how do you keep logging and maintaining?

slimandsmiling

Hi, I have been maintaining without logging but don't feel I am eating as healthy as when I was logging daily.. how you do keep going long term with logging and maintaining? x

manderson27

I log most of the time otherwise I do tend to start overeating and my portions get larger. Logging just reins me in a bit and reminds me that I still need to be a bit careful. If my weight goes up by 3 pounds I will check portions and stick to a deficit and it goes down again after a couple of days.

maxit

I log. Maybe some day I won't. In that case, I will resume logging when/if my weight hits the top number of my weight range.

Jubee13

When I was maintaining (stopped logging and gained back a few, so right now I'm trying to lose), I logged but pretty much quit measuring and weighing my food. That made it so much easier and livable for me. I easily maintained and even lost a few more pounds. When I quit logging altogether is when I got into trouble!

nxd10

I just keep doing it - it's a habit. I haven't missed logging a meal or snack I think since I started over 3 years ago. I have my phone with me and log after I eat. (Eat - log, no thought between.) If I don't have my phone or it's not appropriate, when I sit down at my computer I habitually open MFP and log everything I've eaten. It's like checking my e-mail or Facebook or like brushing my teeth. You just do it.

I like the data. I'm still learning things. And nowadays it usually tells me either that I SHOULD eat and there's a reason I'm hungry (not enough calories) or I should not eat french fries because they're not worth the calories.

I rarely weigh or measure any more - I'm pretty good at estimating. I just double check myself once in a while.

Francl27

I have no plans to stop logging.

M30834134

I know this: if I tell myself that "I will log for 1 year while on maintenance" then my logging will become more and more sporadic and I probably stop 6 or so months into it. I also know from my previous experience that if I wont log - I will gain. So, this time around before hopping on the "healthy wagon", I decided that I will log indefinitely. I dont know how long my "indefinitely" will be but I do not plan on stopping. I do hope that some time in the future I will train myself to instinctively measure proper portions

nxd10

Master Val - Good insight into yourself. I've been logging 3 years. I know I could maintain without logging. But I like it. And every once in a while it keeps me from that slow trend upwards.

I was a skinny kid and young adult. I slowly gained a pound a year from the time I was 35-50. Then the last two years before I went on MFP I gained 15 pounds (never snack on nuts while talking to your husband who is cooking dinner). So it would be really easy for my to slack off and slowly gain again. So I'm going to keep on keeping on.

PinkyPan1

I have been maintaining for a year and do not trust myself not to log what I eat. It has become a habit and I actually look forward to pre-logging my food daily. It has become a discipline just like working out. I promised myself that this lifestyle change was going to stick and damn it I not quitting. I have no desire to start over again.

mk2fit

I haven't been on maintenance all that long but I still log and plan on logging for the foreseeable future. Thinking that it will keep me focused.

brenn24179

it is a pain but being fat is a worse pain so I log

glassgallm

Never stop logging.

xtiansalcedo

I've been in maintenance for a year and a half and still log every day. However, I'm a little more lax now, compared to when I was trying to actively lose weight. I still weigh everything I eat at home, but nowadays I feel I can go to a restaurant and estimate the portions if the place I'm eating at doesn't have a nutrition guide online. (So If I'm having a burger at the local bar, I'll enter it as say, a Red Robin burger, because they're pretty much the same size and use similar ingredients). When I was losing weight, I would really try to avoid eating out when I could so I wouldn;t run into that situation.

Also, while I still log every day, I'm more interested in following a weekly total rather than a daily total for calories. I try to leave around a 100 calorie cushion every day, but if I go over on a Saturday night by a couple hundred, I'm not too worried about it because I'll still be under the weekly goal. It's worked for me, no real weight gain since I started maintenance.

gothomson

I read something that I tend to agree with: If you record it gets done. I use that in a lot of areas of life but with my new healthy life I do four things that help keep me on track: I weigh myself once a week - once a fortnight max, I measure my waist once a month, I log my foods & I keep to a regular exercise programme. Writing that down it seems like a lot but honestly its not! It's just what I do now. It keeps me right, the way I look at it is it's easier to lose a 3lb weight gain than a 14lb weight gain so once I see the scale edging up the way, I do "strict" logging till its at my target weight again.

LivingtheLeanDream

If you feel you need to keep logging then keep on doing it. Its likely more of a mental game, I also felt like that to begin with but I had to catch myself on, I was still eating same things and still weighing foods so there really was nothing to worry about...

