Do you???

zmzmzm19

Absolutely, I log everything......not only does it keep me honest with myself, it makes me realize just how many calories are in certain things.

Casey45

Including water, I log everything. This is a life style change, I spent 50+ years practising increasingly POOR eating/ exercise habits. And it got me to 31BMI and around 60-70 pounds overweight. In August last year, nearing my 53rd birthday and struggling to carry laundry up the stairs, something finally clicked. It was time to really change. I took a hard hard look at what I'd done to get there and what I'd tried, what had failed.

The hard truth is, (and what most of the long term successful MFP'ers also practise) losing weight is hard work. Exercise won't do it, diet won't do it. You need both. And for those of us who are more than just a little overweight or clinically obese, all the research shows that strict counting (weighing, recording) of calories in and calories out (via heart rate monitoring) is the MOST effective way to teach oneself and completely shift lifestyle. Face it, for this to be a long term success, it requires long term (life long) changes. Anything else is just temporary and will lead to failure.


Weight Watchers works (at least initially) because of the monitoring of the calorie equation. They do it through an "easy to understand" point system. That's marketese for "you won't have to be responsible for learning anything about what your body needs, we'll do it for you and as a side benefit (for us) we'll create a dependence on our system (i.e. revenue stream) from you to us". Like any business, WW's primary objective is to make money off of its customers. Sure they want to help clients lose weight, but more than that, they want a piece of the enourmous get-skinny-without-having- to-work-hard-at- it-market in North America. And they want to create continuing business (client relationship).

I have no problem with people making money, but when it comes to being a part of this sector of the economy, I'm learning to be a much more savvy consumer. The book I cite below has a key question for everybody embarking in this fitness/weight loss industry: "you should assess every fitness claim - whether it is a new form of exercise or an amazing new product (raspberry ketones anybody?) after first asking yourself this question: does anyone benefit financially from creating the perseption that this works? If the answer is yes, adopt a healthy dose of skepticism."


I did the Weight Watchers thing years ago. Yes, in the short term for most of its clients, the point system works. But long term? What is it's independently assessed success rate? It's a rare customer in WW who learns about the NUTRITIONAL distribution of those calories in, and the most accurate methods to track calories out (not to mention the way you need to exercise to get the fat off). I lost 15 pounds, went off it (figuring I learned what I needed) then slowly gained it all back ..... and way way more.

So yes, track all consumption (even water) so you can also follow the nutritional distribution of those calories. You need to have a healthful distribution carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Not to mention fiber, and for us "older" women (NOT ME! tee-hee) CALCIUM. Sodium is another mineral one responder pointed out they track - me too.

And cheating? No room for that way of thinking for me anymore. Cheating implies there is something distasteful, unpleasant, undesierable, and ultimately, transient about the way one eats the other days of the week.

Having a decadent cupcake from Crave, wine, a hot Italian sausage is not cheating unless I choose to think of it that way. OF course if I eat that way too much of the time, I will not gain the health benefits of clean eating and hard workouts that form the foundation of my new way of caring for myself.

This rant brought to you by my continuing exploration of : "The Cure For Everything! Untangling the Twisted Messages About Health, Fitness and Happiness" by Timothy Caulfield, a professor int he Faculty of Law and the School of Public HYealth as well as research director of the Health Law and Science Policy Group at the University of Alberta.

RANT OVER

bcattoes

Yes I log them. Some vegetables have quite a bit of calories. Besides my dinner would look sad just logged as brown rice and olive oil.

yoovie

Including water, I log everything. This is a life style change, I spent 50+ years practising increasingly POOR eating/ exercise habits. And it got me to 31BMI and around 60-70 pounds overweight.

All the research shows that strict counting (weighing, recording) of calories in and calories out (via heart rate monitoring) is the MOST effective way to learn what each person need to do in the calories in/out equation to lose weight.

For profit set ups like Weight Watchers work (at least initially) because of the monitoring of the calorie equation. They do it through an "easy to understand" point system. That's marketese for "you won't have to be responsible for learning anything about what your body needs, we'll do it for you and as a side benefit (for us) we'll create a dependence on our system (i.e. revenue stream from you to us)".

I did the Weight Watchers thing years ago. Yes it is a method to monitor calories in/out but you really don't learn about the NUTRITIONAL distribution of those calories. I lost 15 pounds, went off it (figuring I learned what I needed, then slowly gained it all back ..... and way way more).

