Women that don't live by calories- are you out there?

Im only 53% of the way to my goal...but stopping the counting is what has failed me in the past. So I will for the rest of my life log what I eat. Did you know that over eating by 100 calories a day can make you gain 10 lbs in a year? Obviously when I reach goal, I'll eat more because I wont be trying to lose weight anymore, but I'm still going to log it.

I would say go ahead and try it! Live on the wild side if you're ready

Im only 53% of the way to my goal...but stopping the counting is what has failed me in the past. So I will for the rest of my life log what I eat. Did you know that over eating by 100 calories a day can make you gain 10 lbs in a year? Obviously when I reach goal, I'll eat more because I wont be trying to lose weight anymore, but I'm still going to log it.

Yes, I know. BUT If you weigh every week or every month -- you would catch that weight gain BEFORE it becomes 10 lbs in one year.
When I'm done losing, I will just keep track of the scale - eat lighter if it goes up one week/month .

Calorie counting can distract you from life sometimes... it's sometimes a stress , I seem to want to measure everything.

It's just a personal preference. I dont stress about logging what I eat..and if I go over I go over, I don't stress about that either. My problem is the scale and I gain a lb and I'll be like "eh...its just a lb" and then that adds up over time. It will be different for everyone, but me personally I'd rather just hold myself accountable and log what I eat.

Nice streak BTW.
I think they are two different goals, but once you are near your target, as you are, experimenting with not logging will probably be good for you. You might find you are able to listen and gauge appropriately. Just know that if it doesn't work for you you can always start logging again, it can be a helpful refresher/reminder if you get off track.
Enjoy your trip!

I am almost 50. Last Jan was the first time in my life that I ever counted calories. My weight has been up and down in my life but I have always been active and always able to take it off. I have learned SO much from logging my calories and exercise!! Honestly though, I have not decided how long I will do this or at what consistency when I get to my goal (to be stronger and the most fit of my life).

I take my breaks here & there: I do prelog during the week for what I take to work for breakfast, lunch & snax but usually "forget" in the evenings when I get home. I've plateaued for the last several months (granted I go up & down by the proverbial 5 pounds depending on certain factors but I don't freak out). I workout A LOT - it appears you keep a good regiment as well, so I wouldn't worry. Keep up with eating what your body knows you like, workout at least a little when you can & you'll be fine.

I know if I buckle down, I can get rid of this last 10 that plague me, but it's good to know that I can forgo logging sometimes & as long as I keep up with my workouts I keep the same weight.

Enjoy your time away - a change of scenery is always good physically, mentally & spiritually :flowerforyou:

If you are eating as natural as you mentioned in your post, stop eating when full there is really no reason you need to count calories.

You are opting to QUALITY over the QUANTITY so you should be good to go.

Hello

As I become closer to my goal and becoming happy with my body I'm starting to wonder if I now need to really log everything I eat/ burn
I have a clear cut frame of mind of what is healthy, what benefits my body and what not to eat. I stick to a high protein, good carb diet full of veggies, some fruit and extras like flax, apple cider vinegar, supplements and all that gubbins. I can now and again give in to my chocolate cravings but I know how to swing it around and recover from a mini binge. I don't let it ruin my day now like it used to, hey we are only human after all!

I will be going abroad in 2 weeks and probably won't have access to the interent so will break my, what will be, 334 day run of logging in to MFP
I was thinking to use this as a break away from the monotony of logging every day and see how I go.

Are there any other females out there that do this, or males for that matter! And have you succeeded with your goals without logging your expended and consumed calories?

Probably no need in your case. You know how much you can eat and have a basic knowledge of the calories in what you eat. For someone starting out and having trouble knowing how much they actually eat, they need to log everything. But once you've figured it out, the need to log diminishes.

I can do that but I prefer to log to be safe. I'm at a point now where if I KNOW I'll be under my calories (just because I've mentally added up what I'm eating) then I wont log it. But if I've had a bunch of junk and need to do damage control, I'll log it.

If you figure this out , let me know. Logging gives me comfort and keeps me cognizant of what I am eating. Some days I am under my calories when I feel very full …so it helps me both ways, staying on the right calorie count, not over or under.

I for sure take breaks!! As a professional athlete I need to know what I have going in because I train so heavily but FOR SURE when I have a few weeks off in between events I take a breather to relax my mind . I like to know what is going in my body as well BUT moderation is key to everything :-0

Personally, I don't find it useful to count calories. I've lost weight over the past year without counting calories - I tend to know intuitively what foods are healthy for me, and I listen to my body. For me, what has made the most difference to my body is doing occasional fasts, and starting to do strength exercises. Occasional fasts help me become a lot more in tune with my body - I'm trying the 5:2 fasting thing now that there was a BBC documentary about it, but that seems a bit too regimented for me (and again involves counting calories, which I don't like). I think the fasts I just did naturally were probably best for me.

I do like to keep track of my food, but not in terms of calories - I like to take photos of all I eat and keep a photo blog. That makes me a lot more mindful about what I eat. I do keep track of my food here with the food diary, and have been doing so regularly for about a month, but I don't find it helpful - and it can be a bit of a hindrance at times, because when I see my food intake in terms of numbers, it stops me trusting my intuition and I become confused.

I have a friend who just reached her goal. And her first reaction was to say "How am I going to eat 500 more calories a day?" Now she's really struggling with the balance of maintenance. So she's still logging everything.

I've lost more than 100 lbs twice. And gained more than that back twice. I like the structure and reinforcement of logging. It makes me feel much less stressed about eating and much more satisfied with exercising (immediate positive reinforcement). I look forward to always logging and seeing the balance. It gives me the confidence that I can and will get to a healthy weight and this time be able to maintain it.

I started a topic similar to this a few months ago but the search function isn't that useful!

The issue is whether you'll really be eating the right amount. As someone said, you eat 100 calories over and you'll start putting it back on. That's how we started. As for eating intuitively, I guess I did that before and only when I logged it, I realised I was eating about 1200 a day which is too little for me. Is there anyone out there who is lean and eating intuitively... and not even exercising?

Another issue is that you said you still binge but know how to deal with it afterwards; if you don't log things, how will you know how much you binged with? As an aside, I'd speak to a therapist about why you need to binge. (I say this in a non-judgemental fashion.)

I'm a whole foods eater (nothing processed.. just food that comes from nature) and i HATE counting calories. I like to use MFP mainly to log in my workouts and some days i will log in what i eat but i never follow the "calories" that MFP tells me but anyway, by eating whole foods i dont believe in counting calories. I always seem to do better and lose weight when i dont count them and i've lost weight by eating like 3000 calories of whole foods before. Plus, i believe that its unhealthy to obsess with counting calories. If you work out and eat healthy then you'll be fine.