Is it really worth...
bfanny
Posts: 440 Member
Tracking your cals when you go over? Why?
I mean there’s not much we can do about it except maybe feel discouraged...Opinions?
TÍA
I mean there’s not much we can do about it except maybe feel discouraged...Opinions?
TÍA
7
Replies
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If you track, you know how much you've gone over. You can use the info to account for potential weight increases, or to know over a week that you're still in your maintenance calorie range.
Tracking may also encourage you to stop eating, or to get moving.36 -
Everybody can track the "good" days. That is of no help. If you track for weight management, you track everything.32
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It's very valuable.
- You won't feel like you're spinning your wheels if you know exactly how much impact a higher calorie day had. You are less likely to forget these higher days and then think "I've been doing everything right, why am I not losing weight?". Accountability is important and the head in sand approach rarely leads to results.
- It helps with seeing your weekly deficit (or lack thereof).
- It can ease your mind and help overcome guilt when you think you've blown it, but you still ended up with a deficit for the week.
- You get to understand what kinds of food contribute to going over, and think about how you can modify them, regulate them, or rearrange your diet to fit them in better next time.
- You are less likely to slip away from tracking because you're not "off the wagon", you are still dieting and logging, you just happened to have a higher day. This helps combat the "starting over" mentality, which can be harmful to dieting.
- It may help stop the overeating episode in its tracks when you see you're close to eliminating an entire week's deficit. It may also help rethink taking a second free for all day.
- It's the best thing you can do if you're trying to teach yourself to stop overeating as soon as you catch it. All or nothing mentality can be harmful to dieting. You're not either "on" or "off" the diet. Choosing to stop (regardless of your calories) when you are tempted to continue overeating is just as much of a victory as being within calories. Tracking helps you understand how much progress you're making in that department.
- Tracking is just what you do when you choose to lose weight via calorie counting. It's a persistent habit, not a situational one. Keeping this one habit going could maintain the weight management mindset and help with complacency.
- It helps to know how many calories your usual higher days average. It's helpful if you're planning to bank for a higher day, and it's very helpful info for the future if you plan to log more loosely once in maintenance.39 -
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I also follow a weekly average so being over sometimes is normal. I will balance it out during the week but only if I know what I'm eating. So, yes, I log it.6
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Log EVERYTHING !!!!!
I go on weekly intake as well so balance eating well under on a monday and way over on a saturday .... but the weekly average should be on point.
Its also useful to workout trends for fitness purposes ... why did I have a bad day in the gym ? .... ah yesterday I didnt eat enough .... why was my run hard work today ? ... ah, I ate too much for the last 3 days and was sluggish
But the most important is logging everything stops the guilt ... you realise that going over your goal every now and again doesnt make any difference in the long run ... it doesnt matter if I go over by 300kcal today because its nullified by the days I was under ... and likewise, going 100kcal over on 1 day makes your weekly average only 14kcal higher ... its a shot of realization that its the long term trend that matters not the slip or the deviation from time to time17 -
Then you will see it there tomorrow and you won't do it5
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Tracking your cals when you go over? Why?
I mean there’s not much we can do about it except maybe feel discouraged...Opinions?
TÍA
I like to look at things from the perspective of one week. So, if your maintenance caloric intake is 2,000 calories (just to keep the math nice and simple) then you would need to consume 14,000 calories a week.
I weigh myself every morning, at the same time on the same scale (that has not moved).....and each morning weigh-in is simply one data-point on the graph. I am interested in the weekly trend.
So, if I go out and have a few beers with the fellas and exceed my 2,000 calories for that day did I just ruin my week? No.....not even close. If I am 300 calories over for that one day then I can 'make it up' over the next few days (or, whatever works for you.....).
This is a mindset. And, it works well for me. Since everyone is different it may or may not work for you. All good, either way. The important thing - find what works for you. And keep the mindset right. Whatever that means to you.4 -
The discipline to always log everything might be the single most important thing that helped me lose the weight. Making exceptions is a slippery slope. Dealing with reality is necessary if you want to lose wight and keep it off.
I went over both days over the weekend; it was my eldest's college graduation (and he chose his major well; he starts work this morning). I was low enough in my range that I don't have to freak out and make up for it immediately. I can just hang out mid range for a while if I want. Same with losing; you can have a week where you didn't lose your weekly average as long as you get back on track. Anyway, if you look at my diary, I logged the overage. I broke a long string of days where I didn't go over more than a few calories and often came in a few under. So what?8 -
Just saying...I’ve been successfully maintaining for almost 10 years and sometimes I’ll track a splurge sometimes I won’t, I just go back to “normal” (small deficit) the next day and for the rest of my week and at the end my weight stays pretty much the same (+2/-2lbs) minus the guilt/torture of seeing numbers in red...This is to maintain, of course to lose this doesn’t work...Then I guess I’m just “lucky”
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amusedmonkey wrote: »It's very valuable.
