How long will you count calories?

candistyx

Till you've lost the weight?
Till you're in the habit of maintaining?
Forever?

I feel kind of like I will probably have to forever because no matter how many healthy habits I form, the alternative is that slowly but surely more and more of my diet falls back to bad food. The other option would be to avoid, forever, huge swathes of kinds of food, at all occasions, and that seems worse to me than counting calories.
Even though it's depressing to think I'll probably have to do this for the rest of my life.

TheBraveryLover

Probably forever. I just want to make sure that once I get to my goal, that I never go back.

_SusieQ_

I think (HOPE) that at some point once I have reached my goal it will be second nature, picking the right things to eat and exercising. My hope is that I CAN get to a point that I can eat healthy and maintain without having to count everything. That is the ultimate goal, for it to be a lifestyle change.

beccala18

I'm thinking I'll keep it up for 6 months after I get to my goal weight just to make sure I have the hang of life at maintenance. Then maybe I won't track everyday - only on weekdays when i sit at a computer. I don't think I can keep this up at this level for the rest of my life, but I think I'll need to track closely for a week every couple of months to make sure I'm staying on track.

knewbill72

Until I reach my goals.

HowardRose

I plan on counting for a long time. This process has been so successful for me that I couldn't just stop. But, I figure at some point I'll have learned how to maintain my weight that I won't need to, but I'll want to keep doing it.

Kolohe71

I don't have a specific goal weight, but rather a weight range. My plan is to stop counting once I reach the lower level of my goal range and to self maintian. However, if I find myself above my goal range I will probably resume my counting routine.

animamelodic

My goal is to do it until I think I trust myself to keep portions in mind and choose healthy foods. If I feel myself slipping, I'll start counting again until I get back in the habit.

Altiv

I would like to track forever, even though I reached my goal weight, this site provides the perfect tool to control my carb intake, and therefore, control my insulin resistance

slim_photographer

4EVER! even if only in my mind.

innerfashionista

I will always be thoughtful of what I'm eating and it's caloric intake. If it means I'm counting for the rest of my life, I'm counting for the rest of my life. I flat out refuse to be this unhealthy ever again.

CaptainMFP

I plan to do it forever if I can, and that's a HAPPY thought to me! I've tried to not really give up any food but learn to eat in moderation. The idea of keeping a food diary so that I can always eat well, indulge responsibly, live as long as I can, and be a good example to my kids excites me! What I do here is not a temporary thing to lose weight; it's a lifestyle change to help me be a healthier person. Why would I want to give that up, knowing that most people who do this to lose weight and then stop gain most of it back? It's all in how you look at it, really...

sjkcarter

Knowing me I will have to do this forever. It is just to easy to go back to the bad habits. I think that is why people keep going through this whole weight loss cycle over and over.

chevy88grl

As long as it takes me to be 100% comfortable and confident in myself. I've gone a week or two without counting and did just fine, but I just like being able to see in black and white how much I'm eating, what I'm eating, etc. Makes me feel more in control and accountable.

KeriA

Am I counting calories? I thought MFP was doing that for me. But seriously I plan to do it for as long as it takes to get it off and keep it off. What do I think that means? I don't know but think it might be close to forever. Not to get it off but to keep it off. However if I am successful at keeping it off and I feel like I can do it without MFP then I might stop or just check in once in awhile. Anyway I am fine with always doing it. Maybe it means that if I see a little creep I get back here fast for a few weeks now and again.

docturtle

I wish I could say that I could do this on my own by now, but I can't. I've been on MFP for over a year, lost my weight within the first 5 months and have stayed on to maintain because I have to. If I don't use MFP as a guide, I will fall right back into my old eating habits. I've taken a week off to see how I do, and I gained 4 pounds in one week. Since my eating habits have not changed in a year, I don't think they ever will. What can I say, I was born with a sweet tooth! At least MFP helps me to keep everything in check and it really works for me, so I'm sticking with it for as long as I can so I don't go back to the danger zone.

TK421NotAtPost

I enjoy tracking my calories, but I enjoy tracking my carb/protein/fat macros even more. I've been doing this for years now and so I'm pretty sure I'll be doing this for the rest of my life.

