Does anyone NOT track their food intake?

I can't lose if I don't track. I can maintain, but I can't lose. But that's me.

That's a funny question to ask on a site that's made for calorie counting.

Plenty of people have successful weight loss without calorie counting, without MFP, etc. With that said, most of the "I stopped losing weight" threads are from folks that either stopped logging or are not logging accurately. If it works for you, fantastic. If not, keep logging.

On days I've decided to treat myself, I don't track. That is once a week or once every 10 days.

You do realise that this is a calorie counting website and the whole point is to track your food

I think it depends on the reason *why* you gained the weight in the first place.

For example, if there was a death in the family and you gained 50 lbs in a matter of 6 months due to grieving, but before then had no weight issues, maybe tracking for the first couple of months would be a good idea to get into the swing of eating right again

BUT, if you've been overweight your whole life and yo-yo dieted and have trouble losing weight, it may be more advantageous for you to continue to track throughout your weight loss and even into maintenance, because you don't know when you'll go back into old habits.

It truly depends on why you've gained weight in the first place, and how good you can be with self control and monitoring proper portions.

I track every day for all meals including snacks. I find it a real eye opener and I am reading more on what food contains and how it will effect me. I alone am responsible for every single morsel that passes into my stomach. I have my "junk" food days where I dont necessary eat junk food, just more of what I like maybe washed down with some ice cold beer! I also exercise five to six days a week and track that too. To date I have gone from 111kg at the end of Jan 2014 to 97kg as of 6 April 14. It makes me feel fantastic and with a young family I need all the energy I can muster!!

I track everything because otherwise I'll overeat.

580 days and still tracking....I don't think I could ever not track again

Well when I first started losing weight, I didn't count calories at all. I actually did lose weight this way, but I do have to admit that I was very, very picky about what I ate.

I started, just to see what it was like. Turned out that it was much easier than I thought it would be and I didn't have to be as picky about what I ate. MFP made it simple for me to see how my food choices affected my weight and made it easy to make changes without leaving out foods that I love. It was starting to become a habit for me. I would log things as I was cooking without thinking about it.

When I discovered I was pregnant (yep..I'm 34wks right now), I stopped counting for awhile. I also stopped my daily weigh-ins. Surprisingly enough, I didn't start gaining weight till about 18-19wks along. I have started logging food again, but only to make sure I'm consuming enough for me (pre-pregnancy maintenance) and my baby (465 extra for 3rd trimester...was 280 extra for 2nd trimester and 85 extra for 1st trimester). I'm not very strict about it and it doesn't bother me if I go over. I just want to make sure that I eat enough for the little one and at the same time make sure I don't consume 5000+ calories in one day (something I did with my first pregnancy).

I could probably still lose weight (once this pregnancy is over) without logging food/counting calories, but I like seeing the trends and how certain things affect my weight.

I am approaching my 80 day streak and feel that despite my slow progress I am doing well. I tracked beautifully for the first two months and lately its been harder to do. I am still weighing food, still keeping portions in control, and eating better. I can't help but feel guilty though. I know I need to track more but sometimes I just get obsessed and irritated when I cant find things in the database etc. I do still put my recipes in the recipe builder so I have an idea of what I am eating.

Just wasnt sure if any other mfp people succeed without hardcore tracking. Either way I plan to monitor my progress and track if I feel I need to, but at this point I feel its more frustrating than helpful.

I don't always track accurately.
I don't always have a scale, I often eat outside.
Sometime I cannot find the food I'm looking for in the database -but it is rare, mostly I found TOO MANY entries and I get confused.

And I'm going well.
Anyway, I loose consistently when I can track, while if don't the results tend to be lower or, if I completely try to do all by myself, well..

So, yes, you can succeed even not tracking accurately. BUT. Pay attention... is this "tracking stress" due to your real difficulties, or just because if you track everything you have to struggle more to be in your calory goal?
Is this difficulty something real, or just a way to stop your way?

You don't have to reply to nobody than yourself

If logging your food is frustrating you, it can't do any harm to try giving it up for a couple of weeks. Give it a trial, see if it works for you. Plenty of people do lose weight without logging every calorie that passes their lips. Trying it for a two or three weeks isn't going to do any massive harm. If you stop losing for that short period of time, it isn't the end of the world, you can always go back to logging.

Just make sure that you are keeping an eye on what you are eating, and maybe have a ballpark figure for your daily calories in your head. It won't be completely accurate, but it'll ensure that you don't go massively over.

Alternatively, you could find a middle ground and continue logging your food, but don't be quite so meticulous about it. Stop weighing, just estimate the weight. If you can't find the exact entry in the database, use a close alternative. This will give you a reasonably accurate number, whilst relieving you of much of the frustrations.

Just find what works for you. Try out different methods to figure out what allows you to lose weight with as little frustration as possible.

You do realise that this is a calorie counting website and the whole point is to track your food

No I didn't realize this?! Of course I realize this. I am just asking what others do or if anyone does things a little differently. Everyone is different.

The food log is a big feature, but this is a fitness site (My fitness Pal). I don't see that the food log is any more important than the exercise log. No matter how prefect your diet may be, you will not be fit without exercise.

No I don't. I did for a about a week but gave up. I don't have weight to lose atm so I use this site for motivation and getting tips on best forms of exercise etc.

On days I've decided to treat myself, I don't track. That is once a week or once every 10 days.

LOL I thought I was cheating myself because I do this too...then I see people here saying they log everything even when they are over eating...