Can you maintain your weight by not tracking food

csuhar

can you maintain your weight by not counting calories and tracking every bite you take as long as you keep up with exercise? When I was in my late teens and 20's andmid 20's .I would loose weight by just going to the gym without watching my diet.I would loose until I reach a healthy weight and just stop loosing and maintain my weight as long as I exercise without watching my diet and eating whatever I wanted.Everytime I get less active or stop going to the gym, I gain the weight back.Then again maybe my metabolism was high since I was younger. Now I am in my late 20's and I gained 2 5 pounds by not exercise and eating too much.So I started going to the gym again before I found this site and lost 10 pounds my own without counting calories. I even had 2 people at work told me that it looks like I am loosing weight.Then I found this site and have been tracking my food and still exercising. The weight is coming off even though the scale is barely moving .I am going to use my skinny jeans to see my progress. I will stop loosing when I can fit into them again. So back to my question, does anyone maintain without counting but keep up wth exercise?

It is possible. But only you will be able to figure out if it works for you.

For you, it could be as simple a matter as watchng the scale or still feeling comfortable in those skinny jeans. That might be all you need to know as far as your diet and activity balance goes.

For me, as someone who loves trying new recipies and foods as well as someone who likes exercising and trying new activities, what works for me is keeping a general food diary going. I don't get as detailed as people who will weigh out every ingredient in every recipe, but I still like having that ballpark idea of how much I'm eating (especially because being conditoned to ignore hunger can mean I tend to need to add more food to support my activity level).

canadjineh

You may be able to, if you remember it's still about awareness of what you eat... You might not write it down or electronically enter it but you do notice your portion sizes and food choices. If you tend to graze and eat little handfuls of this & that, you may run into problems with weight creep. I'm logging in maintenance because I eat such a huge variety of foods that it's hard for me to remember the details of them all. I'm not actually counting calories but seem to hit about the right amount for maintenance because I am not packing my meals with prepared foods, I cook from the raw basics A LOT.

kluvit

I have! I have taken several breaks from logging, and it works for me because I am a creature of habit and eat a lot of the same foods and adjust based on exercise/activity level. I have successfully maintained for months without logging, but I use a few cues to know when I need to log again:
1. Weight creeps up by 2 pounds...log to regain focus and lose the extra two pounds before it becomes 5. :noway:
2. I notice my habits changing...extra dessert, afternoon snacks, bigger lunches, etc. and start logging to refocus.
3. I add new foods to my diet. I log to see if I need to make other adjustments to fit into my calorie "budget."
4. I amp up my workout program and want to track.
5. I miss my friends and want to log in more often.

Seesawboomerang

I lost about 30lb a few years back but about 10lb crept back on so I started logging again about a year ago. In that time, I yo-yo 5 or 6 lbs above and below that re-gain.

But ... my clothes have fit the same in all this time, so I guess I'm packing some muscle. Either that or my scales are wack.

Logging gets tiresome but it does make me accountable to myself and I do make generally healthier choices when I'm writing it all down.

RHachicho

Personally I think that once you have maintained and logged a while you will become very familiar with the "right" amount of food to eat in a day. and may not need to log because of it. I haven't hit my goal yet so what do I know tho XD.

aedreana

I think you first need to determine whether you have set your caloric intake at the correct level for dieting. If your scale is barely moving, you are basically eating on a maintenance level already.

Nachise

Lots of people maintain weight without ever having to log a calorie. They never worry about it, either. I'm here because I am incapable of doing that.

arewethereyet

The odds are against us, so why not shore up those odds with keeping track of food? The very few people I know who have kept the weight off for a long time have either logged until today, or became very active during their time here.

For me, when I quit logging I started gaining.

littleburgy

I think sometimes that depends on your weight. I think if I was willing to be about 10 pounds heavier, I probably wouldn't have to log as much, if at all. But I really like the weight I'm at and have found to be more successful if I do log most days. When I took a few weeks off from logging completely and not going to the gym quite as often as normal, I did gain a couple of pounds.

