Tracking calories forever!

paulawatkins1974

I still have 98 Lbs. to lose so I don't know why I'm worried about this yet, but the thought that even after I reach my goal weight I will probably have to weigh food/ track my intake for the rest of my life kind of depresses me. It's like those of us who have been overweight can never really be normal again. Whereas people who haven't don't have to worry about fitting in that "Big Mac Meal" They want. They just eat it...With a milkshake. I know I have at least a year to go so I'm hoping that maybe after doing this for a year I will get used to it and it will become like second nature. Any people on maintenance have any issues with this?

aimeemarie150

Honestly, I don't really feel the need to track, but it helps me keep track. For example, I could make a turkey sammich, and that's about 150 calories the way I make them, and add chips for 260 cal total, but I like tracking so I can see.

sfbaumgarten

I've been maintaining for almost 8 months by tracking calories (did WW for a year before that). At this point, I can't imagine not logging my food. It's just too easy to log everything and to maintain my weight while doing so. Seems like a no-brainer.

I've toyed with the idea of possibly stopping counting and only starting again if my weight creeps up, but I've got two issues with that:

1.) I feel like my weight is bound to go up and I'll get on a cycle of losses and gains. I don't want my weight to yo-yo and I dread the thought of having to eat at a defecit again... I love all my calories soooo much.

2.) I think my accountability will fade over time. It'd be all too easy to stop weighing myself when I don't like the direction my weight is going or just buy a new pair of pants when mine get snug. Then I would be in denial (as history shows) and would avoid all things weight loss related.

I know how stupid all of that might sound to other people, but that's how I feel today. Ask me again in a few months and my answer might be totally different.

ParkerH47

I've been thinking about this, and I think when I hit goal I will stay on maintenance calories for a few months to get an idea of the amount of food I can eat while maintaining and then I may stop using MFP.... BUT I will use a hand written journal and simply write down the foods I eat (with out numbers). This way I will still be aware of my food habits and if the weight creeps back on I have a reference to look back on and see where i might be going wrong. To me that seems reasonable, and after a while hopefully the habits will be burned into my brain and it will be second nature. Not sure if that makes you feel better... but thats what I'm thinking.

lisab64mfp

3+ years after hitting goal I continue to track so I can be normal -- BMI that is. Besides I've already proven to myself that I can't be trusted -- this was my 3rd time losing weight. The other 2 times I probably maintained my weight for about a minute..

I really don't do fast food anymore (especially the burger places) but if I wanted a "Big Mac Meal" w/a shake -- I'd have it and make it work into my weekly calories (try to hit my calorie goal daily but really focus on weekly). Being that well over 2/3 of the US population is overweight or obese, I'd say that the majority of the people eating the "Big Mac Meal" w/ a shake would be better off tracking their calories..

supermumincanada

Been at maintenance for over a year now and still track and log most of everything. At first wasn't sure if was going to continue with MFP or not but I think I need to or risk gaining, I have no off switch and I don't want to undo all my hard work. i don't mind at the moment, I suppose if it becomes a chore I might rethink xo

kwantlen2051

Logging my calories keeps me accountable. That's how I lost some of my weight. I tried all diets, pills and programs out there. This is the only one that worked for me. Maybe some people are more disciplined and don't need to keep track, but I'd rather not go over my limit. I never want to go back to being heavy.

itsfatum

I honestly think you don't need to count and weight every single ounce/calorie to maintain a healthy body.

That changes when you get to very low fat percentages, where 100kcal could change your world. At a healthy (not too fat, not too athletic) %fat range 100-200kcal up or down don't mean sh't.

You will eye measure just fine if you use the experience you are getting now to develop your instinct for measuring. Just try to guess before measuring, then measure, then compare both numbers to see how well you guessed. Eventually, you will eye measure so DAMN well you won't need the scale to maintain your weight.

LivingtheLeanDream

I've been tracking for 2 yrs with success, -its quick and easy and keeps me on track. ..I eat the same kinds of things all the time and my cals are consistent so theres no reason for me to track yet I do so ..its my comfort blanket! I feel in control. I cant see me ever not logging unless I'm on holiday/vacation :-) even then I mentally track...tracking works!

