Counting forever, good/bad?

Leana088

I've been counting calories for 2.5 years. I'm pretty good at estimating portion sizes, and even estimating the amount of calories in foods I did not cook.

Even if I don't use an app, I count in my head and add up in my head. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget how many calories is in an egg, it's something my brain just knows.

Even though I can count calories in my sleep, I don't feel comfortable with trying to stop counting and just eating intuitively. I know I'll either overeat, or undereat, because I would not be as aware of how much and how many times I'm eating.

I plan on counting for the rest of my life as a way of maintaining my weight. Do you think this is a bad/good thing?

lizzocat

I'm nowhere near maintenance, so I don't know what my plan will be, but I think that I will absolutely have a strategy in place, even if it's not using MFP. 'Intuitive' eating would probably just lead me to gain weight

wkwebby

If it is something that you need to do to maintain weight, why is it a bad thing? It is a tool in your toolbox. That's all. If you start to gain, then start MFP again to tighten up the logging. If you successfully maintain, noone can fault what works for you.

JPW1990

I think people get way too hung up on equating counting to some kind of obsession. Women should be doing self-breast exams for the rest of their lives. Nobody would suggest that was an obsessive or ridiculously over the top behavior. Life is full of habits that we do solely for the sake of maintaining or improving health - brushing teeth, drinking enough water, diabetics checking their glucose, people with hypertension checking their blood pressure. Keeping track of what you put into your body is just one more thing on the list.

Jruzer

I'm pretty sure I'll be doing this in some form for the rest of my life.

UpEarly

I've been counting since April of 2011 and maintaining since May of 2012. Counting is easy and it keeps my weight in check. I don't plan on quitting.

mawkishstoic

JPW1990 wrote: »

I think people get way too hung up on equating counting to some kind of obsession. Women should be doing self-breast exams for the rest of their lives. Nobody would suggest that was an obsessive or ridiculously over the top behavior. Life is full of habits that we do solely for the sake of maintaining or improving health - brushing teeth, drinking enough water, diabetics checking their glucose, people with hypertension checking their blood pressure. Keeping track of what you put into your body is just one more thing on the list.

This! This! This! A million times this! We set an alarm clock every day so we're not late for work -- does that mean we're obsessed with time? Tracking calories is just a way of having an alarm clock for food. It's a tool to help you in life.

tinallen863

Of course you count every day! You would never stop checking your bank account even if you were independently wealthy!

MindySaysWhaaat

I honestly don't know at this point, but that might be because I have a long way to go. I'm sure I'll have to keep a tab on it somehow to make sure I never let myself get this big ever again.

kaseyr1505

I do not plan on stopping calorie counting. I like it, it makes me feel secure and I don't feel like I obsess. I can go to a party, and snack. I can eat out, and I can eat homemade food. I don't restrict. I don't want to become another statistic.

TheRoseRoss

I think it comes down to the person. If you're okay doing it, continue doing it. There are people in my life that will see me logging my food into MFP, and comment "I wish I had your discipline." Some time passes, that same person will see me logging my food, and make a negative comment to the affect of me "letting it control my life." This is one of those things where you probably shouldn't let the way other people perceive it/you determine whether or not you do it. Now, I was to the point that I realized I was weighing my rice, and if the scale didn't show 40g, I would begin picking out grains until it did. 39g? 41g? NO WAY! I NEED 40g! That was when I took a step back and realized "you're crossing the line into crazy town." Now I simply get a 1/4 cup measuring cup, and scoop out my serving of rice. Is it exactly 40g? Don't know. Don't care. I control it. It doesn't control me.

cwolfman13

I wouldn't say it's a matter of "good" or "bad"...i would say logging for all of eternity is unrealistic for most....hopefully I have another 45 years or so in me....I highly doubt I will keep a food diary for the next 45 years.

I stopped counting when I went to maintenance and maintained for a little over 1.5 years. I still ate very healthfully and I still measured out and weighed most things, but I didn't keep a diary; despite what so many people seem to think, not logging doesn't mean not being mindful or maintaining healthful habits...I always think that's such a ludicrous notion...

