to log it or disregard it...

ccmulder5

ok, so this is probably none of my business, but can't help but wonder, what is the point of NOT logging your food? when you've come to this site to help better yourself, isn't the point of logging ALL of your food (as best you can) to know where you're at, learn from your mistakes, and use this as a tool to attempt to better yourself? i have read countless comments by so many people that have just "written it off" because they "blew it". i do understand that of course it's gonna happen.. it happens to me. when TOM's in town (the *kitten*) thing's can get out of control.. however, i'm learning to better myself by being honest with myself. knowing that i'm going to be logging everything help me to pay more attention to what is going in my mouth. pretending it didn't happen is how i got here in the first place.

i'm not trying to judge.. because everyone has their own reasons for doing what they do. i wish everyone only the best.. this has been on my mind for a little while now, and i thought i would post it to possibly obtain some insight!

caroline

SunnyDuckz

Some days I'm unable to get online so I log in my notebook... just because my virtual diary is empty doesn't mean I "blew it".
Not sure about other people though.

DiamondRubyMom

Well if you want honesty there are some days i just don't want to look that number in the face. I try to forget that day happened, brush myself off, and strive to do better tomorrow.

elmobabie84

Even if i have days where i blow it i still log everything i ate and then i work my butt off to fix the damage i did.

littleali

Yesterday I didn't log because I knew I wouldn't learn anything by my 'mistakes'. It was a concious effort to eat more because I was celebrating something. A lot of the time I just feel it's pointless to be constantly reminded of failures that I'm already acutely aware of.

Chemdee

I try to log everything but my guess is that perhaps some people want to use this tool to focus on the positive and on their successes and good choices. They know, in their mind, where they have "blown it". I think the act of logging itself is so motivating for me.

sharidiane

isn't the point of logging ALL of your food (as best you can) to know where you're at, learn from your mistakes, and use this as a tool to attempt to better yourself

Yes. Yes, I believe that is the point of this site ..... for you. It may not be the point of this site for everyone.

MFP is an incredible tool. I saw someone else call it a swiss army knife. And if you need a knife, then that may be all that you use the site for. But it's much more than a knife, and someone else may use it in a completely different way.

/just sayin.

thurberj

I have been traveling for about 3 weeks. some days the food I eat is easy to figure out, but some days when at a fancy restaurant with complex menus, it would be impossible to figure out the ingredients. I feel if I'm on vacation and I log most days it's ok. There is no way to figure out some dining options, even if it is chicken or fish and I do want to enjoy a special meal which might include sauces that have ???? in them. BTW, 3 days after getting home, I am down another pound:laugh:

nomnomgal

The only time I don't log my food is when I have absolutely NO idea what the caloric intake was. Sometimes I try to guestimate and put a quick calorie number, but like when I go to a restaurant, I just leave it blank and deal with the scale the next day!

cat3nv

I have not logged in months. Really since summer began. I am a SAHM and a full time student. I took 2 classes during the 1st summer semester and they kicked my butt. So with all the busy busy stuff going on I have not logged a lot.

On the days I think I really screwed up, or want a little extra I log my food to see where I stand. I am still loosing and getting smaller since summer began, so I know I have not completely blown it yet. I am not where I would like to be right now, but I also am not gaining so I will count that as good.

Once the kiddos are back in school and I have free computer time I will log religiously again.

BarnDogBob

I log to educate myself as I eat different foods. My biggest shock before MFP was just how many calories I consumed daily. It was shocking and easy to correct but you do have to log everything to get the whole picture. I think after a while you kind of get a feel for how many calories you are consuming from experience logging so many different foods.

RMinVA

I get that some people just don't have the time to log some days. What drives me nuts is people asking for feedback on their diets, when they don't have a thing logged.

From whatever angle you approach it, the thing is you have to be honest with yourself. I lost my first 30 lbs w/o tracking a single calorie and just measuring portions. When I started to count, I used to disregard the days I splurged too and just entered a lump sum calorie count of 2000. But when I started logging everything I realized a lot of my splurge days were much more than that...mostly due to poor food choices and alcoholic beverages. By logging everything, it made me see where I could make better choices. It also helped me to see if there was a pattern, so that I could plan a bit better. Over time, most of my splurge days got to be less and less calorie wise.

Our regular weekends at the beach are my downfall, and I also came to the conclusion that I could either eat healthy and enjoy a few adult beverages, OR splurge a bit on food, and skip the adult beverages. But I can't do both. Now if I could just practice that consistently :-)

jarrettd

I believe in being true to myself when logging, and I usually am. But there have been a few instances since I joined where it really wasn't possible to even estimate the damage.

