Is weighing/logging everything necessary?

bbell1985

Try without it and find out. For many of us, yeah...it's kinda necessary. For others, not.

Sunshine_And_Sand

Back before I started MFP, I followed a meal plan that didn't involve weighing, measuring, or logging... breakfast was cereal and fruit, lunch was a turkey (or peanut butter after I got tired of turkey) sandwich and fruit, dinner was baked or grill chicken with veggies (varied from night to night) and, wait for it... fruit. Weekends were "cheat days" with steak instead of chicken. No effort as far as tracking and it worked great... but boring and I imagine (not sure bc I never counted) probably pretty calorie restricted. So yes I lost weight without logging, measuring, or weighing food, but for me this is just more fun.

ntw25

For me its the discipline of it. If I log my food I am much more careful (and honest). I do not weigh everything, but because I have done, I am much more aware of potion sizes (and how small they really are) I "allow" myself treats, I don't count back my exercise calories and I know that not logging in to mfp is the first sign of my fall from the wagon. Each to their own.

NatashaTM

I find I hold myself accountable when I log every item . I do not weigh my food though, I eyeball it. I am doing low carb and I have a good idea of where my carbs are coming from. It's working for me.

ninerbuff

If one is losing weight just fine, then no. But for people who are stalled, stuck or even actually plateauing (rare), then it's important identify where they might be going wrong. And measurements and weighing would help to identify that.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

postchrysalis

It's absolutely possible to lose weight without counting. I certainly did a few years ago--lost 40+ lbs in like 3 months. But then I stopped because I was hungry all the time. Thanks to the food diary I kept I now know that it was because I was eating way too little and was literally starving myself, even if at the time I didn't think so because I was eating every 3-4 hours or so.

That's why I love CC so much. There's no guesswork involved. I know approximately how much I'm putting into my body which enables me to eat whatever I want as long as I'm eating at a deficit (though I do strive for a 80/20 diet). CC not only gives me control over my eating habits, which I didn't have before, but it gives me an idea of how much I should be eating, which'll carry over when I'm in maintenance and no longer counting (because I sure as heck ain't gonna do it forever!)

If you're not getting anything out of CC, or find it to be stressful, don't do it. You can still lose weight if you're careful about it.

serindipte

ntw25 wrote: »

For me its the discipline of it. If I log my food I am much more careful (and honest). I do not weigh everything, but because I have done, I am much more aware of potion sizes (and how small they really are) I "allow" myself treats, I don't count back my exercise calories and I know that not logging in to mfp is the first sign of my fall from the wagon. Each to their own.

This is me right now. I weigh things at times, eyeball it at others based on what I've learned. When I reach the point that my weight loss stalls, then I know I can pull my trusty scale out and be more accurate to get it going again. Until then, it's the accountability of logging my foods that's keeping me in a deficit.

Pooshka2

I found MFP in 2015. Weighed, measured and tracked everything, and I lost a decent amount of weight.

Then I stopped weighing, measuring, and tracking, and I gained the decent amount of weight I lost, and then some.

I returned on January 3. I'm again weighing, measuring and tracking everything (even the many adult beverages I consumed on my birthday that totally blew my limits), and I'm almost down to my 2015 starting point.

Weighing/logging may not be necessary for all of you, but it's critical to my lifestyle change success.

AnvilHead

serindipte wrote: »

ntw25 wrote: »

For me its the discipline of it. If I log my food I am much more careful (and honest). I do not weigh everything, but because I have done, I am much more aware of potion sizes (and how small they really are) I "allow" myself treats, I don't count back my exercise calories and I know that not logging in to mfp is the first sign of my fall from the wagon. Each to their own.

This is me right now. I weigh things at times, eyeball it at others based on what I've learned. When I reach the point that my weight loss stalls, then I know I can pull my trusty scale out and be more accurate to get it going again. Until then, it's the accountability of logging my foods that's keeping me in a deficit.

