Anybody else get tired of counting calories?

cartersmom06

Getting tired of logging everything I eat...there has to be an easier way!

AnnPT77

Not really. It takes maybe 10 minutes a day, once I learned all the tricks for using my food scale, and got my recent/frequent/meal/recipe lists populated sensibly. That seems like a small price, time-wise, to pay for feeling this much better, and being so much healthier. (I'm in year 3 of maintenance.)

I admit, unlike when I was losing, I do skip a day here and there when I eat very unusual or difficult to log things (potluck dinners, for example). I figure the bodyweight scale and Libra will be good enough to help me sort that out, as long as it isn't all that frequent.

Cahgetsfit

no there isn't unfortunately, until you learn to eat intuitively.

When i'm on maintenance I skip days and have logging breaks and try to be intuitive, but then I start to put weight on because I relax and eat too much.

Orphia

Been logging everything for 3 years and 7 months.

Lost my 35 kg in the first year and have kept it off since.

I liken my calorie balance to my bank balance. It's just a fact of life you have to keep tabs on it.

It's easy once you've got your frequent foods in MFP. It takes a couple of minutes max, per day. I'd rather do that than spend time scrolling on social media, or than watch TV.

Plus, being a healthy weight is so worth it!!!

AnvilHead

Nope. Been doing it for over three years now and it’s become so much a part of my routine that it doesn’t bother me a bit. It worked great for weight loss and is serving me well in maintenance.

AnnPT77

I guess, on further reflection, I'd add this: Calorie counting isn't necessary for everyone. For some, it never is, and for others, it's a short term strategy to get a handle on things. Monitoring body weight, or fit of clothes, then adjusting eating can also work, and there are probably other reasonable methods.

Calorie management is the only way to gain, lose, or maintain weight, but calorie counting isn't the only way to accomplish calorie management.

For me, calorie counting's the easiest way, though.

jennifer_417

Sure I do. But it works, so I keep doing it.

neugebauer52

Logging is part of my daily routine - takes me less than 5 minutes. All the counting, calculations is done by MFP anyway, so no worry.

zyxst

jennifer_417 wrote: »

Sure I do. But it works, so I keep doing it.

jenilla1

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Not really. It takes maybe 10 minutes a day, once I learned all the tricks for using my food scale, and got my recent/frequent/meal/recipe lists populated sensibly. That seems like a small price, time-wise, to pay for feeling this much better, and being so much healthier. (I'm in year 3 of maintenance.)

I admit, unlike when I was losing, I do skip a day here and there when I eat very unusual or difficult to log things (potluck dinners, for example). I figure the bodyweight scale and Libra will be good enough to help me sort that out, as long as it isn't all that frequent.

I agree with this. I've been maintaining for over 7 years. It's a quick and easy habit, about as annoying as having to brush my teeth. I do that every day, and logging is just as easy, IMO. The benefits are so worth it!!!

Caralarma

Even though it can be a painful, I still think its easier than being on a diet of 'clean eating'for the rest of my life. I think most people reach a stage where they dont need to count everything because your body gets so used to it so you can sense when you have eaten enough for the day.

missh1967

Sure, once in a while I get super annoyed and say, "Eff it! I ain't doin' it!" But I always end up going back to it because it actually is pretty easy, and like others have said, once your regular foods are in there, it's just a matter of finding them and clicking.

I do have short periods of time when I don't log because I have other, more pressing issues. Like I recently had a total knee replacement, and logging was the last thing on my mind while in recovery.

Caralarma wrote: »

Even though it can be a painful, I still think its easier than being on a diet of 'clean eating'for the rest of my life. I think most people reach a stage where they dont need to count everything because your body gets so used to it so you can sense when you have eaten enough for the day.

Yes!

TavistockToad

Not really, but I also don't log when I go on holiday which acts as a nice mental break 3 - 4 times a year

sijomial

"Anybody else get tired of counting calories?" - Yes.

I stopped logging food ages ago but that was after losing my weight and maintaining for quite a long while. I simply didn't need to do it anymore, helped enormously for my weight loss but I don't need that level of data and control to maintain.

The "easier" part is very marginal as it didn't take much effort in the first place. Think you need to have a serious think about your commitment to whatever your goals are if you aren't prepared to do something that really isn't very onerous. By the way logging doesn't have to be absolutely detailed and precise, that works for some but consistency, making reasonable estimates and adjusting based on results also works for many

Logging was a pretty dull activity after the novelty wore off but again that's not a great argument on its own, brushing my teeth and shaving are both pretty dull - the difference is they are necessary and for me food logging wasn't.

