Is Anyone Else Here Not Really Tracking Their Food Seriously?

FunkenWagnel

Yeah, I'm not too bad at the moment, I'm just trying to be careful about introducing new exercise, so I don't end up bed ridden again, lol! That's what'll put more weight on in the end!

MiltonAFC

I track everything except veggies(unless it's frozen), handfuls of blueberries, and reduced sugar ketchup. Otherwise I weigh and track everything.

newgirl72

I never learned good eating habits and also never learned only to eat when my body signals that its hungry. My entire life I've been an over-eater. I've been measuring and tracking every morsel I put in my mouth for the past two months, and that combined with Crossfit 3x per week, I have lost 30 pounds in just over two months.

judiness101

I lost 60 pounds without seriously tracking. Now that I'm getting closer to my goal I decided to buy a food scale.

rybo

I don't log food and can't really imagine doing so for any extended period of time. When I first found this website I was just trying to drop a few pounds and also support my girlfriend at the time, in her weight loss efforts. Logging was an eye opener to calorie dense foods and pitfalls. once I saw that and addressed my habits I am able to maintain, go up or down without logging. I'm only still here because of the forums and friends I've made.

PeachyCarol

I log seriously. I need to. I'm terrible at eyeballing portions.

jddnw

FunkenWagnel wrote: »

This has had me curious for a while. Some days, when I remember and can be bothered, I track my food on this site/app. I like to be reminded of what's in food

My other question is, if you're not terribly worried about tracking your food, why do you use this site? Personally, I'm mostly interested in tracking my results and getting into discussions and reading about health/food/fitness topics.

This describes me too. I like seeing the macro breakdown of what I'm eating. I like reading and discussing health, food, and fitness.

ForecasterJason

I started logging on here when I was trying to slowly gain a bit of muscle. However, I stopped after a few weeks after I decided to reassess my goals. That being said, I still have a reasonable estimate of the amount of calories I'm eating each day. I think I do better mentally without the meticulous logging.

Larissa_NY

I only track my food when I'm trying to achieve some goal. Right now I'm trying to do a body recomp, but mainly I'm keeping an eye on my protein because I feel like my diet has gotten too carb-heavy again. It's sort of like yearly rebalancing of your mutual funds.

Other than that, I just make sure I'm eating enough to support my workouts and don't worry about it unless the weight on the bar starts dropping.

acarmon55

herrspoons wrote: »

I log but don't weigh or measure. The weight's coming off at an acceptable rate without that level of detail.

This is me. I want a general guess of how much I eat, but don't get into weighing and measuring everything. I have lost some, but I am more focused on the look and like the way that I have changed the way I look. It is definitely an eye opener to pay attention to how many calories different foods have and the portion sizes. I use the diary more to see the general amounts of nutrients. It also motivates me to exercise when i have seen a general amount that I have ate. I think I would go crazy if I had to weigh and measure everything but it definitely works for a lot of people...just not me.

FunkenWagnel

Well, it's funny what happens when you get talking about this stuff:P I ended up tracking today, because I wanted to eat some dark chocolate and look at the iron content. Seems to be going ok today with the tracking. We'll see if it continues or not

almondbutterbay

I log what I eat - partially because of allergies and logging food makes it easy for me to avoid the foods I'm allergic to. I don't weigh anything because having had an eating disorder in the past, I think I would get obsessed

KingofWisdom

I don't log anything because I'm not the one who cooks. I mainly track my progress on here and I like to spend time on the forums. Occasionally, when I know I'll be away from home all day and eating pre-planned meals (such as when I go to an anime/comic convention) I will count calories and try to stay within my macros.

malibu927

mamapeach910 wrote: »

I log seriously. I need to. I'm terrible at eyeballing portions.

Same here. If I stopped now, I'd no longer be losing.

sardelsa

I am at maintenance right now, and I definitely do not log regularly. I track some whole days, half-days, guestimate, etc. While I was bulking I was pretty diligent about tracking in order to make sure I met my goals (relying on hunger levels would get me nowhere). Now I just eat based on hunger or track my main foods and just kind of fill it in roughly in my head on days I don't log. So far so good.
I mostly use this site because of the friends, plus learning and discussing different aspects of fitness and nutrition.

jddnw

Larissa_NY wrote: »

I only track my food when I'm trying to achieve some goal. Right now I'm trying to do a body recomp, but mainly I'm keeping an eye on my protein because I feel like my diet has gotten too carb-heavy again. It's sort of like yearly rebalancing of your mutual funds.

Other than that, I just make sure I'm eating enough to support my workouts and don't worry about it unless the weight on the bar starts dropping.

I like that rebalancing analogy.

paperpudding

I do log daily but I wouldn't say I track my food seriously.
I would say I do loose or aproximate logging - every mandarine is a medium mandarine, every egg is an average egg, I don't measure the amount of milk in my coffee etc.
- As long as I keep my weight around the target I consider what I am doing is working and is good enough for purpose.

