Does tracking calories etc ever end?

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  • DG_Allen
    DG_Allen Posts: 219 Member
    I've basically been on a diet for the past 20 years. By that I mean I'm always learning more and honing how I eat and exercise. LIke someone already said, it's a lifelong process. I go up and down a little and at this point I'm basically in the best shape of my life.
  • BackTatJIM
    BackTatJIM Posts: 1,140 Member
    I would think you would get a great idea of how many calories you are eating on MFP so when you no longer use it you shouldn't have any problems
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    I reached my initial goal a year ago, lost a little more, and have been maintaining since October, with some weight fluctuation. (I'm about 10 pounds heavier than I was in Oct., but I'm wearing jeans today I bought then, and I'm constantly tugging these suckers up!)

    A year ago, I stopped logging on weekends and holidays, and now I only log sporadically.... maybe a few days a week. When it's too much of a hassle - when I'm eating foods other people prepared - I don't bother. If I start to blow up like a Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade float... I'll be more strict about logging again.
  • nikkishai
    nikkishai Posts: 407 Member
    This is all so helpful. I was just wondering this because I love to enjoy beer about once a month and this weekend I drank Friday and Saturday night. I did my usual workouts and ate healthy but was 3lbs heavier. I don't want to never be able to indulge without feeling guilty. I certainly do not ever want to get as big as I was either.

    Ohhh! I see what you mean! I still endulge every now and again (enjoyed a Sonic burger with a mini M&M blast Sunday afternoon)... I didn't log it, but I made sure to work out hard the next day. Sometimes, I'll just toss in an extra 200-400 calories in my food tracker to cover the handful of chocolate I ate at the nail shop (yesterday).
  • PosyPods
    PosyPods Posts: 25
    I don't intend to stop tracking. Maybe experimenting for a week, just to see, but otherwise, no. I lost 80lbs in the past by tracking what I ate, and only maintained it for a couple of months without tracking before I started gaining again. In my case, once I started eating a little bit of that bad food without consequence I basically reignited a food addiction. Also, when you hit your goal weight, it's easy to feel like it's not a big deal if you gain a couple of pounds. For instance, I thought if I stayed within a 5lb+/- range of my goal weight I would be fine. Instead, by the time I gained five pounds, I had already lost control, and five pounds quickly became 60lbs.

    Anyway, at the very least, I've learned that I have to measure what I eat. It doesn't matter if I eat the same thing every single day for ten years - I'm (like most people) awful at guessing portion sizes. Putting it all online just adds a sense of accountability for me, really.

    Although, I will say that this time around I am trying to be more lax in general. The first time I tracked my calories, I was downright obsessive about it. So there was really no wiggle room and I didn't know how to eat without using a calorie tracker. This time I am paying more attention to what it's like preparing my food in the kitchen, eating it, how much fills me up, etc. as opposed to just looking at the numbers on here. That way, I actually know what I'm doing and am less tempted to give in and just go crazy if I don't have the internet to search for and record everything.
  • skinnylove00
    skinnylove00 Posts: 662 Member
    this is prrrrrrrrobably going to be a lifelong process for me. a couple weeks back i decided to take a break and it ended up being a week long FULL ON binge streak. tracking my food is comforting. i LIKE seeing the carbs/protein levels i eat. kind of over the OBSESSING part now it feels like, natural. this is what i do.

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