Is it common to have to rely on the app, at least at first, to know when you should stop eating?
lorib642
Posts: 1,942 Member
Left to my own devices I would snack here and there and unknowingly take in more calories than I need. Now that I am logging them, I am getting how to budget my calories. But, if I didn't know I had used up my allotment for the day I would probably nibble more. I like the app. I don't know calories in my head. I don't go to bed hungry. I guess it is more habit for me to graze than true hunger.
It just sounds silly. Like everyone should know when they are done.
It just sounds silly. Like everyone should know when they are done.
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I'm unable to keep a running tally of how many calories I'm eating in my head, so the app is essential and necessary for that. Not to mention its fairly easy.
I've tried "going it alone" before and it never worked out. I always ended up eating more overall and gaining. So I'm going to be using the app for as long as its available to me.0 -
You'll probably work out what triggers the nibbles, is its boredom, stress, something else.
Its common to rely on it, some people stop relying on it after a few months, or a year, others, like myself still rely on it after 15months+ but once you get close to your goal weight, it should become easier0 -
I don't know when I'm done with calories unless I look at my food diary. I still have problems with being mentally satisfied with my food intake. Some people don't have that problem and I wish I was one of them. It sucks to have to argue with myself every day to not eat because I don't have any calories left.0
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This app is a relevation for me. I never know on my own how much I should eat, my portions are way too big. When I have to log my food I pay attention to the portion size and eat less. I find it hard to know when I'm full ...0
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Thanks
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I can feel maintenance, and I can feel 1200, but anywhere in between I'm not completely sure.0
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Well I stopped logging last November. My result? I have a streak of 17 days now because I gained it all back and really didn't want to keep seeing the scale going up and up. I started logging and now it is going down, down. So yeah, for some of us the app is necessary for success. I can lose weight but keeping it off seems to be a real down fall for me.
MFP is helping me with losing and I will continue to track because I have proven, I will gain weight if I don't track my food and exercise. I am a WW lifetime member, but because I never logged so pure before, I joined MFP last summer and saw consistent results, but I lost the motivation to log and so I am starting over yet again. If I keep my head screwed on right, this will be the last time. I will keep tracking on maintenance and not regain all again.0 -
I did fine maintaining my weight at 254 lbs without MFP app!
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I'm useless without my MFP app. Especially tracking macros.0
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Totally makes sense to use the app. And make note of what you're learning, make small adjustments in what you eat... One big way *I* use the app is to decide what to order in chain restaurants.
I think it's very common in today's society to not know when we're "done".0 -
I've been at maintenance for a couple months now and I can tell you, I am scared to death to NOT use MFP daily. I do not want to go back to where I was or even start to go backward by even a pound. I hope this is available for a long, long time. I do keep a separate written log as well, but I still rely on MFP totally for my food, exercise and carb, fat, sugar and protein daily grams totals. I'd be lost and looking for something, anything comparable if we lost this site.0
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For MOST of us, if we did not need a tool to help us stay within our calorie allotment, we would not have come here to begin with. Most of us needed that help... MFP is a great way to keep an eye on what we are doing. I've been logging here for nearly 2 years and have, for the first time, not lost and promptly regained... And when I have regained some, I have realized what was causing it and been able to readjust, rather than just assuming because I am eating healthy things, I'm going to be ok with my weight... It is an excellent tool to keep things on track...0
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »Totally makes sense to use the app. And make note of what you're learning, make small adjustments in what you eat... One big way *I* use the app is to decide what to order in chain restaurants.
I think it's very common in today's society to not know when we're "done".
Thanks. Yes, I try looking up restaurants beforehand so I am not shocked when I get home.
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Definitely need it to know when I should stop on gluttonous days when I feel i could carry on indefinitely (which are most days
) BUT on the other side it's been great to know I can have more than I thought and still stay on track for weight loss. Before counting calories I would eat very little when I was on a health kick and GORGE when I inevitably ran out of will power but with tracking I can take a more balanced approach.
Hoping I'll get to the point where I can keep that balance without tracking but if I don't then I will make my peace with tracking forever. Cos Lord knows I can't go back to feast and famine - it never worked for me.0 -
Not for me because I dont use it in that way. I have recorded the food and found I could have 3 meals a day and then went on to fit meals around my allowances. They are something like 20% breakfast/ 25% lunch/40% dinner and 15% snack. I have eat back calories in reserve. Om boring and only have a few different brekfasts and lunches, so dinner is whatever I have left and I know more or less that I cna have anything but reduced portions or a massive plate of veg plus some protein.
