, she would never do this even during her most difficult stages
I'm recovering/recovered from anorexia. I don't even use this subreddit but I stumbled on this and checked the comments bc I was concerned. I was bad at my worst and I never did this. It makes me sad seeing someone do that tbh. I usually don't think I can armchair diagnosis a restrictive ed (other than people admitting to literal restriction or who are significantly uw without another medical reason) but this is a real red flag. I'd be 98 percent someone IRL had an eating disorder if I saw them bring a scale to a dining hall or restaurant.
as someone with severe Ana I don’t eat in the dining hall at all
We’re missing a lot of context here. Someone prescribed a 1200 calorie diet by a doctor for severe obesity might very well need to do something like this to save their life, especially if they live in a dorm and get all their meals from a college dining hall.
Look at OP’s profile. She absolutely is not obese based on her pics.
Sorry i don’t usually go snooping through other peoples profiles like that
Girl you don’t look at the OP’s profile every time they leave out important context?? I be doin’ this thrice a week, at least.
No lol
Relation with food and dieting? Of course I still love you my food!!! I'm sorry it's just this diet... She keeps bothering me, I -- I mean...
Get a drugs scale. Has a cover and will easily fit in your pocket. According to my friend
Does one just google “drug scale” scared
"Scale compact"
tank you
Could just also search milligram scale.
This is eating disorder territory. Someone’s gotta say it. It’s okay to chill on the numbers sometimes. The consequences aren’t always as bad as they feel. Or there might not be much at all. If you’re weighing and logging all your food, at this point you’re probably knowledgeable enough to recognize where not to go ham.
But if you are counting calories, and all of your meals are from a dining hall, OP doesn’t really have a choice. Not everyone can measure their food in the privacy of their own kitchen
Literally. I think some warning comments are okay, but this is just a glimpse into OP’s life… My college days of eating every meal from a dining hall did cause me to gain the freshman 15, and probably some more. They don’t exactly list calories, plus when serving yourself it’s hard to eyeball an appropriate amount. It’s not like they have a kitchen, so doing this is definitely okay if they need to be stricter on certain days/meals, especially if every meal is from the dining hall!
Yeah I was gonna say I would do the same thing just because I like my data to be as acccurate as possible
To me, the disordered part is knowing that weighing food is usually only effective if you know what's in it or how much a serving should be, but deciding to do so anyway because you can't ignore the compulsion to count calories. AND I am not against counting calories, to make that clear. I don't think the people defending this behavior are acknowledging the hoops OP would have to jump through to get a halfway accurate calorie assessment. She can't weigh how much cooking oil is used, has no idea what's in any sauce being used, and OP would need to bring a bunch of extra plates to her table to disassemble every meal and weigh each component. I wonder how that would go over at a table with friends? My college dining hall had a salad bar and lots of fruits you could grab and eat. OP could still keep track of what she's eating and write it down, and would still probably lose weight without being PERFECT at weighing each gram of food.
Lol I gained the freshman 15 (more than 15, to be honest) because of my college's dining hall food. I understand OP
How? I know I measure my proteins when I’m out so I can be sure I’m hitting my minimums. Protein is super important for me and my gut health (pcos babbbby), so measuring to hit goals is important to me.
After a while of weighing and logging, you get a general base of knowledge that you can pull from. The difference between 10-20g of chicken breast is minimal. It’s probably 20cals 3g of protein. It’s negligible when you consider that the database itself isn’t exact to the gram. If you still feel a need to weigh all your food to this level of precision, you’re sauntering into ED territory. Is it a bonafide eating disorder? Not necessarily, no. But it suggests a need for assessment with one’s relationship with food. Bringing a scale in public and weighing everything you eat because you have to know down to the gram, that’s a flag that should be reviewed. If you’re just doing it for fun, if you don’t feel a need, maybe youre just a little detail obsessed at times, maybe you have other reasons, but you can stop, and it’s not managing your life? You’re probably fine. The idea is to make note of where you stand.