Case in point: last night was date-night, the first since I started this new lifestyle. Hubby is normally very supportive, but not all the old habits are succumbing in a timely fashion. Yep...he took me to a HUGE buffet. I thought about asking to go elsewhere, but felt at the time that it was more important to protect the harmony of our rare evening out. Predictably, I lost the strength to make good choices pretty quickly. I made better choices than I would have in my old life, and my portions were tiny (mostly as a consequence of wanting to leave enough room to taste EVERYTHING.) But I blew it in a major way.

I could tell you how many plates of food I consumed. If pressed, I could maybe remember the kind and quantity of maybe half of what I consumed. I could not begin to list it in such a way where even a ballpark calorie content would be possible. So rather than obsess over my loss of control, my failure to eat consciously and carefully, and my base betrayal of everything my life has been about for several months now, I chose to let it go.

It's not a "get out of trouble free" type of reaction. It's protecting myself from a downward spiral that would lead right back to my old ways. I'm aware that I undid weeks of work for a single meal (it was good, but not THAT good). It's an educational opportunity. Acknowledge it. Own it. Learn from it. Move on.

melaniecheeks

The beauty of this site as there is no right or wrong way to use it.

It's a fantastic food logging tool, and many people use it to its full potential for that. But if others dont want to record what they ate, then that's fine, its totally up to them.

If users want feedback on their diary, then they should make it public, deffo. I haven't come across a request for diary advice that DOESN'T have a public diary (at least, after prompted)

gettinghealthy777

ok, so this is probably none of my business, but can't help but wonder, what is the point of NOT logging your food? when you've come to this site to help better yourself, isn't the point of logging ALL of your food (as best you can) to know where you're at, learn from your mistakes, and use this as a tool to attempt to better yourself? i have read countless comments by so many people that have just "written it off" because they "blew it". i do understand that of course it's gonna happen.. it happens to me. when TOM's in town (the *kitten*) thing's can get out of control.. however, i'm learning to better myself by being honest with myself. knowing that i'm going to be logging everything help me to pay more attention to what is going in my mouth. pretending it didn't happen is how i got here in the first place.

i'm not trying to judge.. because everyone has their own reasons for doing what they do. i wish everyone only the best.. this has been on my mind for a little while now, and i thought i would post it to possibly obtain some insight!

caroline

I agree with you. I log in every day because if I don't, the reports page is going to be wrong. Also, if you have bad days, you can look back and see what may have triggered them, that's why I write in the journal at the bottom. If something was going on that day, I can look back and try to correct it, before I make the mistake of going overboard

gettinghealthy777

ok, so this is probably none of my business, but can't help but wonder, what is the point of NOT logging your food? when you've come to this site to help better yourself, isn't the point of logging ALL of your food (as best you can) to know where you're at, learn from your mistakes, and use this as a tool to attempt to better yourself? i have read countless comments by so many people that have just "written it off" because they "blew it". i do understand that of course it's gonna happen.. it happens to me. when TOM's in town (the *kitten*) thing's can get out of control.. however, i'm learning to better myself by being honest with myself. knowing that i'm going to be logging everything help me to pay more attention to what is going in my mouth. pretending it didn't happen is how i got here in the first place.

i'm not trying to judge.. because everyone has their own reasons for doing what they do. i wish everyone only the best.. this has been on my mind for a little while now, and i thought i would post it to possibly obtain some insight!

caroline

I agree with you. I log in every day because if I don't, the reports page is going to be wrong. Also, if you have bad days, you can look back and see what may have triggered them, that's why I write in the journal at the bottom. If something was going on that day, I can look back and try to correct it, before I make the mistake of going overboard

DropsOJupiter

For me, on the rare occasion I don't log food, it is cuz I am either in denial or ashamed of what I've consumed (usually after a binge darn it!) In reviewing my diary (I know ya do!) you won't find many empty spots thank goodness. That said, for me any way, I need my food log so I can accurately assess what I'm doing and keep up with the carbs.

