Do you ever feel like...

PercyPig
PercyPig Posts: 318
edited September 22 in Health and Weight Loss
... quitting logging food and just listening to your body? I sometimes feel like I spend my day calculating as to what I should still eat or obsessing when I've had a little bit too much and end up eating when I'm not hungry and vice versa.

Has any of you tried stepping away from the diary and the scale for a bit? How did that work out for you?

Replies

  • CroakerNorge
    CroakerNorge Posts: 165 Member
    There have been numerous studies about people who are dieting and those who aren't necessarily trying to lose weight, but are thin, that have the most success because they keep a food journal.

    You're probably in the dolldrums of your diet, it happens to everyone. Not tracking leads to no accountability which leads to weight gain. In my opinion.
  • casonyamc
    casonyamc Posts: 19
    PercyPig, I do sometimes feel like not logging my food, too but I like to see how many calories are in what I'm eating. I'm still trying to learn how many calories are too much for one food. I eat it as long as it's within my caloric intake. I don't eat up all of my calories most of the time becaue I don't know what to eat or how to eat healthy. This is all new to me becasue I went from eating fast food almost daily to not knowing what to eat. I'm hanging in there because I have had some progress and I know weigh loss doesn't happen overnight.
  • cjnorman
    cjnorman Posts: 93
    I feel like it is really good to log for at least 6 months. Or when you are trying out a new meal. Sometimes I am so surprised at the calories or carbs in something I think is really healthy. I also log my food because my naturopath wants to see how I have been doing in reducing my carbs and increasing my protein. She uses this site as a tool for her patients. Got to lose the belly fat and lower my blood suger level.
  • superwmn
    superwmn Posts: 936
    You don't have to sacrifice one for the other. They're ALL valuable tools. I listen to my body first and foremost. If I'm 'out' of calories but my tummy is grumbling, I eat. If I have calories left over and I'm full, I don't eat.

    I track my foods in a VERY relaxed way. I estimate and write it in my palm phone. All I keep is a running total so, in moments of weakness, I can use my tracking as a way to guage where I am so far in that particular day.

    They're all tools. We don't have to live or die by any of them :)

    Charmagne
  • PercyPig
    PercyPig Posts: 318
    Yeah I think I just need to be a little bit more relaxed about it all. It's all about finding the right balance, which I presume takes some time, especially at the beginning. It's very easy to get obsessed with this website! But I agree with you guys, I like to log the food as it makes me realise which foods are healthy and which aren't.
  • MonsteRawr
    MonsteRawr Posts: 95 Member
    Yes. Yes, I do.

    But let me tell you a story of what happened to a girl who stopped tracking her calories...

    I was super good yesterday. Tracked absolutely every-freakin'-thing that went in my mouth. I even tracked the two beers that I had at the bar last night. But about the time I entered my second beer, I began to feel (as I often do about that time of night) that I was sick of obsessing over every little thing that went in my mouth, and just for the rest of the night, I just wanted to do my thing and not freak out about food. So I decided I was done tracking for the night. I wasn't going to freak out, or anything, and I still had calories left. I just wasn't necessarily going to track everything.

    Three hours, two hotdogs, and a half box of Wheat Thins later, I decided that maybe I can't be trusted to eat responsibly without tracking.

    Now, maybe you're stronger than I am. Maybe you don't turn into a Munchie Monster every night at 10:00. So maybe you'd be okay. But I know that I would not, no matter how tired I get of entering my calories.

    Best of luck!
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