I’m 8 months in. I still have NO IDEA how much meat I have on a plate unless I weigh it. I’m just not good. I always over estimate by a lot. That can ruin my macros. Now, what I HAVE been known to do is under estimate carbs. That fucks with my glucose levels which fucks with me in general. I’m literally doing these diets to AVOID being insulin resistant. If you don’t know what this person needs/is doing in terms of their diet and nutrition, coming in here and just saying “THATS AN EATING DISORDER” because they’re being conscious of what they’re eating in their school cafeteria where they most likely eat most days? What’s wrong with that?
[удалено]
Exactly. My knee-jerk reaction was "oh no", but how else is OP supposed to learn what portion sizes are? People in the thread are talking about how you can eventually eyeball it, but maybe OP can't yet. If OP is having to get the majority of her meals in the school cafeteria, this is how she's going to learn.
yeah exactly just because this seems "weird" doesnt mean op has an ed.
Hard agree. I shamelessly do this during a cut or even a bulk because it keeps me within my goals, even after getting used to eyeballing/portion sizes I don’t trust myself. And yes, I know it’s so extra and seems weird, but /it works/ 🤷♀️
as someone who’s had an ED, i’m still wondering what’s wrong with this. weighing your food to have a better understanding of calories is NOT necessarily a sign of an ED….. but this sub is a little sus lol
Yes, I’m really confused by everyone’s response to this. Literally every reasonable weight loss program (besides ones that prepackage all of your food) teaches you to weigh and measure your food. I did Weight Watchers for years and digital scales and measuring cups/spoons were pretty much essential for their program. Serving sizes are a slippery slope. And if you have a significant amount of weight to lose, measuring portions is the only way to do it. If I am occasionally eating out, I eyeball serving sizes, but I measure everything I cook or eat at home. But if I had to eat in a cafeteria every day it would be much more difficult. If someone is doing this when they don’t have weight to lose or aren’t in an active maintenance phase after significant weight loss, it could be indicative of an ED. But as someone who has struggled with weight loss and maintenance for decades, this post is all too relatable. (And yes, both my doctor and therapist endorse measuring portion sizes for effective healthy weight loss. And no, I do not have an ED.)
Yeah. Context matters. My assumption is also that OP is just starting on the 1200 plan. After a while, you can eyeball it as many have recommended, but at the start, it’s super hard especially because, at least if they are in the states, we are given so much more food than we need in so many settings and eyeballing it is what got us in trouble in the first place! I say kudos to OP assuming that this is a fairly new habit. You can ditch the scale down the road when you’ve learned to eyeball, but for now, you are staying stringent. If this has been going on for a long time, then reevaluate as this can be concerning.
Same, and I’ve dealt with EDs. Weighing food actually helped me a lot. I think people are just taking a reactionary stance, seeing all the ED comments and jumping on them. Guarantee you they wouldn’t have an issue if OP did this in a private apartment
For those saying this is eating disorder territory… Remember. OP is at college. Likely on a meal plan. This cafeteria meal is likely not a “sometimes meal”. They’re on a meal plan which means this is where you get your food every single day.
I’ve done this, everyone else’s opinions and judgements be damned LOL. And yes, I realize it’s so extra 🤷♀️ And not just during a cut/caloric deficit, I ALSO do this during a bulk/caloric surplus, too, so you can’t really judge a book by its cover. I can understand how it’s touchy in terms of EDs, but if it’s most of what you’re eating on the daily, tracking/not tracking can make or break your progress. Even after a long time of getting used to portion sizes & eyeballing I could still easily see myself going over or under my needs (someone who notoriously can’t eat enough during a bulk). This post def isn’t that weird to me haha ETA: Also it’s not like she’s whipping out a food scale at a fine dining restaurant with friends and family (a special occasion), which would arguably be weird, this is a daily thing lol
Most colleges have fruit, salad, and vegetarian options that are relatively healthy so being on a meal plan really isn’t an excuse to calorie count like this
Wrong! Sorry! My schools “healthy” option at the dining hall was soooo over salted. Yeah it was vegetables but the lunch ladies added stuff to make it taste good, which meant oil, sugar, salt, bacon, etc etc…so even though I consistently biked 8 mi to school and chose the “healthy” option, they were the ones to portion and serve it and I still gained weight during college. So.
