I stopped counting!

Tuala42

I'm comfortable to continue logging indefinitely because I know that I would undereat out of paranoia if I wasn't counting. I really don't think I look good any thinner than a size 4. I've started doing a lot of pre-logging at the beginning of the day and it helps me plan out a healthy day, and not just binge at the end of the day to get in the leftover calories.

dnamouse

When I transitioned to maintenance, I initially logged during the week but not on weekends. In October I set myself the challenge to not log food at all. I essentially eat the same type of food day in day out anyway, with the occasional meal out etc.

I've maintained pretty well over the last month! I've kept up my exercise and have moved onto a more strength-based routine with some added cardio, and I just eat when I'm hungry. Although I do fast once a week (6:1), so that allows me a lot of leeway.

What has changed is the type of food I eat. Whereas before when out, I would have ordered a lasagne with a side of chips & salad, I now order a lovely chicken or seafood salad (without the dressing). And I scoff the lot :drinker: I still drink beer/wine etc, eat ice cream, have the occasional 'treat', but my usual food of choice is high protein, high fibre and low-ish carbs. I now know they are the foods that make me feel good inside and out, so I'm more than happy to continue eating them

I couldn't keep logging food. For me, I get a little too obsessive. I needed to relax a little. I understand why some people will continue to log, and that's awesome. If I had of kept logging my food, my head would have got a little messed up. It's already a little warped, so I need to keep what little sanity I have :laugh:

mitchiemo

bump

I think you know you've done well when you don't need to count anymore. Intuitive eating should be everyone's goal.

pro1989

Even the best systems need constant evaluation and without some point of references ones cannot do that!

However it all comes how bad you want something. I had my ex who lost her job as she really did not like to wake up early in the morning.

I truly believe that to have excellent results you have to undertake sacrifices, but of course most of them fear excellent results.

Anywaw good luck to all of us, with or without logging activity.

Cheers

Dalnurse

I only guesstimate, as I am doing warriors diet, and am too lazy to put in my macros here every day. I eat very very few processed carbs...I hate scales too... I've always weighed heavy. No one believes my weight anyhow, and I have four girls who I don't want obsessing. It's how my clothes fit... I was 134 lbs this time last year and a size four...I do a lot of weight training and HIIT, and controlled fatigue training, so, I expect my fat to drop, and muscle weight to stay pretty stable... Cut out the beer, and VOILA! I dropped 12 lbs in six weeks!

xoeva

I usually count from Mon to Fri and on Sat and Sun I don't log on to count calories...this doesn't mean I go crazy...I guestimate calories and I eat some of the same foods so I know more or less - but yeah, counting every day gets tiresome.

RaggedyPond

I counted for over a year and now have stopped. I always get some form of exercise every day. I make mindful decisions of what I am going to eat. I eat when I am hungry not when I am bored. I stop when I am full.

With counting I started noticing I was obsessing over food too much.

mwooderson

Timely topic for me. I had become so obsessed I would not sit down to eat until everything was logged, then I'd start manipulating my plate. Today I made the decision to stop counting for 3 weeks. I am very well versed on nutrition and portion control plus being physically active every day. I needed to give myself a break to get grounded again. I'm not afraid of gaining weight, but will miss the data and...reactive behavior...

nxd10

I need to count but I understand not obsessing. The big thing is the habit.

This is stupid, but only checking the maintenance community (which doesn't change much) and not the other lists helps keep me off the site. I actually don't obsess about food. It's just an internet thing that I can get into the habit of.

Sabine_Stroehm

Heybales and I were talking and he reminded me: the more repetitive and habit like your eating is, the easier it is to not log. I eat one of 3 things for breakfast every day. I eat one of maybe 5 things for lunch. And we have a number of dinner recipes, and add new ones all the time, but using a handful of whole foods as the primary ingredients. THAT makes up probably 80% of my eating (plus wine with dinner most nights). Intuitive eating isn't too hard if you know what you're eating.

When I go out, if it's a new restaurant or I'm going to try something new you can be sure I'm going to use MFP to look at the nutritional information of what I'm wanting to eat.

I bet many of us know what we eat for 2 of our 3 meals most days and could eat by allotting calories for the third and snacks.

