Is myfitnesspal healthy longterm?
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I spent a lifetime on the weight yoyo - up and down, up and down. Since I joined MFP, my weight has been mostly stable once I lost the last few pounds. I don't weigh what I eat, but I log it. I log my exercise. This allows me to know whether I can eat an extra cookie after dinner or should only eat one. It makes me think twice about having a second beer after a hard run. It also means I don't worry if I eat more than my allotted calories, because I know that yesterday I ate less and it will even out. It keeps me aware of what goes into my mouth in a way that doesn't happen when I'm not logging. My only weight gain during the 5 years I've been here was during vacations when I wasn't logging. It wasn't every much, but it does happen. Getting back to tracking once I was home again meant that weight came off quickly and easily. I don't think I'm obsessed, just aware.6
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foreverblissful wrote: »psychod787 wrote: »This is nothing more than a version of cognitive restraint..... research shows people who use some form of restraint or tracking have far better long term success... I'll take my odds with this tool.
Can you link me to one of these studies? Now I'm curious.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4777230/3 -
I've been on and off MFP for years now (I periodically take a break from it because I spend waaay too much time on the forums
). I'm several years into maintenance and it's nice to have a place to 'hang out,' where there's others who have similar diet/nutrition interests and goals etc. I don't have that with anyone in my real life and it can be a bit isolating at times. 10 -
I've been on and off MFP for years now (I periodically take a break from it because I spend waaay too much time on the forums ). I'm several years into maintenance and it's nice to have a place to 'hang out,' where there's others who have similar diet/nutrition interests and goals etc. I don't have that with anyone in my real life and it can be a bit isolating at times.
Yes it certainly can. Almost everyone in my family circle is at least a little overweight, some by a lot with the exception of one coworker.
It would be awesome to have one or two....my youngest daughter used to be my workout partner, then she had to go get married and have kids lol.
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ANYTHING can be taken to an unhealthy level when it comes to obsession or neuroticism. Can you track your calories, weight, macros, or anything else in a perfectly reasonable, healthy manner? Sure. But you can also take it to the extreme.
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My view is MFP is what you want to make of it...it is a tool..it can be a support system..and a place to vent and just connect with a variety of people..who have different opinions on weight loss. It is also helpful to learn the calories of the foods you eat.
What I think is unhealthy about a lot of the vibe on MFP.. is the "eat what you want and fit it in your calories." be it junk, fast food... and processed foods. You do lose weight.. and losing weight is more healthy than being overweight. But, how much you weigh is just a component to true overall good health.. The MFP focus is CICO..and nutrition, whole foods... fitness for life.... are underplayed and not emphasized.
So use MFP for you... make it fit your goals..be it short term or for life.17 -
Lillymoo01 wrote: »foreverblissful wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »foreverblissful wrote: »I’m currently still in the process of losing weight(I have 11 more pounds to go), but I’m curious what other members do after they reach their weight goal. Is it (mentally)healthy to continue to use myfitnesspal on a day-to-day basis? I’m sure using myfitnesspal would be easy and pretty accurate but I’m wondering if that’s too restrictive. On the flip side, I’m also worried if I ditch myfitnesspal that I will revert to gaining weight due to not being able to see my calories.
What do you all recommend?
In what way do you find it too restrictive?
Restrictive as in I've always heard health advocates say negative things about calorie counting tools(especially in reference to obsession), so I was wondering if continuing MFP was unheard of in the community. I know ultimately it depends on me, I just wasn't sure if that was something anyone even did.
Personally, I think it would only become obsessive if anxiety meant you not eating any food without weighing it first. This would mean either taking scales out with you or not eating out at all. Obsessive would mean thinking about food and what you were going to eat for much of the day. For me, obsessive would be having anxiety because you went over your calories for the day or your macros weren't balanced for your liking. Obsessive would affect every aspect of your life. If calorie counting did all that then mentally you should not be calorie counting.
If you find that calorie counting can be quite freeing as stress is decreased with meal planning and eating, if calorie counting shows you that you do not have to restrict foods you enjoy to meet your calorie goals and nutritional needs, if calorie counting gives you less anxiety about eating out because you have learnt that a treat meal every now and then makes no difference to weight, if calorie counting gives you more freedom to eat out because you learn to portion control better, then calorie counting is great for your mental health and is a tool that is used very effectively.
