Graduating from counting calories???

2

Replies

  • Timelordlady85
    Timelordlady85 Posts: 797 Member
    dfranch wrote: »
    I think I'll continue to count for the foreseeable future. I've been maintaining for about a year, and really never want to put the weight on again. If It means spending 5 minutes every day logging my food, it's a small price to pay.

    this right here, literally takes me about 5-10 minutes tops to pre log my food for the day and doing this keeps me on track each day. I'm still like 30-40 pounds from goal weight but after I reach that I will still log my food. :smiley:
  • Barbs2222
    Barbs2222 Posts: 433 Member
    edited August 2015
    I think I'm always going to count calories but I'm really looking forward to maintenance because I then I can stop weighing every single morsel of food that goes in my mouth. A lot of my recipes require me to cook my food separate from the families. If I gain 5 pounds I'll go back to weighing everything for a week or month or whatever it takes to get back to goal weight.
  • funjen1972
    funjen1972 Posts: 949 Member
    I am in the process of weaning myself from logging. I took a week long break without any change on the scale. I'm logging most meals this week, but will skip the weekend. I still feel an inherent need to log....I like the reassurance that I'm still on track.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited August 2015
    of the people who say they will count calories for life, only a very small fraction actually will....

    really...it's not realistic...I'm 40 and gods willing I have another 40-50-60 years in front of me...it's simply not realistic for me to think I'd actually count for 50 years. I'm not saying that there aren't people who will...but realistically, most people here stating they will, simply won't.

    IMO, logging isn't the "lifestyle change"...actually changing your eating habits...how you eat...what you eat...adding regular exercise to your life...leading a more active life in general...these are the lifestyle changes.

    three years ago my diet consisted largely of coffee, soda, piles of whatever food I could get my hands on and cigarettes. I could barely walk my dog around the block without being winded. if I wasn't at work, my *kitten* was usually on the couch watching t.v....and weekends...yeah...pretty much parked on the couch all day, particularly on Sunday during football season...literally parked in front of the t.v. from about 10 AM until bedtime. Three years ago I maybe...possible...maybe got one measly serving of veg per day...I almost never ate fruit...ate fast food for lunch most days...and drank soda by the gallons.

    Today I eat a well balanced diet that is centered around nutritionally dense whole foods and meals prepared from such. I eat anywhere form 6-8 servings of veg daily and about 3 servings of fruit. Legumes, lentils, brown rice, quinoa, etc...these are staples of my diet...as are fish and chicken and other lean sourced proteins. I eat avocados almost daily as well as nuts...

    Today, I exercise regularly...I cycle 60-80-100 miles or more per week...I life 2-3 times per week...I generally get in a 5K or two during the week...I walk my dog regularly. You're far more likely to see me and my family riding the 12 mile to and 12 miles from the zoo on a Sunday vs sitting around watching football games or movies...I probably watch all of 1.5 hours of t.v. in an entire week. Today I no longer get winded walking the dog and you can easily find me on a Saturday morning finishing up a 50 mile ride and then coming home to cut the grass and do some weeding...

    For me, these are the lifestyle changes and have had zero issues maintaining my weight via simply living a healthy and active lifestyle. I haven't logged a thing in over two years and I've maintained just fine.

  • michellemybelll
    michellemybelll Posts: 2,228 Member
    i plan on counting into the future too. i like it to be honest. i like having the numbers, and the awareness.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,487 Member
    Cwolfman13, that was a very well articulated version of my outlook.

    Calorie counting teaches one the lifestyle change.

    Cheers, h.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,230 Member
    Cwolfman, I appreciate your well articulated point of view and your experience of this.

    I agree that most people will not calorie count or log for the rest of their lives.
    Even me, who has logged for nearly 2 years of maitenance, does not claim I will do that.

    But I do claim I will continue to log for the foreseeable future, as I have done for the last 2 years of maitenance.
    I have loosened my logging,I don't weigh everything, I estimate a lot and call things 1 serving, that Sort of thing - but I still log, it keeps me accountable.

    And because I wasn't obese, just overweight, and my weight had crept up slowly, I didn't make huge changes to my diet, just ate less of it.
    So I can see myself gradually eating more of it again if I am not careful.

    I don't see it as the training wheels analogy so much as a grocery shopping list analogy - people could claim using a shopping list is a crutch and one should wean oneself off it and shop intuitively - and some people do - but there are others like myself who like shopping lists and are happy to continue to use them.
    Again, for the foreseeable future - may or may not be for the rest of my life.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    Use what works for you that prevents regains for the rest of your live.
  • Pinnacle_IAO
    Pinnacle_IAO Posts: 608 Member
    AllOutof_Bubblegum wrote: »
    Learn intuitive eating.
    I stopped logging almost 2 years ago, and all went well.
    "Intuitive eating"...I like that term!

