Weighing for Life

21million
21million Posts: 113 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Do you think that you will struggle weighing out everything for life?

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    You don't have to weigh out everything for life. Sensible to weigh the high calorie items or unfamiliar items though, but certainly not everything. The key for me is to accept my weight fluctuates naturally - so I live with it rather than fight it. Maintenance has to be sustainable and enjoyable.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    No. But I do think I'll log everything for life. I kind of like it. I weigh and measure periodically to keep myself from slipping into under-estimation. I also use a pedometer/fitbit to keep myself from over-estimating my activity level.

    One thing I have found on my several years on here is that I've developed such good food habits that I need to log mostly to make sure I eat ENOUGH rather than to keep me from eating too much. But if I stopped paying attention, it is so easy to eat too much. For example, I went out to lunch with my husband today and split a sandwich, fries, coleslaw, and a piece of pie. 580 calories each. Would it be easy to have just eaten everything? Sure. Which is why I log to remind myself that a full order of french fries is 550 calories! Who would have thought it?
  • 21million
    21million Posts: 113 Member
    nxd10 wrote: »
    No. But I do think I'll log everything for life. I kind of like it. I weigh and measure periodically to keep myself from slipping into under-estimation. I also use a pedometer/fitbit to keep myself from over-estimating my activity level.

    One thing I have found on my several years on here is that I've developed such good food habits that I need to log mostly to make sure I eat ENOUGH rather than to keep me from eating too much. But if I stopped paying attention, it is so easy to eat too much. For example, I went out to lunch with my husband today and split a sandwich, fries, coleslaw, and a piece of pie. 580 calories each. Would it be easy to have just eaten everything? Sure. Which is why I log to remind myself that a full order of french fries is 550 calories! Who would have thought it?

    Oh my gosh, that is high but at least you enjoyed it right?

    Both replies are very reassuring, thank you! I can do this for my 20lbs I want to lose, but for life seems really excessive and difficult. Happy to hear that it gets easier!
  • RaspberryTickleChicken
    RaspberryTickleChicken Posts: 629 Member
    edited October 2014
    For me, I will more than likely weigh my food AND log for the rest of my life but I don't struggle with either ... at least 10 mths in, I'm not any more.

    The food weighing is just a part of my food prep nowadays & the food logging is just something I do right before or right after a meal.

    Both has become a seamless part of my daily routine & no more of a burden than putting on my seat belt every time I'm in the car.

    I think as time pass it will become less of a conscious effort. And we may not be able to change what we need to do in order to maintain but we certainly have the choice of how we want to look at the process.
  • Debmal77
    Debmal77 Posts: 4,770 Member
    I wont weight for life. I just realize what I am eating and use portion control....Every day is not perfect. I just know what I'm doing now.
  • dlbredesen
    dlbredesen Posts: 122 Member
    I no longer weigh or measure my food or log my food. I have learned the skills I need to maintain my weight. I weigh myself and eat accordingly. I do use the food database to research foods.
  • mymodernbabylon
    mymodernbabylon Posts: 1,038 Member
    I make most of my food so weighing it or measuring it is just part of the making the food. BUT I don't do that for everything - for example, I know exactly how much cereal should go into my bowl for it to weigh around the same each morning.

    I will continue to workout as I enjoy it and I feel better for doing it. I saw how my 90-something grandmother was able to maintain her body by the small exercises she was doing daily - it wasn't until she was in her later 90s that she struggled at all. I want that sort of life!
  • dorothy2512
    dorothy2512 Posts: 21 Member
    I have lost 80 lbs, to reach my goal weight of 135 lbs, and I dont, log or write down or measure my foods now, as I know roughly what I'm eating - but I do try to make good decisions with food, I will eat chips with a meal, but I tend to pass on the desert, or I will have a sandwich, but still pass on the butter, and I weigh myself twice a week and stay between 135 lb and 139 lbs, if I hit 140 lb, I cut down again until I'm back to my 135 lbs. but in 6 months of maintaining, I've only reached the top end twice and that was after a short break away.
    - Common sense prevails.
  • yogaveg
    yogaveg Posts: 68 Member
    as someone recovering from anorexia with some bulimic tendencies, i know that i will not be weighing food or measuring out everything i eat. i just don't find it necessary. as long as you're eating mindfully and according to hunger cues, then your weight will settle at it's natural and healthy set point. intuitive eating has lead me to maintain at my same healthy weight for 5+ months (:
  • CassieReannan
    CassieReannan Posts: 1,479 Member
    I don't think I will weigh EVERYTHING for life, just until I am comfortable knowing my estimates are correct (or close to it)
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    The scales are setting there so I jump on. Really tracking level of hydration.
  • dopeysmelly
    dopeysmelly Posts: 1,390 Member
    I have no idea whether I'll weigh everything for life. I plan on keeping weighing everything I eat right now, but I can see there might come a time when I stop, just not yet.

