Are you still counting calories on maintenance?

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  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    abralea wrote: »
    I reached my goal 3 years ago and tracked for about 1 year after...closed my account as I thought I knew what I needed to know... years later I have put 10lbs back on...so registered on the website again...it can be so easy to under estimate what you eat:(

    10 pounds in years is really not bad, frankly.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
    edited April 2016
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    In the 3 yrs I've been at maintenance I've counted calories, but in past few months I've stopped logging my meals, mentally I know roughly how many calories I'm consuming. I feel thats a good habit to be aware of how much even if not recording them. I'm maintaining my goal range pretty darned effortlessly :smiley:
  • ginalove1960
    ginalove1960 Posts: 60 Member
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    I've lost 50 lbs, over I don't know how many years, of tracking, maybe 2 years. I've been in maintenance, over the last 6 months or so, and tracking, all this time, with good effect.
    Now, in the last 4 days, I have been literally too busy to do my usual meal tracking and have missed tracking quite a few meals. I have noticed my weight climbing up and up and up, in these last few days, as I weigh myself daily. The MFP weight graph was a depressing upward climb. It all pointed to one thing: I personally, have to track my meals forever, to keep my weight down. Period.
  • jessicarobinson00
    jessicarobinson00 Posts: 414 Member
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    Maintenance since October...and yes: I believe for me I will always count/be mindful/be aware. I log in for the people though: I have some pretty spectacular friends here who I LOVE are apart of my life/fitness journey. :)
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
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    Yep - I've been on maintenance since 2012. I've continued to count calories ever day. It keeps me accountable and mindful of what I'm eating. It's too easy to slip back otherwise.
  • faramelee
    faramelee Posts: 163 Member
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    Gamliela wrote: »
    I didn't find maintenance easy. I don't think I really understood what it meant. I just thot I could go back to eating like I did before, plus excersize. So this time I 'm reading about maintenance and prepared for a different approach. Hope to learn how to eat and know intuitively how to maintain eventually. At first I plan to watch by logging and adjust slowly to my tdee.

    It's great that you pointed this out as I think many people do think like this and that's where it all goes so wrong. It is a lifestyle change - if you had put on weight eating the types/amounts of food you used to eat why think it'll be any different now? At the same time some people automatically reach for quick fix 'diet food' or try to live on really basic salads/foods that they don't like to lose the weight and wonder why it's not sustainable....it's such a shame.
  • Noot30
    Noot30 Posts: 54 Member
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    I've been maintaining about 6 months, and still log pretty much everything. As others have said it helps me keep on track. Some days I miss everything exactly and I'm not quite so strict, but mostly its everything.

    I have a pretty good idea now just in my head, but logging makes sure I don't have an extra biscuit or bit of chocolate as I have to "write it all down", and also in reverse, reassures me that 1 or 2 treats aren't going to set me back as it fits in my allowance...
  • PamelaW41
    PamelaW41 Posts: 287 Member
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    I still have to count calories. Every time I stop I eventually start gaining weight, I get complacent and stop really thinking about what I'm doing and eating. The accountability of actually writing down what I'm eating helps me.
  • Deipneus
    Deipneus Posts: 1,862 Member
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    darthdosa wrote: »
    What's your experience? Should I still keep tracking everything I'm eating? Do I forget about it and just start to eat sensibly?
    In 2007 I tracked calories and then stopped when I got to maintenance. I gained it all back and then some. In 2011 I started tracking again and went on maintenance again in 2012. I'm still tracking. Whatever I do to gain weight, it will come back if I stop doing it. I will point out however, that my tracking on maintenance is much more haphazard and imprecise. I just need to make sure that I'm in the ballpark.

  • 2CuteTerriers
    2CuteTerriers Posts: 8 Member
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    Counting calories and cardio seems to be the best combination for me. I have set my calorie goal high on my profile but I try to stick to 1200. Its a way to trick myself into thinking that I don't need all those calories. My new goal is to walk at least 10,000 steps a day.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    I'm see a lot of people talking about gaining weight when they stopped tracking...to those people, did you continue to weigh in? Because it's pretty easy for me to just weigh in regularly and if I see a trend going up to just cut out a snack or something to get it back down.
  • ggl62
    ggl62 Posts: 17 Member
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    I'm not yet on maintenance, but when I don't log for a day or so, I fall back into old habits. I think I will probably continue to log once I'm on maintenance.
  • tapwaters
    tapwaters Posts: 428 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I'm see a lot of people talking about gaining weight when they stopped tracking...to those people, did you continue to weigh in? Because it's pretty easy for me to just weigh in regularly and if I see a trend going up to just cut out a snack or something to get it back down.

    I stopped weighing in as well. I basically hit a "WOOHOO THAT'S ALL DONE NOW!"
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    tapwaters wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I'm see a lot of people talking about gaining weight when they stopped tracking...to those people, did you continue to weigh in? Because it's pretty easy for me to just weigh in regularly and if I see a trend going up to just cut out a snack or something to get it back down.

    I stopped weighing in as well. I basically hit a "WOOHOO THAT'S ALL DONE NOW!"

    In my experience, that tends to be the issue...

    I mentioned before that I don't log...haven't in three years of maintenance...but I keep up with the healthy habits I adopted while I was losing weight. I eat well and very healthfully most of the time and exercise regularly and just try to be as active as I can be in general...watch little t.v., etc. I also weigh in pretty much daily or at least 4-5 times per week and keep an eye on the trend. If I see things inching up, I just nip it in the bud...I can usually identify pretty easily where I've gone astray...an extra snack crept in or a decline in my exercise activity, etc...then I just adjust.

    I realized a long time ago that if I wanted to maintain my weight I was going to have to maintain a healthful lifestyle and that I would have to do the things that lean, healthy, and fit people do most of the time. There has to be a new normal.

    I'm 41 and planning on living another 40-50 years...I couldn't imagine keeping a diary for the next 40-50 years...I found it much easier to just adopt "good livin" habits and the rest has just sort of taken care of itself.
  • anna_jewel
    anna_jewel Posts: 127 Member
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    I am working towards intuitive eating and listening to my bodies hunger signals. I am starting to not track a few days of the week, but I am also logging to stay on track. I have learned what it feels like to eat at or just below my maintenance and know when I have eaten above it. Its a start.
  • alias1001
    alias1001 Posts: 634 Member
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    For me, yes. Every time I have stopped I slowly but surely fall into old habits. On maintenance since last September and will be logging indefinitely.

    I am not sure if that means I haven't adopted a lifestyle change or for me, tracking is the lifestyle change.
  • mfurgiuele90
    mfurgiuele90 Posts: 20 Member
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    I lost 55lbs about two years ago using MFP......unfortunately after about a month of not tracking I started slipping back into old habits and gained 25lbs back with in 6-7 months. For me I know that unless my whole relationship and mentality with food somehow changes, I need to track my calories. Its all metal but it keeps me accountable.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    I still count calories. I know that it's difficult for me to sustain weight loss without some sort of plan. The amount I naturally want to eat makes me bigger than I want to be, so I expect to be counting calories for the rest of my life.

    I also find it kind of fun -- it's like a puzzle game.
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
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    Yes.

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