If you think you can succeed without logging then give it a try - but keep monitoring your weight and if it doesn't work out you can always revert.
.

sijomial

Cahgetsfit wrote: »

no there isn't unfortunately, until you learn to eat intuitively.

When i'm on maintenance I skip days and have logging breaks and try to be intuitive, but then I start to put weight on because I relax and eat too much.

There is another alternative - eating mindfully.
I can't eat intuitively as my hunger is greater than my needs but with a little thought I can match what I eat with what I need.

stephieleee

I hate it if I'm honest... Especially when I'm eating with other people and I have to log my food before I forget. I always feel stupid for doing it.

But it seems to be getting the job done so I will stick with it.

Deviette

Yes, I am forever tired of it. At the moment I cannot be bothered

But it works. For me it really does.

paperpudding

For me, no, I don't get tired of it - but I dont practice it in exact detailed way either, just enough to keep it working for me.

I consider it to be like a shopping list - I still use one when I go shopping but I don't write everything in nitty gritty detail. Just enough for it to work.
If others can shop without one, that's great - but doesn't work for me.

I also have short periods when I do not log at all, just try to eat sensibly - like when I go on holiday/vacation.

Momepro

Yep, got tired of it, gained back 18 lbs. from July to November. Of course there was alot more going on too, crazy stressful time, so calories and weight were truly the least of my worries, lol. Fortunately things have settled, so I can pick up again.

teacherspet1

Life is full of lists........this is just another one! As you progress you get to know what's what & intuition steps in......After months of judging portion sizes & measuring to check, it finally kicks in. Eating regular foods gets logged in your frequently used foods, you can save your meals & recipes & copy meals from previous days. Have a play around with it & make it work for you. ..........Good luck! 👍 😀 👭 P.S. I've just hit my 300th day of logging in!😊

oat_bran

Yeah, it's really exhausting sometimes to be honest. I feel like I can never relax. Like, I can't just grab an apple without thinking and eat it when I'm hungry. I should take out my scale, weight it, make sure it fits into my goal, then log the number before I forget. It sort of takes the enjoyment out of eating the apple. Any event that has food in it, makes me a little nervous and needs to be prepared for in advance. How will I know the calories of food that I will be eating? Should I try to look for the info in advance? should I estimate? How will I work it into my goal? should I readjust all of my other meals that day or the next day to bee able to "afford" it. Sometimes it's easier to pass on the invitation than to worry about all that. And sometimes when I'm eating out with friends or I'm at a party the calories are always on the back of my mind. Like, before grabbing a handful of popcorn or dip a carrot into the hummus, I have to estimate the calories and decide if it fits into my goal and make a mental note to log it as soon as I can instead of focusing on the conversation I'm having. Eating out, being invited over for dinner, parties, holidays, spending time over at a friend's place, when you have to cook for yourself and someone else at the same time, going to vacation... everything is associated with slight anxiety around calories and is less enjoyable due to having to log.

Cooking, instead of being therapeutic and relaxing is now less enjoyable as well, and takes so much more time. Because I have to make sure to weigh every single ingredient before adding it, log everything, then divide into equal portions, all while making sure that the calories and macros per serving fit your goal.

I really don't understand how people here take "only a fe minutes to log". Most of my meals are made from scratch and contain many ingredients. So I have to weigh every one of them every time I cook and log it while I'm cooking or preparing my meal to eat later. Which takes quite a lot of time in my opinion. If I include the time I spend on grocery planning to fit my goals, meal planning, weighing separately the ingredients for my every meal (3-5times a day), or looking for the closest estimates when I don't know the exact calories, logging it, making sure it fits my goal etc. it takes much more time than "a few minutes" and much more energy and headspace than I want to spend on t.

I will definitely not be able (or willing) to spend my entire life doing that. I can only hope that someday after losing enough weight and logging at maintenance I can learn to eat intuitively. I mean 80% of the people around me are at a healthy weight and don't count calories, they can rely on their hunger cues to know how much they should eat. So I hope I can learn to do that too...

Runaroundafieldx2

I only log when my weight is outside the range I like it to be or my body composition is.

At the minute I'm at the weight I like to be over winter but I'm carrying more fat than I like after a period of inactivity due to surgery.
So I'm logging to cut that down.

If you can get to goal without logging then you really don't need to.

tinkerbellang83

oat_bran wrote: »

I really don't understand how people here take "only a fe minutes to log". Most of my meals are made from scratch and contain many ingredients. So I have to weigh every one of them every time I cook and log it while I'm cooking or preparing my meal to eat later. Which takes quite a lot of time in my opinion. If I include the time I spend on grocery planning to fit my goals, meal planning, weighing separately the ingredients for my every meal (3-5times a day), or looking for the closest estimates when I don't know the exact calories, logging it, making sure it fits my goal etc. it takes much more time than "a few minutes" and much more energy and headspace than I want to spend on t.

