Do you plan to track for the rest of your life?

FITnFIRM4LIFE

2 years at goal, and still track daily except Sundays. Not sure? It has become a habit?

HannahJDiaz25

I currently only track about three days a week. It gives me snap shot of how I am doing intake wise, but It also doesn't demand so much time. I track mentally anyway (habit since high school) so logging my food just helps me keep an accurate idea of what I am consuming. I am not the type of person who can stick to logging three times a day seven days a week... Once I reach my goal I will probably only log ig I start gaining again. I have developed pretty healthy eating habits so I don't think there will be a problem.

carrieous

monitor, yes. track, no. If i start gaining, I will start tracking.

k8eekins

I am still quite a way from my goal, but already thinking ahead to when I hit it. I wonder, will I always need to track to hold myself accountable? Or will I learn the right way to eat and do so instinctively?

Do you plan to continue tracking when you've hit your goal?

If you have reached your goal, do you continue to track?

As much as I detest having to do it, I will still continue to (log), for I'd much prefer to be completely aware of what I'm consuming than the alternative, possibly inviting the risk of a repeat of when I wasn't holding myself accountable to what I'd allowed into my life. Ate as (much or as little as) I did, without a care to maintain my usual - being active (extreme) - outdoor/lifestyle sports.

judychicken

I have a way to go but yes I will track for the rest of my life to stay healthy and fit..

ChristiH4000

I don't know anything about the rest of my life. What I do know is that I joined MFP after I lost most of my weight for two reasons:
1 - To fine tune my diet and exercise so I can eventually hit my goal. 2 - To maintain the loss I've already experienced.

I've lost and gained weight so many times in my life and nothing was ever steady or permanent until now. I've maintained for two years and though I would like to pick back up on losing, that is something I've never been able to say before. With all that in mind, I can safely say that I will track myself the majority of the time going forward to keep myself accountable to myself.

neandermagnon

I can maintain my weight without tracking by making sensible food choices. I use this site to track when bulking or cutting

it wasn't always this way, I did use to be obese, but from all the tracking while I was getting back to a healthy body composition kind of made me get into the habit of eating the right sized portions to maintain my weight. I also paid a lot of attention to protecting my lean body mass, i.e. lifting weights, getting enough protein and not cutting my calories too low. This kind of thing has been shown to help a lot with long term maintenance.

zichab

Oh yes! I have been here so many times before. In the old days, with a pencil and paper and as soon as I reached my goal, I was over it and ...well.... here I am in the computer age - at it again! I have decided that logging in every day is what it will take for me to finish out the rest of my life at a normal healthy weight. In addition, I am older now and need to watch the sodium, sugar, calcium and iron macros to make sure I choose the right kind of calories. I no longer trust myself to do that with no accountability. Been there ... done that ... failed miserably! Having said this though, unless you are brand new to weight loss, you know your history and what you will need to do to maintain a healthy weight. My advice to you is to just do whatever it takes!

csuhar

I think I will, although there may be other methods that I use. I'm one of those people who has known that I will need to be conscious of what I eat since I was a "husky" little boy. As long as I'm in the military, it seems I'll have to fight to keep my waist within established standards. (Even at my healthiest, I only had 2.5" that my waist could increase by before I failed to meet standards, unlike my brother who, despite being only an inch shorter, could go up 11" in his waist before worrying about that.)

I used to track my diet by planning out my meals ahead of time and then giving myself a daily "allowance" for snacking. Now, I still do that but MFP allows me to also track "in real time", especilly because I can often look up meals at restaurants.

I may not use MFP later in my life. The internet does change, after all. But I do think that MFP has set a new standard by proving an online resource can provide a wealth of knowledge about the food we're eating and, therefore, help us account for our diets with greater precision.

After all, it's always easier to maintain weight than it is to lose it.

TT_luvs_fitness

most likely yes cause I find when I don't I eat out of control.

a778c466

I will definitely have too. I have been learning what foods are calorie dense and what foods are not, but in order for me to be able to maintain I will likely have to for a few years at least.

nineteenstars

Probably not to the extent that I do now. Yes, if I'm working at specific fitness goals. No, if I'm just going about day-to-day living, but still keeping my overall eating and fitness/weight range in check. It would be more likely that I'd monitor for a week, once a month, to make sure I'm still within an acceptable range.

susiemeri

I know I'll have to. In the past whenever I've stopped the weight has just crept back up. I want this to be my new way of living.

dmpizza

I already have a good sense of whether or not I will go over.
I just come here for the company.

dubird

Once I hit my target, I'll probally not keep track as carefully, but I will need to do a mental tally to maintain my weight. And I will keep weighing myself once a week, so if my weight starts going back up, I can correct BEFORE it becomes a problem!

kelsully

I am still quite a way from my goal, but already thinking ahead to when I hit it. I wonder, will I always need to track to hold myself accountable? Or will I learn the right way to eat and do so instinctively?

Do you plan to continue tracking when you've hit your goal?

If you have reached your goal, do you continue to track?

while I wish it didn't seem so necessary I will either log the rest of my life or i will likely gain weight, get slower or go off the deep end of over restricting to overcompensate for not logging

Kbriner0223

Yes! I plan to track for the rest of my life due to the fact that i can very easily faulter and i know my breaking points and once i hit them it is so hard to get back on track! I know that as long as i stay on track i can control what happens to my body(once i get better at tracking of course ) I think it is a life long learning lesson and that i deserve to give my body what it needs and to feel good about myself for the rest of my life. Not to feel good just when i get to my goal weight and then cave and gain it all back just to have to start all over again. This is kind of a ramble sorry lol! But everyone has a different way of doing things, once you learn what works best for you everything else with fall into place and you will know what needs to be done

rockingranny45

I don't track regularly now. For me it has helped to be conscious of what i eat. My daughter told me its not a diet its a life style change. That was wonderful insight. I have bought into that hook line and sinker. So i now eat healthy and my fitness has helped me to know what a correct portion is. I live in Texas and portions are crazy here.

Kathy_Noring

Yep.

This.

Once you hit goal weight, you don't automatically go back to eating more and magically not gaining it back.

?? Is this response to my question?

turnerkmj

Maybe not for the rest of my life...at least until my brain is in sync with my portions. Over time, tracking helps you develop a sense of portion size so when you stop tracking you have a sense of your calorie intake. If you see the weight slipping back on, then start tracking again. Its really one of the best ways you can see you intake/outtake with an analytically. But not just on calories consumption, your overall nutrition.

One of the things I like about tracking is the analysis. If I stop losing or start gaining, then I review some of my past successes and see what I did differently. If I am losing too slowly, I look for ways that I can increase my calorie deficit without compromising nutrition, such as through exercise or eliminating a particular item like bread.

Good Luck.