I had no issues maintaining without logging. For me, logging was kind of like training wheels on a bike...it was a great learning experience, but nothing I intended to do forever.

I'm currently logging again because I went on an intentional bulk cycle from September through the New Year and now I need to cut. Logging is definitely beneficial to cutting and making sure I'm getting proper nutrition and enough calories to meet my training needs, but still cutting...but when I go back to maintenance I won't be logging anymore.

Jruzer

Let me give you a counterexample.

Mrs Jruzer lost about 50 lbs a few years before we met. She did it by cutting portions, reducing treats, and walking a lot. (She had to fit into a bridesmaid's dress!)

She has kept that weight off, more or less, for more than 20 years. She has figured out how much she can eat to keep her weight stable. She gets on the scale daily. If her weight has gone up beyond where she's comfortable, she'll cut back on portions or exercise a bit to bring it back down.

She doesn't need to count calories because she has figured out how to do it without counting. She still controls her intake and activity, but without logging.

Geekymonkey99

tinallen863 wrote: »

Of course you count every day! You would never stop checking your bank account even if you were independently wealthy!

I'm not wealthy, and I check mine maybe 2-4 times a month.

Roxiegirl2008

I feel like I need to. There might be one day (say a Saturday or vacation) that I don't count but it keeps me in check. I find that if I am not looking at what I am eating I can easily get caught on that slippery slope of weight gain!

darkbluex3

I think it all depends on your mindset. When I first started counting calories, I became obsessed and developed an eating disorder. I would stick to less than 1400 calories a day, and I would cry and hate myself if I went over. I was so proud of myself if I stuck to 1000 calories (which I don't care what anyone says, it's not healthy for anyone, especially for a growing 16 year old girl). And the sad part was, I was still overweight. Eventually I gave up counting for awhile, and I tried to just focus on eating mostly healthy foods and not beating myself up when I had something unhealthy, and I was exercising 3-5 days a week. That was actually when I lost the most weight, and I was actually comfortable around food again. I started counting again after just to see how much I was eating, and I was eating 1800-2200 a day. Now I count sometimes just to see what I'm eating (I'm actually trying to put on muscle, so I'm making sure that I'm eating a little above maintenance), but when I find myself obsessing then I step away again.

dakotababy

I do not think it is necessarily bad. I mean, it takes no more than 10 minutes a day, and you keep your weight off - and its free. People go through so much more (and worse) to even ATTEMPT to lose weight.

I plan to get to a weight and body comp and workout routine I am happy with that I can maintain long term - and then continue logging for about 1-2 years after that...then slowly begin to ween off of MFP. If I find this does not work, I will be getting right back to MFP and counting.

cwolfman13

Jruzer wrote: »

Let me give you a counterexample.

Mrs Jruzer lost about 50 lbs a few years before we met. She did it by cutting portions, reducing treats, and walking a lot. (She had to fit into a bridesmaid's dress!)

She has kept that weight off, more or less, for more than 20 years. She has figured out how much she can eat to keep her weight stable. She gets on the scale daily. If her weight has gone up beyond where she's comfortable, she'll cut back on portions or exercise a bit to bring it back down.

She doesn't need to count calories because she has figured out how to do it without counting. She still controls her intake and activity, but without logging.

This is more or less my feeling on the matter...one should be able to learn healthy habits by counting and keeping a diary and eventually be able to go out into the world and employ those habits...I liken it to training wheels on a bike...at some-point, you really should just be able to ride.

The only time I log is when I'm cutting. I maintained easily for 1.5 years without logging. I did the same...I weighed myself regularly and I continued to eat healthfully and exercise regularly...no biggie. Anytime there was a little bump in my average that I was worried about I just cut out a little snack or something.

I'm in a full on cut now after going through an intentional bulking cycle and really, that's the only reason I will log.

AllOutof_Bubblegum

I see it as an easy, FREE way to guarantee I'll never, ever get fat again. Totally worth it to me to log every day, for the rest of my life. (A few days off here and there to allow for life to happen, birthdays and holidays etc, etc.)

acpgee

I will probably count forever. I was very skinny in my mid twenties, and very slowly got fat at the rate of 4 lbs per year for 20 years. That's an average daily surplus of about 40 kcal a day, so like half a slice of toast.