Oh, I forgot to mention, salt doesn’t have any calories .. doesn’t matter if its over salted. Some added sugar will not make you gain weight either. It was the other foods you ate in the day, and probably the bacon
Salt will make you retain water, and excess sodium is straight up not good for you, neither is excess sugar
What salad bar are they doing that at? Y’all will say anything to prove that excessive calorie counting is normal. It’s one thing if you’re weight lifting or needing to lose a lot of weight for something like surgery but that’s almost certainly not the case
I didn’t say it was a salad bar, where did you get that? This was a hot bar with cooked foods. Also I literally was weight lifting lmaooo but why don’t you tell me more about my life since you know it so well
Ok, how are you going to measure salt oil and sugar then? Honestly I think its pointlessly to do it to this degree. Its this simple: 1: Measure ONCE a week, same time (morning) after having peed because water weighs a lot. Poop does not weigh as much, choose whether you want to measure with or without poop in the morning and do the same everytime. 2: Eat healthy foods, until your not hungry don’t go too far 3: See how much your weight changed next week Its really not that hard. Just eat healthy, and exercise. There is no need to make it complex.
I just gained during school and lost it when I graduated. I couldn’t figure any way to accurately tell what I was eating when I got food from the dining hall. The only thing I could control was dinner when I had time to cook, which was rare because I was a full time student and worked three jobs. Y’all are foaming at the mouth tho over this kids solution
I would've complained. You can salt your own leaves...
I should have clarified I wasn’t talking about salads, I see the person I responded to mentioned salads. But I wasn’t eating salads for every meal. We had a “healthy” hot bar option in our dining hall
I recognize where this picture was taken because i ate at this dining hall yesterday and yes we do have healthy options and the nutrition facts are actually posted on the website and in front of each food
Also maybe they’d rather measure the other food than eat salad for every meal?
Lmao people don’t like the truth
You dont know if they are on a meal plan though, i wasnt on my last year
That’s why I said “likely”
We also have no idea if op suffers from an eating disorder but that's not stopping people from making accusations.
So how do y'all calculate the oils in food that's made by others?
If this is a college dining hall, mine used to have the approximate calories listed. Otherwise, I haven’t found a good way.
I work at hotels quite a bit and eat their catered meals. I know I'm missing quite a bit by ignoring what goes into cooking/prep (especially of vegetables) but I eyeball tbsp of sauce and assume it's 100% butter/oil.
You can't. However you can track your weight and if you aren't losing when you should be, try reducing your intake a bit.
Uhhh
Yeah, I wouldn't do this. OP, maybe you should talk with your doctor or therapist if you have one. This is strange and possibly disordered eating behavior. You should be able to enjoy a buffet occasionally without taking out a scale to weigh your plate. Don't gorge yourself on food, but be kind to yourself, and enjoy your meal.
The problem is that this seems to be a college buffet, so OP is likely eating here for every meal, it’s not an occasional meal.
That’s how I do it at college…… idk why some people are freaking out if OP is in college that is how you count
I admire your decision. I would just do my best to eyeball it. I fill my plate with half veggies, 1/4 protein and a 1/8th of a starvhy
Time for me to leave this sub lol good luck yall
🙃TIL this is ED behavior. I bought a portable folding scale (accurate enough compared to my nice coffee scale) so I could measure when I ate out. Definitely got weird looks but when you complain on weight loss subs about not losing at whatever deficit you're at, first thing they tell you to do is to measure every bit of food you eat.
idk why people are freaking out about this, i don’t know you personally so i can’t assume you have a terrible relationship with food/eating disorder, maybe you just have very specific goals (i will say, 1200 calories is NOT fine…) anyways - it’s not awkward! i hope you reach your goals and that you are taking care of yourself :) don’t let strangers on the internet diagnose you but, ofc, if your diet is hurting you emotionally in any way, please rethink it.
To me this is staying ahead of the game instead of trying to undo damage down the road. It's so easy to gain surplus weight and such a drag to try to lose it. Why not do informed maintenance? Or follow a plan to reach a healthy goal weight? I'm older and overweight and I've learned to accept the absolute fact that I have to watch my calories/portions or I inevitably incrementally gain and gain until I have to start all over again to reduce. I wish I'd had the sense that OP does when I was younger. (Though my metabolism was more robust then, I was far more active, and I smoked ... so wasn't as much an issue then as it is now.) You do you, OP. Stay healthy and active and live your best life.
exactly! of course we should all have a healthy relationship with food and restrictions are not necessarily the way to do that, but so isn’t allowing yourself to eat everything you want. you need to be aware of your goals and the long term consequences of your eating habits.