I have GAD so I'm predisposed to anxiety. I don't log regularly in maintenance because it causes problems for me. I was thinking about food and what I was going to eat for a good portion of the day, I would become anxious if I ate "too great" of a proportion of my calories by halfway through the day. It wasn't like that when I was losing weight. I think maintenance being new to me, the change in goals, etc - and it being a "long term" thing in my mind, where weight loss was a short term goal that had an end.
Anyway, I've kept it off for 6 months, now I'm coming back around to tracking again. It does make me feel comfortable to know what my numbers are, and I'm curious to know I'm getting my macros. I am at a much lower stress point in my life, we'll see how it goes.7 -
I think of it a little bit like being a recovering addict. I may never be able to be like "most" people who can naturally eat and drink in a controlled manner, so I have to always be "working the steps" if I want to stay in recovery. The trade off, though, is that I don't have heart disease, diabetes, lack of mobility, etc, that comes with living with obesity. It's just that I have to take those extra steps to be mindful.
While it's certainly possible to cross over into the territory of being obsessive, tracking what you eat, even for your whole life, isn't obsessive in and of itself.7 -
Once you've been tracking for a long period of time, ie anything up to a year, you've already formed the good habits that will probably stand you in good stead for the rest of your life. That said, there's nothing wrong with going back to tracking after a break if you need to correct either body composition or weight. We've never had it so good these days with so much good nutritional information and tools to help us track and affect our body composition our metabolism and our overall weight. If it feels good then do it, if you get fed doing it then stop, if you stop and it feels like it's all going wrong again you can always start tracking again. I'm 114 days into my second period of tracking, but this time I'm tracking macros rather than pure calories.3
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i met my goal. i stopped tracking. i ate more than my maintenance and now i'm back trying to lose weight.
calorie counting is just a tool.
what your brain does with it is up to your brain. but at the same time, i have GAD and have not found anxiety over my calories
i have minor obsessive thinking, but not to calories.
when i first started, i had a bit of both over calories but now it's just part of my routine like putting on socks or washing dishes. just something that needs to get done9 -
I have been logging for 4 years, maintaining for about 2 of them. It takes me maybe a minute a day. I never worry about it, even when I go over. I enjoy the *kitten* out of my food. I eat out and at other people's homes whenever the opportunity arises.
My relationship with food is a million times healthier than it was before logging. Knowing where I stand has removed my anxiety around food. Maybe I'll stop someday, but I see no reason to for now.
I just hit 8 years of consistent tracking on MFP this weekend, and the above rings very true for me as well. I eat well overall, but I'm not afraid to enjoy food too (as I sit here eating a large piece of carrot cake a coworker brought in for breakfast...). I also weigh myself regularly and am active. The NWCR report which @psychod787 linked to indicates this common among those successful at long term weight maintenance. I'm currently at over 7 years of successful weight maintenance and 69 lbs down from my highest weight.13 -
elisa123gal wrote: »My view is MFP is what you want to make of it...it is a tool..it can be a support system..and a place to vent and just connect with a variety of people..who have different opinions on weight loss. It is also helpful to learn the calories of the foods you eat.
What I think is unhealthy about a lot of the vibe on MFP.. is the "eat what you want and fit it in your calories." be it junk, fast food... and processed foods. You do lose weight.. and losing weight is more healthy than being overweight. But, how much you weigh is just a component to true overall good health.. The MFP focus is CICO..and nutrition, whole foods... fitness for life.... are underplayed and not emphasized.
So use MFP for you... make it fit your goals..be it short term or for life.
As always when someone makes these claims that all people focus on is CICO without any acknowledgment of overall health and nutrition being a priority, I’m going to ask you to point to some examples where you feel this information is not highlighted. Maybe not by every single poster but to indicate that the overwhelming vibe of MFP forums is to downplay nutrition, I challenge that.16 -
As those of us say that have been here for a long time, if you never leave, you don't have to come back.6
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foreverblissful wrote: »I’m currently still in the process of losing weight(I have 11 more pounds to go), but I’m curious what other members do after they reach their weight goal. Is it (mentally)healthy to continue to use myfitnesspal on a day-to-day basis? I’m sure using myfitnesspal would be easy and pretty accurate but I’m wondering if that’s too restrictive. On the flip side, I’m also worried if I ditch myfitnesspal that I will revert to gaining weight due to not being able to see my calories.