    When I first began this journey, logging my foods was key, and over time it just became natural. I can look at food and get a reasonable feel for it's calorie content and macro balance.
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    I like Nutella too much to stop measuring and logging.
  • mikehardin62
    mikehardin62 Posts: 122 Member
    Pinnacle_IAO wrote: »
    AllOutof_Bubblegum wrote: »
    Learn intuitive eating.
    I stopped logging almost 2 years ago, and all went well.
    "Intuitive eating"...I like that term!

    When I first began this journey, logging my foods was key, and over time it just became natural. I can look at food and get a reasonable feel for it's calorie content and macro balance.
    can't wait to get to that point, able just by look rather than count.

  • dopeysmelly
    dopeysmelly Posts: 1,390 Member
    I stopped logging a few weeks ago and it's gone surprisingly well. Any issues I've had with overeating are due to stress-induced snacking, which is something logging doesn't help me with and which I still have to work on.

    I guess like cwolfman I've learned to eat in a way which suits my lifestyle and my specific health goals, and so logging became almost pointless. I do weigh myself every day and log that using Happy Scale which tracks the trend.

    Having said all that, logging when I moved into maintenance really helped me realize what my new meals/portions would look like and really helped when I had to make some changes to my diet to tackle high serum cholesterol. It's a great tool that's always there if and when you need it.
  • Pinnacle_IAO
    Pinnacle_IAO Posts: 608 Member
    mikehardin62 wrote: »
    Pinnacle_IAO wrote: »
    AllOutof_Bubblegum wrote: »
    Learn intuitive eating.
    I stopped logging almost 2 years ago, and all went well.
    "Intuitive eating"...I like that term!

    When I first began this journey, logging my foods was key, and over time it just became natural. I can look at food and get a reasonable feel for it's calorie content and macro balance.
    can't wait to get to that point, able just by look rather than count.
    One guy called it "Intuitive Eating"... :)

  • Train4Foodz
    Train4Foodz Posts: 4,298 Member
    edited August 2015
    lithezebra wrote: »
    I like Nutella too much to stop measuring and logging.

    This is me all over!!!

    I don't personally see calorie counting as a chore and it's helped me achieve the things I like. Why should I consider stopping?
    I do have the ocassional day that I don't.. and some people choose to have days, weeks or months of not doing before they continue with counting.

    My view is this, you have to live life how you see best. Ignoring the calories that I was eating and drinking got me to a place I didn't want to be.. Personally I'm happy to continue counting calories and stay on a track alongside having a figure I'm happy with.

    Each to their own :)
  • aarar
    aarar Posts: 684 Member
    I personally don't ever see myself 'graduating from counting calories'. As of next month it will be 3 years since I started and at this point it's just routine.

    Even after 2 years of maintenance, logging food and keeping an eye on my calories is sometimes all I have to bring me back when my eating completely falls off track. As a former binge eater it's still too easy for me to bury my head in the sand for weeks/months and ignore the massive quantities of food I'm capable of eating.
  • DonM46
    DonM46 Posts: 771 Member
    Maintaining for almost 4 years.
    Stop logging? No, it's not a big deal.
    But, I'm not a fanatic.
    I use lots of estimates rather than measuring and weighing everything.
    After this long, I can judge pretty well.
    I realize I'll be heavy on some; light on some.
    It will average out.
    However, if the food is something new, something from a Mom & Pop restaurant, something I have no clue about, etc....I'll try to go overboard on conservatism.
    And, I watch the scale very closely for trends.
  • csuhar
    csuhar Posts: 779 Member
    edited August 2015
    You'll probably just find whatever suits your lifestyle. If keeping weight off is your goal, then you could easily get by with abandoning counting unless your weight starts to creep up to a limit you've established as a point where you'll start counting to get it back down, again.

    If you find a new focus, such as athletic performance of some kind, you may find your interest in counting reinvigorated.

    Or you could adopt a new kind of counting. I've "counted" in various forms for about ten years, but it hasn't always been a weigh-your-portions level of detail. But I know that I'm too much of a foodie to completely abandon some form of counting. As long as MFP's around, I can see myself still logging something, just not necessarily everything, especially because, if I find recipes that I like, I'll add them here so all I'm doing is logging a portion, which isn't as much of a headache as trying to log it by ingredients.
  • Lextmg86
    Lextmg86 Posts: 102 Member
    I have definitely eased back in counting after hitting my goal weight. After a while you really can eye most serving sizes after so much experience and repetitive measuring.
  • Patttience
    Patttience Posts: 975 Member
    One thing i do to avoid counting calories is just keep a food diary. This keeps you focused. But you will probably tire of that too.

    then you need to be able to learn to eat to satiety, not until you are full.

    Next you need to keep eating to a schedule of healthy regular meals with no snacking. I found that when i stopped keeping my food diary, i tended to slip into snacking. It is essential to avoid that. If you are hungry, fine, eat something but don't just eat because you feel like something.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,230 Member
    I don't think it is essential to avoid snacking.

    It is essential to stay within your maitenance calorie amount - but whether you do this by regular meals and no snacking or otherwise is not crucial.

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