Do you plan on counting calories for the rest of your life?

CurlyCockney

No, I won't count calories for the rest of my life. I will, however, weigh myself at least once a month for the rest of my life once I have maintained my goal range for a few months and take action if needed. I have a hammer, but I don't feel the need to bang in every nail that I see. Calorie counting is also a tool, and I won't feel the need to count them unless they need counting to get me back on track.

vivelajackie

I hope that by the time I'm down to my goal weight I'll have a good idea of what my needs are, though I plan on tracking them to find out a good idea of maintenance before easing out of diligent tracking. And weighing regularly? Yeah, will do.

aarar

rankinsect wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

The vast majority of people who say they're going to count and log into perpetuity will not...I'm 41 and plan on living at least another 40 - 50 years...the notion that I could continuously log and count for 50 years is fairly laughable. It's not really realistic.

I think it's perfectly realistic. I spend about 2-3 minutes per day to plan the next day's meals out and log them, and it's simply part of my daily habit. I spend six minutes per day brushing my teeth (I know, because my toothbrush times me). I certainly plan to brush my teeth for 50 years, I don't see why I won't plan my meals for that long, too.

Agreed.

justrollme

jgnatca wrote: »

My dietitian wants me to.
The National Weight Control Registry suggests successful people do.
Diabetics have to, or, consequences.
I expect I will, 80% of the time until I'm 95. Then I am going all out hedonist.

LOL I love this. This is my favorite plan on here.

Unknown

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Obnoxa

I plan on it. If I come to a point in my life where I truly believe I don't have to be stringent with my counting then so be it, but counting keeps me aware of what I eat and I already have plenty of evidence of what happens when I don't remain aware of what/how much I eat.

frankiesgirlie

Tender_Blender wrote: »

I've been counting for around 2-3 years now and I'm getting sick of it. Food and calories is all I think about these days, but I fear I'll regain all the weight once I stop. What's your plan once you reach your goal weight? Would counting calories for the rest of your life be unreasonable?

I've been counting calories most of my life, since I come from a family where the women tend to pack on the pounds. I've never been technically medically overweight just what I call vanity overweight. The only difference I've found since being on MFP for the last 2 months is that before when I wanted to lose weight I would work out like a demon and eat very little. I didn't understand or even know about NET calories. So now, since being on MFP I eat MORE calories than I used to and am losing weight. So yes, I am quite alright with counting calories and keeping my weight in check for the rest of my life. Well worth it if you ask me. EAT and lose weight. Who'd a thunk?

bwogilvie

Interesting range of responses! I find that it takes very little time to log, a minute or two for most meals. However, I do a lot of guesstimating. When I began losing, I used my food scale religiously, to calibrate my sense of how many calories were in a given quantity of some food. After a few months, I began eyeballing some things. At present I still use the scale most days, but only for calorie-dense things. When I eat out, I search MFP's database for something similar and then guess about how much I ate, trying to err on the generous side. My log is really more of a list of what I ate, with rough calorie amounts next to each item. It seems to be OK, since I've been in maintenance for over 10 months and have actually lost a couple pounds over that time (most of it, strangely, during a two-week vacation in Iceland, where I thought I was actually eating more than usual, but I was also more active than usual too).

I cycle 50-125 miles a week (depending on weather and free time), and run 15-25 miles a week, with the occasional hike, canoe trip, walk, etc. on top of that. Since the amount I exercise is variable, the food log is useful so I have a reasonable idea of how the two are balancing out. That's especially useful when some of my events might burn 2500-3500 calories or more.

The only aspect of logging that takes more than a couple minutes is creating a new recipe in MFP. I usually alternate between two or three things for breakfast, and usually eat one of five meals for lunch, unless I eat out. But I've created about 150 dinner recipes in MFP. I like a variety of foods, and I enjoy cooking, so I'm usually making around 4-5 unique dinners each week (the other nights are leftovers or eating out, 2-3 times a month). Many of those are tried and true recipes, but I still create a few new ones each month when I try out something new.

I don't know if I'll do it forever. I plan to continue for the indefinite future, since it takes little time and seems to be useful. I also weigh myself daily and use TrendWeight.com to plot the exponentially smoothed moving average. If my weight gets more than 2.5 pounds over my goal, and I'm not deliberately trying to gain, I'll focus on getting it back down, so I don't find myself in the position I was in 2008, where I had gained 85 pounds over the course of 11 or 12 years.

