Is MFP a hindrance or a help?

UsedToBeHusky

I'm going to say no because people kept food diaries long before MFP came along. MFP just made it easier.

SueInAz

These forums are a time vacuum! That makes it a hindrance to my job but not my weight loss.

As far as logging goes, I was very diligent while I was losing weight. It kept me accountable more than anything else. Now that I'm in maintenance I still log most days but will often only during work hours to let me know how many calories I have left for dinner and a night time snack. Weekends I'll often skip, as well, but I start again on Monday so I can stay on track.

I firmly believe that as soon as we take our eye off the ball (i.e. the food log and the scale) for any length of time, we set ourselves up to gain weight. Most of us just don't have the ability to really judge what we're eating, especially when eating out and our clothes fit over a range of weight so 5 - 10 pounds can easily sneak back on if we lose focus.

jimandpam87

It's definitely a help for me. Like others have said, when I consistently log in and record my calories, I lose weight. When I try to do it mentally, I end up either maintaining or slowly gaining. For me, it's not really about knowing how much I'm eating. I find, especially at this point in my diet journey, I'm pretty accurate when it comes to estimating the number of calories I eat everyday. It's much more of an accountability thing in my case. When I know I have to physically see the list of foods I've eaten that day, I am much less likely to go overboard and eat junk. It's really easy for me to kind of be in a state of denial when I'm not actually seeing what I'm eating. For me, MFP keeps me accountable for the most part, and that's why I'll always use it as a weight loss tool.

joanthemom8

I have logged in for over 700 days. Most days, i complete my food diary. I notice, however, when I go a few days without complete logging, I end up gaining. I can trust my judement for a while, but then I end up underestimating what I am eating. There are many studies that show that keeping a food journal or diary is one of the best ways to lose weight. MFP just makes it easier to that.

angel79202

I lose when I log everything..when I slack, the scale shows..

devil_in_a_blue_dress

hindrance to failing, i suppose

jonnythan

With very few exceptions (ie things I haven't even the slightest clue how to log) I log EVERYTHING I eat. On most days, I plan my meals out before I even eat them.

Today I started thinking, am I becoming too dependent on MFP? Could I eat right, and not overeat without MFPs help? Does my diligent logging make the program a hindrance or a help?

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Well looking at your ticker, you weren't doing too well with the weight control thing before MFP. Neither was I. So....

bwogilvie

I like the way John Walker puts it in "The Hacker's Diet" (free online at http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/). His basic approach is to start from the premise that overweight people are that way because their "eat watch" (appetite, telling us when to eat and when to stop) is broken. Counting calories is a way to compensate for a broken appetite.

In his chapter "Perfect Weight Forever," Walker notes that it would be cruel to take a nearsighted person, give him or her glasses for a month and a half, and then take them away on the grounds that they've had enough time to learn to see without glasses. Well, as long as our appetites don't function properly, we need something to compensate for that fact. Food logging has been clinically proven to do so.