Calorie counting for life?!

peterjens

Know thyself.
Know what I have learned.
In other words I will be logging as long as I am eating.

michellepearson224

Thanks guys, some interesting points of view!

ninerbuff

michellepearson224 wrote: »

So I'm just over 5 months in and 20lbs down, with probably another 10 to go until I reach my goal. But I'm soooo fed up of counting every single thing I eat - I have had the odd day off but I just wondered how you all sustain it? Even when in maintenance I guess you have to count? I'm currently giving myself a week off from counting and logging, but still eating sensibly and exercising most days, just to see what happens.

Just interested in other's thoughts on this.

Michelle

Everything is math. You wouldn't disregard counting how much money you spend or how many days till vacation or how many hours you work. And as you age, you actually need less to eat to maintain. I would bet dollars to donuts that ANYONE who's gained weight back stopped watching and paying attention to how much they ate.
Do you have to count? Well if you're eating the same thing every day, then probably not.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

kickassbarbie

I lost about 120lbs 8 years ago and I have not logged everyday during maintance but remained a healthy weight the whole time. The couple of years of logging taught me invaluable lessons I have never forgotten.
One technique is to continue logging you weight and if it goes too far out of your "happy range" go back to logging for a few months to remind yourself about food quantity and eating habits. I am logging again due to a new goal (though on macro+). My weight wasn't stable to the lb without logging to be honest, but it stayed within range, when it went up or down too much I'd log for a few months and fell back into the habit easily.

kickassbarbie

I lost about 120lbs 8 years ago and I have not logged everyday during maintance but remained a healthy weight the whole time. The couple of years of logging taught me invaluable lessons I have never forgotten.
One technique is to continue logging you weight and if it goes too far out of your "happy range" go back to logging for a few months to remind yourself about food quantity and eating habits. I am logging again due to a new goal (though on macro+). My weight wasn't stable to the lb without logging to be honest, but it stayed within range, when it went up or down too much I'd log for a few months and fell back into the habit easily. I never stopped weighing my food though as for me portion control was and allways will be an issue.

magurski

michellepearson224 wrote: »

So I'm just over 5 months in and 20lbs down, with probably another 10 to go until I reach my goal. But I'm soooo fed up of counting every single thing I eat - I have had the odd day off but I just wondered how you all sustain it? Even when in maintenance I guess you have to count? I'm currently giving myself a week off from counting and logging, but still eating sensibly and exercising most days, just to see what happens.

Just interested in other's thoughts on this.

Michelle

Calorie counting, in my opinion, is a way of learning appropriate portion sizes. If you've managed to learn that, and internalize the methods and sizing, you shouldn't need to actually count calories much as you enter maintenance. So long as you're no longer gaining (fat) weight, if you can get by, you should be OK. If you're not building muscle mass, but gaining weight, then, sorry, you probably need to go back to calorie counting... Sad, but sadly true.

LiftAllThePizzas

I would compare it to basic hygiene, just like wiping my butt, brushing my teeth, taking a shower, etc. I would also compare it to wearing glasses if my vision needed correction, except it's a corrective lens for my appetite. If you don't need it to maintain and you don't like it, then don't do it. But I spend more time flossing every day then I do logging my food so I don't see it as a big deal.

jennifer_417

Some people continue logging. Some people pick a weight range that they want maintain, and if they go above that range, then they start counting/restricting calories again till they get back within that range. I don't really know if it's possible to maintain without doing one of those two things. Either way, you need a strategy, even in maintence, or you'll most likely go right back to your old eating habits.

athenasurrenders

I'm nowhere near maintenance yet, but I'm already working on listening to my body in the hopes that one day I can maintain without logging. I imagine I'll still run new recipes through the calculator to make sense of it, but I have a pretty good idea of what's a light meal and what's more calorific, which snacks provide maximum satisfaction for the calories, which foods make me feel good. What I'm trying to learn is eating because of hunger, not habit or emotion, stopping when I'm full (as opposed to stuffed like before, or not satisfied but out of calories) and respecting my body's signals.

I've learned that in my case, I had some pretty screwed up thoughts about food and eating behaviours. Logging has helped me learn what's in my food and get a realistic idea of the best way to fuel my body. But I know I have some serious work to do on my mental processes to get a healthy relationship to food and for me, logging has the potential downfall of just displacing those unhealthy behaviours and not addressing them. So for me, it's a learning tool and I hope one day to ride the diet bike without training wheels.

TimothyFish

professionalHobbyist wrote: »

I fuel my car and check the gas gauge all the days I will drive it

I don't really feel like monitoring fueling my body is a bothersome task.

It has become almost an interesting hobby, reshaping my body, taking better charge of my health.

Yeah, I will do some form of it all my life.

I don't. I fuel up once a week or every two weeks without looking at the gauge. I have a low fuel light, also, but I've only seen it once in five years. The only time I spend much time looking at the gauge is on a long trip, because I'm stepping outside of my normal habits. There's no reason why weight maintenance can't be similar. As long as people get the habits right, weighing and logging adds no value.