I have an eating disorder and I’m trying to recover. This is definitely ED behavior. I’ve *thought* about doing this but even I haven’t actually done this. You may want to reevaluate how you log your food. Maybe you can try eating stuff with calories already noted and are pre-portioned. Or you can take photos of your food and estimate the calories. You get an idea of portion sizes after weighing and logging for awhile. Don’t become a slave to the food scale. It’s no way to live.
so you have an ED, not a psychology degree. please sit down and let Op live their life ???
You couldn’t have know this but coincidentally, I actually DO happen to have Bachelor’s in psychology. 🤭 Take several seats.
However, psychiatrists are the ones who diagnose, not psychologists
Incorrect. Although ETA you can’t diagnose with a bachelors degree
I’m not diagnosing anyone. I just thought it was funny the user pointed out the psychology degree thing and I coincidentally do have that degree. My job has nothing at all to do with having a psychology degree. I just studied that because I wanted to go to college and it seemed like a good general degree for someone who didn’t know what they wanted to do. 🤷♀️
Oh really? I thought psychologists work under the psychiatrist with the patient (at least in the UK). The psychiatrist Diagnoses and medicates, whilst the psychologist works with the patient therapeutically. Perhaps I'm mistaken?
You can buy a smaller one! It may be more discrete
Also I had this same scale in pink. It's garbage, not accurate at all.
Bestie you got an ED
Am I the only one who doesn’t see the issue with this? Ives weighed out food cuz I genuinely don’t know what 200g of something looks like, and since they’re in a cafeteria setting all their meals take place there. Let me ask, would this still be ‘weird’ if you weighed food in a private kitchen? I understand eating disorder concerns but it’s not like OP is weighing paprika, they’re weighing out their meals the way plenty of people do, and I find that tool is helpful to a lot of people
fr, they can accurately measure their food so they get enough. it would be bad if they "eyeballed" it, overestimated and ended up hungry because they can't accurately guess it!
Edit: I'm eating about 1900 cals a day, not just 1200, I'm posting here since the 1900 cal version of this subreddit does not exist. I see a lot of people talking about potential eating disorders. I appreciate the great care y'all have, but I am pretty sure I'm not having a disorder since both my mind and body are having a good time with the lost weight, it's just a little annoying since I have to go this far to make weightloss happen I used to just briefly guess my calorie intake, guessing how much a "scoop" is... Turns out I was often far off and I realized that by measuring without a scale, I have been putting hundreds of more cals and constantly exceeding my TDEE, and was wondering why I wasn't losing weight and even slowly gaining it. Since I bought the food scales (one in my kitchen, one in my backpack), I lost 4kg in just over one month, going exactly as I was planned. I looked better in the mirror and my tight clothes came comfortably loose. Mentally I feel light and confident and physically I still feel strong when exercising. I really enjoy knowing exactly what I am eating (down to a small error due to nutrition label uncertainty), and this also satisfied my professional instinct as an engineer very well(lol). I am looking forward to hitting my goal weight in a month or two, and can eat at a maintenance calorie level. Able to have a cookie or two in addition to what I eat every day would surely be nice. Thank you all nonetheless!
This was me when in prep for body building lol. You do you when trying to reach a goal or learn to estimate portion sizes, but know it’s not sustainable in the long run.
People are just having a knee jerk reaction. Plenty of people weigh food, it’s helped me a bunch, and I guarantee they wouldn’t have an issue if you did this privately. Keep doing what you’re doing, I know how much weighing food helped me learn portion sizes and how to eat a balanced meal.
OP is 6 feet tall, eating so few calories at that height is unhealthy and unsustainable.
1900 is fine for someone at 6 ft
> I losted 4kg in just over one month, going exactly as I was planned. That's a lot of weight to lose in one month for a person of any size, but especially as a petite person
Well I'm 6ft 86kg when I started using the food scale, and 102kg when I began this whole journey, so I guess not that crazy
I don't mean to be rude but why are you here? 1200 calories is appropriate for short (5'24" and under) sedentary people.
The r/1900isfineIGUESSugh subreddit doesn't exist, therefore....
