I've been thinking about this because I've wondered if I could stop and still be successful and honestly I don't think I can. It's always been count calories to lose weight, slack off and regain 7, 15, 30 pounds. I accept that I'll have days where I won't or cant log, maybe even longer. But if I don't want to regain what I'm holding onto now I HAVE to log enough so my portions and snacking won't creep up like they always do without accountability of logging. It's so easy to think that "one bowl" was the same as it was a year ago except wait, you got a bigger bowl so it's 3 cups of soup not 2! Or your breakfast of one slice of toast has now grown to two because "it won't hurt".
I guess from here I just need to learn how to make long term logging successfully simplistic and ride it out for a very long time, It sure beats having to lose the weight again and again.
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p.s edited to add, I no longer log my meals apart from now and again to check the macros.
(6 years at goal weight range)
I eat more or less what I want on vacation and for some events, but I still log it as closely as possible. I just consider it being honest with myself.
Every time I have stopped doing logging and weighing, pounds have crept or sometimes flung themselves back on. I think for me, slacking in logging and weighing is a sign that I'm already starting to slack in paying attention to nutrition and exercise, not a cause of it.
So yep, I think it does indeed have to be part of my life forever. Fortunately, I find it kind of interesting if not quite fun.
When I stop I tend to eat way more. I need to see those numbers. It's well worth the five minutes per day.
I also just had great bloodwork results and checkups with both my GP and my endocrinologist. If that comes at the cost of logging, that's a pretty small price to pay. 😀
I see logging itself as a sustainable habit. I've been a user here since May 2012, and in what many in the community would consider "maintenance" (being within the "Normal" BMI range) the entire time, and I don't foresee leaving. I'm sure one could/would argue I'm unreasonably dependent on logging my food and even making food decisions driven by the calorie and macro content, though I don't see how that differs from those who choose a certain WOE for non-medical and/or non-religious reasons. Much of that is centered around controlling what one puts in their body from a qualitative standpoint, what's the problem with being scrutinizing in the same way, just from a quantitative perspective?
Now that I'm in maintenance, I log more casually. I don't always weigh or measure, sometimes I don't bother to log the evening snack. But if my weight creeps up out of my maintenance range, I buckle back down. Maybe someday I'll be able to take weeks or months without logging and just go back to it whenever the scale sounds the alarm. But it takes literally a minute or two a day to log, less time than I spend doing all sorts of worthless things, so I don't see any reason to try to phase it out.
It's just like keeping a budget. You don't keep a financial budget hoping someday you'll be able to effortlessly spend and save the right amounts of money without planning and writing it down. My weight and health is just as important (if not more so) than my bank account.
I haven't logged since the end of June and have continued to lose weight at the rate I intend. I plan to continue weighing myself daily and if there is any weight creep the first thing I will do is get back to weighing and logging my food.
I don't think weighing takes a long time or is difficult, but for me it isn't part of my long-term plan.
My appetite has never matched my physical needs. It doesn't now, either. So logging it is; though probably a bit more loosely unless I start putting on weight and need to tighten up
When I'm lifting and gaining then I track to make sure I am getting enough protein since in my natural eating I tend to eat more veg and less meat.
When I'm trying to be less fluffy, then I'm more focused on still getting enough protein, but also keeping the calories down.
I usually don't get more than 5-10 lbs out of maintenance range before I will do something about it. If your clothes don't fit then there's really only two choices, slim down, or buy larger clothes...I always opt for slimming down.