For me all will be well as long as I keep being as active

TimothyFish

I'm still logging because I got into the habit and haven't tried to stop. I'm less accurate with my logging than I was before, but I'm not looking for exact. I gained a lot of weight by sticking stuff in my mouth without thinking about how many calories there were. I'm going on vacation in a few weeks and will be outside the range of cell towers for most of the week. I wouldn't be surprised if that puts an end to my logging.

EBurt94

It takes time to get into the habit of maintaining logging in to track your meals, water, workouts. I will use a diary as well and then add all my stuff at the end of the day when I have more time.

Stay motivated, and good luck!

20yearsyounger

Jubee13 wrote: »

When I was maintaining (stopped logging and gained back a few, so right now I'm trying to lose), I logged but pretty much quit measuring and weighing my food. That made it so much easier and livable for me. I easily maintained and even lost a few more pounds. When I quit logging altogether is when I got into trouble!

Not measuring and weighing as much truly helps me to stay active logging. It try to find the easiest things that I can do that still allow me to maintain weight. That's my journey now - simplify

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erianswilliams

mk2loser wrote: »

I haven't been on maintenance all that long but I still log and plan on logging for the foreseeable future. Thinking that it will keep me focused.

Agreed! Even though I'm just maintaining, I still log. If I eat a Big Mac...I log it. If I eat a salad, I log it. I still try to eat pretty healthy...but I don't hold myself back if I want some greasy burgers.

doylejohnpaul787

I logged my food intake carefully until I hit my goal weight and then stopped. My strategy is to continue weighing myself every morning and recording that. Some things have changed permanently, like taking coffee black with no sugar. It is working so far, but I have only been doing it for 2 months.

riffraff2112

everyone is going to be different. I would think that if something works, why stop?
I have been pretty good at maintaining, and stopped logging consistently well before i reached maintenance BUT I eat like a robot and most my days are pretty similar.

Have fun and good luck

Bshmerlie

Interesting reading everyone's answers. I personally don't think I'll ever stop logging. It literally takes less than five minutes a day. I always have my phone with me so why not log? I also plan on weighing myself everyday forever as well. Lack of awareness is what got me into this mess in the first place. So five minutes of my time is worth never having to go through this again.

ewrook

I try to log, and start out every day logging. If I miss logging evening meals because of going out or entertaining, I usually don't fill in the next day the way I would when I was in losing mode. I weigh myself every day and have committed to myself to log more faithfully if I start gaining.

RaspberryTickleChicken

After two years of maintaining it's really just a mindless habit now.

A part of food prep routine.

Also, if you use the meals feature it literally is 2 clicks to log food.

Aug31st

well I lost about 46lbs on here and stopped using MFP completely. I gained it all back over about a year and a half. what a disaster! very disappointing and tough to accept it, but I'm back again---> I WILL get the weight off and I have no intention to stop logging or stop weighing. its just not worth the risk of undoing all the hard work.

ilovesweeties

At the moment, not long into maintenance, I am logging to make sure I eat enough (which feels like a problem I never thought I would have). It's a habit, instinct, routine now, I always reach for myfitnesspal to pre-log my day or to readjust when I end up going for a hot chocolate or I feel like an extra helping at dinner. Lots of people say it's like brushing your teeth twice a day- I feel the same. I want to keep maintain my healthy weight as much as I want to maintain my own set of teeth!

Yoshirio

I will never stop logging. The last time I did,I gained back 60 plus
pounds I previously lost. I need to be aware and accountable for what goes in my mouth. It will be worth it to me,to never gain that weight back again.

Diana_GettingFit

I'm pretty sure I will always log. It's a habit now and it doesn't take long. I'm afraid if I stop then I will start slipping.

akboy58

nxd10 wrote: »

I just keep doing it - it's a habit. I haven't missed logging a meal or snack I think since I started over 3 years ago. I have my phone with me and log after I eat. (Eat - log, no thought between.) If I don't have my phone or it's not appropriate, when I sit down at my computer I habitually open MFP and log everything I've eaten. It's like checking my e-mail or Facebook or like brushing my teeth. You just do it.

I like the data. I'm still learning things. And nowadays it usually tells me either that I SHOULD eat and there's a reason I'm hungry (not enough calories) or I should not eat french fries because they're not worth the calories.

I rarely weigh or measure any more - I'm pretty good at estimating. I just double check myself once in a while.

ALL of this!

pinkteapot3

I log just as accurately as when I was losing. The daily cal goal is different, but that's the only difference.

It only takes me a few minutes each day on the phone app.