Maintainers-Do you eat just to reach your goal?

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  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
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    I appreciate all of the positive feed back on this subject. I am going with the advice of don't eat if you are not hungry...it will even out. Something that I neglected to mention in my original post is that I have Crohn's disease. Eating too much or eating the wrong things can cause me major problems. I feel confident that if I stick to the plan of trying to meet my goals without forcing it, it will even out in the end. Trust me, there are plenty of days when I just can't seem to get enough to eat!
  • kluvit
    kluvit Posts: 435 Member
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    This is why I eventually stopped logging all together (have been maintaining for over 1.5 years). Some days I am hungrier than others. By nature, my body doesn't want 1800 calories a day, every day. I logged and maintained for about a year and then finally stopped. I got to the point where I knew what I should eat, how much of it, etc. Some days I know I am under and other days I know I am over. If over the course of a week it balances out, I wouldn't sweat it. Listening to your body is more important than hitting a specific number every day. I wouldn't give that advice to someone just starting out but at this point in the game, absolutely follow your own hunger instincts.

    ^This!
    I only log when I need to lose a couple of pounds. When I'm maintaining, logging causes me to search for snacks that I don't really need or want just because I can w/i my macros. I know that without logging somedays I'm under and some days I'm over, but for the past 15 months or so, I've been able to maintain for 2-3 months without logging. Then I catch myself starting bad habits like increasing portions, eating more meals (w/o cutting back on portions) or exercising less. At that point, I'll log for a little while to get back on track, but then I stop logging as soon as I catch myself eating to reach a calorie goal.
  • whitebalance
    whitebalance Posts: 1,654 Member
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    News flash...if you don't eat to a maintenance level of calories, you will not maintain...you're not in mainteancne if you continue to eat at a deficit...eating isn't hard...

    OP...my guess is you are probably lacking in dietary fat because fat is "bad" right? Eat more healthy fat...you don't have to stuff your face to up your calories. Again...eating is pretty flippin' easy...how the hell else did you get to the point of needing to diet?

    All that said, are you netting out throughout the week? It's not really a day to day thing...you can be under one day and over another, etc...it's all about making it work over a period of time, not just 24 hours. Just eat flippin' food.

    I realize that if I do not eat my maintenance calories I will lose weight. This is exactly what I am getting at. I eat a ton of food...check out my diary. I do not have a "fat phobia". I eat plenty of fat. I am a small person. I weigh around 100 pounds, and actually would be ok with putting on a few. I currently have my calories set at 1900 calories, a lot for someone my size. And, yes, without eating foods that are going to make me feel like crap, sometimes I have a hard time reaching my goals. I was curious to see if others have this same problem and how they handle it. Obviously, based on the responses, I am not the only one.

    Have a glass of wine or two and chill out. I find it rather ironic that it's primarily women that have this issue. I stick to my original statement that eating is not hard. For whatever reason, people get on MFP and all of a sudden can't friggin' eat food. It's absurd.
    I'm female... I'm on MFP... I can eat food. Lots and lots of food. No problem with that here. :bigsmile: But I don't bother "eating up" if I find myself under calorie target, nor do I freak out a lot if I find myself over (although I do take that as a challenge to move more). it seems to balance out over time... in the four months since I hit my weight goal and started maintaining, my weight trend has never been more than a pound away from that goal weight.

