Stopping logging and weighing?

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  • billglitch
    billglitch Posts: 538 Member
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    Maybe transition slowly....go to logging 3 days a week, then 2, then 1?
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited July 2016
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    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    I actually did an experiment from this past Saturday until Tuesday on not logging.. lets just say the experiment ended Tuesday and it was supposed to go thru this Saturday. Not ready to let go of the reigns yet, I still cannot manage to not under estimate my portions. Not sure why after 2 years.

    My husband wanted to see if I could let go of the habitual and day to day logging and just be a "normal" person who did not do this type of thing every day. Let me just say the rest of my family does not know I count calories because anyone that did know will think that am not of this earth.. :( I told some colleagues at work a while back and they looked at me like I had two heads.

    Needless to say this is still my dirty little secret and just no ready to let go of the reigns just yet.


    You'll find you will become more confident each time you decide to have a logging break. I have tried several times, once after a few months at maintenance which didn't work well for me that time. I tried again a year later and went back to logging after 6 weeks when I was seeing a slight creep. Now in year 4, I have been successfully not logging for 6 months. I do still think in calories and will mentally tot up my meals the odd day but I always find I am doing absolutely fine. If anything in the last 6 months I have dropped 3lbs but I don't mind having those as a buffer for when vacation time rolls around. If I continue to keep losing albeit it slowly I will only worry about that if I lose more than 5 more lbs - I know then I'd start looking a bit to thin for my liking.

    Just keep logging and then now and again try another logging break and have confidence in your changed eating habits. I know I now eat like a 'thin person', it took time but I'm there, I have and am succeeding and I have confidence :smiley:

    Ruth

    While I appreciate this (and I do), I will never think about eating like a thin person. I used to be really thin for years and I gained a lot of weight after some personal tragedy. I can't believe I used to eat the way I did to stay thin..

    For starters I train a lot. So I have to eat my calories each day. With being thin in my past, I can very easily over estimate how much I eat. I am probably the opposite of most. But I also can gain weight quicker than a person can say "calorie deficit" so maintaining to not loose and gain are dual goals for me always.

    With that said, I log because I am too lazy to guage portions and the scale does all that for me in a matter of seconds. So my brain is trained to think and use the scale, not my eyeballs or palms and fist or what I think goes into a spoon that will make an accurate portion. I still eat out and eat things outside of my normal diet, but these too are controlled outings and are within reasonable calories when I go out to eat, have a beer with friends or attend a sporting event where I will eat nachos, etc..

    Maybe I am different that I really do not pay attention to what the food looks like while it on scale.. I hope this makes sense..
  • spammami
    spammami Posts: 1 Member
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    I have some proble to log accurately the lunch because normally now I have to go to eat to a local canteen instead to take food from home or going to some fast ffod chain or buy something at the grocery. I try to guess the caloric intake an the weight of the portions and try to log - but I'm thinking to stop logging because it's not a precise guess and this I think makes all the logging exercise really less useful: it's useful only if one has to track what is eating.
    The same problem happens in the weekend when normally I'm invited to dinner at someone else house.

    Actually I think to stop the logging and track only blood pressure and weight.

    I've also stopped long ago to stop trackin the exercises, because I minly walk and ride a bike, and seems to me that the calorie counting is another wild estimate, especially for mountain biking or walking in the woods...
  • cb2bslim
    cb2bslim Posts: 153 Member
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    After a 48 pound loss is when I stopped logging food. Keep in mind, I still wasn't happy with the remaining belly and thigh fat but I felt I needed a break from weighing and logging. So I took a chance. I still weighed myself often enough to make sure things were staying within my 5 lbs range. I felt successful and and didn't log food for 80 days but my weight did reach the top of the range. I then had 10 pounds to lose because I wanted to try and rid the belly and thigh fat, too.

    It was weird not weighing my food for those 80 days but it felt like relief, too. I love numbers and seeing those numbers helped me lose my weight. But now that I experienced "not logging", I hope to reach that point again where the knowledge is within. But worst case, I think I can live the rest of my life by "on and off" logging, too. lol

    You may do very well by not logging. You mentioned you had gained great habits. I still ate the same foods I was eating while losing. Mine became a lifestyle change and I really enjoy my healthier foods. A person on the community world posted that you can still weigh your food but not log (to make sure your portion sizes don't increase). This is really great advice.

    You look really great by the way. Congratulations on your loss!
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
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    It definitely feels obsessive, but everytime I feel like I have a handle on it and stop logging, I gain again.
  • eandasher
    eandasher Posts: 25 Member
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    I've been experimenting with this the last couple weeks... well month, I'm still trying to get down to my goal weight though. Honestly I know what days I've messed up, and what days I was just a special occasion and let loose. Honestly after logging so many calories and different types of foods I basically know within 20-75 calories what something is (Normally rounding up...) MFP is just a tool use it how you see fit, enjoy your life and hold yourself accountable to stay on track and keep up a healthy lifestyle :smiley:giphy.gif
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    I actually did an experiment from this past Saturday until Tuesday on not logging.. lets just say the experiment ended Tuesday and it was supposed to go thru this Saturday. Not ready to let go of the reigns yet, I still cannot manage to not under estimate my portions. Not sure why after 2 years.

