Stopping logging and weighing?
Replies
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I still log and I've been on maintenance for over 4 years. I miss a day here and there and it's no big deal because I'm basically paying attention most of the time. I also guesstimate on portions more often than I did before because I've gotten good at it, but still weigh the calorie dense things. I don't mind logging forever if need be. I'm so used to it that it's fast and easy like brushing my teeth, plus I eat a lot of the same foods from day to day, which makes it easy, too. It doesn't feel obsessive to me at all. It feels like a daily health maintenance habit.
OP, you can go ahead and try not logging. If you start to gain again, just hop back on and start logging again. You can come and go as you need to. I personally prefer not to yo-yo around with my weight and just stay consistent, so I'll likely log forever. Good luck!2 -
I haven't logged anything in months, and never weighed what I logged. I jump on the scale now and then, and that's about it. I might log when I go to drop some more weight, or to watch macros if I'm training hard. Other than that, I doubt I'll plan on logging anything long term.
But find the combo that works for you and keeps you both happy and in control.2 -
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I didn't find weighing and logging hard at all, but the obsession with food was getting to me.. I was planning my next meal whilst still eating one meal, I couldn't even decide what to eat for breakfast because I had to overthink the macros etc my food is pretty much the same since my break from logging but I'm not just obsessing about the macros nutrient.I still log and I've been on maintenance for over 4 years. I miss a day here and there and it's no big deal because I'm basically paying attention most of the time. I also guesstimate on portions more often than I did before because I've gotten good at it, but still weigh the calorie dense things. I don't mind logging forever if need be. I'm so used to it that it's fast and easy like brushing my teeth, plus I eat a lot of the same foods from day to day, which makes it easy, too. It doesn't feel obsessive to me at all. It feels like a daily health maintenance habit.
OP, you can go ahead and try not logging. If you start to gain again, just hop back on and start logging again. You can come and go as you need to. I personally prefer not to yo-yo around with my weight and just stay consistent, so I'll likely log forever. Good luck!
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I love to log stuff and keep record and I have resolved that log my foods is part of my life. I don't finding it tedious so for me is will always be even if I fall on maintenance. I will be cutting and bulking so will always log. I enjoy it !0
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I enjoyed it too but I became too preoccupied with food and the numbers. My day would be ruined if I went over etcI love to log stuff and keep record and I have resolved that log my foods is part of my life. I don't finding it tedious so for me is will always be even if I fall on maintenance. I will be cutting and bulking so will always log. I enjoy it !
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I weighed and measured randomly for years after I reached my goal weight. It took about three years before the weight started to creep on again. That's why I just joined mfp again.0
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I would like to stop food logging too. I tried it on the weekends and I ended up gaining weight. I think I might want to try a day or two during the week....then slowly increase it as long as I am not gaining weight. I seem to stay on track with my calories during the week compared to the weekend. Maybe because, I am walking during the week.
I did the same thing (stopped weekend logging) with the same result, and it occurred to me afterward that it would be better to choose a random day or two not to log during the week, as my eating is much more steady/regular then. I've been weighing portions a lot less, though. I've always had a good eye for that anyway.0 -
I think I'm different, and I think that's fine
I need to log, even through holidays I need to log
My type of eating has improved in terms of go to meals and snacks I love..but my style hasn't really ...I still graze a lot and it would be oh so easy to graze myself into overeating regularly ...I also go out and I like to ensure that I have enough calories in the bank to fund free reign on nights out,
I have never looked at my calories as a daily limit but as a weekly one...I use fatsecret for food logging now (I found it easier and more accurate for me) and I can look back on how much over and under I am across that calendar month quite easily, with a summary count for month to date ...also use trendweight and an almost daily Fitbit weigh in
So I think what I'm clumsily trying to say is that you know you ...if you feel that logging is unnecessary to your maintenance, stop doing it ...but keep an eye on those metrics over time, giving yourself an acceptable range (eg how your clothes fit, how you look, measure, how much you weigh etc) and if that hits a preset limit then you might need to return to logging..but you may not
I know I would ...one ice cream or one pack of chips is never enough
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I actually did an experiment from this past Saturday until Tuesday on not logging.. lets just say the experiment ended Tuesday and it was supposed to go thru this Saturday. Not ready to let go of the reigns yet, I still cannot manage to not under estimate my portions. Not sure why after 2 years.