What do you all recommend?
I used MFP as a learning tool and to help me to develop healthier habits. When I went to maintenance I stopped logging. I maintain the healthy habits I learned while losing weight...I eat the same, just a little bit more and I continue to exercise regularly. I know what an appropriate portion of most foods are...I am mindful of that and mentally mindful of the calories I'm taking in even if I don't know an exact number. I monitor my weight weekly and it's easy enough to cut out a couple of snacks or something if things are trending up. I've maintained going on 6 years save for my annual winter weight which is around 8 Lbs every year. It comes off in the spring when my activity level goes back up.1 -
foreverblissful wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »foreverblissful wrote: »I’m currently still in the process of losing weight(I have 11 more pounds to go), but I’m curious what other members do after they reach their weight goal. Is it (mentally)healthy to continue to use myfitnesspal on a day-to-day basis? I’m sure using myfitnesspal would be easy and pretty accurate but I’m wondering if that’s too restrictive. On the flip side, I’m also worried if I ditch myfitnesspal that I will revert to gaining weight due to not being able to see my calories.
What do you all recommend?
In what way do you find it too restrictive?
Restrictive as in I've always heard health advocates say negative things about calorie counting tools(especially in reference to obsession), so I was wondering if continuing MFP was unheard of in the community. I know ultimately it depends on me, I just wasn't sure if that was something anyone even did.
This sounds like very bad advice and I would question the evidence and purpose of so called "health advocates".
Calories are the driving variable in weight management, so this would be akin to recommending that someone get out of debt by not balancing their checkbook and monitoring their finances.
In reviewing the data obtained by the National Weight Control Registry and vast majority of successful people who have lost 50+ lbs and maintained for any length of time implemented some manner of calorie counting.7 -
WinoGelato wrote: »elisa123gal wrote: »My view is MFP is what you want to make of it...it is a tool..it can be a support system..and a place to vent and just connect with a variety of people..who have different opinions on weight loss. It is also helpful to learn the calories of the foods you eat.
What I think is unhealthy about a lot of the vibe on MFP.. is the "eat what you want and fit it in your calories." be it junk, fast food... and processed foods. You do lose weight.. and losing weight is more healthy than being overweight. But, how much you weigh is just a component to true overall good health.. The MFP focus is CICO..and nutrition, whole foods... fitness for life.... are underplayed and not emphasized.
So use MFP for you... make it fit your goals..be it short term or for life.
As always when someone makes these claims that all people focus on is CICO without any acknowledgment of overall health and nutrition being a priority, I’m going to ask you to point to some examples where you feel this information is not highlighted. Maybe not by every single poster but to indicate that the overwhelming vibe of MFP forums is to downplay nutrition, I challenge that.
I just wrote my opinion from my long experience on MFP... any time I mention in a post about my experience that CICO is NOT something I do and I don't believe works as an exact science I get attacked to some degree each time. Not that you attacked me..but you "challenged me to list ?? I dunno sources." but I know from my experience..that eating unprocessed foods and improving my nutrition has been vital to my personal weight loss journey. And this will upset you.. but counting calories has never worked for me. All I did was yoyo for years 10 pounds and experience diet burn out. But that is my journey - as the OP asked if logging and counting calories forever was healthy. It clearly works for many of you and that is fantastic. I find it obsessive and it kept me from developing a healthy relationship with food.
Me? I lost all my weight last year pretty quick... never counting a calorie and eating all food groups all day long. No fasting.. I eat carbs.. I eat fruit... I don't eat sugar.. I don't eat fatty foods.. or processed foods at all. My way of eating works like a charm for me..and I'm as thin as I was in my youth.22 -
elisa123gal wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »elisa123gal wrote: »My view is MFP is what you want to make of it...it is a tool..it can be a support system..and a place to vent and just connect with a variety of people..who have different opinions on weight loss. It is also helpful to learn the calories of the foods you eat.
What I think is unhealthy about a lot of the vibe on MFP.. is the "eat what you want and fit it in your calories." be it junk, fast food... and processed foods. You do lose weight.. and losing weight is more healthy than being overweight. But, how much you weigh is just a component to true overall good health.. The MFP focus is CICO..and nutrition, whole foods... fitness for life.... are underplayed and not emphasized.
