Does anyone NOT track their food intake?

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psychicmedium26
psychicmedium26 Posts: 48
in Health and Weight Loss
I am approaching my 80 day streak and feel that despite my slow progress I am doing well. I tracked beautifully for the first two months and lately its been harder to do. I am still weighing food, still keeping portions in control, and eating better. I can't help but feel guilty though. I know I need to track more but sometimes I just get obsessed and irritated when I cant find things in the database etc. I do still put my recipes in the recipe builder so I have an idea of what I am eating.

Just wasnt sure if any other mfp people succeed without hardcore tracking. Either way I plan to monitor my progress and track if I feel I need to, but at this point I feel its more frustrating than helpful.
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Replies

  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
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    I can't lose if I don't track. I can maintain, but I can't lose. But that's me.
  • marissanik
    marissanik Posts: 344 Member
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    For now... I still have about 20lbs to lose so I would say not tracking would be counter-productive to reaching my goals. However, once I hit my goal weight I plan on not tracking anymore. Only tracking again when I gain weight.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    That's a funny question to ask on a site that's made for calorie counting.

    Plenty of people have successful weight loss without calorie counting, without MFP, etc. With that said, most of the "I stopped losing weight" threads are from folks that either stopped logging or are not logging accurately. If it works for you, fantastic. If not, keep logging.
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
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    I don't track. I only did for a few weeks in the beginning. I didn't feel it was necessary for me as I had a good handle on what/how much I was eating.


    Edited for typo.
  • The_1_Who_Knocks
    The_1_Who_Knocks Posts: 343 Member
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    On days I've decided to treat myself, I don't track. That is once a week or once every 10 days.
  • 125KC
    125KC Posts: 71 Member
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    I track what I eat everyday, 85 day streak, and slow continuous loss, however I do not track obsessively - i guesstimate, I don't weigh and measure all my food, I use what the "box says" a portion is. I also will overestimate at times if I'm unsure. I can see where some may want and/or need to take it to that next level, but for me, it's a time thing, and to date my system seems to be working.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
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    You do realise that this is a calorie counting website and the whole point is to track your food
  • Angela26point2finisher
    Angela26point2finisher Posts: 105 Member
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    I'm on day 101 and feeling awesome about it. I need it to hold myself accountable. And seeing those big numbers in the streak makes me want to keep going. One of my friends has a streak over 610 days... it's so impressive and she's a great inspiration.
  • krawhitham
    krawhitham Posts: 831 Member
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    I think it depends on the reason *why* you gained the weight in the first place.

    For example, if there was a death in the family and you gained 50 lbs in a matter of 6 months due to grieving, but before then had no weight issues, maybe tracking for the first couple of months would be a good idea to get into the swing of eating right again

    BUT, if you've been overweight your whole life and yo-yo dieted and have trouble losing weight, it may be more advantageous for you to continue to track throughout your weight loss and even into maintenance, because you don't know when you'll go back into old habits.

    It truly depends on why you've gained weight in the first place, and how good you can be with self control and monitoring proper portions.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    Just wasnt sure if any other mfp people succeed without hardcore tracking. Either way I plan to monitor my progress and track if I feel I need to, but at this point I feel its more frustrating than helpful.

    I used to track religiously, then it became too cumbersome so I only tracked on weekdays and not the weekend. Finally, I stopped tracking altogether. The database is a realy problem IMO. I don't eat the same foods every day so it took a while to find correct entries and log them. But I think the real reason logging wasn't a good fit for me is that I don't like to eat the same number of calories every day. For a while I was averaging them by the week, but that just seemed like even more work. And I obsessed over it all too much.

    I had lost most of my weight before joining MFP, so I knew I didn't need to log to stay on track. Actually, I found constantly trying to meet some arbitrary calorie goal was causing me to start gaining again. So, I stopped and now I'm losing those few I gained back.

    Different things work for different people. I still use this site for fitness motivation and to play on the forums.
  • psychicmedium26
    psychicmedium26 Posts: 48
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    You do realise that this is a calorie counting website and the whole point is to track your food

    No I didn't realize this?! Of course I realize this. I am just asking what others do or if anyone does things a little differently. Everyone is different.
  • psychicmedium26
    psychicmedium26 Posts: 48
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    Thank you for all of your comments. To the people who are saying "You DO realize this is a calorie counting site" yes I do! I was just wondering what others do and what works for them.
  • Geobec1981
    Geobec1981 Posts: 7 Member
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    I track every day for all meals including snacks. I find it a real eye opener and I am reading more on what food contains and how it will effect me. I alone am responsible for every single morsel that passes into my stomach. I have my "junk" food days where I dont necessary eat junk food, just more of what I like maybe washed down with some ice cold beer! I also exercise five to six days a week and track that too. To date I have gone from 111kg at the end of Jan 2014 to 97kg as of 6 April 14. It makes me feel fantastic and with a young family I need all the energy I can muster!!
  • maasha81
    maasha81 Posts: 733 Member
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    I don't track as religiously any more since I have a fair idea now what a real portion is like after doing this for so many months. I'm also in maintenance mode so I don't feel the need to count every single calorie.

    For some people, counting calories can be counter-productive ...it was stressful, obsessive and you may end up just not accomplishing your goal. In that case, you do need to try another way.
  • missbirrell
    missbirrell Posts: 133
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    I track everything because otherwise I'll overeat.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    if I don't track I lose track and will gain weight.

    proof of that was one night I thought I would use quick adds...for a night of company and food...I guesstimated 1200 calories (after weighing the food)...

    But I decided to actually log everything individually...it ended up being 2300 calories...:sad:

    I could have been 1100 over my calorie allotment and not even realized it...that is 1/3 of a pound...so no I track now and will continue until I am at a point where I don't have to...

    I mean really it takes what 2mins a meal??? esp with the phone app.
  • chelstakencharge
    chelstakencharge Posts: 1,021 Member
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    580 days and still tracking....I don't think I could ever not track again
  • Snow3y
    Snow3y Posts: 1,412 Member
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    Why would you be on this website if not to track food?
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    Well when I first started losing weight, I didn't count calories at all. I actually did lose weight this way, but I do have to admit that I was very, very picky about what I ate.

    I started, just to see what it was like. Turned out that it was much easier than I thought it would be and I didn't have to be as picky about what I ate. MFP made it simple for me to see how my food choices affected my weight and made it easy to make changes without leaving out foods that I love. It was starting to become a habit for me. I would log things as I was cooking without thinking about it.

    When I discovered I was pregnant (yep..I'm 34wks right now), I stopped counting for awhile. I also stopped my daily weigh-ins. Surprisingly enough, I didn't start gaining weight till about 18-19wks along. I have started logging food again, but only to make sure I'm consuming enough for me (pre-pregnancy maintenance) and my baby (465 extra for 3rd trimester...was 280 extra for 2nd trimester and 85 extra for 1st trimester). I'm not very strict about it and it doesn't bother me if I go over. I just want to make sure that I eat enough for the little one and at the same time make sure I don't consume 5000+ calories in one day (something I did with my first pregnancy).

    I could probably still lose weight (once this pregnancy is over) without logging food/counting calories, but I like seeing the trends and how certain things affect my weight.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    people succeed without hardcore tracking

    I think you're in the realms of what do you mean by success and hardcore.

    Personally I find that I understand my intake well enough that I'm seeing progress whilst not geting obsessive about tracking. But for me success is my 10km time, my average running and cycling speed and my long range endurance..

    I don't even weight myself very often.

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