I think it's like any other tool: not inherently good or bad. It depends how you use it.

For me, a two-month stretch of calorie-counting was informative. I had several surprises as things that I thought were good choices that turned out, sadly, to not be very good at all. Tracking the calories allowed me to create a list of meals that were reasonable choices, and I've learned to have a certain number of meals from that list every week, with a treat every now and then. That's been hugely helpful.

It also forced me to confront the reality of my overeating. But you've got to be careful with that. Denial is actually a way to protect yourself from something that you find hard to handle, after all. Looking at the truth can be overwhelming if you're not prepared mentally for it.

I never made an attempt to stay within a certain calorie range. Now that I've gotten the addictive stuff pretty well under control I'm working hard on losing the weight that crept up over the years, and I weigh myself pretty frequently, which works for me personally. I have learned that I will have weight losses or small gains that don't actually correspond to my caloric intake over the previous days. You can make yourself a little crazy by getting too obsessed with it.

And we have to be careful that we don't turn it into a weapon to use against our fragile selves. I think those of us with food addictions are at risk for eating disorders and we need to be careful about our approaches.

So (my opinion, which is worth half a penny maybe) is that it can be helpful under the right circumstances.

Katie..thanks for your feedback. I tend to agree with you. When I'm using food the wrong way (emotional eating) I am oblivious to calories. When I am not doing that I'm far more aware and want to make good choices.

I am pretty fragile right now (lost my mom) but I am reminding myself there is no excuse for not taking care of myself..etc. I don't want to be obsessed with anything but I don't want to just shut myself off from reality.

I lost a lot of weight and have gained a lot back..which upsets me. It came from not paying attention... Anyway, no good to come from beating ourselves up either... good luck everyone

SeaSky, I'm sorry to hear about your mom. The trick is to figure out how to be kind to yourself and care for yourself without it involving abusing food - I personally get that mixed up a lot. One thing that might be helpful is to allow yourself a grief period in which you eat whatever the heck you want and comfort yourself with food as needed.....but you put a specific time limit on it. We're all allowed a little leeway with our choices in times like this and there's nothing wrong with that. It's when it creeps into the weeks / months that it becomes an issue. There will be a point when you'll realize that you'll best honor your Mom by caring for yourself, but in the right-away time period, grief is often just too raw for that kind of logic, you know? It's okay.

And your experience as recounted here shows that you know yourself pretty well - that you know that, for you, having information and feedback is vital, and that the 'paying attention' part is key. You can turn this around.