Will you spend the rest of your life counting calories?

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  • tiger4nikki
    tiger4nikki Posts: 112 Member
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    I hope I stick to it. I take breaks every now and then. I am pretty good at eyeballing portion sizes now. It's just that when I stop counting, I have more days that I don't make the right choices. I did pretty good this last break though. I went from November until March 10th and only gained 5 pounds and that was through all the holidays and superbowl and everything. But yes, I plan on trying to stick to it, because when I stop for a LONG period of time, I go up a few pounds and blow it off, gain a few more and blow that off, and next thing I know I am up 25-40 pounds! It can sneak up on you over a couple of years or less if you don't watch it.
  • monstergirl14
    monstergirl14 Posts: 345 Member
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    I assume I'll always have to count calories because I want to know the content of the food I'm consuming and if I'm over eating. I'll probably weigh myself weekly still, or bi-weekly, just to make sure I'm on track
  • jmv7117
    jmv7117 Posts: 891 Member
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    No, I won't be counting calories. I view it a a useful tool to use as necessary. I've never been outside of my healthy weight, at the high end but not outside of so don't see counting calories as something I need to do on a long term basis.
  • ahamm002
    ahamm002 Posts: 1,690 Member
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    If you focus on making good food choices with lots of protein and veggies, then you shouldn't gain weight too quickly when you stop counting. Perhaps you'll slowly gain a little weight, but you can always start counting calories for a few months to lose whatever you gain.


    I've found that I gain slowly when I stop counting calories. So I'll go through cycles where I don't bother tracking them for about 6 months, and then I'll start tracking them again for 2 months afterward to lose whatever I gained.
  • retiree2006
    retiree2006 Posts: 951 Member
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    I may not actually count calories every day but I will be a lot more aware of what I eat. To make things easier, I have some "set menus" where I know the calorie count and can just use those so I don't have to reinvent my day. Or you can do multiple meals with a calorie count and just pick and choose to stay within your calories. I don't always use those but they are there if I get tired of logging my meals.
  • fpuckett2383
    fpuckett2383 Posts: 49 Member
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    Great responses! I don't think it's too much of a hassle and I think I'll always do it. It's just hard to imagine being like 80 years old and still keeping track of everything lol. I like the few of you who use it when the scale starts to creep up. I still have a lot to lose but if (when) I get to a healthy weight I can see myself doing that. I tried to just eat healthy foods and watch myself without counting but it didn't end up well for me. I struggle the most with portion's and it's hard for me to step back and tell if I'm eating too much or less without writing it out. It's just not something I've perfected yet. One day I'll get there. It's probably because I am such a list maker!
  • fpuckett2383
    fpuckett2383 Posts: 49 Member
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    That's a great idea!
  • craftywitch_63
    craftywitch_63 Posts: 829 Member
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    I have a food addiction (I binge like CRAZY) and unless I hold myself accountable by tracking calories, it gets out of hand. I tend to eat thousands of calories at a sitting without remembering more than the first 2-3 bites. I wake up from a "blackout binge" with wrappers around me and I don't remember going to the store to buy the food. Counting calories and logging everything I eat keeps me focused and accountable for my food intake. Since I've been like this most of my life (>30 years), the binge monster is well and truly, and probably forever, ingrained. A side effect of the d/o is that I SUCK at guesstimating how much I'm eating, even when I'm paying attention. I'm sure that I will have to log every day for the rest of my life.

    There are worse fates.:wink:
  • melimomTARDIS
    melimomTARDIS Posts: 1,941 Member
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    yes I will, because MFP is free and simple, only takes 10 minutes per day. I think I will continue to calorie count.

    Added- I used to house clean for a 90 year old woman with macular degeneration. She was a TOPS KOPS and still attended her meetings, did weigh ins, and kept mindful of what she ate. I was like, "who cares? Your 90!" but she explained that she worked hard to lose the weight, and dammit it was staying off.
  • cavia
    cavia Posts: 457 Member
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    I will try to eat intuitively at some point but will keep a close eye on the scale to make sure I'm not gaining. I don't foresee that happening for me for at least a year. If it turns out I can't, I'm fine with continuing to weigh and log my food. It's such a tiny price to pay in exchange for keeping the scale stable.
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
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    Its so stupidly easy on the phone (and will only get easier over time) that there is no reason not to.

