How does tracking your food affect your eating?

It makes a huge impact on noticing habits. It also makes me think "why am I eating this?"

Logging did the same for me. I started the same as you - just tracking, not making any changes. But I noticed that because I was being accountable for my food choices I started making better choices. Logging is such a great habit, and it really helps you get on track to hit your fitness goals. Way to go!

Portion control has always been my biggest issue. And I've want my logging to be accurate, so I've had to do lots of reading and memorizing and planning to work on getting my portions rights. When I realized I was eating about 600 calories just in spaghetti noodles for one meal (not even including sauce), I realized how big of a deal it is.

I'm finally realizing, too, I can get full and still be eating at a deficit as long as I'm eating healthier foods along with the probably not as healthier foods I still allow myself to eat.

I'm also realizing that exercise means more calories to eat, so it makes it much more appealing, especially on those days when I feel like I can't eat enough

The more I log (this is my 10th day this time around), the easier it is for me to see my habits, and see them changing, and see how my body works and how it's affected. It also helps to have lots of supportive friends on here, since I don't have a whole lot of people I can talk to about my journey in my life.

Good luck to you!

I too have become a food snob.

If I am spending 800 calories or more on a meal it better be freakin good...

If I am eating 200 calories on a snack it best be nom nom...

But to be frank I eat what I always did it's just weighed now...

Logging food is not an annoyance for me really, I prelog usually 3-5 days so I can tweek as necessary to fit my goals (calories and macros) this also allows me to plan for outings that usually fall on the weekend where I will need more calories.

Yeah...logging made me aware of what and how much food I was eating whereas before I just ate. I don't log anymore and have been maintaining for about a year that way...just being mindful of what I'm doing and making good nutritional decisions as a whole.

I sometimes fill in my snack or meal before eating it, just to see how it would affect my intake for that day and then decide whether or not to have it or maybe reduce my portions. It really does help with making healthier choices.

Also, after filling my food diary out for a few weeks, I now know roughly how many calories my snacks are, and some of my regular meals, so it is easier to plan ahead.

Tracking food is huge for me. Before the last month 1/2 I was just eating whatever, drinking when I wanted... very similar stories between us.

I've cut out the alcohol and junk foods entirely... which I thought might be harder than it was. I also cook/prepare almost all the food I eat now which saves a ton of money. I'm not an expert cook but it works for me.

Tracking what I'm eating with food scales, bar code scanning into the app, etc... it gives me a frame of mind so I know when I'm out either at a family/friend get together or at a restaurant, I know the portions I should be having. Before I didn't care or know about the proportions of 4-5 oz of fish or chicken and now it's habit and it's always in my head regardless of where I am.

Don't get me wrong, there are those weekends at get togethers where you cheat a little but that means I spend more time in the gym the next day or during the week to make up for it. I think once you're using MFP for a couple weeks it gets you into a better pattern for eating because you know what you should be having for portions and that's probably the biggest part for me.

I also use a fitbit flex which syncs with MFP and tells me when I'm being lazy by removing calories from my daily goal... or if I'm exercising or at least being active in some way, it'll add to my daily goal too. Even if it adds calories to my goal, I try to not abuse that and just know that will help me in the long run.

If anyone has fitbit, feel free to add me on there. (https://www.fitbit.com/user/285DKS)

Either way, keep up the great work by logging the food and in no time you'll start to see a difference. If you haven't already, you should also consider taking some before photos from a few angles (front, side, back) and then save them somewhere and maybe take some more in a couple weeks or a month. I know that's helped me a lot when you check the scale and there isn't a big change. I thought it was a silly idea at first but now I check those out every now and then and it is a big 'reinforcer' as to why I'm making this life change.

I never did that well with tracking food either until restarting in January. It's been so much better this time and it has helped me a lot. I feel the same way in that if it has a lot of calories, I really have to decide if it is worth it to me. Some days, yep... it is!! The other thing I found is that I found that there were foods that I thought were really high in calories, and they aren't. I used the recipe builder for my spaghetti sauce and was amazed at how low in calories it really is. It makes sense now as I was putting in the ingredients, but for the longest time, I thought it was a much heavier dinner.

Also, looking at restaurant choices. Without reviewing the calories before going, there are many times that I would have made a really bad choice. Sometimes it may sound like it is low in calories, but it is deceiving. Love the wake up call!!