Log For Life?!

After I reached my goal weight I stopped logging because by then I had a pretty good idea of portion sizes and calories. I do find that logging can be a pain in the butt when you make your own recipes. I never use the exact same amounts of ingredients, and having to weight everything that goes in and then weighing the whole thing when you are done making it so you can divide it into serving sizes is...well, it is somewhat time-consuming tbh. Eating out is a whole new kind of misery as there is just no way you can know what is in the food in terms of the heavies like butter, oil, etc.

With all that said, my approach has been to give myself a range of 5 lbs around my maintence weight. If I go over that 5 lbs, I start tracking again. It keeps me honest, as others have said, and that little reminder of what you would weigh if you ate like that each day is a good motivator.

I like this approach because I get a break from logging when I'm back to my maintenance weight and generally I am able to maintain that without logging. But after holidays or vacations I find going back to tracking gives me a feeling of control, which alleviates any guilt I might feel for overindulging, because I've already proven to myself that it works.

You may need to form specific habits around your eating such that when those habits are implemented you naturally eat within a range of calories that roughly meets your needs.

Due to individual differences in energy needs, preferences, and current habits, I don't think there's a blanket approach that is going to work for everyone. But if I were to list some general concepts that I think may be useful for people who are trying to implement this:

- Keep a simple log to document when you feel hungry and pay close attention to actual hunger. Allow yourself to feel hunger for a short time and embrace it. The process of doing this can help to separate hunger from other drivers to eat.

- Eat a set number of meals (3 or 4 seems to be a good fit for most people) and keep some form of structure in how you compose those meals. For example you can approximate protein relative the size of your palm, you can approximate vegetables in terms of "handfuls", etc.

-Either eliminate snacking or keep snacking consistent, minimal, and of low energy density (ie a piece of fruit).

So as I mentioned earlier I had some thoughts on this.

I think that tracking is a great plan for a lot of people and for some people it's not a good plan. I think the goal for most people should be to get to a place where you do not need to track on a regular basis to maintain a reasonable body-weight.

But eating "without logging" isn't necessarily the same as "just winging it".

You may need to form specific habits around your eating such that when those habits are implemented you naturally eat within a range of calories that roughly meets your needs.

Due to individual differences in energy needs, preferences, and current habits, I don't think there's a blanket approach that is going to work for everyone. But if I were to list some general concepts that I think may be useful for people who are trying to implement this:

- Keep a simple log to document when you feel hungry and pay close attention to actual hunger. Allow yourself to feel hunger for a short time and embrace it. The process of doing this can help to separate hunger from other drivers to eat.

- Eat a set number of meals (3 or 4 seems to be a good fit for most people) and keep some form of structure in how you compose those meals. For example you can approximate protein relative the size of your palm, you can approximate vegetables in terms of "handfuls", etc.

-Either eliminate snacking or keep snacking consistent, minimal, and of low energy density (ie a piece of fruit).

-Limit the nutrient sparse, energy dense food items based on calorie availability (this assumes you are going from a calorie counting model to a non counting model). For example a person with lower energy output may need to limit to 1 small "fun" item per day or even less frequent. You may need to also keep tabs on bread/starches and other energy dense/lower satiety items.

- Consume mostly whole and nutrient dense foods. You may need to set a target for number of servings of vegetables and fruits.

- If I were to attempt this approach I would make sure each meal contains all 3 macronutrients for satiety purposes, and I would lean rather heavily on protein and fibrous vegetables when possible, again for satiety.

- I would consider paying attention to environment if needed. As an example I would move energy dense ("junk" food to use a loose term) foods to a less convenient location so that I don't have to see these foods on a regular basis. Moving these foods from the countertop to a concealed cabinet for example, prevents me from seeing it and thus reduces the time I spend thinking about this food or deciding whether or not I should eat it. I would also move energy sparse, nutrient dense foods like vegetables and fruits to more open positions so that they are more present/convenient to eat.

-I would continue to weigh myself and track average body-weight over time. I would probably allow a window of 5lbs or so before determining whether or not it's "not working" or "working".

-I would consider implementing some of these habits while tracking if someone were to consider moving from a tracking to a non tracking system.

You could also pull away tracking piece-wise. With some of my online clients I'm starting the process by implementing some of the above behaviors while simultaneously removing the food scale on most items. This is sort of a "baby steps" process in which eventually we may reduce tracking frequency (example -- tracking 3-4 days/week).

These are just some ideas and I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out.

Thank you, this is just what I was looking for!!!