WingardiumLeviosa91

Definitely no. Counting calories teach me moderation in what I eat, and it will become a habit when I hit my target goal. After that I will just have smaller portions to make sure I don't gain the kga back.

deniseyweesy1

I can't think about the rest of my life. I am just thinking about TODAY.

andersent01

Hi.I am new to the calorie thing. I have started to use MFP, but notice that my daily calorie intake is 1200 without any fitness. Is this the minumum I should be aiming for.? Cheers

Ashtoretet

I will probably count forever. It's a drag but most preventative things are, that's life.

jennifer_417

With intermittent breaks, likely yes.

Ponkeen

At this point, yea, but I am only about halfway to goal weight. I may change my mind after a few months on maintenance. For now, though, it really is a huge help to me and doesn't actually take all that much time to do. MFP really does make it pretty easy.
I am a little nervous about moving into maintenance, actually, as the losing process can be quite addicting and you have clearly defined physical goals to work toward. I'll have to make some new goals for maintenance or I will find myself gaining weight again.

bethanyka

After years and years of counting, I do it without realizing it. If not 100% all of the time, then most. Also I know right away when I get off track and how to get back on without spiraling downward into something that's harder to bounce back from.

PrizePopple

If I have to then I will. I'd rather count calories for the rest of my life than end up at 204 pounds again.

KourtneyChristine

I am teaching myself and reprogramming my brain to listen to my body. That way I don't have to log forever. It's all about mindfulness

CoffeeNCardio

If that's what it takes never to look like THIS again, I'll do it gladly. But different strokes...

FitOldMomma

For now, I see myself logging and counting calories forever. I'm cool with that idea if that is what it takes to keep the weight off. I truly don't mind it, it is just a habit now.

Orphia

I've been counting calories for 6 months, and I don't see myself stopping unless a miracle happens and I become a mathematical genius.

FrankieandSpots

CurlyCockney wrote: »

No, I won't count calories for the rest of my life. I will, however, weigh myself at least once a month for the rest of my life once I have maintained my goal range for a few months and take action if needed. I have a hammer, but I don't feel the need to bang in every nail that I see. Calorie counting is also a tool, and I won't feel the need to count them unless they need counting to get me back on track.

My plan is similar to this. I've maintained my weight (a few kilos overweight) for years, so I hope to just calibrate myself to a new setpoint.
Once I reach my goal weight I'll weigh myself a couple of times a month, if I reach a 'warning' level (~2kg over my goal) I'll give myself a week or two to reign myself in and start seeing it go down, and if that doesn't work, I'll start tracking again.

lucyloutoo

To my shame I've turned into a yo yo dieter.
I find it easy to stick to healthy eating and working out, and I find it easy to eat junk.
I can't maintain.
For me this time round,I plan to weigh myself often and only start logging when I'm too heavy.
Got to get to goal weight first though.

echmainfit619

I suspect I will always count calories. The iPhone app makes it so easy and it's part of my daily routine now. As is brushing my teeth, shaving, etc.

DaleCannard

That's a tough question, I can't see myself stopping in the foreseeable future as it works really well for me

threadmad

Cheerios0392 wrote: »

I plan to count calories for the rest of my life, yep!! It's worth the few minutes it takes to log for me. I cannot be trusted around food if unaccountable I would over eat every day, for sure

me too, for the same reason.

hamlet1222

No, I plan to stay within a 5 kilo weight range, and if I go above or below will count calories until I'm back in the middle of the range. I hope this isn't too often

ZeroDelta

Yes, this is the new norm. The only difference that I see will be the amount of calories.

melonaulait

I am so prone to over-eating mindlessly, that I'll probably have to stick to weekly weigh-ins and calorie counting. But I'm happy that I already know this much...

melonaulait

Cheerios0392 wrote: »

I plan to count calories for the rest of my life, yep!! It's worth the few minutes it takes to log for me. I cannot be trusted around food if unaccountable I would over eat every day, for sure

Also this is literally what my life is like!

sgfoster110

Yes, I plan on keep track of my exercise and calories at least for now. It keeps me accountable. It has worked well for me in maintaining my weight and fitness. I can't see changing that. I don't want to be the one who is like a yo yo. I want to maintain and look good all the time.