So use MFP for you... make it fit your goals..be it short term or for life.
As always when someone makes these claims that all people focus on is CICO without any acknowledgment of overall health and nutrition being a priority, I’m going to ask you to point to some examples where you feel this information is not highlighted. Maybe not by every single poster but to indicate that the overwhelming vibe of MFP forums is to downplay nutrition, I challenge that.
I just wrote my opinion from my long experience on MFP... any time I mention in a post about my experience that CICO is NOT something I do and I don't believe works as an exact science I get attacked to some degree each time. Not that you attacked me..but you "challenged me to list ?? I dunno sources." but I know from my experience..that eating unprocessed foods and improving my nutrition has been vital to my personal weight loss journey. And this will upset you.. but counting calories has never worked for me. All I did was yoyo for years 10 pounds and experience diet burn out. But that is my journey - as the OP asked if logging and counting calories forever was healthy. It clearly works for many of you and that is fantastic. I find it obsessive and it kept me from developing a healthy relationship with food.
Me? I lost all my weight last year pretty quick... never counting a calorie and eating all food groups all day long. No fasting.. I eat carbs.. I eat fruit... I don't eat sugar.. I don't eat fatty foods.. or processed foods at all. My way of eating works like a charm for me..and I'm as thin as I was in my youth.
Calorie counting and CICO are not synonyms. CICO is a basic energy equation. You lost weight by changing your foods and eating less than you burn. That's still CICO as is every other diet. There are other factors that come into play such as hormones and the like but that only changes the CO part of the equation, it does not negate it.
I think the issue is that you seem to want to equate "eat what you want withing your calories" to mean "eat all the crap you want within your calories and ignore nutrition". Posters regularly tout that nutrition is important and I have never seen anyone encourage otherwise.24 -
I think I see some of the confusion. CICO isn't something you do. It's not calorie counting. It's the description of the formula by which energy (calories) are gained/lost/maintained.
If you gain weight, it's because your calories in are greater than your calories out.
If you lose, it's because your calories in are less than your calories out.
If you maintain, it's because your calories in equal your calories out.
And that's it.
It has nothing to do with nutrition, satiety, whether foods are processed or unprocessed, or whether you're tracking calories.
It has nothing to do with Weight Watchers, Keto, calorie counting, Slimming World, or the blood type diet.
All it's basically saying is that weight loss happens when you're in a deficit, weight gain happens when you're in a surplus, and maintenance happens when you're neither.21 -
jennifer_417 wrote: »I think of it a little bit like being a recovering addict. I may never be able to be like "most" people who can naturally eat and drink in a controlled manner, so I have to always be "working the steps" if I want to stay in recovery. The trade off, though, is that I don't have heart disease, diabetes, lack of mobility, etc, that comes with living with obesity. It's just that I have to take those extra steps to be mindful.
While it's certainly possible to cross over into the territory of being obsessive, tracking what you eat, even for your whole life, isn't obsessive in and of itself.
THIS! I was really getting at that people make it seem like health and keeping a stable weight should be "automatically wired in our habits", and if it isn't "automatically wired in our habits" that using tools seems like overkill AFTER the weight is lost. This is what was fed to me growing up, so I felt self-conscious that I do want to continue with MFP it helps me so much with portion control, especially since I grew up eating big portions, which meant I was relatively chubby for most of my life, so it's easy for me to slip in an extra serving and shrug a shoulder because "the food tastes good why not eat more even though I'm full." It gives me a sense of accountability seeing that if I add an extra serving that I do not need(given I am not hungry) that it will set me off track maybe I shouldn't or that I can but I will have to "make up for it later." Most people in my life don't think like that and so I guess I was also worried about how that would look, especially since most people give me a look when I say "im logging my foods right now," but shrug only because they think I'm going to stop once I hit my goal. That was what really made me question "is this even normal?"2 -
And just because I noticed some people mentioned it, I am by no means touting that I only use calorie counting and disregard nutrition. I eat plenty of fruits and vegetables when I can. Calorie counting for me has always just been about controling the portion of healthy foods(with occasionally unhealthy snacking foods), not about eating as many cheeseburgers as I can and still losing weight.9
