Anyone on here doing this without logging? Or only logging certain foods?

Mumzillah
Mumzillah Posts: 15
edited November 8 in Introduce Yourself
I am not logging everything, only the things that have a high carb and sugar content specifically, and have allocated a daily amount of calories for those foods.

So I am logging all bread, pasta, noodles, grains, sugar or things containing sugar, alcohol, snacky food, fruit, starchy vegetables.

The foods I will eat freely are non-starchy vegetables, beans and pulses, tofu, nuts, oils (olive oil, sunflower oil, coconut oil), salad ingredients (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, etc). (I am a vegan). And when I say "freely", of course I am aware that nuts and oil contain a shitload of calories.

I would be interested to hear from people who for whatever reason are not logging, or only using MFP to log specific things. I am trying this because I think it might work for me. I know some people may not agree with this and I would urge you to continue to do what is right for you and wish you well ;)
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Replies

  • amberj32
    amberj32 Posts: 663 Member
    You are much more disciplined than me!! I log everything! But I'm also a meat eater and meat lover and I'm type 2 diabetic. I try to keep my carbs down especially from processed foods. It's hard most days.
  • Mumzillah
    Mumzillah Posts: 15
    edited November 2014
    I know which foods have got me off track this past year. I have been on MFP before and lost weight, but the logging of everything drove me to distraction - I eat a lot of veggies and make lots of stir fries and soups. Took the joy out of eating even the good things. I have a strong family history of type 2 diabetes, hence the focus on carb and sugar.
  • PwrLftr82
    PwrLftr82 Posts: 945 Member
    I log about 1x/month to see where a "typical" day puts me...but before that, I was obsessively logging on here for 2.5 years. Became way too toxic for me mentally.
  • Torontonius
    Torontonius Posts: 245 Member
    Log everything. Only way to ensure you're going to stay on target.
  • lorib642
    lorib642 Posts: 1,942 Member
    I need to log everything to keep track. Sometimes I use the quick tools to just add in the calories but I do log them
  • TheRealKit
    TheRealKit Posts: 97 Member
    I log everything .It keeps me accountable
  • GothyFaery
    GothyFaery Posts: 762 Member
    Just out of curiosity, how many calories do you allow yourself to have of the "bad stuff"? How can you be sure you're not going over with everything you're not logging? I'm asking these questions because I'm really curious. It would be nice to one day have a similar mindset about food myself.
  • waltcote
    waltcote Posts: 372 Member
    If I am on here I am logging everything. All adds up to a total. I get easily confused by deciding what to log and not to log. If it has a calorie I count it. Ok maybe I've skipped a pickle or two along the way. ;)
  • lchadwick2
    lchadwick2 Posts: 49 Member
    I joined this because of how easy it is to log everything. You can set up your whole day the night before or even the week before as a meal plan. I especially like the bar code scanning tool.
  • Mumzillah
    Mumzillah Posts: 15
    edited November 2014
    The truth is GothyFaery that I have only just come back to MFP, having put on all the weight I lost originally. So I am experimenting with different amounts. MFP gave me the infamous 1200 calories as a daily allowance for everything. I was thinking of allowing 500 for the carb laden and sugar containing foods. That's why I was hoping there would be others who are doing the same or similar. Today I ate 100g of wholewheat nest noodles (that's two "nests") and that came to nearly 350 calories!
  • I am glad the logging is working for so many of you.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    I will be interested to see if you are sucessful with this----I think it would be hard, but don't want to rain on anyone's parade. Not logging fats gives me the most doubts, but wish you the best all the same. Sometimes you just have to try new things. :)
  • socajam
    socajam Posts: 2,530 Member
    I stayed away from logging mostly this year due to a family problems. Now I am have put back on 10 lbs or more. Right now I am back with a vengeance and will not be stopping until I reach my goal. Had some blood work and my weight checked with my endocrinologist and her advice to me was: get that weight off, otherwise you will be looking at diabetes. That was enough to frighten the $***ts out of me. I am zig zagging my calories and logging everything.
  • socajam
    socajam Posts: 2,530 Member
    Also exercising every day, whether its just doing 30 day shred for 20 minutes, its better than nothing.
  • Jennloella
    Jennloella Posts: 2,286 Member
    I don't log anything, I occasionally quick add cals if I have a reason, I track sodium though. I've maintained my ideal weight for 4 years this way - through two pregnancies.
  • Similar to you socajam - but while i was not on MFP I also was not careful about what I ate and that is why I put the weight back on. My exercise is yoga, pilates and walking.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    I only log on MFP occasionally, but I keep a written log every day. The MFP log is my plan for the day and lets me verify that I am on track. Or if I eat totally off plan, I might log to see the damage.

    The written log doesn't have measurements and calorie counts, even though I do weigh and measure my food. It is just a list of the foods I plan to eat, then I cross off what I don't get around to and add in anything that wasn't on the plan. I generally don't need to be perfect to see results, I just need to be accountable.
  • Jennloella wrote: »
    I don't log anything, I occasionally quick add cals if I have a reason, I track sodium though. I've maintained my ideal weight for 4 years this way - through two pregnancies.

