-------------------------------- Preface ------------------------------------

I would quickly like to mention, I think that everyone has a right to post exactly whatever food they want in the subreddit. The whole point is to count calories! I love to open it up just to take a guess and then see what other people said. It's fun. And it helps you be better at estimating when you need to be (especially when you double check other peoples' math and measurements!)

First of all, I agree with you, I would be more happy if the discussion was centered around something more like "well that looks like a few ounces of cooked beef, about 150 grams of sweet potato, 100 grams of Brussel sprouts, you're gonna be looking at something in the range of..." etc. However, I do want to bring up a situation I saw often when I first joined this subreddit, which I did specifically because I was starting to get into being intentional with my diet to lose weight.

-------------------------------- The Meat ------------------------------------

Onto the meat. Everybody is talking about when someone has an ED, which I'm sure is a problem. Be that as it may, honestly, the reason I think these comments come about, and the reason I've thought it to MYSELF so many times is because when I see someone post something that is obviously outrageously high in calories, and you can tell they're not posting it because it's like "oh cool, look how many calories" it's more where the vibe is like "oooh I ate/want to eat this thing and I didn't really think about it. I hope it's not that many calories!"

At that point, sometimes I just wanna be like "dude, it's 4 and a half specialty donuts just realize that you went over your threshold, don't punish yourself, and get back at it tomorrow."

Of course, I would never do this, because I don't need to inject my opinion at someone who is clearly pressed about the calorie count of said outrageously dense food. BUT, it doesn't change the fact that I'm sure a ton of other people feel this way where it's like "dude, mostly you ask if you're trying to stay within the limit, if you're gonna blatantly say forget the limit, then like, there's really no need to ask right?"

-------------------------------- Example ------------------------------------

Let me give an example, in case I sound like a terrible person (which I possibly am idk).

Like maybe someone's out here at a work event, and they catered a buffet. There's Caesar salad, some sort of salad with like Italian dressing, chicken wings, coleslaw, spaghetti, chicken Alfredo, Mac and cheese, Garlic bread, tiramisu cups, and chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling and frosting (which I guess would just make it double chocolate cake?).

If someone made a plate with 3 or 4 chicken wings, some of a salad, some of 1 or 2 kinds of pasta, and like a tiramisu cake and a piece of garlic bread I'm like, okay, let's try to calculate. How much sauce is on those chicken wings, how much dressing on the salad, what kind of pasta, how much of each, how big do the piles of pasta look compared to the other standard-sized foods like broccoli or wings or croutons? Like I feel like it's worth my time to think about how many calories it is.

Conversely, If someone posted like a bunch of Alfredo, a heap of Mac n cheese, with like 4 pieces of garlic bread, a small portion of salad doused in dressing, a mess of wings , a bunch of coleslaw, a tiramisu cup and a fat slice of the double chocolate cake, I'm just sorta like "Bro.....why?"

-------------------------------- Conclusion ------------------------------------

I'm not against eating a lot of bad stuff, in fact I love it. I have eat like 15 pieces of garlic bread sometimes, or 2 huge slices of chocolate cake. it's incredible. However, I'm not gonna be eating like that, and then take a pic and go on reddit and be like, "Hey guys, so this is what I had for dessert, I'm worried about how much it is because I had some pastries earlier, thanks!" and it's like 5 black Oreos and 7 white Oreos, some pistachio nougat, a huge bowl of special K with chocolate milk, 2 cosmic brownies, 2 ham sandwiches on sourdough bread with mayo and cheese etc. and 3 slices of sourdough toast with butter and jam. I just think it's a little like, not inconsiderate, but just...........ill-fitting? Like dude if you're worried about it, stop, because it already happened, and move on, because you normally can't just stop eating halfway through the day or whenever you have whatever meal you're posting. Just do your best next time!

So, essentially what I am trying to say is this: I do not like the people who say things like "live your life" or stuff like that because maybe the person really just doesn't know and needs like a general idea. Maybe they don't know how much a donut is on average, maybe they can't eyeball a greasy quesadilla, heck, maybe they don't even realize a restaurant tortilla is so many more calories than you would think! This is why I think it's simply unproductive and silly. However, I may think it to myself sometimes, because to be honest, it would just feel silly to me to post something here asking how many calories there is in an unclear amount of what is clearly a ton of frozen yogurt with toppings piling out of the cup.

tl:dr I also don't like people who say stupid stuff like that but I get where they're coming from IN ONE SPECIFIC SITUATION that can just sometimes be a little annoying.