    I absolutely shall weigh myself and log my weight every day for the rest of my life, which I hope should be longer because of all my hard work thus far. It's part of my routine, like brushing my teeth and has never bothered me.
  • jane837
    jane837 Posts: 68 Member
    I do think I'll still weigh some things forever, but it's not really a "struggle" -- it sounds like your experience is different. If I'm already in the kitchen cooking, I find it pretty easy to plop the ingredients on a scale before I throw them in the pan. If we're not cooking at home, I don't usually weigh things.
  • girlviernes
    girlviernes Posts: 2,402 Member
    edited October 2014
    yogaveg wrote: »
    as someone recovering from anorexia with some bulimic tendencies, i know that i will not be weighing food or measuring out everything i eat. i just don't find it necessary. as long as you're eating mindfully and according to hunger cues, then your weight will settle at it's natural and healthy set point. intuitive eating has lead me to maintain at my same healthy weight for 5+ months (:

    I really think there is something to knowing yourself and whether you tend to naturally be more obsessive or avoidant, in others words tend to pay too much attention or too little attention. If you are obsessive then weighing will feed the obsessiveness and give you a warped view of how you are doing, and you can probably do great at mindful eating because that requires a lot of attention but doesn't feed obsessiveness like weighing and counting.

    On the other hand, if you are avoidant, it is hard to stick with mindful eating because it is loosey goosey, and the added focus of weighing and tracking is very helpful to keep focused and aware. I fall into the latter category, so weighing and tracking is very important for me, although I try to eat mindfully and understand and adapt to my hunger and satiety signals as well.

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    No...I weigh out certain things, but for the most part I have learned what a proper portion of most things looks like. About the only thing I use a food scale for these days is dry pasta...particularly spaghetti. I can't eyeball that *kitten* for the life of me. I also weigh a few other high calorie items, but that's about it.
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
    Naw dude I'm used to it, and I also know that if I don't weigh and measure everything, I'll screw up and get fat again.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    I weigh everything, and I have no problems doing so for life. Doesn't take much time. Allows me to easily eat anything I want and not have to remember how many calories and grams of protein everything has. Sure, I am pretty good at eye-balling some things now, but meh. Considering I plan on bulking in the future as well, tracking will be important so I'm not going over my needs by an incredible amount.

    Honestly I'd rather be as accurate as possible as often as possible. Takes the guess-work out of everything. Just like how I log all my lifts at the gym, takes the guesswork out of how to increase my lifts or how long I've been stalled etc. No problem eating a non-logged day thouhg. I'm in maintenance this week as a diet break, and I'm weighing everything. I could easily eat like 7 pomegranates in a day, probably close to 1000 calories or more. Then I'd probably eat another 2000 calories on top of that. If I don't track, I just eat whatever.
  • TitikiOoh
    TitikiOoh Posts: 40 Member
    No. Some things I measure, but I no longer log on a regular basis. I weigh myself every month and adjust my diet accordingly.
  • GBO323
    GBO323 Posts: 333 Member
    Struggle? No. It's like taking a temperature ever so often...or getting a check-up, etc. Something else needed to ensure I'm around goal.
  • 5stringjeff
    5stringjeff Posts: 790 Member
    I never weighed any of my food in the first place. I measured some things out in the beginning just to figure out portion sizes, but I never weighed any of it.
  • daynerz
    daynerz Posts: 227 Member
    nah, you have to allow yourself to pay attention to your bodily rythym and reaction to food intake... that's all, once you quit the hype, nonsense and free distraction of others, than weighing won't matter, you will know exactly what you take in and how it should affect ya
  • TMM211073
    TMM211073 Posts: 153 Member
    edited November 2014
    I actually enjoy logging my food and measuring it, I do eyeball some things (usually veggies) but for the most part I weigh and measure everything, so I will continue to do so until I either forget or the scales break....

    I will probably log for life as well, because I like to look back on my diary for inspiration when I'm feeling uninspired - I usually put Food Notes in my dairy on days when I've tried something new or when I've felt unwell or particularly great, because there may be a connection between the food I'm eating and the physical symptoms I'm experiencing (I'm Coeliac so my diet can be a bit difficult to manage at times, especially when I'm away from home).

    Incidentally I only log, not weigh food when I'm eating out or away on holiday.

    So in answer to your question - No I don't think it will be a struggle, I've done it for 2 years now and I enjoy it, so why would I struggle with it.

    xXx ;) xXx
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited November 2014
    I hardly weigh things now although for the first year I was pretty meticulous. I know portion sizes now by eye balling them and I must have a good handle on it as I'm maintaining nicely ☺ I do however weigh nuts and cereals still as I'd be inclined to eat way too much!

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