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If calorie counting long term is unhealthy, I'm in a world of hurt. I've been tracking since May of 2011, so coming up on 8 years. It's not for weight control, as I've never been overweight in my life. I'm actually rather good at intuitive eating. And I still intuitively eat. I eat when I'm hungry and what I'm hungry for, I just log it all, but I'm not looking at mfp to decide if I'm eating more on a given day; that's decided by my stomach. I just like numbers and use the data for other things. I thought it was pretty interesting that my macro breakdown has been consistent for years before pregnancy, during pregnancy, breastfeeding, and after. The longest "break" I've taken from logging was a few weeks immediately after delivering my daughter, but I was tracking other things then, mostly data regarding my daughter (nursing, weight, pumping, etc). I usually log even on vacations because sometimes it's fun to look back on my diary and remember an awesome meal out while traveling. I did skip for a backpacking trip, but that's because it was a tech break. It's not a burden for me at all. It's actually something I'd miss if I quit, like logging my beers on Untapped; it's fun. It's kind of cool when I have a really high day (some over 4000 calories), or I can tell my boss "look, I really was sick yesterday; I only ate about 1300 calories." I put it all in an excel sheet where I track a lot of other things, like weight, BF%, 1RM's, blood work numbers, steps, etc. While I was breastfeeding and pumping, I tried to correlate intake with pump output looking at gross calories, net calories, carbs, protein, and fat. I never did find any kind of correlation, but it was a fun exercise. It was most useful during my pregnancy when I had gestational diabetes. I already knew how to track, so limiting/spacing carbs for GD was easy; although I thought it was a sick joke that the most restrictive I ever was with my eating was while I was pregnant.5
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elisa123gal wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »elisa123gal wrote: »My view is MFP is what you want to make of it...it is a tool..it can be a support system..and a place to vent and just connect with a variety of people..who have different opinions on weight loss. It is also helpful to learn the calories of the foods you eat.
What I think is unhealthy about a lot of the vibe on MFP.. is the "eat what you want and fit it in your calories." be it junk, fast food... and processed foods. You do lose weight.. and losing weight is more healthy than being overweight. But, how much you weigh is just a component to true overall good health.. The MFP focus is CICO..and nutrition, whole foods... fitness for life.... are underplayed and not emphasized.
So use MFP for you... make it fit your goals..be it short term or for life.
As always when someone makes these claims that all people focus on is CICO without any acknowledgment of overall health and nutrition being a priority, I’m going to ask you to point to some examples where you feel this information is not highlighted. Maybe not by every single poster but to indicate that the overwhelming vibe of MFP forums is to downplay nutrition, I challenge that.
I just wrote my opinion from my long experience on MFP... any time I mention in a post about my experience that CICO is NOT something I do and I don't believe works as an exact science I get attacked to some degree each time. Not that you attacked me..but you "challenged me to list ?? I dunno sources." but I know from my experience..that eating unprocessed foods and improving my nutrition has been vital to my personal weight loss journey. And this will upset you.. but counting calories has never worked for me. All I did was yoyo for years 10 pounds and experience diet burn out. But that is my journey - as the OP asked if logging and counting calories forever was healthy. It clearly works for many of you and that is fantastic. I find it obsessive and it kept me from developing a healthy relationship with food.
Me? I lost all my weight last year pretty quick... never counting a calorie and eating all food groups all day long. No fasting.. I eat carbs.. I eat fruit... I don't eat sugar.. I don't eat fatty foods.. or processed foods at all. My way of eating works like a charm for me..and I'm as thin as I was in my youth.
I don't understand how someone can eat fruit and not eat sugar. What fruits are you eating?11 -
janejellyroll wrote: »elisa123gal wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »elisa123gal wrote: »My view is MFP is what you want to make of it...it is a tool..it can be a support system..and a place to vent and just connect with a variety of people..who have different opinions on weight loss. It is also helpful to learn the calories of the foods you eat.
What I think is unhealthy about a lot of the vibe on MFP.. is the "eat what you want and fit it in your calories." be it junk, fast food... and processed foods. You do lose weight.. and losing weight is more healthy than being overweight. But, how much you weigh is just a component to true overall good health.. The MFP focus is CICO..and nutrition, whole foods... fitness for life.... are underplayed and not emphasized.
So use MFP for you... make it fit your goals..be it short term or for life.
As always when someone makes these claims that all people focus on is CICO without any acknowledgment of overall health and nutrition being a priority, I’m going to ask you to point to some examples where you feel this information is not highlighted. Maybe not by every single poster but to indicate that the overwhelming vibe of MFP forums is to downplay nutrition, I challenge that.