Leana088

I don't weigh and meassure anymore. Recently I also stopped tracking. But I've been doing it for 2.5 years so I have a good idea now of how big portions are, what's high in protein/carbs/fat ect. I can even calculate calories in my head. And my estimations are almost always close to correct.

I'm cutting at the moment, but all I do is make sure I eat high protein foods (cottage cheese, whey shake, meat ect) at all meals.

sistrsprkl

I don't log when I'm really busy or traveling but definitely make sure I log when I see the scale creeping up again. But I don't really have much to lose, more recomp.

peter56765

When I was losing weight, I logged everything. Now that I'm in maintenance, I only log M-F and guestimate for the weekends. Typically, I eat over my allowance on Saturday and Sunday but I find if I eat at about a 200-300 calorie deficit on M-F, it will all more or less balance out.

Ultimately I'd like to stop logging altogether but I find the discipline of coming back to it each week keeps my weekend guestimates from getting too far skewed one way or the other.

KHaverstick

I'm not as diligent about it as I used to be. But I'm very close to goal, so I am taking it pretty slowly. Also, after having done this for a while, I feel like I have a good idea of how I can/should be eating in order to lose, so if I miss some logging, it's not the end of the world. However, I do LIKE to log, and I have intentions to log daily. I just don't always get around to it.

MakePeasNotWar

I log on and off, but I have changed my tracking setting so I no longer see fat, carbs or sugar on my diary. Now I track iron, fibre, and calcium instead. My weight isn't an issue, but as a vegan, I do like to track protein, iron and calcium to make sure I'm not falling short.

pjcfrancis

I try to be accurate with my logging, but I don't weigh stuff (except for my body). The only measurement that I really care about is my body, and as long as I keep seeing improvement I'm happy. My goal is to build good habits for the rest of my life.

HeySwoleSister

herrspoons wrote: »

I log but don't weigh or measure. The weight's coming off at an acceptable rate without that level of detail.

Pretty much my scene except I weigh some items if they are ones I tend to over- or under- estimate. (Basically, I never get enough protein portions by eyeball and cheese is too tasty to trust myself....)

I always recommend measurement to people who are stuck, but I'm actually losing faster than I probably should be at this point in my trip to the goal, so I'm not fussed.

If I stall, believe me, I'll start measuring before I post a whiny "I can't lose ANYTHING" thread! Until then, woooo!

ryanhorn

I no longer log regularly after logging for two years straight.

I'm a believer that it's not sustainable to use MyFitnessPal for the rest of your life, and once you reach your goals, it's better to start listening to your body and understanding its signals. It's an awesome tool though to reach your goals!

SuggaD

I use it mostly for exercise/fitness chatter. I don't log regularly. There are periods when I do. And many days even if I log, there are lots that I leave out.

cwolfman13

when I'm in maintenance I don't really track or log, but I'm pretty on top of things when I'm cutting like now. Though I pretty much just do whatever on the weekends.

ryanhorn

SnuggleSmacks wrote: »

I actually stopped tracking. I found that when I track, I push the numbers. I eat right up to the point of maintenance, and if I exercise, I track that too, and eat back those calories. I end up making it almost like a game to see how much food I can pack in those numbers. I guess it's hard to take too seriously since I don't have much to lose, and I'm lifting and don't want to inhibit muscle growth.

But I find that I'm eating less when I don't track, because I'm paying more attention to my body's signals instead of planning out an entire day's worth of food to maximize my macros and cals. I've actually lost almost 3 pounds this week just from only eating when hungry. I've even included potato chips, Bixby bars and ice cream, and haven't weighed any portions, so I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm going to see if this trend continues.

My nutrition counselor and I actually had a discussion about this. He says that this is the reason that food logging is not recommended for all people, regardless of the goal.

For example, someone have 2000 calories for the day. They eat 1500 calories, and they're full, but they see that they still have 500 calories left, so they go ahead and fill in that 500 calories with something else when they don't necessarily need it.

DeterminedFee201426

SnuggleSmacks wrote: »

I actually stopped tracking. I found that when I track, I push the numbers. I eat right up to the point of maintenance, and if I exercise, I track that too, and eat back those calories. I end up making it almost like a game to see how much food I can pack in those numbers. I guess it's hard to take too seriously since I don't have much to lose, and I'm lifting and don't want to inhibit muscle growth.

But I find that I'm eating less when I don't track, because I'm paying more attention to my body's signals instead of planning out an entire day's worth of food to maximize my macros and cals. I've actually lost almost 3 pounds this week just from only eating when hungry. I've even included potato chips, Bixby bars and ice cream, and haven't weighed any portions, so I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm going to see if this trend continues.

exactly something to relate to finally

topazora

I log the best I can, I'm still trying to loose more weight, even though I met my goal, I still have to watch it. I have to see the numbers, I can't just rely on eyeing portions. Some stuff, I'll log, but not particularly accurate like coffee creamer or cream cheese, and so far I've been fine. I also stopped logging in my exercise calories, because its not always accurate and I feel like its a calorie trap. Better to leave the exercise calories out and not eat like I was lazy all day.