Track for 30 days...then lose it. How do you keep with it?

slimdownsteph
slimdownsteph Posts: 71 Member
edited November 21 in Motivation and Support
Hey y'all... I cannot figure out how to maintain this. I track for 30 days and then by that point, I slowly stop tracking and then it seems I go into a phase where I gain even more weight. I'm tracking calories to lose 1.5lbs a week, so it's not an insane cut in calories. I had been doing OTF, but then I was basically gone for a month and need to get back at it. Eating is by far the harder part of it all.

Looking at past weigh-ins it looks like I've gained 50+ in a year...A YEAR?!!!! I'm really starting to see the effects on my body...especially physically.

Please PLEASE tell me how you've kept with it? And maintained the lifestyle... I really am starting to feel like I'm going to loose all hope.

Replies

  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    For me it's more like...how can I not? Fitness, health, lifting-they're all part of my life now. No one can make you do it. You just have to do it.
  • slimdownsteph
    slimdownsteph Posts: 71 Member
    arditarose wrote: »
    For me it's more like...how can I not? Fitness, health, lifting-they're all part of my life now. No one can make you do it. You just have to do it.

    But when you were first starting?
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    slimdownsteph wrote: »
    arditarose wrote: »
    For me it's more like...how can I not? Fitness, health, lifting-they're all part of my life now. No one can make you do it. You just have to do it.

    But when you were first starting?

    It was easier when I first started. I still had that "thrill" of getting in shape and losing weight. Now I've gone back to cutting calories after hitting a healthy weight and it's much easier to tell myself I can have a few extra licks of this or that. But I never think not to log something. Even if I go to the fridge and take a lick of greek yogurt, I go back to my diary and add a few grams. I need my data to be as accurate as possible.

  • slimdownsteph
    slimdownsteph Posts: 71 Member
    Hmm... well, thanks for the input! Glad to hear you're doing well with it! Maybe someone out there that had trouble when they were first beginning can provide any insight?
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    slimdownsteph wrote: »
    Hmm... well, thanks for the input! Glad to hear you're doing well with it! Maybe someone out there that had trouble when they were first beginning can provide any insight?

    Well, what specifically gives you trouble? Do you just hate tracking? Are you not seriously about losing weight? Does something about your life/lifestyle get in the way?
  • slimdownsteph
    slimdownsteph Posts: 71 Member
    arditarose wrote: »
    slimdownsteph wrote: »
    Hmm... well, thanks for the input! Glad to hear you're doing well with it! Maybe someone out there that had trouble when they were first beginning can provide any insight?

    Well, what specifically gives you trouble? Do you just hate tracking? Are you not seriously about losing weight? Does something about your life/lifestyle get in the way?

    I don't mind tracking. However, I HATE HATE cooking and all of my friends/coworkers eat out EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. There's no way to stay social and not eat out.

  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    slimdownsteph wrote: »
    arditarose wrote: »
    slimdownsteph wrote: »
    Hmm... well, thanks for the input! Glad to hear you're doing well with it! Maybe someone out there that had trouble when they were first beginning can provide any insight?

    Well, what specifically gives you trouble? Do you just hate tracking? Are you not seriously about losing weight? Does something about your life/lifestyle get in the way?

    I don't mind tracking. However, I HATE HATE cooking and all of my friends/coworkers eat out EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. There's no way to stay social and not eat out.

    Ah! I HATED cooking too. I pretty much bought every single meal prepared and I ordered lunch every day as well. The first thing I started with was making simple salads with ingredients I loved for dinner-goat cheese, chicken, etc. Eventually I started cooking a meat every night-literally just putting in the in pan (after weighing it of course), with veggies in another pan. Soon I was adding more and more ingredients and spices and coming up with little combinations I love. It's all down to a science now. Everything is used so often, it's easy to find in my recent ingredients list and I just tap and add.

    Honestly it took me about 9 months to finally start packing my lunch for work-but I was losing weight while ordering at first, or at least going to the grocery store salad bar.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,610 Member
    At the end of the first 30 days, I had lost about 4 kg. I was getting great results ... why wouldn't I want to stick with it?


    BTW - I'm not into cooking either. Fortunately there are lots of quick and easy options available in the grocery stores.
  • DuckReconMajor
    DuckReconMajor Posts: 434 Member
    I still eat out for lunch almost every day, I just log whatever I eat.
  • NH_1970
    NH_1970 Posts: 544 Member
    just keep swimming just keep swimming, what do we do? just keep swimming. That attitude, perseverance. Realizing no one but me is gonna give a crap about me.
    I write notes if I'm busy put them in my purse, toss them by the computer and spend time in the evening logging what I've eaten.
    If you go to your fridge put a note on it that says - log food
    then do it.
    Brush your teeth at night? put a note by your toothbrush Remember to log MFP anything that you do every day is habit, it will become habit just stick with it, if you forget to do it, don't beat yourself up just figure oops forgot, I'm human, then remember and do it. Just keep swimming...

