Why must logging suck so badly?

rivkaesque
rivkaesque Posts: 1 Member
edited April 2018 in Chit-Chat
I utterly hate logging with MFP. I'm a data nut, don't get me wrong, but tracking just involves too much time and attention at a time when my focus is elsewhere.

When I'm hanging with friends and eating is not the time for meticulously tracking down all of the foods and trying to figure out which one is accurate. And no, most restaurants don't have barcodes to scan, and yes, calorie counts are frequently hard to find.

When I'm bopping around the kitchen singing and baking or cooking is not the time to interrupt my flow to record that I switched from bacon grease to butter, decided to add a quarter teaspoon of honey, changed my mind about whether to add the leeks, etc.

Plus how am I supposed to enter a home-cooked meal that I didn't cook? IT would be a bit rude to ask for a full-on recipe for every single dish, and then go disappear for 15 minutes to enter it all.

I keep failing to track because if I have social stuff or I'm having a fun time cooking, the tracking interferes too much. I get that accuracy is desirable, but why can't we have an option to snap a photo and get an approximate count for the times when accuracy is impractical?

Replies

  • MostlyWater
    MostlyWater Posts: 4,294 Member
    What about eating the same thing?
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    I guess I don't understand. You hate logging, so....don't do it. There are people who don't and they are successful. Granted, there aren't many. You seem to have your head in another place. That's OK. Take a break and see how it goes.
  • rgbmore
    rgbmore Posts: 85 Member
    Just really overestimate and control what you can. I understand about the home cooked meals at other folk's homes, on those days I just eat really light, eat the meal, and then worst case scenario I've hit maintenance. Or just eat less when eating out or at a friend's. Logging isn't fun, I get annoyed with it too, but it's a useful tool you can choose to use.
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  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    I hate it too.. so I don't do it. I find ways around it that work well for me. But it's good to know it's always there if I really need it. Also for me it was more about keeping a food diary and estimating vs being super accurate.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    You don't have to track food to lose weight.
    You will have to make changes to the amount of calories you consume or burn.
    Different people have different strategies for handling weight loss.

    You could eat a strict/limited diet.
    You could drink shakes and smoothies.
    You could do Weight Watchers, preportioned meals, diet plans.
    You could stop eating at restaurants without nutritional information. You could stop eating out.
    You could cut out some higher calorie foods and replace with lower calorie versions. Logging for awhile and learning about calories in foods you commonly eat is helpful even if you stop.
    You could eat half of what you used to.
    You could take photos of your food and drinks to be "accoutable".
    You could increase your activity a bunch.
    You could accept logging in a food diary and realize it gets faster and easier the more you log. You don't have to be perfect every day to lose weight even if you are calorie counting.

  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited April 2018
    Doing a scanned photo of your meals would result in the same guesstimates. The diary/food scale are just tools. I look at it like this, I didn't get fat because I never weighed/logged food my entire life, I did because I ate too much. Just find a way to eat less.

    My husband lost 70 pounds and never logged one calorie here (I did help a little because I cooked the dinners and weekends) and there are many others successful with weight loss and maintaining that do not log.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    But logging takes basically as long as it does to brush your teeth...imo it was a small price to pay to lose weight and keep it off.
  • Motorsheen
    Motorsheen Posts: 20,508 Member
    Logging?


    I thought this site was just about trading filthy personal messages. .....

    I had completely forgotten about the option of Logging ( whatever that is ).
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  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    Mr_L33 wrote: »
    i actually just made the decision 30 minutes ago to stop logging

    when i eat clean, i know i hit my daily macros and caloric goal. i repeat these for about 4 days so i know im safe

    on days when its a cheat day, i wont be logging anyway since like u, i wont be able to find home cooked meals or barcodes from a buffet spot

    like you, i was very ocd and it will bother the hell out of my if my macros werent 100% of my goals. im letting fate take its course. if i eat and get fat, then so be it!

    Hello face. Be sure and donate that nose to a needy child.
  • beagletracks
    beagletracks Posts: 6,034 Member
    Wow, OP! I agree that you are way too fabulous to waste your time logging. Congratulations.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    I strive for accuracy in logging but know that 100% is never going to happen. I've been doing this for 5 years and at this point there are plenty of times I Just eyeball things and guess, or skip logging for a day or two. I absolutely refuse to use the MFP app because it's buggy and a pain in my opinion & I never want to be out with my husband or friends, enjoying a meal, and have to mess around with logging DURING a nice time with others. I'd hate logging too if I tried to do that.

    I guess it's kind of like the 80/20 thing with healthier food and less healthy food. I log about 80% of what I eat and the rest of the time I just make educated guesses. I've reached my goals doing this.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »
    But logging takes basically as long as it does to brush your teeth...imo it was a small price to pay to lose weight and keep it off.

    That's how I see it, too. I guess it's just an attitude thing. If you have the mindset that it's tedious and miserable, then it will be. To me, it's not that big of a deal and well worth the results. It's almost like a game to me. But if you hate it, maybe it's not the right method for you. :)
  • Jungle_Jan
    Jungle_Jan Posts: 5 Member
    Would you like some cheese with your whine? ;)
  • D1dymus
    D1dymus Posts: 6 Member
    edited April 2018
    #1stworldproblem - If this is your version of hard I would hate to see your workout method.
  • DreamAmalfi
    DreamAmalfi Posts: 211 Member
    I really need to start logging again...thx for the reminder
  • gamerbabe14
    gamerbabe14 Posts: 876 Member
    Log your restaurant meals before you go to the restaurant, plenty have their menu online. Log your dinner before you make it so you only have to adjust grams or what I do is, weigh my food up to the gram I pre-logged it as.

    Logging helps you when you are in those situations like at your friends house bc you can more accurately eyeball the calorie intake since you've been consistently logging. I frequently ask wait staff how many ounces are in the meat I'll be eating so I can keep track.

    Preplanning made logging much easier for me.
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