    Wow, congrats! I think I am also at the point where i know what I can and can't eat. When I was eating badly this past year, I knew it was bad, but I was too stressed to care, plus it made me feel better >:)
  • Delitebabe
    Delitebabe Posts: 96 Member
    I have tried logging everything but its just too difficult for me, I'm originally from West Africa and we cook without recipes and do not weight food per serving, everyone basically just dishes as much as they would like to eat. On occassions that I logged religiously, I had to just weight every ingredient then weight the whole food then divide into equal portions before throwing everything back into the pot after taking my portion, this is way too much work to do every single time. The other option was for me cook my own food seperately which means cooking twice; first for the family then for me, but with a baby, a fulltime day job and no help around the house what so ever, I can only do this occasionally.

    I still try to eat around my deficit though, I found the MFP database very useful as it gives me a fair idea how many cals I am eating. My daily budget is 1200 cals so I just look for what ever I eat in the database and subtract it from 1200 and I know how much I still have for the rest of the day.

    I also make it a hobby to learn the average cals in all kinds of foods so I have a fair idea approximately how much I am eating, I also over estimate just to be safe, if it says 100 cals per 20g serving and I ate a little over 20g for instance, I would subtract 30g which is 150 cals instead of say 120 or 130 cals.

    I'm still a long way from perfecting what works for me but so far since I am still losing at a comforable pace, I'll stick to it. Just keep in mind that so long as your are not losing or rather gaining, you must be doing it wrong and restrategize.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    I tried logging when I first joined but the database on here is a mess. So many inaccurate entries. Even the ones that aren't marked as user entered don't match the USDA site most of the time. And once they f'd up the recipe builder I just gave up. I occasionally look up foods, but usually I just use the USDA site because I can't trust anything here without verifying it somewhere else anyway.
  • Delitebabe wrote: »
    On occassions that I logged religiously, I had to just weight every ingredient then weight the whole food then divide into equal portions before throwing everything back into the pot after taking my portion, this is way too much work to do every single time.

    LOL! Exactly!!
  • Jennloella
    Jennloella Posts: 2,286 Member
    Mumzillah wrote: »
    Jennloella wrote: »
    I don't log anything, I occasionally quick add cals if I have a reason, I track sodium though. I've maintained my ideal weight for 4 years this way - through two pregnancies.

    Wow, congrats! I think I am also at the point where i know what I can and can't eat. When I was eating badly this past year, I knew it was bad, but I was too stressed to care, plus it made me feel better >:)

    yeah emotional eating is a different thing than over eating. though it can be the "why" behind the over eating, it's a different monster and usually logging won't help.
  • jonrenly
    jonrenly Posts: 116 Member
    Just here to say hello from a fellow vegan
  • oxers
    oxers Posts: 259 Member
    Logging works for me. I haven't been doing it with any kind of regularity lately, and I still keep a running tally in my head so I haven't gained, but that's exactly why I've only lost two pounds in a little over a month. Soooo back to logging for me. I eat a lot of whole, unprocessed foods and I've got a super convenient little kitchen scale, so honestly, the worst part is getting the foods into my diary once. After that, they're there, and I'm good to go.

    I've basically not logged for the past two-ish months, though, and I've either lost slowly or held steady at maintenance, and that is super exciting for me. I don't want to have to log everything all my life, so I totally agree - it's important to get a sense of what you can eat without going over and without obsessing. That's a skill that takes time and effort to develop.

    I'm back on the horse for the next few months while I take off my last twenty pounds, but after that, I think I'm gonna ease onto a plan more similar to yours :]
  • Angurla
    Angurla Posts: 159 Member
    I log everything for the most part. There have been some days that I had to estimate things. Once I reach my goal I will probably log less but for know I'm am still surprised at how many calories some things cost me. I also try to prelog on days where I have large food/drinks coming up so I know how much I need to workout to make up for it before hand.
  • socajam
    socajam Posts: 2,530 Member
    For me it seems I will have to log for the rest of my life. Due to not having a thyroid it is extremely difficult to lose weight for me, even 1 lb per week at a time.
  • jonrenly wrote: »
    Just here to say hello from a fellow vegan

    helloooo :D
  • I have been on and off this site over about two years and when I am logging I am loosing, when I dont I gain. Although I log everything I am not anal about the brand, weight etc etc, it is more of a focus on what I am eating but by logging I do think about the whole food piece. It is a balance of finding the right item against time spent trawling the database and time is not a huge commodity. That may defeat the purpose but it works for me
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I logged during my initial weight loss...basically for about 9 months. I maintained that weight loss and my weight for over a year and a half without logging, save for the first month or so of maintenance. This was not an issue for me at all.

    I'm about three weeks into a cut now trying to get myself down from 16/17% BF to around 10/12%...I logged the first couple of day just to make sure my estimations were on target in RE to the eating plan I designed for myself and it was, so I'm not logging now and losing just fine...and very slowly (by design).
  • kamakazeekim
    kamakazeekim Posts: 1,183 Member
    I only log occasionally to see if I'm staying within my daily limits. I have had a gastric sleeve since May so I know I'm WAY under calories but I like to log sometimes just to remind myself that I do have to eat. On average, I'm eating about 600 calories a day.
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