Is logging sustainable long term?

Live_life_well

Hey,

Like many of you, I joined this site because I wanted to make a lasting change in my diet and to hopefully lose a couple of pounds in the process. I have been logging religiously over the past 20 days and it has gone well.

The main issue for me is that I don't see this process as sustainable long term. (1) I feel like an accountant every time I eat, (2) Every meal feels like a business transaction with legal paperwork to sign, (3) I went from eating out twice a day to once in 20 days as my usual spots don't allow accurate logging, (4) I no longer judge food by just its taste - everything is a real estate deal with calories replacing money.

Anyone else having success with logging but wary of it being something that they can stick to long term?

cmriverside

Well in one of your earlier threads you said it was causing you so much stress that you weren't going out.

We all tried to talk you off the ledge in that thread, this will be no different.

If it's stressing you out and you are feeling like it has to be done perfectly - that's part of your personality, but you can change that.

In the very beginning of using this site I went through a period where I felt like that, but I got over it. Some people can't let go of that and they choose not to log food.

I think it's good to do for a while so you get an idea of portion sizes, but not everyone chooses to do it forever. You have to figure out the pros and cons for yourself.

With that said, I've been logging for most of the past ten years. It works, I can do it quickly, and it keeps me mostly in line. When I've stopped in the past, I've struggled with my eating. So I'll keep logging. It just takes me a few minutes, like two or three minutes per meal. It's worth it to me. Your mileage may vary.

lucerorojo

I'm going to keep logging forever. I do not want to get fat again and I believe that I will get lax if I don't keep a record and weigh/measure.

Lounmoun

I've been logging my food for about 3 years. Usually I prelog my food for the day every morning.
However, I eat the same calories for each meal so if I just went somewhere and looked for something that fit it would be okay.
Like 100-300 calories for breakfast, 400 calories lunch, 500-600 dinner.
I also know calorie counts of a lot of foods I commonly eat and what portion sizes look like by now.
I could probably skip logging and be fine but I like doing it because it helps me make better nutritional choices if I log.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

I have been here a little over 3 years and still logging.

vanmep

Been logging for 2 years. It takes about 3 minutes per day. I will likely do it for the rest of my life.

crabbybrianna

Every time I stop logging I gain weight, even when I’m watching my portions and think I’m eating the right amounts, so yeah, I’d rather log forever than gain weight. I find logging very easy, not stressful, and it only takes a few minutes.

W8WarI

I'll take breaks, via logging but I'll continue to, weigh weekly & if/when I regain 10 pounds, I'll log again; until it's gone! Therefore I fully expect, to regain weight; once I reach goal & cease logging!

The_Ta

Once you are at your target weight, you can stop logging to see how you do. You should probably continue to weigh yourself once per week to catch yourself before poor choices wreck your weight.

It may be that you need to log in order to maintain weight. It may be that you’ll only need help getting to your goal and be fine afterward.

My boyfriend agreed to lose weight with me, but he got so annoyed trying to log food. Our agreement now is that he can be more aware of how he’s eating, but he has to go back to logging if he goes up in weight twice

VintageFeline

I take short breaks for vacations, celebrations etc but have been logging for nearly 3 years. No biggie to me and better than the alternative of regaining. I still eat out/take away often, my eyeballing is good enough alongside my otherwise accurate logging for it to be no issue.

Different strokes but to me it's sustainable. Technology makes it really quick and easy.

PAV8888

I think it is naive to assume that you're going to effect a long-term change to your base weight level without making any long term and persistent changes to what you were previously doing.

What these changes will be are up to each of us as an individual to find and implement.

If they were particularly easy to find and implement, long-term success in weight loss would be much higher than it is.

The fact that you're thinking and exploring are both points that increase your probability of success.

85Cardinals

Logger4Lyfe, baby! Just try and stop me, can't be done.

sgt1372

It's "sustainable" for me.

I have no problem logging what I eat but I am not anal about the level of precision.

Close enough is good enough.

Nutritional "facts" and exercise calorie estimates are just "guess-timates" anyway but logging "something" for everything I eat is better than logging nothing at all and just hoping for the best.

I lost and have maintained my weight doing it over the past 20 months. I lost weight doing it b4 and quickly gained the weight back when I stopped.

So, as long as I want to maintain my weight, I do not ever expect to stop doing it ever again.