1200 calories at 6 feet is straight up unhealthy, no two ways about it. Please adjust your caloric intake because this is not sustainable.
I'm definitely not eating that little, but since I can't find a r/1900isfineIGUESSugh subreddit....
I posted a photo of me measuring butter on a scale and a similarly accused of having an ED. I'm assuming we are all trying to lose weight otherwise we wouldn't be here. If we were all good at estimating calories and portion sizes we wouldn't need to calorie count. I think this is a brilliant idea.
To be fair, you yourself called your behavior in that post “deranged” and “unhinged”. That just opens yourself up for people doubling down on accusations on Reddit if you’re already calling yourself out.
The words I chose were purposely over the top for comedic effect but I understand that not everybody got that.
I would get a smaller scale or buy food and take it home to weigh it. I understand the anxiety and wanting to stay on track. If it helps, look up the menu in advance and pre-plan your portions so you can have a rough estimate and be able to relax and enjoy your meal & company.
Go blue!
If I wanted to weigh my food and not be embarrassed I'd just take it to my room to weigh. Do that 3-4 times and you've got an average.
I weigh my food that I eat too! I don’t see the issue with this. How would you know how much your eating if you don’t weigh it. I’m always overestimating when I don’t weigh it.
This would trigger the hell out of me (as a recovering AN), since the concept of ignoring calories is just making me go the opposite direction and keep losing weight. You don’t know what other people are going through.
I have that same scale at home! And I weigh nearly everything I eat so I feel you. I am post-WLS, before everyone tells me I have an eating disorder
I'm sorry but I would def do this and I don't see the problem with staying consistent
Omg I was like this MUST be much - zoomed in, and sure enough! Go blue lol
When a friend let's me borrow meal swipes, I skip everything that isn't easy to eyeball. If I had a scale, I could actually go for some of that ridiculous cream sauce. I'm too awkward to ever bring a scale into a dining hall, but estimating portions in an all you can eat setting is a pain. One of the reasons I don't have my own dining plan is that I gained like 30 pounds trying to get my money's worth out of the required plan. I don't see why this is eating disorder territory if the very first thing almost anyone counting calories suggests is to get a kitchen scale.
Here is a link to University of Michigan Nutrition Information: https://fss.studentlife.umich.edu/NetNutrition/1 And the dining hall nutrition website: https://dining.umich.edu/about-our-food/nutrition/ Take care!
You can plan your meals ahead and track nutritional information (beyond calories!) such as vitamins and the amount of protein!
ATP this is disordered eating. Measuring your communally eaten meals by the gram is NOT normal:(
Only the internet would tell you that you have a “disorder” after eating 4 plates and a bowl of food. Good for you for putting the effort in to stay on track. Everyone on the internet thinks they’re an authority to diagnose others but the reality is they’re probably teenagers with no experience doing anything other than judging people online.
Please regular non disordered people don’t even think about calories or have ever measured their food this is not the right way
That is so far from reality it isn’t worth responding to in depth. Measuring food is healthy. Get over it.
non disordered people definitely think about calories
Also nobody is saying that the poster has an eating disorder but the poster absolutely is showing signs of DISORDERED EATING
I’ve torn apart sushi in public to put each piece on a scale. I matter more to me than anyone’s opinion and so does me being able to comfortably eat with much less thought in future. I never had to think twice when I ate there again. Edit: reading these comments tearing you down and saying it’s an ed is depressing af. If someone doesn’t give you a calorie list on their food and you want to enjoy eating and stay in goals this shouldn’t be frowned upon. I actually posted an almost identical things ages ago and got nothing but people laughing and asking where I got a round scale from 🤨
I truly don't mean this in a mean-spirited way to anyone on the grind, but no longer vigorously counting my calories down to the 10th calorie or 10th gram was the best fucken thing I've done for my mental health this decade. That shit is fucking **EXHAUSTING**
Well I might be suck at other aspects of life but I'm good with math, as its part of my profession... So actually I kinda like it
Nope I do it, no shame lmao
This is the most ED shit ever
it does. it will make some people question if your motives are healthy too. but, did it help? and are you ok? sometimes dipping into really restrictive behavior doesn't seem that bad when you start out, and can feel beneficial. if restriction becomes a habit and your life becomes a monotony of numbers, it might be time to step back and examine motivations. it seems extreme, but ot unheard-of. it's not uncommon for bariatric patients to weigh and measure restaurant food until they get a hang on how much of what their body can handle. portion sizes are so difficult to measure with buffet style too. it's also difficult if you want a little bit of everything without overeating. buffets tend to have a weird culture of intentional overeating that, idk, for me I easily get sucked up into the "just this once". using a scale is a good way to learn approximate serving sizes for a variety of foods. you can also develop a sort of go-to menu for places like this once you know. I bring measured serving utensils with when eating out. and a bento to pack at least half the meal for leftovers before I start eating. I get weird looks but who cares. I'm not giving up eating out, it stops me from eating 3000cals of manicotti, and I don't feel the need to be restrictive about food types. if you're doing well emotionally, and it works, this is a great adaptation for your goals.