I just wrote my opinion from my long experience on MFP... any time I mention in a post about my experience that CICO is NOT something I do and I don't believe works as an exact science I get attacked to some degree each time. Not that you attacked me..but you "challenged me to list ?? I dunno sources." but I know from my experience..that eating unprocessed foods and improving my nutrition has been vital to my personal weight loss journey. And this will upset you.. but counting calories has never worked for me. All I did was yoyo for years 10 pounds and experience diet burn out. But that is my journey - as the OP asked if logging and counting calories forever was healthy. It clearly works for many of you and that is fantastic. I find it obsessive and it kept me from developing a healthy relationship with food.
Me? I lost all my weight last year pretty quick... never counting a calorie and eating all food groups all day long. No fasting.. I eat carbs.. I eat fruit... I don't eat sugar.. I don't eat fatty foods.. or processed foods at all. My way of eating works like a charm for me..and I'm as thin as I was in my youth.
I don't understand how someone can eat fruit and not eat sugar. What fruits are you eating?
Or processed foods. It's virtually impossible to refrain from eating processed food unless all you eat is raw fruit and veg right off the vine. Cooking food is processing it for crying out loud.11 -
Maybe a quarter of a lime at a shot, rounded down? (I was curious enough to Google if any fruits had zero sugar. Not overly surprised to find out the answer was "no", but I got a list of low-sugar fruits: https://www.verywellfit.com/low-carb-fruit-list-2242528)0
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elisa123gal wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »elisa123gal wrote: »My view is MFP is what you want to make of it...it is a tool..it can be a support system..and a place to vent and just connect with a variety of people..who have different opinions on weight loss. It is also helpful to learn the calories of the foods you eat.
What I think is unhealthy about a lot of the vibe on MFP.. is the "eat what you want and fit it in your calories." be it junk, fast food... and processed foods. You do lose weight.. and losing weight is more healthy than being overweight. But, how much you weigh is just a component to true overall good health.. The MFP focus is CICO..and nutrition, whole foods... fitness for life.... are underplayed and not emphasized.
So use MFP for you... make it fit your goals..be it short term or for life.
As always when someone makes these claims that all people focus on is CICO without any acknowledgment of overall health and nutrition being a priority, I’m going to ask you to point to some examples where you feel this information is not highlighted. Maybe not by every single poster but to indicate that the overwhelming vibe of MFP forums is to downplay nutrition, I challenge that.
I just wrote my opinion from my long experience on MFP... any time I mention in a post about my experience that CICO is NOT something I do and I don't believe works as an exact science I get attacked to some degree each time. Not that you attacked me..but you "challenged me to list ?? I dunno sources." but I know from my experience..that eating unprocessed foods and improving my nutrition has been vital to my personal weight loss journey. And this will upset you.. but counting calories has never worked for me. All I did was yoyo for years 10 pounds and experience diet burn out. But that is my journey - as the OP asked if logging and counting calories forever was healthy. It clearly works for many of you and that is fantastic. I find it obsessive and it kept me from developing a healthy relationship with food.
Me? I lost all my weight last year pretty quick... never counting a calorie and eating all food groups all day long. No fasting.. I eat carbs.. I eat fruit... I don't eat sugar.. I don't eat fatty foods.. or processed foods at all. My way of eating works like a charm for me..and I'm as thin as I was in my youth.
CICO /= calorie counting.
Lots of people lose weight without calorie counting. No one loses weight outside of CICO. You can't do CICO, just like you don't do gravity.
It is absolutely true that some people find themselves becoming obsessive with calorie counting. I'm glad you saw that in yourself early enough to head it off, and successfully found another way to control your weight. The foods you chose caused your CI to be less than your CO, whether you were counting the calories or not. You get pushback because you are conflating CICO and calorie counting.
CICO /= calorie counting
And FYI, fruits and veggies, plus dairy if you eat it, contain sugar. That's probably another reason you get pushback. If you mean "added sugar", saying that might help. Avoiding foods without added sugar isn't necessary, but is a good strategy for some people to reduce their calories without actually counting them.21 -
foreverblissful wrote: »I’m currently still in the process of losing weight(I have 11 more pounds to go), but I’m curious what other members do after they reach their weight goal. Is it (mentally)healthy to continue to use myfitnesspal on a day-to-day basis? I’m sure using myfitnesspal would be easy and pretty accurate but I’m wondering if that’s too restrictive. On the flip side, I’m also worried if I ditch myfitnesspal that I will revert to gaining weight due to not being able to see my calories.
