Is the food diary a life long endeavor or does it ever stop?

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  • ericatoday
    ericatoday Posts: 454 Member
    edited July 2016
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    The diary is to teach you what you can eat and what you need in moderation. Like it taught me that if im going out for pizza dont eat pancakes for breakfast. Once you generally have an idea of what works gor you and how to control your eating and pay attention to food you can absolutely grt off of it. Once i hit my goal and go to maintance i plan to be off of mfp after 3 months of maintenance
  • srecupid
    srecupid Posts: 660 Member
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    Im trying to figure out the same thing. I don't want to do it but at the same time it's handy tool. Like I look at my log and see I haven't been eating enough of one vitamin or the other. Next thing I know when I'm at the grocery store I look at the labels and buy stuff high in that. I guess the important thing is stopping yourself before you get out of control. I'm weighing myself within t minutes if waking up every day and writing it in a notebook. Every 14 entries or so I plan to jot it into Libra over my morning coffee so I get a nice chart. Just as long as it doesn't become an obsession
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,982 Member
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    I logged for 5 months and lost 40 lbs -- 198 to 158 in that time period. Didn't log for 3 years and maintained my weight at around 175 just eating normally and not even exercising. 158 wasn't a realistic weight for me; 175 was/is.

    Got stupid and starting drinking beer again w/o exercising about a year ago and quickly gained 21 lbs to 196 and just started logging about 2 months ago. Have already lost 18bs in that time and am only 3 lbs/1-2 wks away from my target of 175.

    Will go back to maintenance again when I hit 175 but will continue to track for awhile because I want to continue to exercise daily (which I didn't do b4) and want to know how many cals I need to consume in order to maintain my weight at 175. After I figure it out, I'll stop logging but will continue daily weigh-ins to make sure that I'm still on target.
  • RaeBeeBaby
    RaeBeeBaby Posts: 4,245 Member
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    I logged faithfully for the better part of a year and it really helped me focus on my weight loss. I already knew what I needed to eat in order to lose and/or maintain, but the food diary keeps you honest. That is IF you ARE honest with it (which some people are not, so what's even the point)?!

    I will skip a day or two, or even a week or two, but it draws me back for the accountability factor.
  • salembambi
    salembambi Posts: 5,592 Member
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    i think logging every single damm day is not necessary for maintenance i like to take days off once in a while keeps me sane
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited July 2016
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    I don't think food logging constitutes or should constitute a lifestyle change, but eating awareness would :p

    Tracking is just a means to an end. If tracking makes you more aware, good. If tracking gets in the way of your daily life, don't. There are other ways. Tracking can be a learning tool, or it can be a permanent aid. Eating is a personal matter. No prizes for eating "right" and no condemnation for eating "wrong".
  • 1nprgr3s
    1nprgr3s Posts: 61 Member
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    Every time I stop logging I gain weight. So for me it's something I have to stick to.
  • erianswilliams
    erianswilliams Posts: 33 Member
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    I think it depends on the person. Sometimes I stop logging & im able to maintain my weight. But I got very busy this past couple months & didn't log...along with eating a bunch of crap. I gained a couple of pounds. It's super quick & easy for me to track so I'll probably continue to do it for a long time.
  • CrazyMermaid1
    CrazyMermaid1 Posts: 344 Member
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    Logging keeps me honest and aware, combined with daily weigh-ins
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
    edited July 2016
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    I've been maintaining fairly well now for a couple years without logging. I have an acceptable maintenance range the upper limit of which generally results in certain items of clothing being too tight. When I hit this I will come back to logging for a couple weeks to a month to drop a couple kgs and as a reminder of how much I should be eating. I also tend to log new foods or recipes from time to time if I want to get an idea about calories and macros.

    Basically, if you plan on taking away the logging and maintaining you need to keep track some how of your weight so you don't allow the kgs to creep back on. Scale, tape measure, mirror or clothing size. I like mirror and clothing size personally as it allows for fluctuations without the harshness of the scale (also muscle mass affects this)
  • arielangel1991
    arielangel1991 Posts: 15 Member
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    Well, every time I've ever stopped logging in my food, I've gained weight back. I think maybe it just depends on the person, though. Some people are disciplined enough to watch what they eat without the motivation of MFP. Maybe I'm just not one of them, though?
  • surviv_ed
    surviv_ed Posts: 2 Member
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    It's a tool to get to know calories in food and as time passes, you will easily be able to count without using a programme. I just use it for fun. I don't need to type my food in anywhere to know how much I eat, I know all the calorie by heart and if you got a calculator then you technically have the same tools. But you can stop counting and stop typing foods in whenever you feel you have the same control without it. I feel like that, for me this is just like a cozy game and I like seeing the numbers on the screen :) But I have just got back into it after a few years not using anything like mfp, and I maintained and lost even more weight, so that's just up to you.

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