PeachyCarol

I thought I was mentally tracking my intake before I joined this site after I'd been given the directive by my doctor to lose weight by eating 1500 calories a day (too much for me to lose weight). I was eating more than that. I'm bad at eyeballing things, so not only will I track, I'll still weigh my food.

I'm older, I'm short and it would take very few calories to start putting pounds back on once I'm in maintenance. I plan on staying vigilant. Tracking and weighing food are just tools at my disposal. I plan on using them.

To me, this isn't obsessive, it's just self-knowledge.

Unknown

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Christine_72

AllOutof_Bubblegum wrote: »

I see it as an easy, FREE way to guarantee I'll never, ever get fat again. Totally worth it to me to log every day, for the rest of my life. (A few days off here and there to allow for life to happen, birthdays and holidays etc, etc.)

Yep! That's exactly how I see it.

hesn92

I have found that when I stop counting, I lose the accountability. It's really easy to over eat when you aren't keeping track of what you're eating. When I stopped counting before, I was fine for a while, I maintained my weight and fitness, but eventually I fell off the wagon and gained like 15 pounds back over the course of a couple years.

CooCooPuff

I don't know what I'll do years down the line with anything, counting calories included. It isn't a problem at the moment and prelogging the next day is a nice thing to do while I'm in bed or on the toilet.

Leana088

Yeah well, I count in my head anyway if I'm not on an app. Takes over my mind. Might as well do it in an app too.

Francl27

Leana088 wrote: »

Yeah well, I count in my head anyway if I'm not on an app. Takes over my mind. Might as well do it in an app too.

Yes, this. And I weigh my food so I know it's accurate too (I can still be off by 30% when guessing, and it adds up). It's for my own peace of mind honestly. My mom thinks it's obsessive, but whatever. It works.

wizzybeth

RossAH wrote: »

Now, I was to the point that I realized I was weighing my rice, and if the scale didn't show 40g, I would begin picking out grains until it did. 39g? 41g? NO WAY! I NEED 40g!

Ha haha I do that with blueberries or grapes and fruit. Has to be 100g!!! Not 98 not 102...100! Lol

SwankyTomato

I don't know to be honest.

I do like the idea of tracking for macros and menu planning. Proper nutrition is important to me as well as weight loss.

I also have a large dry erase board, cork board, and calendar in my kitchen.

I like to "brain dump" so I don't have to keep in my head.

sgthaggard

Once I get to that point, I'll just watch the scale. If I see movement up or down by, maybe 5lbs, I'll start tracking again.

Jruzer

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Jruzer wrote: »

Let me give you a counterexample.

Mrs Jruzer lost about 50 lbs a few years before we met. She did it by cutting portions, reducing treats, and walking a lot. (She had to fit into a bridesmaid's dress!)

She has kept that weight off, more or less, for more than 20 years. She has figured out how much she can eat to keep her weight stable. She gets on the scale daily. If her weight has gone up beyond where she's comfortable, she'll cut back on portions or exercise a bit to bring it back down.

She doesn't need to count calories because she has figured out how to do it without counting. She still controls her intake and activity, but without logging.

This is more or less my feeling on the matter...one should be able to learn healthy habits by counting and keeping a diary and eventually be able to go out into the world and employ those habits...I liken it to training wheels on a bike...at some-point, you really should just be able to ride.

The only time I log is when I'm cutting. I maintained easily for 1.5 years without logging. I did the same...I weighed myself regularly and I continued to eat healthfully and exercise regularly...no biggie. Anytime there was a little bump in my average that I was worried about I just cut out a little snack or something.

I'm in a full on cut now after going through an intentional bulking cycle and really, that's the only reason I will log.

I think it would be ideal to be able to do this - to go without logging long term. Maybe some day I'll get there. But given my history it doesn't look good. When I log and pay attention I lose or maintain as desired. When I don't, I gain.