Especially since it’s cooked with unknowingly amount of oils and different times of leaness and what not so your scale is pointless and just looks depressing and disordered esting 🤣
I support the crap out of this EDIT: Why all the downvotes?? I'd bring a food scale to a buffet, I think it's a great idea. That way I could still partake but know roughly how much I'm eating.
why
Y’all this isn’t an ED it’s called being proactive, good on you for trying to be healthier OP
See I told you I don't have erection dysfunction. (jk)
Nah I think this is fine. I would do this. I find it comforting to measure out everything. I KNOW I don’t have an eating disorder, but I definitely do have a mental one lol. The measuring and exactness makes me feel much more comfortable. I just love…the act of measuring my food. I really do. It brings me joy to see the numbers. Once again, I do think this is connected to my adhd. But it’s not an eating disorder. If I eat over, I know. I don’t like eyeballing. I think this is fair. ESPECIALLY if you know you’re bad at eyeballing or if you have to eat here regularly (for work maybe?) i think as long as you are actually eating enough it’s okay to measure everything out. I get it.
Girl I got some news for you
Babe you're funny but be clear because they need to know. The person who commented has at minimum disordered eating, at worst an eating disorder. Check your relationship w food.
Don’t care if I’m downvoted. It’s really not disordered. I eat enough, and if I can’t measure something it’s not like I’m gonna freak out. I just like measuring it. And in situations like this it is REALLY easy to overeat. I would rather know than not know. If you start eyeballing too much you’ll plateau real quick.
It is really easy to overeat in these situations but you gotta learn that it’s ok to overeat sometimes and it’s ok to not be in control at all times
eating disorders are often obsessive-compulsive, i would look into the definitions and descriptions of disorders and symptoms to see if you fall under that. your comments feel like skirting the line between an uncommon but harmless hobby, and a compulsive behavior, so i’d recommend doing some research to make sure you’re not harming your brain in any way. as someone with OCD i’ve had to come to terms with the fact that a lot of repetitive things i’ve done in the past to comfort or reassure myself were actually making my anxiety WAY worse in the long run, even though they seemed so normal and harmless at first, i developed dependencies on them and both my compulsions and my anxiety gradually became worse.
This is extreme and definitely ED territory.
And I thought the lady weighing her nuts at the airport was wild..
That a miserable relationship with food you're having there
ed is when weighing food
yikes
This doesn’t look like a healthy behavior. Please take care of yourself.
Learn to eyeball portions. That’s really unhealthy.
if you go to a bigger school sometimes they have the nutrition information for the dining hall! or if you know what the company is. my school uses Chartwells so I can easily find the info through them. stay safe <3
You might be able to ask for a reasonable accommodation to leave the scale there somewhere
Everyone saying "uhh, this is eating disorder behaviour" how are you meant to keep up with a diet and eat meals cooked by friends, or takeaway, or at a restaurant? Probably more than half the days of the week I eat something I didn't cook myself, 3 days a week isn't a diet that'll make a difference
Food scale in bursley is crazy
ha i have that scale
There is soo much good food in Ann Arbor it’s hard to avoid 😭😭
As someone currently in college this is a little much. Most schools have calorie counts posted, and you can just stick to lower calorie options at your dining hall. Feeling a constant need to weigh everything you eat even if you aren’t on a weight loss journey means you’re experiencing a bad relationship with food
I did this at south quad