I stopped counting!

I have been an MPF member for three years. Counting calories was an eye opening experience and helped me to learn how to eat in a healthy manner. Throughout my entire weight loss effort, my approach has been that whatever I do to lose the weight must what I am willing to do to for the remainder of my life in order to maintain my weight. My meals are nearly all home cooked using mostly fresh ingredients. My activities incorporate exercise into my daily habits (walking to the train station for my commute to work). Over the past three years, I think I have developed a healthy lifestyle that I can sustain.

My weight has been stable for a year and a half. While I would still like to lose 15 pounds, my current weight allows me to life the life I would like.

At the beginning of this month I stopped logging my food on MFP. Previously I had been very dedicated to logging; every bite I ate was recorded. But over the past few months, I stopped logging when I traveled. While I ate reasonably well on the road, I also did not worry about gaining a few pounds. They would quickly come off when I returned home and back into my routines. I took another trip at the start of the this month and then decided to not log my foods when I got back home. I have a daily calorie limit in mind and mentally keep track of my total consumption.

I think my well entrenched healthy habits will allow me to maintain my weight. I do weight myself everyday and doing so will let me know when I am outside my five pound buffer. It just feels good to not worry about every single bite and allow myself the freedom to indulge every once in a while.

I've learned a lot about myself and living a healthy life since I began my weight loss journey four years ago. I need to acknowledge the confidence I have to myself and know I am committed to maintaining all that I have accomplished.

I have made the decision to stop counting all my calories. I found that I was forming unhealthy habits and was being controlled by numbers. I have no idea how many calories I ate today, or how many I'll eat tomorrow. I'm going to continue like this for a few weeks before I weight in...hopefully I find that I can maintain like this :]

just watch your macros... a calorie of one food is NOT the same as a calorie of another....fake foods is metabolized differently Today, counting calories does not work

^ this is wrong and not based on actual science.

My hat is off to all of you who choose not to count and are able to maintain your weight this way. I am three pounds from maintenance now, but I can't think I'm going to continue to keep track. The reason is because I lost around 60 pounds 12 years ago with calorie counting, but it slowly crept back up over a five year period when I decided I didn't have to count anymore, and I was still working out.

I will do whatever it takes to not gain my weight back.

And this is the key: we each need to do what we each need to do. Good for you!

I really want to stop counting, my bmi is a little low (18) so I am not bothered too much about a little gain (ED Sufferer here too) but I just need a mental break before I have a mental break down!! How did you do it? all advice appreciated and yes I have a psychiatrist (weekly appointments

I just started, but seeing all this, should I quit before I regret?

Of course you can maintain like that! I mean, think about it. It's far from everyone who counts everything, and many people (read: i didn't say all, but many) live a healthy, balanced life without a care in the world, and their weight takes care of itself. Most of the time your body will know when it's the happiest.
But I can only encourage you! :happy: If you feel happier without counting, then you should live like that! :laugh:

I am obsessed with logging my food. I think it's fun. When it stops being fun I will quit. I have myself set to lose 1 lb a week, but mostly I am just using this more to track carbs and sugars.

This.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who logs for the enjoyment of it
I know it's not good to eat junk food everyday, but it's so nice to be able to eat a small candy bar when you get a craving for it without feeling guilty.

Love this!