If it ain't broke, don't fix it :-D

ps I only weigh the odd thing now as I know portion sizes by eye balling. If I was gaining though it would be back to measuring again.

moomooatrice

Wow - I decided to respond because what you had to say, I found very interesting. I was on Jenny Craig for quite some time and did lose the weight but the problem was that I only ate "Jenny Food" and didn't know how to eat on my own. It was my own fault because I am lazy and don't like to cook. My Fitnesspal is great because, I feel as though the computer counts for me and I feel in control. Sometimes I add things to my meal just to see how many calories and then I decide to have something else and "bank" the extra calories for later in the day. I just joined and so far - I am loving it.

jayceecervenka

Calorie trackers are tools for learning how much to eat. Use it to calculate favorite recipes and learn proportions and meal combos that work for you and then don't obsess, once you've got that down. I think it's more beneficial if you look at to help you figure out what to eat and how much. Go back and look at you successful days and figure out what you ate and but that in your mental "that was a good day" column. Look at meals that work for you and stick with them instead of tracking every calorie. Nothing that stresses you out will make the process easier, so figure out what will.

nxd10

I have learned so much logging, that I probably could maintain with my scale and my tape measure. I know what to eat.

But I like logging. It's like brushing my teeth or combing my hair. It's what I do. It helps me be mindful of what I'm eating. And sometimes I'm still surprised at how much a lousy two cookies can throw my calories off for a day (that was last Thursday). More often now it reminds me I need to eat MORE because the reason I'm hungry is that it's 9PM and I'm down 600 calories.

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When I was around 4 months into losing it seemed like I wish this was just OVER and I could snap my fingers and the weight would be gone and I wouldn't have t think about it. I moved past that. Now I just log.

krhn

I've tracked my calories/macros for a better part of two years now... although I have the last 5-10kg of excess fat to kill off, I can measure things quite accurately without scales/tools/mfp if push came to shove although I still count them just to keep myself in check so not to go overboard too much.

PJPrimrose

It's like any habit. Working out is a habit that many people couldn't think of doing forever either. So don't think about it. Think about what you're going to accomplish today and let tomorrow take care of itself.

Sharon_C

I've been at maintenance for about 4 months and I still log every day. It's become a habit now and I don't mind it. It literally takes a few minutes out of my day and I'm good to go.

Laura3BB

I've been maintaining for 5 months now, I only tracked for the first 2 months....

I don't think it's necessary to log food forever and I wonder even if it's a balanced way to go - always calculating calories....Anyway, for me I'm not doing it and am maintaining fine.
It probably depends on eating habits as well - I'm in France and we eat pretty healthy anyway.

CipherZero

Dropped seventy three pounds, had a major health crisis (unrelated), and for the past month or so started slowly putting weight back on. I'm really not sure I care about the added weight as I'm doing body recomposition by adding strength and mass through the Starting Strength program.

I'm less 'by the book' and more agnostic towards my food tracking. I still track, but in a slightly looser way; my estimates of what a certain weight and volume of foods are a lot better than when I started, and in a lot of cases "close enough" is really good enough.

Realistically, do what works for you. If you can maintain the weight, look, and health you want without tracking, more power to you!

mshopey

I think I'll probably still track. I'll have some bad days I assume, life is life. But if I don't track I would lose accountability and never even look at how many calories I ate, and it would be all too easy to go back to my old ways. I might have done well for a year, but I know I ate crap for mostly 20 years, and I know my old habits will always haunt me unless I keep them at bay. I still have 100lbs to lose, and I don't know what it'll be like a year from now, but only time will tell. Whatever you choose to do, good luck. But don't dread the future.

FruityLoops

I'm pretty sure I'll track my calories for a while into maintenance if not forever. In the past (bout 8 or 9 years ago) I lost 98lbs or so over 2 years (which admittedly wasn't quite my target yet tho), and I gained it all back again (and a little more) afterwards, essentially I relaxed my habits over Xmas and I never went back to being strict again and I didn't even realise it was happening. So now I know that when I reach target I WILL have at least keep a very close eye on the scales and the calories for the rest of my life as I feel it's something that can sneak up on me if I stop paying as much attention! It would be nice to not have to think about it, but c'est la vie!

Nissi51

I completely understand and I stopped tracking for a while..... Not good

So this is my life - will need to do this forever. Small price to pay for the abuse I out my body through being overweight . I prefer to track food than to battle losing 100lbs again.

I am fine with it now.

Congrats on your loss and don't worry about it now, focus on today. And yes, you will not be able to live like your 'normal' weight counterparts...

silmarilliane

i lost 4 stone and had some time off logging over christmas, then got lazy getting back on and before i'd paid attention i'd put over 2 stone back on again. i'm now at a stage where i think 'i've done it before, it's easy' - except i don't stick to it now.
how i wish i'd carried on logging at maintenance for that christmas! it was 2 and a half years ago and i'm still not back down to that lowest weight.
i try not to think that far ahead now - i used to try to figure what i'd do to maintain when i got to my goal (5:2 fasting, TDEE, mfp maintenance etc) but it put me off so much i binged to avoid it...