Gisel2015

It is up to you to decide how long you need or want to log your food for. In my opinion it also depends on your relationship with food, and how much weight you need to lose. If you are a volume eater, love food too much, or can get hooked on binge episodes, and are not good at estimating, then you may need to log for a long time. I get what you are saying because the weighting and logging drives me crazy sometimes so here is what I do to keep my sanity.

1) I eat out 2 or 3 times a week. I only log the food if the restaurant has the nutritional information. If not, I don't log at all and I don't spend time looking for something similar in the database. I write a note of what I ate in the comments section, and that's all.

2) I don't log while on vacation (short or long), unless I prepare the meal. And if I do cook, it would be an estimate because I don't travel with a food scale.

3) I don't log when I eat at a friends' house, and I don't take pictures of the food or take a food scale either so I can log later.

4) I don't log during the holidays.

What I do is: control what and how much I eat; I try to exercise more to get extra calories in the bank; and/or don't eat exercise calories during the week so I have more calories available during the weekend.

There are many people that are in maintenance and not longer logging and others that will need to log for ever and they don't mind. I do.

ahoy_m8

For me, it's sustainable long term. Been doing it for years. Honestly, it's the easiest way I've found to enjoy delicious foods in the right amounts. Logging really isn't the hard part. I hear you on having to guess in restaurants, but you know, it's all an estimate. Guess your best and don't worry. I pre-log my day when I'm having that first cup of coffee. It only takes a couple minutes. An analogy might be checking your bank account every morning just to be sure nothing's amiss. It takes about as long and affirms things are on track for the day.

To me, the hard part is sticking to the plan when I am tempted. But logging, that's not a lot of effort.

marieamethyst

I've done it for 4 years now. Not necessarily every day or week, sometimes I take a few months off, but definitely I'm here every year doing it. Lost the weight once and got to goal weight, and I'm almost there again after having another baby. MFP works as long as you want it too and put in the effort. (And I plan to keep using it)

Seffell

I've been logging for 2 years. Takes me 5mins on the night before.
However I don't plan to log forever. I've been slim for most of my life wuthout logging and I plan to get back there when I feel like it.

rheddmobile

I plan to log for the rest of my life. I'm diabetic and tracking how many carbs I consume at one time is critical to maintaining blood glucose control.

Logging gets easier the more you do it, and the more you use the tools. For example, one of my usual spots is a Korean restaurant, which does not have a menu available on MFP. I went to some trouble to find close entries to the different foods, and created some, and then created entire meals representing what I usually eat there, so now I can just log a meal there with one button, and it will add my soup, side dishes, rice, meat, appetizer, and main dish. Portions may not be exact but they are close enough to average out over time. After a year of creating recipes and saving foods I usually eat, I only have to spend seconds logging most meals, even complicated ones.

If, like me, you are a person who tends to have weight issues, then judging food by its calories as well as taste is something you are going to have to do forever, to keep from getting fat again. I have to accept that I will never be able to cut lose and eat whatever I want until I feel satisfied, because I would become huge. That doesn't mean you can't have special treats. But your treats have to be connected to reality in some way. If you pig out on Tuesday, you can't pig out on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday too, or you will see results you don't want.

Poisonedpawn78

Are you teaching yourself what a proper meal size looks like for various foods? to know when you are over eating or under eating without actually calculating the calories? This should be a goal to prevent yourself from going back to old eating habits.

You dont have to be a food accountant for the rest of your life if you learn and teach yourself to maintain properly, and if you start to gain again you know what to do to get back to where you want to be.

SCoil123

Once a year when I take my vacation I don’t log or wear my Fitbit. The rest of the time it’s just a part of my normal life. It’s been a couple years now and takes less than 5 minutes a day

mph323

I've been logging for almost two years now. I lost around 50 lbs and am in maintenance, and I plan to continue logging for the foreseeable future. Logging takes a lot of stress out of weight management for me - I don't have to wonder if I can fit that treat in on any given day, or if that spike on the scale is water weight or fat. I'm fairly casual about the calories, meaning I'm not obsessive about getting to the exact count of everything I put in my mouth, but I'm precise enough to make sure that I'm hitting my net calorie goal most days. It really doesn't take much time or energy at this point, if I'm eating out I estimate, and most of my usual foods come up automatically in the calculator at this point.