    My husband wanted to see if I could let go of the habitual and day to day logging and just be a "normal" person who did not do this type of thing every day. Let me just say the rest of my family does not know I count calories because anyone that did know will think that am not of this earth.. :( I told some colleagues at work a while back and they looked at me like I had two heads.

    Needless to say this is still my dirty little secret and just no ready to let go of the reigns just yet.


    You'll find you will become more confident each time you decide to have a logging break. I have tried several times, once after a few months at maintenance which didn't work well for me that time. I tried again a year later and went back to logging after 6 weeks when I was seeing a slight creep. Now in year 4, I have been successfully not logging for 6 months. I do still think in calories and will mentally tot up my meals the odd day but I always find I am doing absolutely fine. If anything in the last 6 months I have dropped 3lbs but I don't mind having those as a buffer for when vacation time rolls around. If I continue to keep losing albeit it slowly I will only worry about that if I lose more than 5 more lbs - I know then I'd start looking a bit to thin for my liking.

    Just keep logging and then now and again try another logging break and have confidence in your changed eating habits. I know I now eat like a 'thin person', it took time but I'm there, I have and am succeeding and I have confidence :smiley:

    Ruth

    While I appreciate this (and I do), I will never think about eating like a thin person. I used to be really thin for years and I gained a lot of weight after some personal tragedy. I can't believe I used to eat the way I did to stay thin..

    For starters I train a lot. So I have to eat my calories each day. With being thin in my past, I can very easily over estimate how much I eat. I am probably the opposite of most. But I also can gain weight quicker than a person can say "calorie deficit" so maintaining to not loose and gain are dual goals for me always.

    With that said, I log because I am too lazy to guage portions and the scale does all that for me in a matter of seconds. So my brain is trained to think and use the scale, not my eyeballs or palms and fist or what I think goes into a spoon that will make an accurate portion. I still eat out and eat things outside of my normal diet, but these too are controlled outings and are within reasonable calories when I go out to eat, have a beer with friends or attend a sporting event where I will eat nachos, etc..

    Maybe I am different that I really do not pay attention to what the food looks like while it on scale.. I hope this makes sense..

    Thanks for your reply, this just lets me see that each and every one of us is different and has differing needs. If you train a lot of course you need to consume more so perhaps in your case you do need to log or at least write down what you've eaten. I know its very commonly said on MFP but you do YOU :smile:
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited July 2016
    Options
    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    RoxieDawn wrote: »
    I actually did an experiment from this past Saturday until Tuesday on not logging.. lets just say the experiment ended Tuesday and it was supposed to go thru this Saturday. Not ready to let go of the reigns yet, I still cannot manage to not under estimate my portions. Not sure why after 2 years.

    My husband wanted to see if I could let go of the habitual and day to day logging and just be a "normal" person who did not do this type of thing every day. Let me just say the rest of my family does not know I count calories because anyone that did know will think that am not of this earth.. :( I told some colleagues at work a while back and they looked at me like I had two heads.

    Needless to say this is still my dirty little secret and just no ready to let go of the reigns just yet.


    You'll find you will become more confident each time you decide to have a logging break. I have tried several times, once after a few months at maintenance which didn't work well for me that time. I tried again a year later and went back to logging after 6 weeks when I was seeing a slight creep. Now in year 4, I have been successfully not logging for 6 months. I do still think in calories and will mentally tot up my meals the odd day but I always find I am doing absolutely fine. If anything in the last 6 months I have dropped 3lbs but I don't mind having those as a buffer for when vacation time rolls around. If I continue to keep losing albeit it slowly I will only worry about that if I lose more than 5 more lbs - I know then I'd start looking a bit to thin for my liking.

    Just keep logging and then now and again try another logging break and have confidence in your changed eating habits. I know I now eat like a 'thin person', it took time but I'm there, I have and am succeeding and I have confidence :smiley:

    Ruth

    While I appreciate this (and I do), I will never think about eating like a thin person. I used to be really thin for years and I gained a lot of weight after some personal tragedy. I can't believe I used to eat the way I did to stay thin..

    For starters I train a lot. So I have to eat my calories each day. With being thin in my past, I can very easily over estimate how much I eat. I am probably the opposite of most. But I also can gain weight quicker than a person can say "calorie deficit" so maintaining to not loose and gain are dual goals for me always.

    With that said, I log because I am too lazy to guage portions and the scale does all that for me in a matter of seconds. So my brain is trained to think and use the scale, not my eyeballs or palms and fist or what I think goes into a spoon that will make an accurate portion. I still eat out and eat things outside of my normal diet, but these too are controlled outings and are within reasonable calories when I go out to eat, have a beer with friends or attend a sporting event where I will eat nachos, etc..

    Maybe I am different that I really do not pay attention to what the food looks like while it on scale.. I hope this makes sense..

    Thanks for your reply, this just lets me see that each and every one of us is different and has differing needs. If you train a lot of course you need to consume more so perhaps in your case you do need to log or at least write down what you've eaten. I know its very commonly said on MFP but you do YOU :smile:

    My husband said this not too long ago (and keep in mind he has NEVER logged one gram of food and lost 65 pounds last year) that this process or any process for that matter is a life long and never ending process. The journey never ends! Rather it be fitness, maintaining weight, body composition, training for running races, etc..

    His way works for him and mine works for me. This why the experiment ended only after a few days. I will give it a go again after I get done with another small "cut" in a couple of months (I purposefully gained weight to bulk), but for now me and my scale are best buddies! LOL :)

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