Are you still counting calories on maintenance?

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 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.

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.

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.

The only way I can be truly accountable to myself is to see those numbers in black and white each day. Even when on vacation, I log. Now, I may give myself a pass to eat a bit more but it all gets logged so I can keep everything real. I have discovered that I am not a good estimator when it comes to food portion and weight.

I started tracking 3 months ago as well, lost 15 lbs, and planing on tracking for another 9 months at least. In the first month I was just tracking and making sure I'm within my calorie limit, in months 2 and 3 is when I started to understand macros and micros, and what food suite my body. I think I'll learn more things along the way, as I continue to track. Also, I intend to meet with a nutritionist one day, and when they ask me what I usually eat, I can just let them into my food dairy and they can analyze all they want.

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!"

Haha yeah it's what I did when I was 20. Good times.

I lost 51 - 53 lbs over a 18 month period and hit a normal BMI in February, 2015. Transitioned into maintenance a couple of months ago. I'm still counting and logging and will probably for the rest of my life, but I'm old so . . .

I've changed the way I eat and love my new healthy lifestyle of sensible calorie intake with some moderate exercise and don't ever want to regain. I know that if I stop logging and staying active the dreaded calorie creep will begin.

I like to think of counting/logging as keeping my checkbook balanced. I track my calories as I track my financial expenditures. Keeping both balanced is a good thing.

darthdosa wrote: »

I've been counting calories for 3 months, this has worked really well for me since I was eating meals I enjoy and it's worked better than other diets I've tried in the past. I'm still not in my goal weight but I realized I'm actually happy about how I look and how my clothes fit at the moment, so I'm thinking about skipping to maintenance. What's your experience? Should I still keep tracking everything I'm eating? Do I forget about it and just start to eat sensibly?

Honestly, I'm so in the habit of logging now that I don't think I'll ever stop. I'm OCD, so I enjoy planning out/logging meals for the week, knowing what I need to pack and it's also helpful if you want to continue to hit your macros. Staying within a calorie allotment for maintenance would be easy without logging, you get a general idea of what you are able to eat to stay below the deemed amount, but hitting macros would potentially be difficult.

My own experience has been when I hit my goal weight and stop counting and logging my calories I do fine for a short time but then always seem to eventually put back on about 10-15 lbs...and I've repeated the cycle so many times you'd think I'd learn but here I am again. But I'm also 49 and pretty sedentary so it catches up with me quickly.

Been maintaining for a year now, and I believe that continuing to track after the weight-loss stage was what got me through that crucial first year. Though my diet is full of whole, healthy foods I continue to log foods because even fruit and whole grains can get out of hand if you don't keep an eye on portions. : P It's quick and easy to do, so why not track, I figure.