Logging really only takes about 5 minutes out of my day, so it's no big deal to me. I'm still a few months in maintaining and figuring it all out.

icrushit

I think the most important thing for me from here, when I lose the weight I wish to, will be to have the right tools to shed weight if it goes back on. So for example whether I decide to stop logging food or not, I shall be checking things probably daily, be it with a scales or a calipers, to keep a keen check on my weight, so it if starts to go up or down, I know what to do. At least thats what I'm thinking right now, but have already begun to think about how I maintain even while I am still losing, so I shall be prepared. I know only too well, how easy it is for lost weight to creep back on gradually, and I don't intend to let that happen again

mrbyte

Depends on your goal. If you are just trying to lose pounds and are pretty well versed to what kind of foods do what then you don't need to log. If you are going for a certain amount of body fat like 8%, and have macros budgets, then logging is going to get you there faster than winging it.

kitka82

Yes it's totally possible. I maintained for a couple of years by eating roughly the same amount and types of foods and getting the same amount of exercise each week. No tracking. As soon as I changed my eating (i.e. had treats and alcohol more often, or during the holidays) or exercise habits, my weight changed.

My husband loses weight quickly without tracking by simply eating less, cutting bread and eating more veggies.

kitka82

I have! I have taken several breaks from logging, and it works for me because I am a creature of habit and eat a lot of the same foods and adjust based on exercise/activity level. I have successfully maintained for months without logging, but I use a few cues to know when I need to log again:
1. Weight creeps up by 2 pounds...log to regain focus and lose the extra two pounds before it becomes 5. :noway:
2. I notice my habits changing...extra dessert, afternoon snacks, bigger lunches, etc. and start logging to refocus.
3. I add new foods to my diet. I log to see if I need to make other adjustments to fit into my calorie "budget."
4. I amp up my workout program and want to track.
5. I miss my friends and want to log in more often.

This.

DesireeLovesOrganic

I carry an extra 5 pounds when I don't log. LOL It doesn't go higher than that though thankfully. I'm back again because I want those 5 gone. LOL

krw1989

Hey! I entered maintenance mode about three months ago. I continued logging my food for two months to see if I could sustain this weight. I did, so I decided to slowly back away from logging this past month. I have continued to stay around the same weight (130-132lbs.). Am I perfect? No, but I have found that continuing my exercise regime and healthy eating habits is what has helped me. I didn't start up eating pancakes and syrup for breakfast again or hamburgers for dinner.

I believe that is the key. Take what you learned what's worked for you while logging and continue to apply it in your lifestyle. That's the ultimate goal, right? You've entered a new lifestyle, not a diet. Good luck!

theycallyoumister

I am. I counted for about 6 months in maintenance mode then let it go. I track exercise and reassess with the mirror and how my clothes fit it frees up the rigour (and stress) with which you intensely monitor each calorie. Just have to be not pigging out on poor choices too often.

kurtistime

I do not log my food anymore and haven't gained in weight. I think the reason is that I logged food for so long I have a better understanding of what I'm putting in my body calorie wise. And also I do not try and cheat myself by snacking just hit my calorie mark for the day.

The main reason is exercise of course and I'm sure we can all agree with that.

Anniebotnen

I have! I have taken several breaks from logging, and it works for me because I am a creature of habit and eat a lot of the same foods and adjust based on exercise/activity level. I have successfully maintained for months without logging, but I use a few cues to know when I need to log again:
1. Weight creeps up by 2 pounds...log to regain focus and lose the extra two pounds before it becomes 5. :noway:
2. I notice my habits changing...extra dessert, afternoon snacks, bigger lunches, etc. and start logging to refocus.
3. I add new foods to my diet. I log to see if I need to make other adjustments to fit into my calorie "budget."
4. I amp up my workout program and want to track.
5. I miss my friends and want to log in more often.

This sounds like a really good strategy! I will adopt this when I get to my goal weight.

Twix856

To each it own. I can't! I have to see everything in writing so I know what I need to do differently the next day.

keefmac

I think everyone knows deep down when they've eaten too much, just when logging it's all down on paper to shame you later on!.

Maybe 3 meals a day with no "snacks" makes it easier to maintain without writing it all down?.

I've lost 5 kilos in a month and a half by eating sensibly and cutting out snacks all together, I knew I was eating too much before and decided to do something about it.

Never logged food intake in my life and maintained my weight to within 1kg for years just by eating healthily and not massive amounts of it.

Everyone's different though!.