My husband wanted to see if I could let go of the habitual and day to day logging and just be a "normal" person who did not do this type of thing every day. Let me just say the rest of my family does not know I count calories because anyone that did know will think that am not of this earth..
I told some colleagues at work a while back and they looked at me like I had two heads.
Needless to say this is still my dirty little secret and just no ready to let go of the reigns just yet.
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I actually did an experiment from this past Saturday until Tuesday on not logging.. lets just say the experiment ended Tuesday and it was supposed to go thru this Saturday. Not ready to let go of the reigns yet, I still cannot manage to not under estimate my portions. Not sure why after 2 years.
My husband wanted to see if I could let go of the habitual and day to day logging and just be a "normal" person who did not do this type of thing every day. Let me just say the rest of my family does not know I count calories because anyone that did know will think that am not of this earth.. I told some colleagues at work a while back and they looked at me like I had two heads.
Needless to say this is still my dirty little secret and just no ready to let go of the reigns just yet.
You'll find you will become more confident each time you decide to have a logging break. I have tried several times, once after a few months at maintenance which didn't work well for me that time. I tried again a year later and went back to logging after 6 weeks when I was seeing a slight creep. Now in year 4, I have been successfully not logging for 6 months. I do still think in calories and will mentally tot up my meals the odd day but I always find I am doing absolutely fine. If anything in the last 6 months I have dropped 3lbs but I don't mind having those as a buffer for when vacation time rolls around. If I continue to keep losing albeit it slowly I will only worry about that if I lose more than 5 more lbs - I know then I'd start looking a bit to thin for my liking.
Just keep logging and then now and again try another logging break and have confidence in your changed eating habits. I know I now eat like a 'thin person', it took time but I'm there, I have and am succeeding and I have confidence
Ruth
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Maybe transition slowly....go to logging 3 days a week, then 2, then 1?0
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RunRutheeRun wrote: »I actually did an experiment from this past Saturday until Tuesday on not logging.. lets just say the experiment ended Tuesday and it was supposed to go thru this Saturday. Not ready to let go of the reigns yet, I still cannot manage to not under estimate my portions. Not sure why after 2 years.
My husband wanted to see if I could let go of the habitual and day to day logging and just be a "normal" person who did not do this type of thing every day. Let me just say the rest of my family does not know I count calories because anyone that did know will think that am not of this earth.. I told some colleagues at work a while back and they looked at me like I had two heads.
Needless to say this is still my dirty little secret and just no ready to let go of the reigns just yet.
You'll find you will become more confident each time you decide to have a logging break. I have tried several times, once after a few months at maintenance which didn't work well for me that time. I tried again a year later and went back to logging after 6 weeks when I was seeing a slight creep. Now in year 4, I have been successfully not logging for 6 months. I do still think in calories and will mentally tot up my meals the odd day but I always find I am doing absolutely fine. If anything in the last 6 months I have dropped 3lbs but I don't mind having those as a buffer for when vacation time rolls around. If I continue to keep losing albeit it slowly I will only worry about that if I lose more than 5 more lbs - I know then I'd start looking a bit to thin for my liking.
Just keep logging and then now and again try another logging break and have confidence in your changed eating habits. I know I now eat like a 'thin person', it took time but I'm there, I have and am succeeding and I have confidence
Ruth
While I appreciate this (and I do), I will never think about eating like a thin person. I used to be really thin for years and I gained a lot of weight after some personal tragedy. I can't believe I used to eat the way I did to stay thin..
For starters I train a lot. So I have to eat my calories each day. With being thin in my past, I can very easily over estimate how much I eat. I am probably the opposite of most. But I also can gain weight quicker than a person can say "calorie deficit" so maintaining to not loose and gain are dual goals for me always.
