Logging for life?

Right now, I plan to log forever. I believe I have an addiction to eating. I've done this yoyo so many times, and would rather just keep logging than relive it again. Maybe I'll maintain for a few years and then change my mind, but for now... Forever it is.

I am now on maintenance and I log daily!
This is really vital and important for me. Sure, I won't be as 'tight' with my logging like I was when I was trying to lose weight but I think it's important to always be healthily aware of what we are consuming. Not tracking and being mindful of my portions and intake led to me being overweight time and time again, despite being 'educated' about the process. I don't think daily tracking has to mean you are constantly having to be obsessive - but just a rough idea of calorie intake is always going to be a good thing. The way I see it? I worked too hard to just throw all my learnt behaviours away.

I can't really decide. Even though I reached my goal months ago, I continue to track for the most part because my husband is still losing weight and since I do the bulk of the cooking I am the one entering the recipes still so I haven't had much of a chance or reason to fall off the habit of logging. I wake up crazy stupid early (I've been up for over an hour and it is only 3:16am here) so I preplan my day in the wee hours and then tweak as needed. I used to adamantly say "I'll log FOREVER!" Now I say "I'll log as long as I need to" which just might end up being forever - or it might fall aside over time, I just don't know. I'll WEIGH forever, I'm sure. I'm kind of thinking about the idea of random week(s) of logging just to make sure I'm still on track (like on a monthly, cyclic basis, because I can totally undo myself during shark week if I'm not paying close attention!). Oh, and around holidays, too, because we all know how easy it is to fall apart basically from Halloween through the end of the year!

all you gotta do is just quickly log into the phone and simply track everything to give you an accurate idea, obviously not as accurate as weighing everything but this can be done in 15 minutes a day and gives you a great ball park figure. Or just do this till you lose weight, tracking, then simply continue to eat reasonable and not overeat and when you gain 5 pounds unwanted you track again

ideas

My sister asked me this question just yesterday.

I don't want to log for life, but if I have to I will log. Once I'm in maintenance, I'll log for a couple of months and then slowly try to lose the habbit. I'll still have mfp there in case I need it, such as; family gatherings, weddings, festivals etc...

I would hope that it will come more naturally, but I do enjoy food and I definitely don't want to go back to being huge. So if I gain some back I'll log again before too much damage is done.

I don't know what I'll be doing for the rest of my life. That could end up being decades or days, and either way it's too vague a timeline to contemplate. What I do know is that logging is a habit now, and an easy one at that, and with such a low threshold for error in my caloric range it makes sense to keep close track of what I'm eating. Logging gives me confidence in my choices and lets me enjoy the treats I've allowed for without having to worry that I've overeaten. At the moment, I can't think of a good reason to stop.

The last time I got to maintenance and stopped logging, I promptly gained about ten pounds (and over the next few years, I regained everything that I'd lost, plus more). I wouldn't say that I plan to log daily forever, but I know what happens when I don't log. When I get to maintenance this time, I'll probably log Monday-Friday and have occasional week-long breaks every few months. I'm just not good at intuitive eating, and I know it from experience, so if I have to log semi-regularly to maintain my weight, I will.

I think some of it is getting a system in place where logging is really easy. With all my saved meals and the like, I can usually log the whole next day in a minute, and the only things I log day of are the extra snack calories I had left over. It's easy enough that it can be a part of my daily routine, like showering or brushing my teeth. It's very unobtrusive and simple.