MelodyandBarbells

TimothyFish wrote: »

professionalHobbyist wrote: »

I fuel my car and check the gas gauge all the days I will drive it

I don't really feel like monitoring fueling my body is a bothersome task.

It has become almost an interesting hobby, reshaping my body, taking better charge of my health.

Yeah, I will do some form of it all my life.

I don't. I fuel up once a week or every two weeks without looking at the gauge. I have a low fuel light, also, but I've only seen it once in five years. The only time I spend much time looking at the gauge is on a long trip, because I'm stepping outside of my normal habits. There's no reason why weight maintenance can't be similar. As long as people get the habits right, weighing and logging adds no value.

Indeed. I actually see my low fuel light ALL the time and prefer not to fill up on a fixed schedule. Same with food, I don't have a fixed set of foods that I eat or habits, and tend to consume whatever. So long as the numbers add up though, I'll be able to maintain my weight. So that's the feedback I need from ongoing logging.

lemurcat12

michellepearson224 wrote: »

Thanks...interesting. It's funny because I lost a similar amount of weight 5 years ago without tracking at all - I just started exercising and being more careful about what I ate. I only piled it back on when I stopped my gym membership.

This is similar to me (I tend to eat well and be thoughtful about portions when I am exercising, and not when not, but I suspect it's because there's a common link between what motivates me to eat well/care and what motivates me to exercise).

Anyway, as a result I suspect I can maintain without logging and have been experimenting with that this year, although I've now decided to focus on getting to goal (5 lbs to go) and logging is part of that.

That said, I enjoy logging and playing with macros and nutrition goals and so on, so expect I'll keep doing it to some degree as motivation. If you are finding logging burdensome beyond just needing a short vacation, I wonder if there's some way to change your thinking about it or how you do it so it's not so much?

I realize part of it is personality types, but I find it takes very little time, is often an easy way to force myself to be mindful, and can be fun if I use it as a tool to remind myself to eat in a healthy matter and feel good seeing I met nutrition goals vs. making it all about calories.

DeguelloTex

Since I'm going to be bulking and cutting for at least five years, I'll almost certainly be logging for at least five years. Once I get to the point where I just want to maintain weight and muscle, it's possible I'll be able to operate based on how much I weigh rather than how much my food weighs. I'll see how it goes, but if I need to weigh, then that's a price I'm willing to pay. It's very low cost relative to the benefit.

nyponbell

I would like to keep at it; not only does it help me plan my meals ahead of time, but it holds me accountable. Even if that means I will still eat that huge bar of chocolate, at least I can't hide from it if it's in my food diary, messing up my stats (even if it doesn't show on the scale that one time). Once I reach maintenance levels I might go some days without logging, but only because as someone else mentioned; I tend to eat the same type of food "all the time" so I can easily eyeball it (like breakfast, and my favourite soup-dinner).

Maquillage_

Some people manage fine while not counting calories. You learn how to portion control and when to stop yourself. For my, I think I'll always count calories and plan in advance. I like knowing exactly how much I'm eating, I'm a bit of a control freak!

lemurcat12

Sarasmaintaining wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

Sarasmaintaining wrote: »

With the absolutely dismal success rate for long term maintenance, I have no intention of ever stopping counting calories. Been doing it as part of my maintenance plan for two years now and will be doing it for the next 40+ years. That doesn't' mean I count every single thing, every single day though. For me it works well to count/track during the week and eat a little less than my maintenance calorie level. Then on the weekends I don't track/count and just eat responsibly, but with some leeway because I know I've got the extra calories from my weekdays. It balances out, and I've been doing very well so far

I do this now but continue to TRY to track what I eat on Saturday (my high day). I shoot for 2,500 calories but could honestly eat more pretty easily. I'm tempted to try what you do though, track during the week and be a little more free on the weekend. It's worked well for you?

It has. You'll also discover though, that after you've done the whole calorie counting thing for a while you can't just turn it off, even when you give yourself permission to not track (for the weekends etc). It's just in your brain lol. I just picked up Subway and even though I did not purposely track the calories, I knew exactly how much my sub was, including protein and fat grams I could tell you without doubt, exactly how many calories I've eaten today even though I haven't written anything down, and it would be accurate within 50 calories. It's just a part of who I am now

But, I don't allow myself to go long periods of time without intentionally tracking, because I know how easy it is to get sloppy. That's why the weekday-tracking/weekend-not tracking works well, at least for me I have a bit of freedom, but not too much that it becomes a problem.

I've had a similar experience when not tracking--I tend to count it in my mind anyway.

peterjens

You can't manage what you can't measure.

DaliaMaria73

There are forms of tracking that don't involve counting every calorie. Being familiar with correct portion sizes and best macros ratio for you (protein, carb, fat) helps. Another way of tracking that I use and will use once I'm in maintenance is a photo food journal. Some use Instagram. I use an app called TwoGrand. Love it.