^ This is exactly what I've done throughout the weight loss process. I log everything, but I eyeball a lot of things and haven't worried about it because my results have been consistent with my expectations. If/when a stall happens, I know exactly why and what I need to do to fix it.

samhennings

MeganAM89 wrote: »

There are some things that I measure - like if I say that I'm eating half a cup of mashed potatoes or something, I'll measure that. But otherwise, that's as far as I go. I don't weigh anything and since September I've lost 7 pounds which for me is great because I started at 126/127 and now I'm 119.

I've just logged everything to the best of my ability (in a lazy way) and it's done me fine. But I have been consistent, and I think that's the key, along with regular exercise.

This is how I did it, essentially for adherence purposes, were I to weight everything and be really anal about everything being exact etc I would have lasted about a week before giving up.

Taking a slightly more relaxed view to logging kept me sticking with it, and I lost weight pretty much on schedule so clearly I had a good eye.

Its always, for me, a case of "whatever works for you" when it comes to these things.

I fully appreciate some people NEED to be so exact with things like this.

And, honestly, *for me*, logging everyday is a hell of a lot easier than trying to keep a running tally of food groups etc like the OP. However, if that is what works for her, thats what she should do.

cuadrado12

I do not think counting calories or weighing things is ideal for a way to find balance for every single day of the rest of your life.

However, I do think both are good tools to put things into perspective. For example, maybe you didn't realize that the 3 craft beers you like are taking up 40% of your daily calories and you visit breweries with your friends several times per week. But then once you started logging/measuring it, you realized it might be standing in the way of your goals.

I think once you get comfortable with knowing what's best for your body, you could hopefully move away from the tedious logging and move more towards intuition for eating.

sunnycamper

My goal isn't primarily to lose weight (just a few pounds), but to habituated myself to choosing foods that will lower my congenitally high LDL cholesterol. So I log everything that has saturated fat or cholesterol in it. I'm learning a great deal and I'll continue to do this until those habits are ingrained.

butcher206

Yes. It is absolutely necessary.

paperpudding

KatzeDerNacht22 wrote: »

BrunetteRunner87 wrote: »

stevencloser wrote: »

BrunetteRunner87 wrote: »

I see so many posts where people complain they haven't lost weight and then everybody comes in saying that EVERYTHING HAS TO BE WEIGHED AND LOGGED.

I know that CICO is typically the key to weight loss, but can you be successful without all of this? Who wants to have to weigh and log or even just log everything they put in their mouths for the rest of their life?

I recently started a new diet plan aimed at runners. The idea is to eat enough carbs to fuel workouts, but to lose or maintain at a good weight for you to run without extra pounds weighing you down. The diet is based on 10 categories of foods that are supposed to balance in ratios at the end of the week. So assume you eat 55 servings in a week (obviously you're going to eat more but just assume), 10 should be vegetables, 9 should be fruit, 8 should be seeds and nuts, 7 should be lean meats and eggs, and 6 should be whole grains. Then if you want you can have 5 servings of dairy, 4 servings of refined grains, 3 servings of unhealthy meats, 2 of sweets, and 1 fried food.

I feel like, yeah logging and weighing would be important if I was planning on doing some kind of figure competition or even a weightlifting competition, but if I'm following this type of diet, not eating when I'm not hungry, and developing a positive relationship with food, isn't this better than weighing everything the rest of my life? Weighing and logging can really get you bogged down with numbers or exercising extra just so that you can eat extra pizza that day.

Is there anyone here who has not logged/weighed everything, but seen success?

Putting every food in categories and counting over hte week how many servings of each category you had isn't bogging you down with numbers?
Not to mention that there's no guarantee that that'll actually put you in a deficit.

Not really, because at the end of the day I just put tally marks next to the category in my planner and at the end of the week I add them up. And I also suspect that once I do this for a while, it will be like second nature for my diet to be 20% vegetables, 18% fruit, 15% nuts and seeds, and so on. And while it doesn't guarantee a deficit, on any day that I haven't eaten sweets or refined carbs and I don't eat when I'm not full, I come in around 1500-1600 calories.

