Opinions, please...

JenJBS

I’m transitioning into Maintenance, from weight loss. I’m fine with the idea of counting calories/logging food for the rest of my life. But weighing food… Nope.

So my idea is to have a 50-100 calorie a day deficit almost every day (not worrying about it Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July, Memorial Day, New Year's Eve, birthday, etc). I’m thinking that slight deficit will compensate for any minor increase in calories due to not weighing food, and let me have the holidays/birthday without worrying about going over.

Does this sound reasonable?

sfbaumgarten

It's just way too easy for me to go way over 50-100 calories without weighing anything so that definitely wouldn't work for me. If you think you can pull it off, try it and see. Worst that will happen is you'll gain and reassess your strategy.

dawnmcneil10

I am in maintenance and eat what I want, exercise and do pretty well with logging BUT like you I don't want to weigh everything and I don't. What I do is on occassion is radomly weigh an item just so my brain remembers what an ounce of whatever looks like. The biggest one for me is meats, not all meat weighs the same per size so I will guestimate most of the time but if it's a thicker cut or something I haven't tried before I weigh it.

hgycta

Based off my personal experience it'd be better not to log then, and just watch what you eat. It's SOOOO easy to underestimate portion sizes, especially when you stop doing it for a while, and I could easily eat two servings of cereal if I'm not careful (which is over 100 calories and just one of the things I'd underestimate) - not to count the milk even! I know it's not good to obsess, but if you're going to take things to the calorie anyways (or, 100 under the calorie I should say), you may as well weigh it and save those 100 calories for an unplanned meal out with your friends (which happens to the best of us as we wish we had saved more).
But it's your life! Just because this doesn't work for me, does NOT mean you won't be successful with it! If you want to try it, then try it! If it doesn't work, oh well, just lose whatever you gained and start over

Serah87

Nope, I will be weighing, don't wanna take a chance of messing up my hard work!!

TavistockToad

I’m transitioning into Maintenance, from weight loss. I’m fine with the idea of counting calories/logging food for the rest of my life. But weighing food… Nope.

So my idea is to have a 50-100 calorie a day deficit almost every day (not worrying about it Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July, Memorial Day, New Year's Eve, birthday, etc). I’m thinking that slight deficit will compensate for any minor increase in calories due to not weighing food, and let me have the holidays/birthday without worrying about going over.

Does this sound reasonable?

Try it... Set a maintenance range around your goal weight, and if you find you go over that range you can start weighing again.

Francl27

Try it. Although to be honest, I'm planning on eating 100 calories below AND still weigh my food.

itodd4019

Take that goal weight body out and do stuff! Live active, eat well, have fun.

rsclause

I have lost 50 pounds and just starting maintenance and I haven't weighed a single piece of food yet. I log everything though. I do measure my oatmeal and nuts but that is more to be consistent than anything else. I shoot the bar codes and with most foods I can pretty much tell if a chicken breast is 4 or 6 oz. Veggies are real easy, they don't add up to much and I just pick 1/2 or whole cup. If was real bad at guessing I would not have been losing like I did. I don't stress over if a banana is medium or large, it all works out if you're honest. If you're under on some you better guess over on others.

JenJBS

Thanks for all the ideas and advice. A lot to think about.

I'm hoping this will work for me, as serving/portion size of foods was never my problem. My problem was a 44 oz soda in the morning and another 20 oz soda (or two) in the afternoon. Plus having 2-3 peices of pizza, not just 1, and too much fast food. And having a few cookies, or peice of cake, or whatever treat every single time someone brought them to work - which is almost every day. I've cut out the soda almost completely (and a 12 oz can is easy to know portion size and calorie count ;-) ), and have learned to say 'no' to all the goodies people bring in. Plus limiting the pizza and fast food I'm eating.

Thanks!!!

nxd10

I do something similar to what you're proposing.

If you google 'portion size' and click on 'images' there are lots of charts that give you a ballpark of what a portion of rice, cheese, apples, chicken, etc. look like. Because I bake a lot, I also have a very good idea of what cup sizes look like.

I also:
read packages and count out taco chips and put them in a bowl so I know how many to eat
put ice cream in a little bowl that I know is 1/4 cup
know how much my glasses hold

I don't weigh everything, but I do have a scale on my counter and I use it to check things periodically. Every week or so I'll check myself on the weight of a chicken breast or a piece of bread or cheese. Just to make sure I haven't drifted.

I also compensate for my inaccuracies. I have been technically at a 250/day deficit for the last year while on maintenance. I am always under for the week and under at least 5 days every week. Because I'm eating back my exercise calories and not gaining or losing weight, either I have a wicked slow metabolism or when I eat out they include high fat ingredients I don't see or don't log or I am underestimating portion size. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that if I keep doing what I'm doing I don't gain weight.

So what you're suggesting works for me. I do suggest the pictures and the spot checks though. It helps keep you honest.

einzweidrei

I still try to weight (except when I can't, like at a restaurant) mostly because I snack A LOT and eat lots of crap all day.

If I didn't do this as much, I probably wouldn't need to.

I also try to count things ahead of time that I could eat an entire bag of (like chips/pretzels) and walk away with them so I don't sit there and WHOOPS the entire bag is gone.

amwbox

I’m transitioning into Maintenance, from weight loss. I’m fine with the idea of counting calories/logging food for the rest of my life. But weighing food… Nope.

So my idea is to have a 50-100 calorie a day deficit almost every day (not worrying about it Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July, Memorial Day, New Year's Eve, birthday, etc). I’m thinking that slight deficit will compensate for any minor increase in calories due to not weighing food, and let me have the holidays/birthday without worrying about going over.

Does this sound reasonable?

Its more than reasonable. There's actually been some studies that suggest a slight deficit can have some major health benefits.

stuffinmuffin

Years into maintenance, I still weigh stuff. Certainly not everything normally just the high calorie/fats and carbs because it's easy to forget what a measured portion is like. I don't even think about it any more, it's just part of my normal routine...I weigh myself, I weigh my food. I'm sure it's all relative.