I use the app all the time even though I know what I will have and how many calories because its quick to copy meals and loging your food is the best way to keep you on target before it enters your mouth. Information is really importnat to me and its fun to use. I think I will log even at maintenance when I get there next year.0 -
I have an app that administers an electric shock when I go over on my calories. So far it's working. But I can hardly sit down.0
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Ive been using the app on and off. And I find that using it helps me so much. This is my first time back where I feel like Im finally getting the hang of things. Im on day 9 of being under calory and fat goal and well over the 1200 calory goal. lost nine pounds(Most of that is most likely water weight from all the junk). I live in the middle of nowhere and am fairly nervous about going to a huge convention in two weeks and having access to all the fast food temptations but I know the app will definitely help me pick good choices.0
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I like using the app the night before to log my meals so I can plan the day. I do my best to stick with this plan. I tend to eat the same meals over and over, so if I had to I know what my "typical meal" would be as far as how much carb, protein ect.0
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Camilleathome wrote: »Ive been using the app on and off. And I find that using it helps me so much. This is my first time back where I feel like Im finally getting the hang of things. Im on day 9 of being under calory and fat goal and well over the 1200 calory goal. lost nine pounds(Most of that is most likely water weight from all the junk). I live in the middle of nowhere and am fairly nervous about going to a huge convention in two weeks and having access to all the fast food temptations but I know the app will definitely help me pick good choices.
Also pack cut of veggies, fruit and nutrition bars so you don't have a crisis, I find that helps me to avoid a total spin out when I am on the road.0 -
I absolutely adore and love using the MFP app to track calories. It's too easy to underestimate your intake without it.0
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Camilleathome wrote: »Ive been using the app on and off. And I find that using it helps me so much. This is my first time back where I feel like Im finally getting the hang of things. Im on day 9 of being under calory and fat goal and well over the 1200 calory goal. lost nine pounds(Most of that is most likely water weight from all the junk). I live in the middle of nowhere and am fairly nervous about going to a huge convention in two weeks and having access to all the fast food temptations but I know the app will definitely help me pick good choices.
One thing that helps me in situations like that: seek out women who have bodies you admire, the kind of figures you want, and pay attention to what they eat. Look not only at what kinds of foods they choose, and the quantities, but also how they go about eating them. You'll find that their experience of food may be very different from yours, and it can often make a huge difference for you if you mimic their behaviors, and try to get into their mindset.
Just...you know...don't be creepy about it.
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I have tried keeping a mental tally. But what happens, is usually stick to the major things to make the counting easier. And I lose track of those little things… like mayo on a sandwich. Or butter on veggies. Or beverages. Or those little things that I just have a bite of. I can keep a running tally of the major things. But remembering and adding up those little things here and there tax my brain, so I don't count them. And before I know it, I've gone way over. The app takes the mental work out of it, so I can log more accurately. Mental tallying makes me lax in my efforts to watch what I eat. And then it's not long before I just quit altogether. Right now… I really don't have a problem staying under my calorie goal. Somedays, I have to deliberately eat something out of principle just to make sure I'm getting enough… But I also know that wouldn't last long if I wasn't logging. Logging keeps me accountable.
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I have never been able to keep the weight (any weight) off that I have lost. To the point I had resolved (for 10 years) I would just be fat the rest of my life. I'm now down 29 pounds and it is all because I log my food. I don't know if I'll always log my food when I hit maintenance but I know I will never get there without MFP.0
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I have to be able to see the number the same way I have to be able to see my bank account balance. I can get in denial quickly with "Certainly I didn't spend *that* much at Vera Bradley" and "Nooo, I only ate 1 candy bar". Self accountability for me, it absolutely necessary.0
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I can totally relate. When I didn't have internet for 3 months I gained back a few because of it.0
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My consistent weight loss would not have been possible without the use of this app. I had almost thrown in the towel and thought I was doomed to obesity. I started logging religiously 12/1/13.
The very few times I haven’t been able to log; I simply use the recorder on my phone for a quick message to myself – OR – use common sense in eating only healthy foods & keeping portions to “fist-size” etc.
All my daily decisions are focused on my calorie expenditure and the need to leave 50-100 calories for a TV snack. Except for vacations and rare situations – I think this must remain a necessary lifetime habit. I WILL NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES allow myself to regain the weight it has taken me a year to lose…and I still have another 30 pounds or so to go.
Best wishes – Good luck!
Tomorrow is my weekly weight recording day.
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That's the whole point of the app... many of us here don't know how to eat the right amount without data to guide us... so we end up underweight or overweight. This keeps me on track.0
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Docbanana2002 wrote: »That's the whole point of the app... many of us here don't know how to eat the right amount without data to guide us... so we end up underweight or overweight. This keeps me on track.
Thank you
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I think that's pretty normal. I agree that we should know when we don't need any more food, but there seems to be too much going on for us to pick up on that (emotional stuff, for example). And, as a culture, we've been trained more to clean our plates than to stop when we're not hungry. So many of us have forgotten what it feels like when we just don't need anymore. Oh, to be a four-year-old again.
I'd like to get to a point where I can maintain without counting calories, but we'll see if that ever happens. The app exists to help, use it.0
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