    Also it helps to have an attitude of I can do this, and this is why I can do this. Then write why you can.
    Write a note to yourself every week of this is why I want to lose weight. Be really honest with yourself and never share those notes with anyone, they're just for you.
  • QuietStorm74
    QuietStorm74 Posts: 5 Member
    The big this is don't make any dramatic changes to your life style. You can still eat out you just have to make better food choices when you do go out. My friends and coworkers go out to eat all the time and I usually cook and bring my food. A lot of time I just eat what I bring and let them enjoy there food going out. If I do choose to go out and eat I will find out where they are going and make sure I get something on the menu that fits in to the calories I need for the day. You can still stay on track and eat those food you enjoy. Focus on your goals. Short term and long term and you will make it.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Yep, the first step is to just log what you eat. If you're losing weight, stick with it. If you're not-adjust! Don't try to do a lifestyle overhaul right away! After 30 days, you should have lost a pound or two, so why not stick with it? Weight loss takes time and patience, and there are a lot of people on here who can support you along the way!
  • stfuriada
    stfuriada Posts: 445 Member
    A lot of restaurant websites have calories listed on their menu now, don't they? For those that do, log them if you go there. Add a cushion of a hundred calories or so. If they don't try to break it down as much as you can and log that.
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  • EmmieBaby
    EmmieBaby Posts: 1,235 Member
    Day 929 and counting,

    In the beginning it was hard for me cause I would often lie to myself and refuse to log the junk I would eat...now I force myself to log EVERYTHING so that I can see the numbers...sometimes i shock myself with how my "junk" actually fits in my day.

    Its all about building the habit. I've logged the good the bad and the ugly, I log so that I have a sort of diary of my eating in comparison to my mood and try to learn my triggers and how to avoid them.

  • vjperez865
    vjperez865 Posts: 1 Member
    One thing I find that helps when eating out is if you know where you're going, look up the nutritional info beforehand and find the best option for you. My coworkers and I tend to go out everyday for lunch after voting for a place, but I'm able to find a reasonably healthy option in most places. Even fast food places tend to have salads, but you'll have to avoid crispy chicken and be careful of the dressing. Vinaigrette seems to be the best choice, but some can be loaded with high fructose corn syrup, so watch out for the fruity ones.

    I do actually find it easier to log when eating out. It's much more of a hassle at home when I make something and there's a dozen or more different versions of the same thing ranging from 300-800 calories and I end up just scanning or entering in each ingredient.

    Most importantly, don't give up! It may seem hopeless, but you posted here asking for help so you're already doing much better than a lot of others out there. Even tracking for a month and stopping for a while is a step in the right direction. I find it easiest to just log it as soon as I order it or eat it or sometimes even before. Yeah, it may be a little rude to get out your phone right then and there but it's for a good reason. And when you forget, try not to dismiss the reminders the app gives you. Just keep at it!
  • TuffChixRule
    TuffChixRule Posts: 190 Member
    I found if I plan to go out, I decide what I will order ahead of time, and log it before I go. If I do order or eat anything extra, I log it as soon as I can. It's all about planning. That being said, I did struggle for the first 45 days with logging and eating smaller portions. So here goes my story (long post)

    I had decided one day at work after feeling really uncomfortable in tight clothing that had fit in the beginning of the year that I was tired of being fat and tired all the time. I had used MFP in the past but never stuck with it, so I decided to make a new profile and determined to lose the weight this time. The first few days were really eye-opening. I realized that "one serving" for most foods is really small and I was grossly overestimating what a serving was. I also have a desk job where I am sitting most of the day. Moving for me consisted of getting up to go to the fridge or to get coffee. And I was loading up my coffee with double or triple the serving of creamer or even adding a packet of powdered cocoa mix to my coffee. It also didn't help that my cubicle was next to the coffee area which often has sugary snacks that people bring in to share. My first cutback was the coffee creamer. Nothing too drastic, just started using one or two teaspoons of creamer instead of three or four and not adding sugar. At first it tasted horrible! But after a few days I got used to it, so I moved on to the next small change.

    The next task was to switch from 2% milk to 1% and then to skim milk. I did this over the course of two months. 2% to 1% wasn't much of a change in taste, and once I was used to that I switched to skim milk. Now I drink light soy milk because I like the taste better than skim milk. While I was making these changes I logged everything and was adding more fruits and veggies to my diet. I rediscovered how much I enjoy carrots, cucumbers, lettuce and apples. My energy was also increasing dramatically, so I decided to buy a food scale.

