Tracking calories forever!

paulandrachelk

Yeah, so?

GymTennis

So what.. You HAVE to do so many different things in your life.. Let counting calories be one of those things.. Besides, after two years of counting, you will easily have a rough estimate how much you're eating, if not precise.. Sounds like a lot better deal to me than binging, getting fat and frustrated and than starving to lose weight

Paul_Collyer

Since I got to my initial target of 80 kg I have logged only in phases - for example after the summer until Xmas, plus at any point where things start creeping up again, perhaps due to a holiday, or busy social time. It seems that if you do creep up a couple of kg or so its quite easy to lose it from a short period of logging again, so that is kind of my threshold.

But overall I have found as long as I am active most days and don't eat stupidly the weight stays roughly the same without logging.

SherryTeach

I'm going to be brushing my teeth forever. . . I'm so depressed.

But honestly, I spend 5 minutes a day logging my food. If I have to do this to maintain my weight, fine. It's a habit now.

VeryKatie

I have an idea - just track for the first week of every month and not for the rest. That way you're reinforcing portion sizes so you don't forget, but you also aren't doing it for the "rest of your life". I've been wondering about this myself. Tracking forever seems terrible to me right now. Not that I mind doing it now. But the thought of doing it when I'm 70 boggles my mind.

triciab79

I stopped logging right after I reached my goal the first time. I hopped on the scale everyday and adjusted as needed. It worked for the first year but then the weight kinda crept on (like 8lbs over 10 m). Now I am back to tracking while I lose these few pounds but I don't intend to keep doing it once I am there. I think you will have to track for a bit to get used to your maintenance calories but after than just do it as needed to lose a little if you misbehave.

sengalissa

I've been maintaining quite a while before getting pregnant again and it was not bad. I did not track but still maintained. By yhen you will have a good sense of what kind of food is high calorie. You will have your very own strategies. For instance, mine were to never eat between breakfast and lunch (carbs early in the day trigger hunger in me), or do go easy on supper if there happened to be cake around in the afternoon. I would have 3 meals and a healthy snack a day without exercise OR something extra plus exercise. I would plan meals around veggies. That was enough to maintain my weight.

gelar93

i personally don't mind it and the thought of tracking doesn't bother me. It rather gives me the feeling that I am having control over even the smallest things I eat and I like that but if that bothers you, I don't think you have to. Tracking for a year or two gives you a good idea of how much you're supposed to eat, and if you eat more than that one day and less the other day, not much will change.

ge105

What I do:
I actually tracked for one week when I signed up here and just tried to visualize that amount of food when serving myself and have now lost 7lbs. I think this would work for maintenance. I stopped losing, so I'm back. You could just go by how your clothes fit, which is how I mostly check my weight since I don't have a scale. Visualize the portions, then if your clothes starts to feel tight come back.

What my sis does:
She weighs herself once a week. She wants to weigh 120lbs. She allows herself to play it by ear (eat whatever she wants within reason) as long as she is within 5lbs. If she gets to 126lbs, she comes back and logs and drops the 5lbs. Usually takes her less than a month to get back to 120 and she says she usually only has track after she's been on holiday.

__hannah_

Now I'm thinking about what I'll do when I reach my goal weight. Initially I thought I'd track for a couple months after but now I'm not so sure. Tracking forever seems crazy to me now but I'm only 6 months in. Like several people said, tracking doesn't take too much time and it's worth it for my health. Maybe by the time I reach my goal weight I'll have a much better idea of portion sizes and calories in different foods that I won't need to track as much.

popsicklestar

I actually like tracking calories, which is a good thing because i probably will have to do it forever. I really like seeing how many calories are in different things and how I'm doing in regards to hitting my macros. I find tracking freeing rather than burdensome. Before I tracked calories, I would be afraid to eat "bad" foods like donuts or nachos, but when I see that I can safely fit those foods in within my goals occasionally, it allows me to eat them without feeling guilty and afraid I'm going get fat if I eat a piece of cake or something.

Laurenjenai

I tracked my weight and successfully lost 60+ lbs. When I stopped tracking, at first, everything seemed cool and I was maintaining. Then, I stopped exercising as much and still eating the same, and the lbs slowly added on. About 5 to 7 lbs. Of course I knew without tracking and the basic formula of eat less + burn more= weight loss (something like that lol) yall know what I mean....I would end up gaining weight. But I guess because I didn't physically see I was over a certain amount, there wasn't enough reason to stop me. So I came back on mfp to track and so far I was over budget 3 days, and I didn't like seeing that, so here I am day 4, trying to do better. So that at the end of the day I am happy with my log. With that said, you dont have to count forever, but it helps. Or you can stay very health conscious and know what your putting in and out on your own. There's even studies that ppl who track calories lose a certain % of lbs more than ppl eho dont.

allanakern

I know what you mean - it seems so tiring to track everything for the rest of our lives. But I mean.. just do that like 99.9% of the time... you can occasionally go out and splurge during maintenance and take a mental break and get back at tracking the next day

allanakern

not to mention the sense of control is awesome

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EuroDivas

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.

Totally agree. I stopped logging in the maintenance phase and when I realized the damage it was already 4 kilos too late

mp5chik

I don't use MFP to just track calories... I am more interested in what I am eating. I love that you can see your % of Protein, Fats and Carbs. I also love to see how my Iron and Calcium for the day is (these are biggies for us women). I also now know what a serving is. It's not about eating less, it's knowing what a real serving of food is. I will probably continue to use MFP for all these reasons. I love it!!!!

stephe1987

I don't think so... after a while you know how many calories is in each food item. Unless you start to gain weight back after reaching your goal. I think you can reasonably estimate how much you're eating. If you go slightly over one day, go under the next, etc. No binge eating, eat what you like but in small portions.

skittle316

Not forever but until i can eyeball with ease and foods i don't know the content off.
Basically i'll be eating as much low GI veggies but not tomatoes and carrots. Plums, green apples, strawberries, and bananas 2-3 times a week. All bran cereal to spice up breakfast, lima beans, lentils, and navy beans 1-2 times a week. Less mayo,more olive oil I plan on making my own and also salad dressing. Other than that diet is basically what an omnivore would eat.