- You won't feel like you're spinning your wheels if you know exactly how much impact a higher calorie day had. You are less likely to forget these higher days and then think "I've been doing everything right, why am I not losing weight?". Accountability is important and the head in sand approach rarely leads to results.
- It helps with seeing your weekly deficit (or lack thereof).
- It can ease your mind and help overcome guilt when you think you've blown it, but you still ended up with a deficit for the week.
- You get to understand what kinds of food contribute to going over, and think about how you can modify them, regulate them, or rearrange your diet to fit them in better next time.
- You are less likely to slip away from tracking because you're not "off the wagon", you are still dieting and logging, you just happened to have a higher day. This helps combat the "starting over" mentality, which can be harmful to dieting.
- It may help stop the overeating episode in its tracks when you see you're close to eliminating an entire week's deficit. It may also help rethink taking a second free for all day.
- It's the best thing you can do if you're trying to teach yourself to stop overeating as soon as you catch it. All or nothing mentality can be harmful to dieting. You're not either "on" or "off" the diet. Choosing to stop (regardless of your calories) when you are tempted to continue overeating is just as much of a victory as being within calories. Tracking helps you understand how much progress you're making in that department.
- Tracking is just what you do when you choose to lose weight via calorie counting. It's a persistent habit, not a situational one. Keeping this one habit going could maintain the weight management mindset and help with complacency.
- It helps to know how many calories your usual higher days average. It's helpful if you're planning to bank for a higher day, and it's very helpful info for the future if you plan to log more loosely once in maintenance.
This is a beautiful summary of why it is so important. Seeing the overage some days at the start allowed me to switch out some of my meals, and taught me to realllly watch portion sizes! It also keeps me from unnecessary snacking throughout the day.
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Many times the food I ate over wasn’t as many calories as I thought. What a relief, and that helps me to stop eating at 300 calories over, rather than 800 or 1200.
The other reason I log everything is because it’s a real pain to have to log every tiny thing so it helps to stop me from nibbling.6 -
- If you go over, you can eat a little under for the rest of the week and mitigate the damage.
- If you don't log it, you can forget it happened. If you log it, it's right there in black & white for posterity.
- If you pay attention to your macros or some other number than calories too, not logging a bad day is counter productive.
- Part of the upside of logging is a history of accurate data. You can find patterns and suss out cause & effect. You can look at the long term.
- Most of us got overweight at least in part by allowing a disconnect between what we do and what we ended up with. Logging bad days stops that. Owning your missteps is powerful!
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Just saying...I’ve been successfully maintaining for almost 10 years and sometimes I’ll track a splurge sometimes I won’t, I just go back to “normal” (small deficit) the next day and for the rest of my week and at the end my weight stays pretty much the same (+2/-2lbs) minus the guilt/torture of seeing numbers in red...This is to maintain, of course to lose this doesn’t work...Then I guess I’m just “lucky”
Yeah, I’m more like this. I’m actually back to a deficit this month trying to shed a few sanity pounds, but the red numbers are a guilt/shame trigger.
Maintenance for me: I keep vague track weekly on calories (I track my protein intake so it is no extra burden). If my weight is in the proper range and trend is not up then a treat once s week or so is fine, and that splurge probably won’t be protein so I don’t necessarily log. If my weekly weight trend is up or my weight exceeds my target area then no treats or splurging until I’m back on track.
For me it is more a mental game: the red numbers are demotivating and cause a guilt shame reaction that can spiral. With the scale, I have a mental line (cross it and I adjust) and an ‘official line’ a few pounds heavier that I absolutely must not cross. That buffer means I am never ‘in the red’ on the scale so I remain positive.1 -
I’m not a very serious logger anymore. Sometimes I log when I go over sometimes I don’t. I’m trying to be a little more accurate during the week. I usually eat to a point and then have a snack after dinner and don’t log it, but then I’ll go back and log it the next day.1
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Nope. I don't believe in undereating to pay for overeating or any overage the next day. It only digs a much deeper hole. Every day is a new day if you need to think of it as hitting the reset button. I'm in it for the long haul, no such thing as the finish line with your positive food management plan.12
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My problem is (or can be) that I go over by a perfectly sensible amount (couple of hundred or so) and then think "what the heck" and start hoovering up everything in sight. I can easily turn an extra hundred or so calories into a 4000/5000+ day by just stopping logging. At least if I make an attempt to log it gives me some accountability. I may still eat the huge amounts of food, but I should at least know what sort of numbers I'm dealing with.