With that said, I log because I am too lazy to guage portions and the scale does all that for me in a matter of seconds. So my brain is trained to think and use the scale, not my eyeballs or palms and fist or what I think goes into a spoon that will make an accurate portion. I still eat out and eat things outside of my normal diet, but these too are controlled outings and are within reasonable calories when I go out to eat, have a beer with friends or attend a sporting event where I will eat nachos, etc..
Maybe I am different that I really do not pay attention to what the food looks like while it on scale.. I hope this makes sense..2 -
I have some proble to log accurately the lunch because normally now I have to go to eat to a local canteen instead to take food from home or going to some fast ffod chain or buy something at the grocery. I try to guess the caloric intake an the weight of the portions and try to log - but I'm thinking to stop logging because it's not a precise guess and this I think makes all the logging exercise really less useful: it's useful only if one has to track what is eating.
The same problem happens in the weekend when normally I'm invited to dinner at someone else house.
Actually I think to stop the logging and track only blood pressure and weight.
I've also stopped long ago to stop trackin the exercises, because I minly walk and ride a bike, and seems to me that the calorie counting is another wild estimate, especially for mountain biking or walking in the woods...
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After a 48 pound loss is when I stopped logging food. Keep in mind, I still wasn't happy with the remaining belly and thigh fat but I felt I needed a break from weighing and logging. So I took a chance. I still weighed myself often enough to make sure things were staying within my 5 lbs range. I felt successful and and didn't log food for 80 days but my weight did reach the top of the range. I then had 10 pounds to lose because I wanted to try and rid the belly and thigh fat, too.
It was weird not weighing my food for those 80 days but it felt like relief, too. I love numbers and seeing those numbers helped me lose my weight. But now that I experienced "not logging", I hope to reach that point again where the knowledge is within. But worst case, I think I can live the rest of my life by "on and off" logging, too. lol
You may do very well by not logging. You mentioned you had gained great habits. I still ate the same foods I was eating while losing. Mine became a lifestyle change and I really enjoy my healthier foods. A person on the community world posted that you can still weigh your food but not log (to make sure your portion sizes don't increase). This is really great advice.
You look really great by the way. Congratulations on your loss!0 -
It definitely feels obsessive, but everytime I feel like I have a handle on it and stop logging, I gain again.2
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I've been experimenting with this the last couple weeks... well month, I'm still trying to get down to my goal weight though. Honestly I know what days I've messed up, and what days I was just a special occasion and let loose. Honestly after logging so many calories and different types of foods I basically know within 20-75 calories what something is (Normally rounding up...) MFP is just a tool use it how you see fit, enjoy your life and hold yourself accountable to stay on track and keep up a healthy lifestyle
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RunRutheeRun wrote: »I actually did an experiment from this past Saturday until Tuesday on not logging.. lets just say the experiment ended Tuesday and it was supposed to go thru this Saturday. Not ready to let go of the reigns yet, I still cannot manage to not under estimate my portions. Not sure why after 2 years.
My husband wanted to see if I could let go of the habitual and day to day logging and just be a "normal" person who did not do this type of thing every day. Let me just say the rest of my family does not know I count calories because anyone that did know will think that am not of this earth.. I told some colleagues at work a while back and they looked at me like I had two heads.
Needless to say this is still my dirty little secret and just no ready to let go of the reigns just yet.
You'll find you will become more confident each time you decide to have a logging break. I have tried several times, once after a few months at maintenance which didn't work well for me that time. I tried again a year later and went back to logging after 6 weeks when I was seeing a slight creep. Now in year 4, I have been successfully not logging for 6 months. I do still think in calories and will mentally tot up my meals the odd day but I always find I am doing absolutely fine. If anything in the last 6 months I have dropped 3lbs but I don't mind having those as a buffer for when vacation time rolls around. If I continue to keep losing albeit it slowly I will only worry about that if I lose more than 5 more lbs - I know then I'd start looking a bit to thin for my liking.
Just keep logging and then now and again try another logging break and have confidence in your changed eating habits. I know I now eat like a 'thin person', it took time but I'm there, I have and am succeeding and I have confidence
Ruth
While I appreciate this (and I do), I will never think about eating like a thin person. I used to be really thin for years and I gained a lot of weight after some personal tragedy. I can't believe I used to eat the way I did to stay thin..
