Are you still counting calories on maintenance?

aarar

I know not everyone does, but for me personally, yes I do still log. I started MFP in Sept 2012 and it took me about a year to lose 100lbs. I've been maintaining ever since and although I've had ups and downs, I'm convinced the only reason I haven't completely fallen off at any point is because I've continued logging my food every day. I really struggle not to binge eat, even 3 1/2 years later. I definitely don't stick to my calorie allowance every single day and there are days where I'm waayyyyyy over (5000 calories anyone?), but I've found it just makes it easier to get back on track.

I'm at 1305 days of logging and no plans to stop anytime soon.

cwolfman13

I'm see a lot of people talking about gaining weight when they stopped tracking...to those people, did you continue to weigh in? Because it's pretty easy for me to just weigh in regularly and if I see a trend going up to just cut out a snack or something to get it back down.

ggl62

I'm not yet on maintenance, but when I don't log for a day or so, I fall back into old habits. I think I will probably continue to log once I'm on maintenance.

tapwaters

cwolfman13 wrote: »

I'm see a lot of people talking about gaining weight when they stopped tracking...to those people, did you continue to weigh in? Because it's pretty easy for me to just weigh in regularly and if I see a trend going up to just cut out a snack or something to get it back down.

I stopped weighing in as well. I basically hit a "WOOHOO THAT'S ALL DONE NOW!"

cwolfman13

tapwaters wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

I'm see a lot of people talking about gaining weight when they stopped tracking...to those people, did you continue to weigh in? Because it's pretty easy for me to just weigh in regularly and if I see a trend going up to just cut out a snack or something to get it back down.

I stopped weighing in as well. I basically hit a "WOOHOO THAT'S ALL DONE NOW!"

In my experience, that tends to be the issue...

I mentioned before that I don't log...haven't in three years of maintenance...but I keep up with the healthy habits I adopted while I was losing weight. I eat well and very healthfully most of the time and exercise regularly and just try to be as active as I can be in general...watch little t.v., etc. I also weigh in pretty much daily or at least 4-5 times per week and keep an eye on the trend. If I see things inching up, I just nip it in the bud...I can usually identify pretty easily where I've gone astray...an extra snack crept in or a decline in my exercise activity, etc...then I just adjust.

I realized a long time ago that if I wanted to maintain my weight I was going to have to maintain a healthful lifestyle and that I would have to do the things that lean, healthy, and fit people do most of the time. There has to be a new normal.

I'm 41 and planning on living another 40-50 years...I couldn't imagine keeping a diary for the next 40-50 years...I found it much easier to just adopt "good livin" habits and the rest has just sort of taken care of itself.

anna_jewel

I am working towards intuitive eating and listening to my bodies hunger signals. I am starting to not track a few days of the week, but I am also logging to stay on track. I have learned what it feels like to eat at or just below my maintenance and know when I have eaten above it. Its a start.

alias1001

For me, yes. Every time I have stopped I slowly but surely fall into old habits. On maintenance since last September and will be logging indefinitely.

I am not sure if that means I haven't adopted a lifestyle change or for me, tracking is the lifestyle change.

mfurgiuele90

I lost 55lbs about two years ago using MFP......unfortunately after about a month of not tracking I started slipping back into old habits and gained 25lbs back with in 6-7 months. For me I know that unless my whole relationship and mentality with food somehow changes, I need to track my calories. Its all metal but it keeps me accountable.

janejellyroll

I still count calories. I know that it's difficult for me to sustain weight loss without some sort of plan. The amount I naturally want to eat makes me bigger than I want to be, so I expect to be counting calories for the rest of my life.

I also find it kind of fun -- it's like a puzzle game.

rosebarnalice

Yes.

rhtexasgal

The only way I can be truly accountable to myself is to see those numbers in black and white each day. Even when on vacation, I log. Now, I may give myself a pass to eat a bit more but it all gets logged so I can keep everything real. I have discovered that I am not a good estimator when it comes to food portion and weight.

5stringjeff

mfurgiuele90 wrote: »

Its all metal but it keeps me accountable.

\m/

svkalra

I started tracking 3 months ago as well, lost 15 lbs, and planing on tracking for another 9 months at least. In the first month I was just tracking and making sure I'm within my calorie limit, in months 2 and 3 is when I started to understand macros and micros, and what food suite my body. I think I'll learn more things along the way, as I continue to track. Also, I intend to meet with a nutritionist one day, and when they ask me what I usually eat, I can just let them into my food dairy and they can analyze all they want.

bradcfairchild

I hope I don't have to count everyday for the rest of my life. After counting for a while I get much better at estimating. I dropped off MFP for a while. That was because I kind of stopped normal workouts because of a neuroma in my left foot and sciatica on the left side. I was focused on fixing those not so much getting into or maintaining my fitness. I'm back on MFP, using it most days along with my own spreadsheet. I hope in the future I can maintain with an occasional count, a check on the scale, a workout, a day of fasting. I think maybe checking my estimates once in a while to see how well I'm estimating input verses effort will help. For most of us gaining weight and loosing fitness seems to be easy while loosing weight and gaining fitness seems to be hard. Seems we need to find the magic that balances those things. Thinking about it, makes me think it needs to come from somewhere within more than from counting.

