I don't need to eat junk to live. I have a math-brain, and I enjoy counting - it's important to know what to put in your body. And for some people, you won't just lose weight by making the right choices. I've been a vegetarian for 10 years, eating healthy and exercising 30 minutes a day, and I slowly put on 20 pounds just by eating a little bit more over holidays and such. Everyone is different, and I appreciate counter's advice.

Also, for those of us who've never counted calories, before or known what a protion size really is, this site is a blessing. Perhaps calories are just a guideline, but they're effective! I know I'm a foood-cheater, and could convince myself that "this cookie" will just be a treat - but I could do that 10 times a day! I'm less likely to do that when I understand calories in must be less than caloreis out if I want to lose weight, be healthy, and get fit. That is the bottom line, although of course many things (metabolism, willpower, exercise, health, sleep, mood, etc.) affect our ability to make right choices consistently. If you don't need to count calories, I applaud you! You've internalized something about healthy eating ingrained in you that I don't have yet. So you'll be part of my inspiration!

July, I totally get that. No one needs junk to live. But if you're (not you particularly but you get it) at a BBQ or any social event and there is some food that is totally torturing you then just eat it and don't worry about it. Just work out later or eat better the next day. Life is about balance. If you mess up then fix it. Don't obsess over it.

For me this site isn't just about calories but more writing down what I eat and the exercise I do while helping me keep track of everything. The benefit of the calorie counter is that you can see how many calories 3 cookies are versus 5 cookies. If you just write 5 cookies down on pen and paper without calories it might seem better than seeing it with calories and seeing how hard you have to exercise to balance those 5 measly cookies. This site is simple, easy to use and helpful for maintaining that balanced life. I also agree with the living part as an important piece to keeping your body guessing is having more calories once a week to jump start your metabolism.

This site has helped me to realize what I'm putting in my mouth, and what may have contributed to the weight gain in the first place. Eating healthy everyday but thinking it's ok to eat a bag of cookies or something a time or two per week is NOT a good thing! It seemed like a good idea at the time, given that I had been exercising and eating well otherwise. Duh!

My point of living wasn't counting calories for your entire life but then taking a week out of the year to just eat everything. Not at all. I don't want to and will not be subject to counting calories for the rest of my life. In no way is that LIVING, that's surviving. Counting calories completely ruins my day. If you enjoy then good for you but I do not enjoy it and refuse to obsess over it. I have enough common sense to know that eating a bag of cookies in one sitting is never okay. For example I just had a terrible case of the munchies (no I wasn't high). That doesn't happen too often so I just let it happen but I have enough sense to know that my weight in the morning might be higher than it was today but I'm okay with that cause things happen and sometimes you have to give into your urges. You shouldn't make it an everyday occurrence (that's how we all got here in the first place) but sometimes it happens and if it does you get over it an move on instead of obsessing over how many thousands of calories you just consumed. You can't be perfect and obsessive all the time. Obsessing over calories is in no way "balanced" to me. It's obsessive. Now that I've offended probably the whole MFP community I think I'll go to sleep. ****Sorry but if you choose to read my blog you get the straight up honest version of me. I'm a little more censored in the boards.

Finally someone who understands how I feel! I understand I have an eat disorder, but something has to give. I wake up thinking about how I can stay on track for the day and sometimes it gets OLD! I often wonder why me????? I guess we all have battles to fight and eating is mine......