Yes MFP helps

nxd10

I had pretty much maintained for 9 years until COVID. Always good healthy weight. Then I dropped ten pounds and gained 15 - suddenly my pants were tight despite a lot of daily exercise. I also quit logging - it wasn’t influencing my eating (I thought) and I knew the drill.

Well. Restarted logging a month ago. Lost 7 pounds so far. Dumb little decisions. But back on track. Logging is easy and definitely helps me. Even when I think it doesn’t.

ahoy_m8

Good insights! Plus, 9 years is a mighty long run. People change, habits change, situations change. Nothing wrong with experimenting and trying new things, either. You had success logging, adjusted, then had a long run of success not logging, adjusted, and now are changing it up again. Sounds like a good move at a good time.

Personally, I find measuring and logging much easier than guessing and waiting for the scale to tell if I guessed right or not. But if I ever found an easier way to maintain than measuring/logging *that works* I would switch to that in a heartbeat.

Welcome back.

mjglantz

Happy for you! And 9 years is an awesome accomplishment. Kudos to you for getting this nipped in the bud. From experience I know that tracking works and have no intention of stopping.

IllustriousBee

Logging everything can make a HUGE difference. Like you, I was doing great until Covid happened and then I stopped logging because "I don't have anywhere to go, or anyone to impress, I'll be fine just winging it for a while." That led to me not working out regularly and eating lots of junk, and I gained a little over 10lbs in a matter of a couple of months. I maintained there for most of the lockdown. I was shocked when I finally told myself that I need to start paying attention to my health again and I saw my weight. I think the only issue with logging everything is that it can lead to eating disorder type behaviors, so as long as you can be safe about it, yes, logging everything is the first very important step to getting and staying healthy.

SummerSkier

nxd10 wrote: »

I had pretty much maintained for 9 years until COVID. Always good healthy weight. Then I dropped ten pounds and gained 15 - suddenly my pants were tight despite a lot of daily exercise. I also quit logging - it wasn’t influencing my eating (I thought) and I knew the drill.

Well. Restarted logging a month ago. Lost 7 pounds so far. Dumb little decisions. But back on track. Logging is easy and definitely helps me. Even when I think it doesn’t.

I am happy to see you back and on track again! I have been on MFP since 2012. I think it is an amazing tool for the logging capability and also the communities. I think that it is VERY difficult for anyone who has ever been on a weigh loss/gain track to "eat intuitively" again and not regain.

You are one of the success stories!!! Congratulations.

Personally I have been maintaining since 2017 and I log every single day. I go thru lots of different phases but the biggest thing I work to avoid is the rollercoaster effect which in my case will ultimately lead to disaster. I do not weigh unless I feel like there might be some weight creep going on. It's never the other direction of course. sigh. But typically I use logging as a good method to fuel my workouts and work on my health (blood work type stuff which a lot of exercise cannot totally fix). For me I do not do the "eat back" thing but just pick a TDEE based on my workout schedule and eat at that level.