So yes, track all consumption (even water) so you can also follow the nutritional distribution of those calories. You need to have a healthful distribution carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Not to mention fiber, and for us "older" women (NOT ME! tee-hee) CALCIUM. Sodium is another mineral one responder pointed out they track - me too.

And cheating? No room for that way of thinking for me anymore. Cheating implies there is something distasteful, unpleasant, undesierable, and ultimately, transient about the way one eats the other days of the week.

Having a decadent cupcake from Crave, wine, a hot Italian sausage is not cheating unless I choose to think of it that way. OF course if I eat that way too much of the time, I will not gain the health benefits of clean eating and hard workouts that form the foundation of my new way of caring for myself.

This rant brought to you by my continuing exploration of : "The Cure For Everything! Untangling the Twisted Messages About Health, Fitness and Happiness" by Timothy Caulfield, a professor int he Faculty of Law and the School of Public HYealth as well as research director of the Health Law and Science Policy Group at the University of Alberta.

RANT OVER

BECAUSE OBV WE DESERVED TO GET YELLED AT FOR OUR STUPIDITY IN NOT TRACKING THAT GRAPE!
I saw you eat it! You sneaked it!

ElizabethRoad

I'm guessing that anyone who says you don't have to log your vegetables eats very few of them.

MoreBean13

I just looked back at my diary, and fruits and veggies make up about 20-25% of my daily calories...so yes I log them, and I weigh almost all of them to get accurate numbers.

rml_16

I agree *most* veggies are pretty low in calories, but fruit can add up quickly.

If you can achieve the results you want not logging them, then go for it. But I log mine.

IllianaIman

I log everything because I'm also watching my sodium

I was wondering how do you add the sodium in the food bar, i just have :

Calories/ Carbs /Fat /Protein


Thanks

From your home page, hit "Settings" and then "Diary Settings" and you can add it.

Thank you so much!!!!

Casey45

@ Yoovie. Sorry didn't mean to sound like I was yelling. I just feel so strongly about how we in North America are facing an uphill battle to be healthy. I've been learning so much in the last few months I want to shout it from the rooftops. Face it, over half of us, maybe me included, will lose weight then gain it all plus some back. I've never lost this much weight, so slowly in my life. The difference for me has been education. Perhaps I was an ignorant slut before, perhaps still am.

Doubly difficult for me is the fact that my husband who is very obese, wants to lose weight like he sees me doing, but hasn't fully commited to making it the result of life style change, not simply "gotta lose weight".

So, again sorry for ranting, yelling, etc.

sandraDallas

Yes, I'm logging everything I eat - I find that I make better choices just knowing I'm going to be logging them.

As for fruit, I need to log it because I have a sweet tooth and could easily go over the recommended amount of sugar for the day.

yoovie

@ Yoovie. Sorry didn't mean to sound like I was yelling. I just feel so strongly about how we in North America are facing an uphill battle to be healthy. I've been learning so much in the last few months I want to shout it from the rooftops. Face it, over half of us, maybe me included, will lose weight then gain it all plus some back. I've never lost this much weight, so slowly in my life. The difference for me has been education. Perhaps I was an ignorant slut before, perhaps still am.

Doubly difficult for me is the fact that my husband who is very obese, wants to lose weight like he sees me doing, but hasn't fully commited to making it the result of life style change, not simply "gotta lose weight".

So, again sorry for ranting, yelling, etc.

Nah its cool. I have a hard time tracking EVERYTHING because ive just been doing thisfor so long, that I know what Im eating.

First I tracked it.
Slowly It got memorized.
Eventually it became what I consider to be fuel comprehension.

Just simply understanding what Im eating without HAVING to do the math.

Cause its a lifestyle, not an app

shirsch52

Whats the point of logging if you selectively leave things out because you "dont' want them to count against your calories"? Isn't that kind of defeating the point?

This

Karalopolous

I'm guessing that anyone who says you don't have to log your vegetables eats very few of them.

Um, I ate a banana for breakfast, a crown of broccoli for lunch, a side salad for lunch, I had some celery, for dinner I will be eating more salad and then for a snack most likely an orange/apple. and some califlower too.


As for the other comments, thanks...just interested to what everyone feels about this. Awesome thing about this site is we can use it how we want and change it if we want to as well. I do like the aspect of looking back to see how my diet has changed due to increasing my fruit and veggie intake. Food for thought

Steve_Runs

If I were your friend on here and didn't see them, I'd be asking you where they were. Log them!

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

i surely log them. i eat a lot of them.

Krissy366

I'm guessing that anyone who says you don't have to log your vegetables eats very few of them.

This.