Do you plan on counting calories your whole life in order to maintain?

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  • robinhager3998
    robinhager3998 Posts: 45 Member
    I have just begun my weight loss efforts, and have lost twelve pounds in two months. 88 pounds to go! However, I have heard so many times that diets don’t work, and I should just eat “mindfully”. I regained a 120 pound weight loss, so you can see what that did for me! However, I’m scared to death that I will regain after my loss and feel it is inevitable. I don’t want to feel this way. Any words of encouragement?
  • rimir74
    rimir74 Posts: 29 Member
    Will log Forever and Ever, Amen. Just went past 730 days/ 2 years days logged. About 18 months of that has been in maintenance. I notice that when I had a period of being just slightly over maintenance calories - I started gaining a bit of weight as well.

    I log/ maintain my weekly average data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x-U5_S1FOLICblo3jzexdgYx7f34SiKsqk1Tg0kTTHo/edit?usp=sharing
  • gothomson
    gothomson Posts: 215 Member
    It depends. I tend to be a bit rough in my calculations, but if my weight goes beyond the margins of movement I've set myself (7lb max increase, 4lb max decrease - this is just my own parameters nothing scientific about it), then I watch my calorie intake to get within the tolerances I've set myself. So in short yes, and no, but my judgement of portion size has vastly improved so I tend to be ok :-)
  • missevil
    missevil Posts: 113 Member
    I fear I'll have to. My maintenance limits are still so low that it's extremely easy to overeat, so I'll need to keep counting. Maybe not as diligent as today, but especially bigger meals or Junk food / eating out will need some planning, so yeah, I'll stay with MPF for a few awful lot more years
  • justlog
    justlog Posts: 125 Member
    I "roughly" counted when I was losing. Never used a scale and only used a measuring cups a few times to get an approximate of serving size. I dropped about 50lbs. That was almost 4 years ago. Maintenance has been just fine. So, no I don't find I need to count calories and won't.
  • ItsyBitsy246
    ItsyBitsy246 Posts: 307 Member
    I lost about 35 pounds in about 8- 9 months by counting calories, and have maintained within 5lbs for over a year without doing so (but being mindful of what I'm eating). I need to count to lose (about to jump back in and shed another twenty), but like others have said, counting helps you learn portion sizes effect your weight. That said, if I needed to count calories to maintain, I'd do so no question.
  • kenyainez
    kenyainez Posts: 222 Member
    I don't see why not. What would be the inconvenience or issue with doing so for life? The only time doing something for life is an issue is if you see it to be an issue. I don't find calorie counting to be a chore, inconvenience, or going out of my way. If I felt that way from the start, I would have never made it apart of my journey. My belief is this: In a lifestyle journey, you do what you feel you can do for life from the jump. Calorie counting is something I can do for the long haul.
  • brig220
    brig220 Posts: 52 Member
    From what I have learn over time is that the key to make it bearable is flexibility. When I'm away, or at a party, or have dinner out and will be way over, I don't log and eat whatever I want within reason. If it's easy for me to log (80% of the time), because I'm home, cooking for myself, where I can weigh and measure, I do log, for the moment. I find that when I log I am happy to stop eating when I have reached my quota. If I don't log I kind of give up and eat whatever. It keeps me in check and it works for me. Logging can be super easy if you're repeating meals and saved recipes.
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,241 Member
    I may have to; my physical hunger/satiety signals are too completely overruled by my psychological ones. Still, I’ll probably try letting go the tight logging when I get to maintenance, track my weight for a bit, and see what happens. And if it starts to creep up, then logging forever it is!
  • Crafty_camper123
    Crafty_camper123 Posts: 1,440 Member
    I hope after tracking and logging for a while I can get to a point that I can eyeball my portion sizes and cut it back if the scale is getting too high. Hopefully my hunger cues will fall in line too. I dont want to count and log for the rest of my life. It's just not something I picture myself doing 30 years from now.
  • goatg
    goatg Posts: 1,399 Member
    I hope much of this will become intuitive with time. You learn, right? The more you weigh items, the more you recognize quantities, listen to how your body feels while digesting, etc....

    Weighing just takes a lot of time.
  • goatg
    goatg Posts: 1,399 Member
    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    goatg wrote: »
    I hope much of this will become intuitive with time. You learn, right? The more you weigh items, the more you recognize quantities, listen to how your body feels while digesting, etc....

    Weighing just takes a lot of time.

    Eyes can be deceitful, at least mine are. I'm capable of seeing the same exact portion as bigger or smaller than it is depending on my hunger, desire for that food, time of day...etc and I've been weighing stuff for the past 5 years. I also have unstable hormones, so my hunger cues can vary and I can be hungry on 2000 calories or full on 1500 calories eating the same foods. I can self-correct if I have to go without a scale or logging by using certain strategies, but I prefer to keep doing what I feel is easy and takes a few seconds. It gives me peace of mind and freedom to eat whatever I want whenever I want without worrying too much that I might be pushing it.

    Especially depending on how you plate it, too! But I try to use this to my advantage.

    You know what works for you :) It's my hope that more will become intuitive for me. I spend so much of my free time around food right now....I'm engaging in the way I want to for now, but it feels like a beautiful prison, and --for me-- it's honestly not how I want to live.
  • goatg
    goatg Posts: 1,399 Member
    I also find that when I am dating someone and not weighing food, or go on vacation, I usually lose weight. So I have some bad emotional triggers that throw me off. I think that I have enough knowledge about nutrition. If I had a healthier emotional relationship with food I believe my body would take care of the rest.
  • lightenup2016
    lightenup2016 Posts: 1,051 Member
    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    goatg wrote: »
    I hope much of this will become intuitive with time. You learn, right? The more you weigh items, the more you recognize quantities, listen to how your body feels while digesting, etc....

    Weighing just takes a lot of time.

    Eyes can be deceitful, at least mine are. I'm capable of seeing the same exact portion as bigger or smaller than it is depending on my hunger, desire for that food, time of day...etc and I've been weighing stuff for the past 5 years. I also have unstable hormones, so my hunger cues can vary and I can be hungry on 2000 calories or full on 1500 calories eating the same foods. I can self-correct if I have to go without a scale or logging by using certain strategies, but I prefer to keep doing what I feel is easy and takes a few seconds. It gives me peace of mind and freedom to eat whatever I want whenever I want without worrying too much that I might be pushing it.

    All of this for me, too!!
  • ysache13
    ysache13 Posts: 107 Member
    we all know ourselves and I've yo-yo's my entire life, so for me I want to say yep! it's the only thing that keeps me accountable to myself (that doesn't mean I'll be doing it every day like I am now while losing again) I'm sure like most say, you get use to knowing basically what to eat and how much, but for me, I know I'll keep slowly adding if I don't "watch it" - period and that's being 100% honest to myself!

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