SOURCE: Alexander Juan Antonio Cortes
Calories do not hold moral value and are not a referendum on whether you are a good or bad person
The following question(s) are bullshit questions
"What's a good number of calories??"
"I ate this many calories I think, is that BAD???"
Or that damn statement of
"I ate a lot at X event and now I feel BAD"
I'll readily admit I didn't understand what I was being asked when female clients asked the above the first time
There is that technical answer of course, which is what I gave, which didn't help
--Calories are units of energy, how much you need is relative to activity, metabolic rate etc etc
However, I realized over time the "calories" weren't really the issue, because no one felt much better when I told them this,
They still felt "bad" over eating, or wanted a "good" number
I realized there was this concept or "moral relativism" that was attached to food and consumption
Eating a certain amount was "good" in the sense of being a good person,
Eat too much though and that's "bad" and you're a bad person
Which at the time sounded frickin ridiculous to me, but then it makes sense when you go through most women "fitness" literature and magazines, and society at large,
and everything is a massive shill over how to eat as little as possible and the moral superiority attached to it
The "North American Diet Mentality" as Scott Abel precisely called it
"My stupid so and so friend barely eats and she's SO SKINNY"
....okay, so why is that good exactly
"........well.....isn't it good to only eat 1100 calories???"
No. That's fucking terrible, her metabolic rebound is going to suck and she's going to have face up with cravings and emotional suppression eventually.
Is she happy with how she looks?
"No, she thinks she's fat"
....so how is thinking and eating like her going to make you happy?
"....I didn't think of it that way "
Calories aren't the issue, and neither is the food. It's the mentality that unmakes everyone
Until the psychology of dieting and exercise is addressed, lasting changes and "results" are never going to happen with people. Not individually, and not societally