Disclaimer: I must apologize. The link I’m about to refer to – I saw it on somebody’s twitter. I know I favorited it on my phone, but now it’s gone. I have gone through that person’s tweets, and I still can’t find it. I guess they deleted it. But I still have a lot to say about the subject. I am very sorry. Carry on.

I love twitter. I love clicking links in twitter. Some make me think, some make me laugh, and at some I roll my eyes. But sometimes I wonder if I just don’t get it.

One of the blogging sites posts a daily writing prompt. (I’m thinking it may be livejournal, but again without the link I’m not sure!) One day last week, the prompt was something like this: If you had a day where everything you ate didn’t have any calories, what would you eat? Would you eat differently? More? Different things?

The responses to this prompt were disturbing to me. People saying that it belittled and even encouraged eating disorders. That you would starve to death if calories didn’t count for a day. That the question was insensitive and inappropriate and mocking of eating disorders.

My first thought? Back off peeps! Have we gotten to the point where we have to be uber-sensitive about everything? Where we can’t just take a question that removes responsibility and accountability in an impossible reality and just dream? Am I missing something? Is this question really a big deal? Is it any different than asking about drinking? What you would do with a million dollars? How many hours a night you would sleep if you had no other responsibilities? How many kids would you have if money wasn’t a contstraint? If Nathan and I have the conversation about “freebies” (Jillian Anderson for him and mine is up in the air…Maybe Eric Bana. Nathan knows why), is that encouraging or giving permission for infidelity? With this line of thinking, isn’t any question that has a dream component disrespectful to someone’s issues?

And my second thought? A calorie free day? That kind of day would be fabulous.

I have counted calories daily since February. That’s been almost 8 long months. 8 months where I have made a conscious thought about everything I’ve put into my mouth. Most days, I’ve recorded every single bite. Recently I’ve even photographed it and posted it to my other blog. Does that make me obsessive? Does that mean I have an eating disorder? I don’t think so. I would LOVE to have a day where calories didn’t count. Where I could eat according to mood or whim and not think about how much running I would have to do to pay for a treat.

I’ve mentioned before that I think about calories like money – deciding where and when I will spend, save, and earn extra in order to indulge. And I also have to keep track of money. I know a lot of us don’t keep a checkbook anymore (the anal-retentiveness of both Nathan and I require that we do), but we all at least check our online bank balances often, right? How is keeping track of money for people who have financial restraints any different than keeping track of calories if I have eating and weight issues?

When Nathan and I went on our honeymoon, we played the “Money Doesn’t Matter” game. We were given suprise cash at the wedding and knew that we were becoming a dual-income family. We knew that for the week, we were financially stable. So we ate where we wanted, bought what we wanted, and didn’t worry about it. We balanced our checkbook when we got home and made amendments to our spending habits for the next few weeks. Was that behavior encouraging financial irresponsibility? I don’t think so. I think it was taking a treat for a trip we would never have again. We were in a financial situation we probably wouldn’t have the flexibility for when we had a mortgage and a car payment and all the things that come with growing up. Did we go crazy? Did we order insane amounts of alcohol or buy jewelry? No. We enjoyed ourselves, but we didn’t go crazy.

For me? that would be the way I would approach the calories-don’t-matter day. For starters, I wouldn’t want to be physically uncomfortable. I would want to really enjoy the day. So that would guide the way I ate. I think I would eat probably around the same amounts but eat foods that are more calorie dense than is my norm.

So what would this day of no caloric restraint look like?

Breakfast: Coffee, quiche (with crust) and fruit salad. And probably a BIG glass of 2% milk.

Lunch: Chicken salad on a criossant. Chicken salad with grapes and apples and walnuts. And without celery. I hate celery. And some sweet potato chips.

Snack: Probably a milkshake. A Mocha milkshake from Steak ‘n Shake. Or maybe one of those Chic-Fil-A milkshakes I hear so much about.

Dinner: A nice dinner salad with balsamic viniagrette. Lasagna. Bread. Tiramisu. We’d probably split the dessert because I’d be full, but I’d eat half anyway. With another cup of coffee.

My calorie-free day would look a lot like a normal day of my pre-calorie counting life. As much as I love where I am, I would like to have one of those days without guilt. Maybe I’ll get to that point someday, but I can’t give myself that kind of flexibility yet. I’m just not that strong.

So what do you think? Am I not taking that prompt seriously enough? Do you agree or disagree with me?

And, most imporantly, what would your “calories don’t count” day look like?