For starters I train a lot. So I have to eat my calories each day. With being thin in my past, I can very easily over estimate how much I eat. I am probably the opposite of most. But I also can gain weight quicker than a person can say "calorie deficit" so maintaining to not loose and gain are dual goals for me always.
With that said, I log because I am too lazy to guage portions and the scale does all that for me in a matter of seconds. So my brain is trained to think and use the scale, not my eyeballs or palms and fist or what I think goes into a spoon that will make an accurate portion. I still eat out and eat things outside of my normal diet, but these too are controlled outings and are within reasonable calories when I go out to eat, have a beer with friends or attend a sporting event where I will eat nachos, etc..
Maybe I am different that I really do not pay attention to what the food looks like while it on scale.. I hope this makes sense..
Thanks for your reply, this just lets me see that each and every one of us is different and has differing needs. If you train a lot of course you need to consume more so perhaps in your case you do need to log or at least write down what you've eaten. I know its very commonly said on MFP but you do YOU 0 -
RunRutheeRun wrote: »RunRutheeRun wrote: »I actually did an experiment from this past Saturday until Tuesday on not logging.. lets just say the experiment ended Tuesday and it was supposed to go thru this Saturday. Not ready to let go of the reigns yet, I still cannot manage to not under estimate my portions. Not sure why after 2 years.
My husband wanted to see if I could let go of the habitual and day to day logging and just be a "normal" person who did not do this type of thing every day. Let me just say the rest of my family does not know I count calories because anyone that did know will think that am not of this earth.. I told some colleagues at work a while back and they looked at me like I had two heads.
Needless to say this is still my dirty little secret and just no ready to let go of the reigns just yet.
You'll find you will become more confident each time you decide to have a logging break. I have tried several times, once after a few months at maintenance which didn't work well for me that time. I tried again a year later and went back to logging after 6 weeks when I was seeing a slight creep. Now in year 4, I have been successfully not logging for 6 months. I do still think in calories and will mentally tot up my meals the odd day but I always find I am doing absolutely fine. If anything in the last 6 months I have dropped 3lbs but I don't mind having those as a buffer for when vacation time rolls around. If I continue to keep losing albeit it slowly I will only worry about that if I lose more than 5 more lbs - I know then I'd start looking a bit to thin for my liking.
Just keep logging and then now and again try another logging break and have confidence in your changed eating habits. I know I now eat like a 'thin person', it took time but I'm there, I have and am succeeding and I have confidence
Ruth
While I appreciate this (and I do), I will never think about eating like a thin person. I used to be really thin for years and I gained a lot of weight after some personal tragedy. I can't believe I used to eat the way I did to stay thin..
For starters I train a lot. So I have to eat my calories each day. With being thin in my past, I can very easily over estimate how much I eat. I am probably the opposite of most. But I also can gain weight quicker than a person can say "calorie deficit" so maintaining to not loose and gain are dual goals for me always.
With that said, I log because I am too lazy to guage portions and the scale does all that for me in a matter of seconds. So my brain is trained to think and use the scale, not my eyeballs or palms and fist or what I think goes into a spoon that will make an accurate portion. I still eat out and eat things outside of my normal diet, but these too are controlled outings and are within reasonable calories when I go out to eat, have a beer with friends or attend a sporting event where I will eat nachos, etc..
Maybe I am different that I really do not pay attention to what the food looks like while it on scale.. I hope this makes sense..
Thanks for your reply, this just lets me see that each and every one of us is different and has differing needs. If you train a lot of course you need to consume more so perhaps in your case you do need to log or at least write down what you've eaten. I know its very commonly said on MFP but you do YOU
My husband said this not too long ago (and keep in mind he has NEVER logged one gram of food and lost 65 pounds last year) that this process or any process for that matter is a life long and never ending process. The journey never ends! Rather it be fitness, maintaining weight, body composition, training for running races, etc..
His way works for him and mine works for me. This why the experiment ended only after a few days. I will give it a go again after I get done with another small "cut" in a couple of months (I purposefully gained weight to bulk), but for now me and my scale are best buddies! LOL 0
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