    I do log and weigh daily, though. Aside from the fact that I'm still training because I want to reduce BF%... I just kind of like measuring. :shrug:
  • ChrisS30V
    ChrisS30V Posts: 157 Member
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    I just try to be in the ballpark of my maintenance cals everyday (in my case 2500) and don't really worry about whether it's under or over because I'm not logging anymore. Obviously, on running days I try to eat back some of my exercise, but on other days I more or less try to be + or - or a couple hundred cals of 2500. It's worked great so far.
  • PaulaKro
    PaulaKro Posts: 5,705 Member
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    Bump
  • Chuki5
    Chuki5 Posts: 73 Member
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    good post.........I am getting close to goal and I was really thinking this is going to be a life long deal......I have gone back to 1990 as far as weight level....I do know this.......NO PROBLEMA stuffin in the cals .. and now I am a exercise addict...but for the most part gave up bread and pasta a year ago......would love some mac and cheese...I eat good fat foods every day and could easily triple the amount of nut mix I eat....I love the avocado and could easily eat a few a day.....I think I will be forced to monitor for a while before I would trust myself to not eat too many....I do now have a super increased knowledge about cals in every kind of food but wouldn't be able to keep track of them for the whole day.... thanks everyone for your opinions posted..good FOOD for thought....lol
  • liftingheavy
    liftingheavy Posts: 551 Member
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    I am below goal some days and I do not try to find them on a daily basis. I find that I end up right where I need to be on a weekly basis because I am a strict 80/20 person
  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,890 Member
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    I'm struggling to get the balance right too. I try not to eat if I'm not hungry but I'm usually hungry. ;)
  • DonM46
    DonM46 Posts: 771 Member
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    I'm not smart enough to terminate logging. The only time I eat something to bring up my total calorie intake is if I'm WAAAY under for the day. Conversely, if I'm a little over, I don't get too excited.
    Since reaching my goal in November of 2011, I've stayed within plus/minus 4 pounds. Right now, I'm about 2 under.
    The logging is a wonderful guide to keep me in the ballpark.
    Were it not for that, I'd have no idea where I was until my next weigh-in (about every ten days).
    If I'm not hungry, I don't eat just to get my numbers up.
    But some peanut butter & crackers works wonders to keep the numbers in line.
  • balancedbrunette
    balancedbrunette Posts: 530 Member
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    This was also my concern when I moved to maintenance, some days I just wasn't hitting my goal but I seem to be doing better now and it is like what a lot of people on here have said listening to your body helps, if you're really not hungry or you don't even feel like a snack in the evening then don't make yourself eat just to reach targets. If you're worry is that you will still be loosing perhaps add a bit more portion to your dinner or snack on foods during the day, things such as almonds or a piece of fruit or yoghurt - this is what I often did. I'm maintaining now but also focusing on body comp so for me I'm working on trying to hit my protein macros especially, so sometimes I would have a treat in the evening focused around this - in saying that I still enjoy chocolate and don't deprive myself.

    It takes some time but eventually you will just fall into the pattern of maintenance, for me i've found i can maintain at about 1450-1500 calories every day and perhaps upto 1700 at the weekend or on days i do training, I still log daily but I find it does all balance out over the week so don't get to worried if your not meeting daily goals every single day. :)
  • wild_wild_life
    wild_wild_life Posts: 1,334 Member
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    Let it go. Don't eat if you're not hungry, unless you somehow find you continue losing well below where you'd like to be. This should not be a battle with your body.
  • rummyqueen
    rummyqueen Posts: 153 Member
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    I only eat when I am hungry and I eat what ever I am in the mood for in portions,Doesn't matter if I reach my goal or not.When you are hungry eat,if not then don't,thats what I do.
  • erikmsp72
    erikmsp72 Posts: 137 Member
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    I do eat to get to goal. I also plan ahead, so if I know I'm going to a potluck or whatever I am figuring out what I will eat there, generally speaking.

    If it's one of those days where I get to near bedtime and I'm still 400 calories low -- I eat a couple servings of walnuts and some chocolate chips. Done! :)
  • Seesawboomerang
    Seesawboomerang Posts: 296 Member
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    I never eat to make up my numbers. Usually if I'm low one day, I'll go over the next.
  • phillinnz
    phillinnz Posts: 82 Member
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    Listen to your body. If you are not hungry, don't eat
  • jazml4
    jazml4 Posts: 2
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    I found that in the beginning i used to eat enough to make sure i used my daily allowance and realised that this was hindering me and stopping me losing my full potential.

    Personally as a few posts have read.... if you are not hungry then don't eat HOWEVER if you are hungry a small handfull of oats or a glass of WATER work wonders to get you by before bed!
  • Pamko57
    Pamko57 Posts: 182
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    I haven't read the whole thread, but I just wanted to say I don't eat to be eating. Sometimes I have 1200 and don't worry about it, because there will be days I have 2300, particularly on weekends. I just try to get it to average out.

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