I understand that folks use mfp for different things. Like a previous poster stated, the thing about diaries that gets me is when someone asks for help and there's nothing there to assess. I also don't like some of the folks who are overly critical when reviewing diaries as we are all different and need different nutrients. So this is why I only have it open to "friends" cuz I know they are interested and offer constructive suggestions...and keep me honest!

waterjogger

I always try to log everything-the good, the bad, and the ugly. It is hard when I'm on vacation and eating out a lot but I still try to "guesstimate" and log something close so I have a general idea of what I'm eating. MFP makes it much easier to keep track-I used to try to use a notebook but it got to be complicated and time consuming. I think that's part of the reason I've had more success this time around because it's easy with my computer and blackberry-and you can't beat free!!!:happy:

ilikejam33

Logging everything everyday has been a huge eye opener and a huge motivator. I think that how you use the site will depend on how well you can do without it. Me...not so good on my own

At work just last week everyone was getting donuts, and Im standing in line at Tim's looking longingly at the boston cream, and blueberry fritters, when i thought about having to log it, i didnt want to see it writern down so i passed on the donut. I am the kind of person who need the log to keep me honest. There is actually a lot of food i will choose not to eat becasue I dont want to see it in wrtting....lol

Plus knowing there was a day i went over helps me balance out my week better to ensure overall at the end of the week i am still on track.

jillwaller

I always log everything- just because it was so eye-opening to me! I work out all the time, but I was still gaining weight. I realized it was because I actually went so overboard when I did have heavy workouts. I would get this mindset of "Oh, well I ran this much and did this, I can eat everything!" ...But when "everything" is just junk, it adds up fast. Now I feel like I have to log, just so I don't binge after workouts. But I mean it's different for everyone, and if you do have something that's relatively insignificant (like taking a grape off someone's plate) I could understand not logging that.

SmartFunGorgeous

My diary is open to the public and a lot of friends actually look at it when they comment (for the record, I rarely look at anyone else's diary; idk why, just me, I guess!); so when I have those really bad days... and thankfully, I've only had one in the past six weeks... I log the food, but I don't finish the update until the next day! It may be sneaky, but I want to keep an accurate record, since I can look at the week's goals and maybe stay under for the week, even if that one day was blown, but I also don't want a lot of negative comments... or even comments that aren't negative in the least, but only compound the guilt I'm already feeling.

If I eat it, I log it. Ooops! I had an apple last night I didn't log. Huh. Well, if I eat it, I almost always log it! lol I just may not let anyone else know how bad I did. :blushing:

p.s. I went over this Tuesday by around 1800 calories! But I've stayed under the rest of the week, so that today, the final count for MFP's tracker, shows that I was under my goal by around 100 calories. So that's why I log- so I can fix my mistakes!!! :flowerforyou:

veggiepug

Not logging for me turns into two days of not logging, then three, then a week, and so on and so on. If I force myself to track and see the damage, I'm much more likely to get my butt back on track ASAP. I went out for Mexican last night, and ended up eating/drinking more than I had planned. In the past I would have just said "oh well, I blew it, might as well blow it for the rest of the weekend and start over on Monday." Instead, I forced myself to track, saw that I ate 3,000 calories yesterday, and now I'm back on track. I know how much damage I did, so I know how much I need to make up for it at the gym.

It also helps to keep a log of EVERYTHING in case you have a gain. If I have an unexpected gain, I can look back in my diary and see where I went wrong.

I try to live by the motto of "track it and move on."

LorinaLynn

I only log Monday through Friday now, because that's my version of maintenance. A tiny deficit during the week, then playing it by ear over the weekend. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but it's something that works for me.

I probably don't really eat any MORE over the weekends (unless there's a party or something). I just don't want to be so obsessed over everything I eat that I need to count out everything. I'm confident in not only my ability to not binge enough for it to make a real difference, but also in my ability to rein it back in once the weekend is over.

I want eating healthy and making good choices, coupled with regular exercise and being physically active, to be my "lifestyle change." The act of counting calories is not the change I want. Not long term.

Dtho5159

I usually log everyday but Saturday. Saturdays we typically go out with my mom and have some sort of buffet meal out, which is nearly impossible to track. That is my "over" day and my "I don't give a crap day" and for me, its worked. It helps my metabolism by "jumpstarting" it and zig zagging if you will.

Nana_Anne

I log everything more for my own record of not only calories but fat grams and sat fat. I can also switch the settings and check my protien, ect.. This is easier then in my daytimer. I like having a few close friends here. I haven't seen anyone judge another just love and support. We have all been there. I have had friends say I'm not eatting enough when I go days at 800 and they say that because they care. I could not seem to disply self control over the Nips on my desk! Someone told me they have the same problem. I guees why lie to myself. I've been doing that for years.

espinozAgal

good question. I log every bite!! It's obsessive now! The other day I went over my limit for the first time in 8 months!! I was over by 1000 calories!!! I logged every bit of it. I needed to see it and then I could move on.