Do you take days off of tracking?

kristen8000

Now that I'm in maintainance, I find that if I log/track food, I'm restrictive. I make "really low calorie" choices and tend to eat less than I should be (making it so I lose weight, not actually maintain. I think my brain basically things "oh, she's logging, which means she's wanting to lose weight". Because that's what it's meant the last 6 years of my life. I lose the weight, then I get TOO relaxed and gain some back. Some as in 10-15lbs of vanity weight (lost 50 in 2011). Being tall, my weight can increase 20lbs and no one notices but me. My BF didn't even notice a difference between 160 & 140...but I can and I feel better lighter.

I've decided that if I make myself weigh everyday and log it in Libra, and notice any "increase" and react to it, I'm fine. Reacting to it means starting to log again and make sure I'm at a small deficient until I'm back in range again.

My maintainance range has changes 3 times since September. Originally, I thought 147-152. Then I changed it to 145-150, now it's 140-145...the past few months I've been in that range and see no reason to go above 145...honestly my range was high because I didn't think it would be possible to maintain this range...but I'm finding it harder to actually gain this time...

callsitlikeiseeit

i maintained a year without tracking.

i log and track when im in a 'loss' phase. time to up and lose this last bit. so yup. i track everything again.

LivingtheLeanDream

I do now and I can maintain effortlessly without logging but it took me a few tries to be able to do that over the years since reaching maintenance in 2013.

You can trial it but if you see gains then track again. I know I would go back to tracking in a heartbeat if I was to see weight creep.

cwolfman13

RedheadedPrincess14 wrote: »

Okay guys so I’m a goal weight and just working on recomp now and I’ve realized that I absolutely never take a day off tracking even though I have a super good idea of portions and food at this point. I think yes just become apart of my routine! Out of curiosity, does anyone take days off of tracking? I’m considering playing around with a tracking break to see how my intuition will do for 30 days. Has anyone tried this before?

I've been in maintenance going on 5 years...I haven't logged anything in about 5 years...

Lesscookies1

I've never tracked anything and lost 40 pounds so far. For some people it works, and for others tracking helps.

sijomial

I haven't logged for ages apart from days when I doing a major cycling event and need precision, hasn't impacted my maintenance at all.

I just weigh daily and keep a casual eye on any developing trend and take action if or when required by making different food choices.

Try it - you can always go back to logging if you want or need to. Long term maintenance shouldn't be a straight jacket the stops you experimenting or restricts you to having to stick to the same calorie goal daily - that's would feel like a never ending diet to me.

DebLaBounty

I reached my goal weight. Logged at maintenance level for two weeks. Haven’t logged anything for three months. I’m actually now maintaining at between three to four pounds below my goal weight! I think I learned good habits, but I weigh myself daily to continue to monitor my results.