I cook a lot of stuff from scratch and it still only takes a couple of mins to log each day - I have almost all my recipes for things I regularly make in My Recipes, if I change the ingredients or the amounts of the ingredients it literally takes about 30 seconds to update it in the app. Sure it takes a couple of mins the first time that I make something but at this point I have probably close to 100 recipes in there.

Johnd2000

I don’t see it as a drag at all. Its easy, quick and the benefits of knowing my CI and macros/nutrition are huge.

Its a small price to pay for being able to eat normally, without any stupid restrictive “diet plans”, whilst keeping my weight exactly where I want it.

Elphaba1313

I quite enjoy logging now. It’s taken time, but it’s stopped being annoying and started being empowering. Stick with it!

LivingtheLeanDream

How long have you been logging?

I never minded logging my food, certainly not for the first few years anyway (it got me to goal weight and it helped me keep it off imo) - I now no longer need to log as I can maintain my loss without physically logging however mentally I still am very aware of my approx calorie daily intake.

anothermfpuser

oat_bran wrote: »

I will definitely not be able (or willing) to spend my entire life doing that. I can only hope that someday after losing enough weight and logging at maintenance I can learn to eat intuitively. I mean 80% of the people around me are at a healthy weight and don't count calories, they can rely on their hunger cues to know how much they should eat. So I hope I can learn to do that too...

Yes.. it is completely possible...

Once you've learned what works for you, it can become a personal choice to either log or not. 3+ successful years and counting for myself of not logging food.

GottaBurnEmAll

I don't mind. If there are situations where I do mind or it's too fussy (holidays, vacation, eating elsewhere), I don't bother.

I was very rigid about logging when I first started dieting and became much more relaxed about it as time has gone on into maintenance/working on vanity weight/recomp.

For me, a 40 year veteran of a battle with excess weight, knowing that this is the only thing that has worked is what keeps it from being a chore.

The issue of logging or not seems to be entirely individual. The precision of it suits me. It's not for everyone, though, and there are people who do go on and learn how to control their intake by eye and monitor it merely by weighing themselves and tracking that and making adjustments as necessary.

amy19355

cartersmom06 wrote: »

Getting tired of logging everything I eat...there has to be an easier way!

I've got a question for you: Is "not easy" the most accurate characterization of the effort to log food?

I wonder if my story might give you a lift up.

In my past, I've had many times where I have an internal struggle with anything that takes on a CONTROLLING role. I had to get over that emotional issue before I could get a handle on accepting that some controls are really useful in reaching my goals.

Daily food logging is absolutely a control. But I asked for it, rather than it being forced on me. I think that is a lot of why I don't find myself questioning the effort to log everything I eat.

I've got a weigh progress chart i posted in another thread, and I'll share here to further illustrate my point - not logging food is what the graph shows in the beginning (the flat line and the big spike up). The downward trend since 9/4 is the result of daily logging to stay within the calorie goals I've set for myself.



good luck!

rsclause

Logging to ensure deficit and exercise consisting of 30+ miles a week with a gym workout every other day helped me lose 50 pounds. The exercise was okay but the logging was a pain, time consuming and made me appear rude. I would sit down to eat and log food but others would think I was addicted to facebook. I was always hungry. I stopped and put 30 pounds back on. I was ready to go back to what I could best call a pain in the you know what and stumbled on the documentary "the magic pill" and it started me down a path of a different way of eating. I switched to LCHF which really translated to cutting out bread, pasta, root vegetables and my true love beer. I don't count calories, I don't limit my food, I eat at meal time when I am hungry and stop when I am full. I feel no need to snack. It has been incredibly easy and I have lost twenty five pounds. My blood work came back as fantastic so this feels like something I will continue from now on.

This is where the quote mongers will bold highlight passages and insist I am limiting, I am in deficit, you can do the same with any diet (insert boring chart of why all diets work here). Bottom line is that it does work for me and counting calories was not sustainable for me. Whatever works for you rock on. If you are still searching you have nothing to lose by trying LCHF.

cmriverside

stephieleee wrote: »

I hate it if I'm honest... Especially when I'm eating with other people and I have to log my food before I forget. I always feel stupid for doing it.

But it seems to be getting the job done so I will stick with it.

Just take a picture of it.

You can add it later.