What do you all recommend?
Learning healthy habits can take a lifetime. Once you reach your goal, find a new way to improve yourself in one way or another.- Improve strength; incorporate strength training into your routine
- Improve flexibility; strike a yoga pose
- Improve endurance; increase speed / distance in your walk/run
- Learn a new recipe; check out our blog for inspiration
- ... the list goes on
Learning is not a product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it - Albert Einstein2 -
elisa123gal wrote: »My view is MFP is what you want to make of it...it is a tool..it can be a support system..and a place to vent and just connect with a variety of people..who have different opinions on weight loss. It is also helpful to learn the calories of the foods you eat.
What I think is unhealthy about a lot of the vibe on MFP.. is the "eat what you want and fit it in your calories." be it junk, fast food... and processed foods. You do lose weight.. and losing weight is more healthy than being overweight. But, how much you weigh is just a component to true overall good health.. The MFP focus is CICO..and nutrition, whole foods... fitness for life.... are underplayed and not emphasized.
So use MFP for you... make it fit your goals..be it short term or for life.
^^ this. Exactly my thoughts on the MFP vibe.
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elisa123gal wrote: »My view is MFP is what you want to make of it...it is a tool..it can be a support system..and a place to vent and just connect with a variety of people..who have different opinions on weight loss. It is also helpful to learn the calories of the foods you eat.
What I think is unhealthy about a lot of the vibe on MFP.. is the "eat what you want and fit it in your calories." be it junk, fast food... and processed foods. You do lose weight.. and losing weight is more healthy than being overweight. But, how much you weigh is just a component to true overall good health.. The MFP focus is CICO..and nutrition, whole foods... fitness for life.... are underplayed and not emphasized.
So use MFP for you... make it fit your goals..be it short term or for life.
^^ this. Exactly my thoughts on the MFP vibe.
If this is the vibe you get can you please show posts to support it. I have never read on these boards to eat what you want if it fits your calories. I have read that what you eat does not affect weight loss, but how much you eat which is always followed by the warning that what you eat will affect your overall health.9 -
foreverblissful wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »foreverblissful wrote: »I’m currently still in the process of losing weight(I have 11 more pounds to go), but I’m curious what other members do after they reach their weight goal. Is it (mentally)healthy to continue to use myfitnesspal on a day-to-day basis? I’m sure using myfitnesspal would be easy and pretty accurate but I’m wondering if that’s too restrictive. On the flip side, I’m also worried if I ditch myfitnesspal that I will revert to gaining weight due to not being able to see my calories.
What do you all recommend?
In what way do you find it too restrictive?
Restrictive as in I've always heard health advocates say negative things about calorie counting tools(especially in reference to obsession), so I was wondering if continuing MFP was unheard of in the community. I know ultimately it depends on me, I just wasn't sure if that was something anyone even did.foreverblissful wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »foreverblissful wrote: »I’m currently still in the process of losing weight(I have 11 more pounds to go), but I’m curious what other members do after they reach their weight goal. Is it (mentally)healthy to continue to use myfitnesspal on a day-to-day basis? I’m sure using myfitnesspal would be easy and pretty accurate but I’m wondering if that’s too restrictive. On the flip side, I’m also worried if I ditch myfitnesspal that I will revert to gaining weight due to not being able to see my calories.
What do you all recommend?
In what way do you find it too restrictive?
Restrictive as in I've always heard health advocates say negative things about calorie counting tools(especially in reference to obsession), so I was wondering if continuing MFP was unheard of in the community. I know ultimately it depends on me, I just wasn't sure if that was something anyone even did.
Continuing MFP after one has reached goal weight is certainly NOT unheard of here. It is certainly something many people do
There is a whole forum section on maintanance, after all.
and many posters who keep logging or at least engaging with MFP in some way long after reaching goal.
Me personally - reached goal weight at end of 2013 and have kept logging ever since.
But I do log very loosely and I do take a break from logging for weeks here and there if on vacation or something.
Whatever works for you - no right or wrong, different people find different things work for them.
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