Not tracking

kshama2001

amusedmonkey wrote: »

I'm a tracker by nature (I enjoy it and feel a healthy compulsion to do it), but I'm also bad at not tracking. I'm portion blind, I could "feel" like I'm eating a smaller portion but it often turns out I'm not. It's as if just by meaning to eat less, food starts looking like it's less. My portion perception is also heavily influenced by hunger. The same portion can look fine one day, but tiny on a hungry day. When I (rarely) don't track, I still weigh food whenever possible to make sure I'm eating "the usual".

Posted this on FB and noticed the MFP *kitten*, LMAO

mmapags

suibhan6 wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

AnvilHead wrote: »

sardelsa wrote: »

AnvilHead wrote: »

I look at it this way: If I'm going to drive to a small town in a state far away that I've never been to, I can do it one of two ways - I can use a map/GPS navigation which gives me a clear route to my destination, or I can just start driving and try to figure it out as I go.

Either way, I'll probably get there eventually - but one of those two ways is the easier and more direct route.

But sometimes it's fun to get lost and go on an adventure! No?

Absolutely! But I'm not going to go into travel forums and post "HELP HELP HELP!!!! LOST IN IOWA, DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!!!!!" threads if I choose to do it that way.

Or, "I ran out of gas because I decided not to look at the gas gauge because adventure."


Part of the advantage of tracking food is I got to eat ENOUGH. So it wasn't really that hard. I didn't suffer or just try to wrestle my body into submission for the cause. I didn't run out of gas because I refused to look at the gas gauge.

I mean you can lose weight by under-eating, but at what cost? Muscle loss, hair loss, depression, fatigue, irritability, confusion. Why not just eat enough but not too much? How do I do that? Log food. Simples.

I agree, but some carbs are better for you than others, some fats are better for you than others. But goals are set in terms of the three macros: Carb, Fats, Proteins. While you might be able to change percentages, this belies the fact that some carb sources are not remotely healthy, while others indeed are. Or that some fats are not healthy, but various others are?

BTW, right now I AM tracking, but I'm not all that concerned about the main selling points of tracking.

What is your definition of fats and carbs that are and aren't healthy? And it what amounts?

CarvedTones

AnvilHead wrote: »

I look at it this way: If I'm going to drive to a small town in a state far away that I've never been to, I can do it one of two ways - I can use a map/GPS navigation which gives me a clear route to my destination, or I can just start driving and try to figure it out as I go.

Either way, I'll probably get there eventually - but one of those two ways is the easier and more direct route.

I thought just going for it was more like a plane. I got there way faster! But it turns out the landing strip is about 50' long...

AnnPT77

TrinaLorna wrote: »

Has anyone lost weight by not tracking, and just estimating that they are eating less calories then they are burning?

Literally thousands of people, because that's how it was done in the olden days (like before 1970ish) when calorie counting was seriously impractical. (I was alive then, BTW.)

My dad, for one, did it, when he was well over 60 years old, back in the 1970s: Saw himself in a Christmas photo, didn't like it, ate less, lost weight, kept it off for the rest of his life. I did it, too, when I went to college in 1973: Instead of gaining the freshman 15, I lost the freshman 25, mainly by being more active. Kept it off through college and a bit beyond, got a sedentary adult lifestyle, gained it back and more.

Losing weight that way was harder, and keeping it off was harder. In other realms, we use modern technology to make our lives easier. Why not use modern technology to make weight loss easier? It sure helped me lose 50+ pounds at age 59-60, and stay at a healthy weight for a couple of years since (so far).

Even this time, I lost 20-some pounds just estimating, then kind of stalled out, and decided I needed to track better. It was so easy! So I lost the rest, and am maintaining now. Why make it hard?