    Another aha moment came when I first weighed my food! 3 ounces of meat is really tiny, I thought. So is 3/4 cup of cereal. But as I did with the creamer and the milk, I started out gradually, reducing my normal 8 or 9 ounces of meat to 6 ounces, then gradually to 3 ounces.

    I would take a few hours on a Sunday afternoon and prepare my lunches and snacks for the work week ahead. Ziplock bags are great for portioning out dry foods like chips or crackers for snacks. I used this formula: one ziplock bag = one serving and portioned it out accordingly.

    After about 45 days it had become habit to log everything I ate, even if it was junk or too many calories for my liking.

    I know that this is long and rambling. My point is that even small changes can have a big impact.
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
    To start with: it was about wanting it bad enough. I wanted to lose weight, so I tracked every day. After a month, I realized that when I tracked consistently, I lost weight so I kept going.

    To keep up with it: its about making it part of your life. It's a habit for me now. It's just something I do like brushing my teeth or doing the laundry. I track my food, no negotiating or motivation necessary.
  • sabrinacrandall
    sabrinacrandall Posts: 74 Member
    slimdownsteph wrote: »

    I don't mind tracking. However, I HATE HATE cooking and all of my friends/coworkers eat out EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. There's no way to stay social and not eat out.
    Okay, this was me until about a month ago. I think what really gave me that 'ah-hah' moment of 'I can cook!' was watching a bunch of YouTube videos on how to prepare easy breakfast/lunch/dinners for people trying to lose weight and don't really cook. I cooked myself dinner for the first time on Monday, and it was fantastic. And super simple! Now that I've done it once, I feel empowered and excited to try new recipes and healthy twists on foods I love.

    So I guess my advice would be to start small, and gradually build up your repertoire. Start by packing a homemade lunch -- a sandwich, some fruit, something easy to prepare the night before and just bring with you to work. And do that for a week. Then add breakfast or dinner homemade also.

    As far as logging goes, it's something I didn't like doing in the beginning, but now that I've made a routine of it (and my meals), it's a lot easier. Every morning at work, while I'm eating my breakfast, I log my breakfast and lunch which I prepared ahead of time and weighed. Then, once I've eaten, or sometimes when preparing (if I'm cooking) dinner, I'll log that, look at my calories, and determine if I'm hungry for/have allowance for a snack. I guess habits are hard to establish, but once done, so easy to maintain. Find the method that works best for you, and go with it!
  • marshmallowsandsnark
    marshmallowsandsnark Posts: 5 Member
    I find that I am best about logging when I'm eating really clean healthy meals, and worst when I have indulged. I don't like the visual representation of my choices leaving me with only 200 calories for dinner or for it to say I've gone over.

    When I'm eating out, sometimes, it's even harder to track because there's no single option for what you're eating when you're out. So I try to break it down as best I can. Adding a line for meat, and for oil, and for cream sauce...whatever.

    I've started poring over menus ahead of time when I go out. I find the thing that looks the least destructive to my progress. Before I get there, I try to eat a handful of nuts and drink a big glass of water so that I don't hit the door starving and go straight for the bread basket or chips. I'm also super social, and I try to steer my groups towards restaurants I know I can order "safely". And like a nerd, I often set my timer for 20 minutes the time I start eating, and I try to make my meal last as long as I can so that it gives my body time to register the food.

    I log ahead of time. I look at calories like I look at my monthly budget. I can afford things I want (or unexpected emergency things like new tires) if I budget ahead of time. So I treat calories the same - budget for what you know about as soon as you can so that you know what your remaining balance will be.

    Finally, at 38, and having battled weight my entire adult life, I finally admitted to myself that I was the only person to whom I was accountable for my eating habits, weight gain, and weight loss, and I had gotten way too comfortable with letting myself down. So I decided to give enough cares for myself to stop setting myself up for disappointment and actually set myself up to win. Part of that commitment is logging, and it's the EASIER part of this whole challenge. I see it like this: if I can at least log, I've done the bare minimum to keep myself on track. Even if I log that I eat like crap, at least I'm being accountable.

    I speak kindly to myself about it. I hit the button to close out the day, and I am ready to start fresh again tomorrow. I am a learning, growing, erring, eating, choice making human. I've been overweight and unhealthy for a long time, so as long as I'm doing something, I'm in control, and that's all I can handle some days.

    tl;dr

    It's hard, but totally doable.
  • allycat0715
    allycat0715 Posts: 13 Member
    I look at it like the calories are my money. I have X amount to spend and to "save" (not use) I know if I spend more then my body will gain weight but if I "balance my check book" of calories then I will feel better and my body feel the difference. It works for me.
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