Some personal advice

BoxerBrawler

If I could give any (unsolicited) advice at all it would be... don't get consumed and obsessed with food choices! For a while I spent a great portion of my time worrying about every single thing I put into my mouth. The number of calories, the quality of nutrients, etc. It consumed me and it was exhausting. I also found that once you've been doing this for a while it gets easier to eye ball portion size and know the calorie count within a few. I tend to stick to the same food choices, I am boring like that I guess, so it has become second nature in a way. I think that sometimes we can become so consumed with the food that we are eating and trying to make healthy choices that we end up over eating just to get the nutrients and proper ratios. I mean... just because I can have a few small meals a day or a few snacks a day in between doesn't mean that I have too. It is easy to forget how to listen to your body and hunger signals and just eat mechanically based on a target number.

With that said, I hope you are all doing well and racing triumphantly toward your goal. And if you're not... well hey, *kitten* happens, just get back up, dust yourself off and move forward!

DeBiKin

I agree.
I previously reached my goal (then upped my goal twice). I stopped logging, backslid and gained back a significant portion of my loss. I say that because people might not think I am credible since I am still on my journey.
People are quick to jump down your throat and disagree; insisting that you have to list every single morsel including a 1 calorie sliver of lettuce that was on a burger.
I say that you burn more calories hunting down that minuscule item in the MFP database than you do just consuming it.
If it is a burden to enter "all or nothing" you can get burnt out for nothing.
If it makes some people feel that good about being gnat' s @$$ precise, more power to them but if at the end of the day you have more time to do a jumping jack or two instead of sitting still searching a database, then you are ahead of the game.
In reality, those people should take their food scales with them to every restaurant because every portion is going to be slightly different, even at places like McDonald's where everything is supposed to be precise.
It's not worth the excess hassle when you are only talking about a few calories. Dozens, yes, five or ten, no!
I don't count every single step I take and get down to the gnat's @$$ there, why would I stress over such a minute figure on the opposite side.
When it comes down to it, it is all guess work. Best guesses are good enough in the long run.
It takes several months to lose several pounds. if in that time you over or under estimate your calories by 3,500, then it may take several months and a day (or several months and a week).
Do what works for you. Offer up advice to others so that they can decide and when the attacks come ridiculing what obviously worked for you, don't take it personally.