The biggest temptation for me isn't so much the food binge itself, as the loss of control. The idea of not logging, not counting, not worrying about it is very seductive to me.10 -
Tracking your cals when you go over? Why?
I mean there’s not much we can do about it except maybe feel discouraged...Opinions?
TÍA
I think since you are successfully long term maintaining it is probably not necessary for you. Others still losing or new to maintenance might want to for reasons above.
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My problem is (or can be) that I go over by a perfectly sensible amount (couple of hundred or so) and then think "what the heck" and start hoovering up everything in sight. I can easily turn an extra hundred or so calories into a 4000/5000+ day by just stopping logging. At least if I make an attempt to log it gives me some accountability. I may still eat the huge amounts of food, but I should at least know what sort of numbers I'm dealing with.
The biggest temptation for me isn't so much the food binge itself, as the loss of control. The idea of not logging, not counting, not worrying about it is very seductive to me.
@teranga79 I’m pretty sure we’re related!!2 -
For math and data. Plus no denial possible, and it's way easy to eat way too much if you don't bother logging it.
It's pretty interesting though when you end up every single day in the red for a while and don't gain any weight. So you can actually benefit from logging there.3 -
I haven't logged in maintenance except for the very first month or so...I figure I have days that I'm over and days where I'm under...it's all worked out, more or less maintaining for a bit over 5 years.
If I logged, I would most likely log an over day just to see how it all nets out over the week...2 -
Tracking your cals when you go over? Why?
I mean there’s not much we can do about it except maybe feel discouraged...Opinions?
TÍA
I don't know, I mean either you track or you don't. Why only track on the "good" days and then go AWOL on the days you are over? What's the point? It would be like only updating your checkbook when you make deposits and not when you write a check or spend money. Why bother at all?
I see people here that do that and then have no clue what their real intake is and can't figure out why they are where they are. If you are in maintenance and you seem to have it figured out and don't log I can totally see that, but to me part of logging is the accountability and if you blow off logging for days that are over calorie then you are sort of burying your head in the sand and not being honest with yourself, like if you don't log it then it didn't happen.
Just my 2 cents. Your mileage may vary. See store for details. Offer not valid in Puerto Rico and South Dakota.16 -
Every food, every day. Anything else is a slippery slope.7
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CarvedTones wrote: »Every food, every day. Anything else is a slippery slope.
That's the way I feel also. I made goal little more than a month ago, and have stayed within a 2-lb range since then, but I *know* the day I don't log - even if it's mostly estimated - is the beginning of a slide back into old habits. That is unacceptable to me, after I've come this far and worked this hard to get healthy. Logging is my safety net for the foreseeable future.7 -
Tracking, for me, keeps me honest. On those days when I go over, and I mean 'way over as well as a mere 250 calories, I see it and I have to acknowledge it, and then I move on. I never miss a meal to make up for overindulging. I just keep on going. It has worked well for me for the past 3 years in maintenance and the 6 I have been with MFP.2
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I've been logging food for nearly eleven years. There were some times that I didn't, and before too long I would one day be up ten pounds and saying, "Hm. When was the last time I skipped dessert? Or had more than potatoes as a vegetable?"
For me NOT logging has always had consequences - not good ones.
I have to do a lot of things on a daily basis to keep all my life-balls in the air. It's worth it to me to log everything.
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When I stopped logging, I started regaining the pounds I'd lost...this time, I will continue to log.3
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I do because I already spent zillions of years telling myself little lies about how much I was eating. That didn’t work for me so I decided to do something different.10
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SummerSkier wrote: »Tracking your cals when you go over? Why?
I mean there’s not much we can do about it except maybe feel discouraged...Opinions?
TÍA
I think since you are successfully long term maintaining it is probably not necessary for you. Others still losing or new to maintenance might want to for reasons above.
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Yes I understand and I stated that in my second post
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It’s maybe because doing this for so many years you know, or at least I do, I’m always 2-3 lbs heavier on Monday I know it’s because I eat extra Sat-Sun I track my cals back to losing 1,500-1,600 and in 2 days I’m down 2 lbs in 2 more days back to where I started, and every week is the same unless is TOM but because I know I don’t panic...Set point???
I always was very bad at losing (YES I tracked everything) it took me forever, but once I got to my goal (-47) the # just stays around the same...
So I can say for me, Maintenance it’s pretty easy...easy enough to stop weighing my PB
(Almost 10 years)0
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