Francl27

tapwaters wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

I'm see a lot of people talking about gaining weight when they stopped tracking...to those people, did you continue to weigh in? Because it's pretty easy for me to just weigh in regularly and if I see a trend going up to just cut out a snack or something to get it back down.

I stopped weighing in as well. I basically hit a "WOOHOO THAT'S ALL DONE NOW!"

Haha yeah it's what I did when I was 20. Good times.

zezelryck

Yep I've lost over 190lb and have been maintaining at around 147lb for the past 14 months. I still log and weigh everything and probably always will. To me weighing and calorie counting is just part of the cooking process nowadays

trina1049

I lost 51 - 53 lbs over a 18 month period and hit a normal BMI in February, 2015. Transitioned into maintenance a couple of months ago. I'm still counting and logging and will probably for the rest of my life, but I'm old so . . .

I've changed the way I eat and love my new healthy lifestyle of sensible calorie intake with some moderate exercise and don't ever want to regain. I know that if I stop logging and staying active the dreaded calorie creep will begin.

I like to think of counting/logging as keeping my checkbook balanced. I track my calories as I track my financial expenditures. Keeping both balanced is a good thing.

vegasleo79

This is what I think I'm going to do once I reach my goal of 165: I'm going to log for a couple months to figure out the appropriate maintenance calories. Then, I'm only going to log if the scale goes above 170. It will be my way of reeling things back in. That way, I don't have to log all the time, but it is there as a security blanket when things are threatening to get out of control.

peaceout_aly

darthdosa wrote: »

I've been counting calories for 3 months, this has worked really well for me since I was eating meals I enjoy and it's worked better than other diets I've tried in the past. I'm still not in my goal weight but I realized I'm actually happy about how I look and how my clothes fit at the moment, so I'm thinking about skipping to maintenance. What's your experience? Should I still keep tracking everything I'm eating? Do I forget about it and just start to eat sensibly?

Honestly, I'm so in the habit of logging now that I don't think I'll ever stop. I'm OCD, so I enjoy planning out/logging meals for the week, knowing what I need to pack and it's also helpful if you want to continue to hit your macros. Staying within a calorie allotment for maintenance would be easy without logging, you get a general idea of what you are able to eat to stay below the deemed amount, but hitting macros would potentially be difficult.

dlmciver

Logging and counting everything is the only way to go for me.

evilqueenT

My own experience has been when I hit my goal weight and stop counting and logging my calories I do fine for a short time but then always seem to eventually put back on about 10-15 lbs...and I've repeated the cycle so many times you'd think I'd learn but here I am again. But I'm also 49 and pretty sedentary so it catches up with me quickly.

dramaqueen45

These posts help me too- I hit goal almost exactly one month ago. I am still figuring out how many calories I need in order to just maintain. I believe that I will continue to log and track for the foreseeable future as my husband has just started his weight loss journey - as he said to me, "What you're doing is working- I need to do it!" And so it goes- I usually plan and cook dinners and he needs to know how many calories are in each serving so I will log it for me too. I don't want to ever go back (plus I gave away all my big clothes). I have yo-yoed many times, but this time I've lost the most I ever have in one stint and believe my life is now mostly healthy eating, exercise and logging. I will have parties, holidays, vacations where I will eat above what I need, but for the most part- it's logging and eating at maintenance. Good luck to all of you maintainers- and thanks for this supportive community. I believe it has helped me to learn a lot about eating, exercise and just being positive about myself and my body image.

darthdosa

It's really helpful to read all your experiences. I'm definitely logging everything and weighing myself daily as usual. So far I'm still losing, but I've been eating under my new calorie goal because I just got used to certain meals. I think it's okay to do that on weekdays and keep some of those spare calories for the weekend when I eat out.

MarziPanda95

I'm almost at maintenance. And yes, I will definitely keep logging once I'm there! I know that if I don't I will go back to old habits, or I'll underestimate how much I'm eating.

JoJoTheModern

Been maintaining for a year now, and I believe that continuing to track after the weight-loss stage was what got me through that crucial first year. Though my diet is full of whole, healthy foods I continue to log foods because even fruit and whole grains can get out of hand if you don't keep an eye on portions. : P It's quick and easy to do, so why not track, I figure.

Holly_Wood_888

I've been maintaining for two months and still track my food intake on here.
In the past I was a compulsive eater so logging throughout the day helps me stay accountable