Aylawade

I have stopped counting too. I am still losing, but at a slower pace, which is fine. I don't have that far to go anyway and I feel so much better eating a bit more. My goal was to stop counting and just maintain for a while, so continuing to lose was a nice bonus.

running_tall

I've been a slave to the numbers.

I'm considering trying a modified version of Paleo starting Monday (11/4) with no logging of food for a month. If I get results, it's probably the way I will move forward. Good luck!

hastingsmassage

I closed my account after losing 110 lbs in 7 months..L.ived two days without counting and realized I have no idea about calories because MFP was doing all for me. Here I am again. I am a slave lol

Sabine_Stroehm

I closed my account after losing 110 lbs in 7 months..L.ived two days without counting and realized I have no idea about calories because MFP was doing all for me. Here I am again. I am a slave lol

Whats your game plan now? Are you going to wean? Or do you plan to count forever?

mushie

Me too.

hastingsmassage

My plan is to lose 15-20 lbs more and start to live without counting...sounds difficult but I can't keep losing weight forever. Didnt expect it to be that difficult

Brandolin11

I would like to make the gentle suggestion to everyone here that the issue isn't that counting makes you a slave/makes you obsessed/makes you crazy... This is categorically impossible, in the same way owning a gun doesn't "make" you a killer. Fitnesspal is nothing but a tool, and counting calories is the method by which we use that tool - in the same way we brush our teeth with a toothbrush. It is neutral. It cannot "make" you "feel" anything.

The problem is Control. Specifically that people like us (and I lump myself in with this group) HATE having to control ourselves. Deep down, we HATE Accountability. On the other hand, we hate what life is like when we DON'T control ourselves, or submit ourselves to Accountability. We have this constant, unbearable tension going between these two extremes: knowing we can't succeed without controlling ourselves or having some sort of structure that holds us accountable to our actions, yet hating the necessary processes to do so because we have "enjoyed" being passive and unrestrained for so long. I define passivity as ignoring the need to control oneself or submit oneself to structure. Being passive allows us to eat compulsively and without restriction, even though this traps us in a devastating cycle of weight gain and misery. *This* is one of the biggest reasons we became overweight - we never resolved that tension of control vs. passivity. We could not handle the emotional toll this took on us, and thus we gave in to the vicious cycle of compulsively overeating and compulsively dieting.

I believe that instead of believing that real Freedom begins when we *stop* counting, we need to embrace the JOY of living *with* the structure...for life. Joy?! Why would I say Joy? Because one of the most ironic life-truths is that Discipline (such as recording one's calories) brings FREEDOM. Control + Accountability = Discipline and Discipline brings the greatest freedom you'll ever know. Why? Because the thing you want most in the world is to be free over your compulsive overeating and your heavy weight - and you'll never achieve that....without the discipline. Discipline is not temporary. It is a life-long thing. As someone who has tracked every calorie that's gone in her mouth for almost two years - I can personally attest to this phenomenon of absolute Joy and Freedom due to Discipline. And I say this as a gal who would've laughed in my own face had I said this to myself 10 years ago! The thought of counting the rest of life would've sent me to the grave. LOL

I lost almost 70 lbs here on MFP and have maintained it for almost two years. Yeah, I'm still a newbie. But now I consider counting calories as a life-and-death activity. Not as a burden, not as something to make me anxious, not something that's a drag or a drudge. It's a joy. It protects me. It protects me like putting on my seatbelt when driving on the highway, or locking my doors at night. It's that serious for us compulsive folks. We need boundaries and this is such a fantastic way to achieve that.

If you're feeling nutso about counting, I'd maintain that belies a deeper issue that will impact your future success in a way that might not be so positive for you. It shows that you probably still have deeper issues of resistance to discipline and control, anxiety issues, and even issues of compulsivity and obsession. *These*, folks, are the REAL problem. Not calorie-counting. That's the least of your worries. Deal with the emotional issues, resolve those...and watch how quickly you'll learn to love Counting.

Blessings.

Unknown

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Brandolin11

You're getting it! Although I'd take it one step further and say it's more like saying, "I have diabetes but I don't like having to take my insulin everyday...so I just won't do it anymore." Freedom from Compulsive Eating is more like treating a disease than just having a want or wish to be thin!