Started off with MFP during its days of infancy, moved on to other tracking sites, but came back after a few years. MFP is the best.

jaeone

Hopefully I will continue counting , even if it is only by estimating in my head!! I think it has already become a habit!

cjnolt

I probably will always track my food - so that I know I am staying within a certain range of calories and also to watch my macros. When I got a little lax with it last winter...the pounds started to creep back on.

ironband

Hard to say, really. My initial thought is that if this is a lifestyle change (and I believe it is), and if my new lifestyle requires that I log what I eat as well as my exercise, then I will continue counting until this ceases to be my lifestyle.

Is it possible that at some point when I'm fit and happy that I will stop logging? Sure...but "intuitive" eating and a lack of accountability are what got me into this mess in the first place. If I have a tool available to me that allows me, with very little effort, to keep my promise to myself to eat healthier and exercise, I see no reason not to use it.

I don't find it depressing. The human body is a wonderful machine! I keep track of the gas and oil I put in my car. Why not do it with my body? I'm just thankful for tools like MFP which make this sooooo much easier...I'd never do it with pen and paper.

seph_house

i've only been tracking (this time, anyway:) for 4 weeks and i've just had the weekend off for a mini holiday and bbq. i had a lovely time and ate everything i wanted... and felt like crap for the second half of the bbq day. i actually woke up with a food hangover!! (i hadn't had any alcohol, it was just the junk food).

i think your body gets used to the better eating and the smaller portions quite quickly. i'm hoping that by the time i'm done, my body will tell me quite quickly if i'm misbehaving as long as i learn to listen i plan to keep up the weigh-ins but not the counting.

but it depends what your triggers are and which tools are most use for keeping you on track, i guess.

rachel0923

I've counted calories since 2004... with my weight up and down, even through pregnancies. I have tried to stop several times and cannot. I want to simply have a healthy relationship with food without having to think about it. I'm still waiting for that day...

BabyDuchess

Forever and ever....amen.....lol :flowerforyou:

perne11

I’m a “list” person. I like writing things down and keeping track of things. I like keeping journals and what not, so logging my food does not bother me. Also I can tend to be a snacker, so to keep up with every bit of food I put in my mouth without writing it down may not go over so well.

So I will probably always keep some sort of food journal.

melsinct

I don't want to count calories forever. For a while, especially when first starting MFP, it was almost an obsession of mine. I want to have a healthy relationship with food and not log every teaspoon of mustard I ingest for the rest of my life.

I will use MFP to ease into maintaining and find what range I should stay in daily to maintain my weight. After that, I plan on living my life like a normal person but using the knowledge I gained from MFP not to get fat again. I will weigh weekly once I have maintained successfully with MFP for a while. If the weight creeps up again I'll be back here logging what I eat to see where I am going wrong.

southtowngirl

Forever, is the only way I'll be able to maintain it. I've learned that the hard way.

RattieLove

I think it's kind of addicting and fun I don't have a set stop date to counting cals, but I'm going to allow myself days where I don't have to count but still have to eat right, just so I don't feel so restricted allll my life. That's my plan for now. Enjoy the process and don't worry too much about the future. :flowerforyou:

AlsDonkBoxSquat

This is my new lifestyle, not my new diet. I find that my eye never matches my kitchen scale, so I will always live this lifestyle.

hill2302

I hope to continue to count in my own head for the rest of my life. I'll continue to log until I'm confident that the numbers I count in my head are reasonably close to reality. I don't want to fall into the trap of eating huge calorie bombs all the time.

BigBoneSista

I think looking at the calorie count of unknown foods will always be apart of my life. However, I don't think I will be as strict with logging as I've been in the past. I'm actually weaning myself now from doing it everyday. I eat basically the same foods most days anyways. Now on occasions I will get something new. Those are the days when I will log to see where I need to make adjustments.

llkilgore

I'll log everything at least until I'm in the habit of maintaining. Eventually I hope to reach the point when I can safely assign a set number of calories to cover my basic portion controlled menu for the day and then individually log the extras, treats, and other items that I don't eat as regularly. Do I need to hold myself accountable for every broiled chicken breast with a side of steamed broccoli I eat for the rest of my life? No, but I think it would be a good idea to continue to track the sorts of things that I know can get me into trouble, and maybe give myself a weekly calorie budget to cover them.