Another thing I thought of is when people have to weigh everything, at the end of the day it's still going to be an estimate of how many calories are in that food or how many calories you burned, it's never going to be 100% exact.

I am sure that there are people who haven't logged everything and still manage to lose weight or maintain. I guess what I would like to know is why I see so many posts on here where people insist everything has to be weighed or logged, what is the reasoning for that, and why can't someone be successful without that?

Merely answering your question, I think most people insist on that because, it is assumed you'd be using the application/website, which well, does count calories, if someone doesn't want to count calories as accurately as possible ( which comes with weighing and logging ) then they can of course try other methods but... what's the point to use this site then??

Well, as someone who has used this site for 4 years, first to lose weight and then to maintain but who didnt ever count or log as accurately as possible - the point for me is to use a tool in a way that works for me - doing what I call lazy logging works for me - by that I mean every banana, egg, mandarine, carrot,cappacino etc is logged as the same size and it averages out, every bowl of cereal or cup of coffee is assumed to have same amount as first one I measured, I take packaged items to be the weight they say they are without checking,if my husband and I have half of something each I assume our halfs are equal size without checking I guestimate lots of foods when I eat out etc.

I agree with poster upthread - the aim is to log as accurately as you need to - not to neccesarily log as accurately as possible.

However this was fine for me because I steadily lost weight at the rate I expected to and Ive maintained weight within a 3 kg window since.

If you (general you) are not losing weight as expected then probably you are not logging as accurately as you need to - hence the advice given in such threads where people are not losing as expected to log more accurately.

rking35209

The hardest part of this journey that we are on is going from dieting to a lifestyle change. Everyone can go on a diet and loose weight. However, very few are able to make the transition from a diet to lifestyle change. I think the longer we make our journal entries the more likely we are to make that transition.

MissMaggieMuffin

laceyslabaugh wrote: »

I weigh and measure and log everything. Even if 0 calories. Example: We had left over chili and my husband went to log it and said to me "that's about 1/2 cup, right?" I told him I thought it was at least a cup. Turned out once we measured it, it was 1 1/4 cup ... that's a big difference when you are trying to lose. I don't trust my "eye judgment". Good Luck everyone!

^This. "Eyeballing" portion sizes is what resulted in me gaining 30 pounds over the past 10 or so years and frustration over not losing through several attempts to do so during those years. Took the advice from this site and started weighing and measuring everything! In some cases, my 'eyeball' had actually overestimated weight, but by far, most things were underestimated. I am optimistic that diligent weighing and measuring will have positive results this time around.

oldyogi66

I weigh and measure most everything most of the time. At the beginning of my weight loss it really helped me realize how much I was eating. I do log my food and exercise and look at friends logs. It helps keep me motivated to see others are on the same path.

GemstoneofHeart

I must weigh and log everything. My eyes are always wrong! I will think I'm eating 2 oz of chicken and then I weigh only to find out its 7....
And don't even get me started on fruit and veggies, I'll grab a handful of grapes and think it's like 10 cals. Nope more like 30. It seems small but it adds up over a day or week!

tomteboda

Probably not, but it's an easy insurance

DearestWinter

I use it as a tool to help my accountability. It's also a way for me to stay aware of the fact that losing weight is my goal because I get into the habit of logging all of my meals thus 3+ times a day I'm consciously assessing the fact that I'm trying to lose weight each time I do. Otherwise it's very possible for me to ignore the goal when it's convenient.

That said, I lost 10 lbs last year but then got burned out on logging food before I reached my goal or transitioned to maintenance so I promptly gained it back. This time I want to try being more mindful about my intake without logging food in the hopes that I develop some habits that are more maintainable. It will be an experiment and if it isn't working after a month then I'm going back to the food logging because I know that works.