Will you spend the rest of your life counting calories?

2

Replies

  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    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
    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
    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
    My OCD will not allow me to stop

    if i do, children will die :(
  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
    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: 10,740 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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: 6,002 Member
    Do you guys think you'lll always count your calories (for the ones that do)?

    I certainly hope not...
  • Sunbrooke
    Sunbrooke Posts: 632 Member
    I probably will. Before I counted calories, I stressed over everything I ate and either went overboard with restricting, or got frustrated and didn't bother trying. Counting calories is liberating for me. Knowing what I have to work with and how many calories are in possible options helps me to make good decisions. This way I can use my calories where I want to.

    For me, it is like knowing how much money I have before shopping, and how much things cost before I decide to buy them. Somethings are nice, but too expensive. If I do want something expensive, then I have to budget for it by saving elsewhere.
  • Bernadette60614
    Bernadette60614 Posts: 707 Member
    Yes, I've kept a food diary for over 20 years. I've had some medical issues and gained weight with each round of treatment, and taken it off afterwards...all while keeping a food diary.

    I'm 5 ft 8 inches between 138 and 142. I'm 50 now, and I've noticed that a lot of my friends have gained weight as they've approached mid-life, but my weight (other than the medical bouts) has stayed within the same range. I think as your life becomes more complicated (marriage,kids, job), it is easy to lose sight of caring for yourself..if you make a commitment to daily tracking, you can't do so.

    What has changed is what I eat and how much: I can't scarf down junk food, smash down 2,300 calories and then starve myself the way I did in my 20s,30s. Now, I focus on vegetables, fruits, beans, grains and average between 1400 and 1800 calories per day.

    I read somewhere: If you measure it, you can change it. If I measure my calories (i.e. log or track them), when I gain weight or lose it, it is no mystery to me and I can fix it.
  • sfbaumgarten
    sfbaumgarten Posts: 912 Member
    I lost the weight counting points with Weight Watchers and I maintain my weight now by counting calories with MFP. One way or another, I'm sure I will have to continue tracking my food for the rest of my life. I believe I have to.
  • SummerRain43
    SummerRain43 Posts: 358
    yes I will, although probably not as strictly as I did to lose the weight in the first place.....
  • MyOwnSunshine
    MyOwnSunshine Posts: 1,312 Member
    Yes. I've lost and re-gained over 250 pounds in my life, over the course of many, many diets (not counting my current 100 pound loss). What I've finally learned is that there is no end to eating healthy, knowing how many calories are consumed and working out. I know that as long as I engage in the behaviors that helped me lose the weight, that I will maintain. As soon as I stop those behaviors, I will regain.

    I am a highly compulsive eater and have no pre-programmed "stop eating" response. I really have a very poor perception of my food consumption if I don't plan and log. I know that I will have to actively use tools like MFP for the rest of my life to avoid being morbidly obese.
  • spirit095
    spirit095 Posts: 1,017 Member
    I definitely do not plan on counting calories for the rest of my life. I want to get enough experience on portion sizes and learn how to approximate my calories that way. I lost weight in the beginning without counting calories, so I think I can do it again during maintenance. Along with my exercise, I think I'll be alright without MFP in the future.
  • farfromthetree
    farfromthetree Posts: 982 Member
    Yes. I finally found something that works for me. I do not plan on stopping.
  • in_the_stars
    in_the_stars Posts: 1,395 Member
    No. I enjoy food too much to look at it as just calories.
  • njitaliana
    njitaliana Posts: 814 Member
    I think I will be counting calories for the rest of my life. Although I have so much to lose that I will probably have a lot of the caloric amounts committed to memory by the time I get to maintenance. But, MFP makes it pretty easy.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Will you spend the rest of your life counting calories?

    Nope...

    I used those 9 months or so while I was losing to learn a lot about nutrition and how to properly fuel my body as per my activity level. I learned what kinds of foods provided me with the best fitness performance as well as just overall life performance...I learned what kinds of foods provide me with optimal nutrition and I learned portion control and moderation.

    I've maintained for 10 months just putting into practice what I learned while I was logging save for a few spot checks here and there. My diet (noun) consists largely of whole foods and lots of nutrition...i eat around 6-8 servings of veg daily and a couple servings of fruit. I primarily eat lean sources of protein and eat my grains, rices, and pastas in appropriate portions. My fats come namely from avocados, olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil as well as nuts and nut butters in moderation. While I do have things like pizza and whatnot from time to time, my diet (noun) really does not resemble anything remotely like the SAD I was eating before and I've found maintenance to be rather easy without logging. IMHO, it's all about making good nutritional decisions...if you're trying to eat the SAD and lose or maintain you're going to have to count calories IMO...just too much stuff in the SAD that is extremely calorie dense and almost made for over-consumption.

    I think where people go wrong is that they really don't establish a true dietary lifestyle change and just go back to the SAD or rough equivalent and they fail to make fitness an intrinsic part of their lives.
  • DoctahJenn
    DoctahJenn Posts: 616 Member
    I think I'll probably log MOST of the time... but I know I'll drop off for a few weeks here and there until I gain a few pounds and then I'll be back. lol. Holidays especially are rough to try to log, and vacations, and on my birthday I WILL eat whatever I want without feeling guilty! But for the most part, yes, I intend to track forever, because I know I have genetics against me for developing type 2 diabetes and I need to stay active and at a healthy weight if I want to avoid it.
  • twinteensmom
    twinteensmom Posts: 371 Member
    Probably.

    I think of it as the same as putting on my seat belt or taking my prescription med or looking both ways before crossing the street; I NEED to do this to stay healthy. I've seen how little control I have when I am not paying attention to calories and I have seen what happens when I don't keep up with exercise and let the excuses take hold. I can't and won't go back to the old ways. I am healthy for the first time in my life and I am almost 51. The women in my family live long lives(one grandmother was 88 when she died and the other was 97). My mother is 80. If I let myself go back to the way I used to be, I won't live to see 60, much less 80!
  • glin23
    glin23 Posts: 460 Member
    Probably not. I lost most of my weight without doing it and I've always thought of MFP as just another tool to help me become more ware, but I don't want to become obsessive about calorie counting.
  • eddiesmith1
    eddiesmith1 Posts: 1,550 Member
    I can't say there is any one thing I will do for the rest of my life, but i would guess that counting calories will be around for most of it (I'm sure once I am maintaining I will hit a slacking point that ends up with me returning to lose again, just hopefully i catch it early so I don't have to be on a low intake for months
  • cstringfellow2013
    cstringfellow2013 Posts: 172 Member
    I can't imagine not keeping track of what I am eating. It's the only way for me to make sure I don't slide back into old habits. It takes a small amount of time each day, and I'm spending that time on my phone whether I'm on Facebook, Pinterest or MFP.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Yes, probably. But I'm really ok with that.
  • Artglassguy
    Artglassguy Posts: 12 Member
    eventually i hope to be able to know from experience,
    then counting won't be necessary. until then i'll just think of it as training. :bigsmile:
  • RCottonRPh
    RCottonRPh Posts: 148
    I stopped and hit a plateau for months. I am back at it (hopefully forever) because I know that this is what works!
  • SmartAlec03211988
    SmartAlec03211988 Posts: 1,896 Member
    Every single time I stop counting calories, my weight goes up. The last time I stopped I gained back 27 lbs of my original 86. I've tried stopping three times, all three I've gained back AT LEAST 15 lbs.

    So this will be lifelong.
  • frangrann
    frangrann Posts: 219 Member
    YES!!!! I have lost before only to regain and this time IS going to be different.
    So unfortunately yes.

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