    To me it is a basic task with both health and social benefits; no different than brushing my teeth.

    Just watch, within a few decades just about everyone will be doing it every day. Technology has finally given us an easy way to control one of the biggest incompatibilities between our animal instincts and modern society.

    The "eat watch", an imagined control device that was totally simple and elegant, as discussed in the Hackers Diet (a calorie counting manual) a few decades ago, is almost a reality nowadays, nearing horseshoe and hand grenade territory.
  • lbs32724
    lbs32724 Posts: 23
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    I quit logging consistently from November until now. I have gained 35 lbs in that short time cause I've been eating horribly, too. Will have to log forever to stay on track.
  • Ysmir
    Ysmir Posts: 828 Member
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    I'm pretty new at this, but it seems to me that I got in this position by not monitoring what I eat. Sooo I will probably monitor my food intake until I'm too old to remember if I even ate breakfast, let alone what I had. It's really not that hard, and it makes me more conscious of what (and how much) I'm choosing to eat each day.
  • Semt3x
    Semt3x Posts: 23
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    My OCD will not allow me to stop

    if i do, children will die :(
  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
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    I plan to track as long as possible because just like many other things in life the more you do it the easier it gets. If it helps, try tracking for a few days at a time and adjust when and where necessary.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,742 Member
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    I don't know.

    Right now, it's working for me very well. I don't see myself stopping in the next 1-3 years for sure.

    But...I can see myself stopping eventually. For example, right now compared to 1 year ago I have a better handle on how many calories are in the foods I eat, and what the nutritional content is like. The "surprises" are coming along less and less (where you eat a muffin then freak out about the calories/fat afterward). So I can see myself in 5-10 years being able to coast along eating similarly while in maintenance...but on the flipside, I can see that failing and me going back to calorie counting, and I'm ok with that too!

    I DO think I will weigh every morning - or AT LEAST every week - for the rest of my life. I firmly believe that one of the many reasons my weight was allowed to climb so incredibly high is that I never owned a scale until this day in 2013 (one year ago today when I joined MFP). My boss is a 50-something woman of average weight who swears by her morning weigh-in, even though she doesn't diet or count calories. I can see myself at her age being in control of my weight and having my eating pretty much down to a good level/habit wise but still weighing daily to stay on top of that number!
  • jlynnm70
    jlynnm70 Posts: 460 Member
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    I don't know - I doubt I will fully log everything everyday for the rest of my life. But I will use it sometimes and continue to watch portions. Watch my own body/scale and not let things get as out of whack as I did. If I go up - I'll start tracking again - but everyday - every bite - nope!
  • Mygsds
    Mygsds Posts: 1,564 Member
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    I think I have a little OCD. After each day, I print out the sheet I logged on and keep it in a notebook. Kind of nice to see if I have a good week what I actually ate. Kind of gives me ideas as to what to have for meal plans again and grocery lists. I know, kind of weird. Yes, I DEFINATELY will keep this up.
  • wibutterflymagic
    wibutterflymagic Posts: 788 Member
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    If you focus on making good food choices with lots of protein and veggies, then you shouldn't gain weight too quickly when you stop counting. Perhaps you'll slowly gain a little weight, but you can always start counting calories for a few months to lose whatever you gain.


    I've found that I gain slowly when I stop counting calories. So I'll go through cycles where I don't bother tracking them for about 6 months, and then I'll start tracking them again for 2 months afterward to lose whatever I gained.

    ^^This. If I change my eating habits enough where I eat healthier 90% of the time then counting calories on a daily basis shouldn't be needed. If I'm measuring my foods all the time then it's going to sink in what a cup of veggies looks like etc. It's kind of difficult to gain weight if I'm not eating processed foods, take-out or sweets all the time. If I start to gain back then I'll be more diligent and start to track what I'm eating to see where the problem is.
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 5,948 Member
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    Do you guys think you'lll always count your calories (for the ones that do)?

    I certainly hope not...

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