When did it become a habit?

Probably about a month. But I logged EVERY meal, spent that first month on habit reinforcement so that they would become ingrained quickly.

beastmode_kitty wrote: »

At least a month for me. Now I feel weird if I dont log.

Yeah, pretty much this.

I get kind of antsy if I haven't logged something.

Permanent habit? Never. It was just a tool I used for a given time to learn how much I needed to eat. I actually became a little overly and unhealthily obsessed with things for a bit so I stopped logging...haven't logged anything in over three years. I primarily focus on good livin' and treating my body right...getting solid nutrition and regular exercise.

Never. I quit after about a month (m/l)

Its definitely a habit for me now. I'm on day 294. (Now, if I was in a caloric deficit 294 days I'd be much further along, but that's a story for another post). Anyhow, logging does make me accountable.

Like someone else stated, I have been on MFP a number of years and logged and stopped off and on. I never set out to create a streak, I was just committed to logging and seeing a change this time around. Fitness and weight loss is the first thing I think of when I wake (I work out first thing in the a.m.) and the last thing I think of before I go to bed (I think of my little one and I pray as well) but, in general, I am prepping for my morning gym session.

To answer your question, I am not quite sure exactly 'when'. Sometime in the midst of the commitment to weight loss. Maybe a month or two in I suppose

It took around 7 months to make it a habit.

Never for me, I dread it to this day. When I started I did it all with pen and paper, you would think this would be easier and less of a pain, but I still dread it. There are times when I am really good about it, but then I start feeling obsessive.

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

Never. I quit after about a month (m/l)

Haha...short and direct, but I like it. Good to know all sides.

OP, I logged fine (in first 2 months). It's easy (within certain confinement). No ahh ha moments. However, gradually I ran into "uh oh" moments a lot.

My friends and I ate out at small restaurants a lot. Even when I ate out alone I got conscious about how many cups of cokes I drank or how many chips I ate (Rubio's). I got tired of guessing or trying to remember. I stopped logging and developed another strategy.

Not what you are asking, but I advise that you keep refining your strategy. That's a sportsmen mentality.

As most have said, it was probably about a month for me, but I've lately been VERY lazy about doing it and have for all intents and purposes, stopped logging. I log my breakfast and lunch weekdays (vaguely... usually i'm not following recipes well enough for them to be accurate), and rarely anything when I get home from work. Weekends I'm lucky if I log anything more than breakfast each day. I think this is mostly because eating healthy consistently has become a much stronger habit and have gotten a "feel" for how many calories of the common foods I eat are worth. I still wish I was better with logging just because I know it's going to come down to a time when my loss stops being consistent and it would be good to be able to point out where my problem was when that happens. I need to re-instantiate the logging habit.

hneagle1 wrote: »

How long did it take you all for logging food to become a permanent habit? I'm curious how long it was until you all got that ahh-ha moment and never quit. I have been going 30 days so far Already feeling happier!

It's not a permanent habit because I certainly do not intend to keep doing it forever, and in the last 18 months, I've taken 2 fairly lengthy diet breaks where I stopped logging (1 month and 6 weeks).

But when I started logging in February 2015, with the exception of those planned diet breaks, I have logged continually and consistently from Day 1. That's what I'm here for. If I weren't going to log regularly, I wouldn't have bothered signing up for MFP.

Plus it probably helped that I've logged every single kilometre I've cycled since April 29, 1990. I love data.

I actually got into the habit of logging food very quickly, less than a few weeks.

I am maintaining now 3+ years and only stopped fully logging 6 months ago, which is working great for me. I made new and lasting habits when it came to the foods I ate and quantities, it took about 2 years for me to feel I could eat this way for the rest of my life.

I cut out no foods, logging initially helped me with portion size and which foods were high calorie etc. I eat everything but in moderation.

gebeziseva wrote: »

Several weeks for me. The problem now is I don't know if I'll be able to stop when I'm done.

You're not supposed to stop when you reach goal. That's when you switch to maintain. You still must be mindful with your consumption to actually maintain without gain.

almost instantaneous for me, although I was keeping a hand written food diary from the age of about 12 (I was a competitive athlete), which was very time consuming and arduous, so discovering there was an app that made it so much easier a couple years later was a godsend

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

gebeziseva wrote: »

Several weeks for me. The problem now is I don't know if I'll be able to stop when I'm done.

You're not supposed to stop when you reach goal. That's when you switch to maintain. You still must be mindful with your consumption to actually maintain without gain.

I said "when I'm done", not "when I reach my goal".

It was immediate for me. I tracked my food from my weight watchers days so MFP was a relief to have online and on my phone. I love seeing what I ate, the macros, and seeing what I can fit into my day. I don't see myself stopping, because when I stopped paying attention, I stopped eating correctly.