Wingg

I have lost like 14-15kg before I join MFP, back then I was not counting calories at all. I was just eating healthily and working out consistently. After I joined MFP my aim is to find out my maintenance calories intake, but I have become so calories sensitive I cannot eat without thinking the amount of calories of the food that I am eating. I feel really stressed eating out as well because the food outside are not healthy and I do not know what they add in the food and the calories and stuffs. I really hope that I can find my calories intake for maintenance so that I can roughly know how much calories i need to eat and then i can take a break and stop counting calories if i can. My mum thinks im crazy weighing the food that I put into my mouth and keep on counting calories...

drivinpumpkin

Just want to say I have done this for a month. I have manitained you can do it too. I have not gained or lost any weight. You can do it. I am now felling like getting back to the numbers I have 39 lbs to go.

Janay333

I found out the hard way that I lose control when I stop counting.... I had lost almost 20 lbs at the end of last January & stopped counting. I found myself trying on shorts in June and had gained 12 of the 20 back. I started counting again & just reached my goal of 25 lbs today! Am now setting a new goal to lose another 14 lbs, that will put me in my weight range for my height. Good luck to you, I hope not counting works for you....

musicboxes

Not me..very faithful to logging everything so I can stay within my daily goals. This is the only way I can see what I am doing, what works/what doesn't & view reports for the day/week.......if I don't, look out!

drivinpumpkin

good job

40andFindingFitness

Good luck to all of you who have stopped counting. I hope it works for you. For me, I'll be logging for a while. Not logging means I have no idea what the count of some foods are. Not just the calories, but the amount of sugar and such. I am a scan-a-holic. Instead of logging and re-logging the same foods, I grab my phone, hit the bar code scanner and walk away. It's so much easier. I also have several saved meals that I use often. When I get to my allotted calories. I stop. Maybe when I get to goal weight I'll feel the same as some of you who have stopped, but I like having the info as others have stated. Happy logging to the rest of us.

kluvit

I log intermittently as needed. Now, I'm back to logging as a preventative measure, since I've cut back on exercise this week as I recover from a pulled muscle and sinus infection. With my regular activity level, it really doesn't matter so much, but I just want to put a little focus on calories in while the "burn" is reduced.

julianadelbosque

I deleted the MFP app (purposefully) when I was drunk over the weekend because the numbers have been a source of anxiety lately, and I'm working to reduce the anxiety in my life. I've figured out how to eat well, so I am going to try to just make healthy choices and only eat when I'm hungry. I will still weigh and measure and look at calorie counts and have a general idea of where my calories are at for the day, but dealing with the exact numbers is too much for my anxiety.

dgbrash2

For starters, I was looking to lose 12 pounds to get rid of my 'belly' [from 182 to 170, 5'11"]. With that accomplished, and since I'm now in 'Maintenance Mode', I am not nearly as rigorous with my cataloging calories and meals as I was when I started MFP. From the onset, I was able to catalog and use the 'meals' option a lot. Now, if I can look up and use a cataloged 'meal', I do that, especially if the meal contents are close to or exactly what I ate. I usually don't catalog my meals over the weekend, but use the 'fast-add-calories' for each day of the weekend. My main gauge for this portion of my maintenance is my bathroom scale. If I see on Monday that I'm still at 170, I keep going. If i'm up from 170, I cut back early in the week t get back to 170. This seems to work for me. My exercise at this point was/is doing several minutes of walking per day, usually from 20-40 minutes.

xxchrisannxx

I haven't counted in 2 months and I can honestly say, I feel so much better!

kelly_e_montana

I can maintain just fine without counting calories as long as I eat the same types of food as I was before, watch portion sizes, avoid mindless snacking, and be mindful about what I am eating. Once you get a feel for how many calories are in your food and you just want to maintain, I say go for it. Throw off the training wheels and maintain. I just got off 8 months of maintenance and have decided to lose another 20 or so to make one of my athletic pursuits easier and am counting again but I maintained for 8 months without counting for most of it.

Whenever I've gained weight back, it has to do with lapsing into emotional eating and failing to exercise. Counting has had nothing to do with it. If I wasn't in a frame to do what needed to be done, whether I logged it or not was immaterial. Counting can become obsessive and unhealthy for some. You know what you are feeling and no one else does.