Long time maintainer, and sometimes I want to quit.
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Oh you're post sounds like where I thought I'd be if I had kept up with logging. I'm glad I decided to lose without it.0
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Wow, so many thoughtful replies. I'm also a long time maintainer and can identify with much of what you said.
For many years now, I take summer off. With 3 kids at home, the rhythm of home life is so different in summer. Plus, we drink more alcohol and it's so hot I still exercise but at lower intensity. I weigh myself less if at all, and I don't log. The net result? In 3 months I gain 5 pounds. Some years more, some years less or not at all. When I think about it, it's only a surplus of 250 cal/day..... astonishingly easy to do. When the kids go back to school, I count calories & eat in a 250 kcal/day deficit (I bank calories for the weekend and go by weekly averages). The extra weight is gone by the holidays. Some summers I stay on track, but often I just don't have the energy for it. So I can't honest say this "seasonal gain/loss" was planned or intentional. It just works out that way and I am reconciled to it. I enjoy the summer break while it lasts, and by mid-August I'm feeling the extra pounds and ready to get back into my regular rhythm.
I offer this as an example of how a tracking break works for me. I understand not wanting to regain the whole enchilada. Plenty of people do. And that is scary. If you set a firm timeframe for your break, do you think you could let yourself enjoy it? And get back to your routine? If it stresses you not to track and stresses you to track, then stress is in your future either way. You might enjoy life more if you could moderate the stress you feel when doing one or the other!
Congrats on your awesome work so far, and best of luck working out an approach that you enjoy!
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Today is the last day of winter hooooraaayyy. I have logged everyday for 2 years, and yet i still put on around 3kgs(6lbs) over the winter. If i dont nip it in the bud now, in a few months it will be 6kgs and on and on it will go until it just becomes too hard..4
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Oh you're post sounds like where I thought I'd be if I had kept up with logging. I'm glad I decided to lose without it.
Curious...what has your strategy been, since you decided to quit logging?
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I don't have anything to add since I'm nowhere near maintenance, but I did want to say that I like your screenname
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@amyinthetardis1231 Thank you!!0
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crayonbreakywillow wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Oh you're post sounds like where I thought I'd be if I had kept up with logging. I'm glad I decided to lose without it.
Curious...what has your strategy been, since you decided to quit logging?
Eat light during the week, eat more on the weekends without pigging out, keep an eye on the scale. Lost 30ish lbs and have kept it off for about a year. Just now deciding to lose another 10 lbs so tightening my diet back up a bit.
I should note that I'm 53 and was at a healthy weight for over 40 of those, so eating reasonable amounts is not something new to me.2 -
Wow! 90 pounds! You are my idol!0
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I lost the weight in about 8 - 9 months, then started to gain very slowly. My new lifestyle changes kept it under 5 - 6 lbs; however, I started to feel invincible, so I began to eat out more frequently, bought a large quantity of chocolates, and quit my walking group (that is another story). I realized that I've gained over 15 lbs back, I decided to get back here and put a stop to it.
It is hard to lose weight, so I"m going to start reading the maintenance community posts before I get to that point. My tentative plan is to do a modified fast one day per week to maintain my weight loss. If I discover a better option, I'll try it. I can't count calories for the rest of my life!0 -
I just want to 'weigh' in here and say thank you to all of the participants in this conversation and particularly to the OP. I'm a bit yet from maintenance but this has been an eye opening and yes, insightful conversation. I feel like I'm finally on the right track and don't want to have to do it again, nor do I want to become so obsessive I don't enjoy the days. It's great for those of us still working towards our goal weights to learn from all of you and to start thinking about these things now. So thanks 7
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I don't want to quit but, I'm also sick of being so fastidius. I went to a deli today and got this for $2.59
Alot better than going to subway right? I didn't have breakfast and i walked to the deli which is 2.4 miles one way away as well as walking to dunkin doughnuts for coffee this morning so why do i feel guilty?
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I don't want to quit but, I'm also sick of being so fastidius. I went to a deli today and got this for $2.59 Alot better than going to subway right? I didn't have breakfast and i walked to the deli which is 2.4 miles one way away as well as walking to dunkin doughnuts for coffee this morning so why do i feel guilty?
Oh man, that looks 1,000,000% better than subway.1 -
I don't want to quit but, I'm also sick of being so fastidius. I went to a deli today and got this for $2.59 Alot better than going to subway right? I didn't have breakfast and i walked to the deli which is 2.4 miles one way away as well as walking to dunkin doughnuts for coffee this morning so why do i feel guilty?
Just eat less later/tomorrow.
Yesterday I made a whole wheat boule. It came out of the oven at 3.30pm... I had crazy carb cravings so I made myself a sandwich with two huge slices (400 calories of bread!), and some ham and swiss. It was amazing. I ended up skipping dinner (I wasn't that hungry anymore after that), went for a long walk, and I still ended up with a 300+ calorie deficit. Totally worth it.
Seriously though, most days if I end up giving in to something I'm craving (I also had a big bowl of rice with sugar and milk as a second breakfast yesterday morning!), I still end up under maintenance because I'm just less hungry later anyway... Ok I didn't hit my macros (was only 7/8g off though), but life's too short to deprive yourself all the time.0 -
I don't want to quit but, I'm also sick of being so fastidius. I went to a deli today and got this for $2.59 Alot better than going to subway right? I didn't have breakfast and i walked to the deli which is 2.4 miles one way away as well as walking to dunkin doughnuts for coffee this morning so why do i feel guilty?
Just eat less later/tomorrow.
Yesterday I made a whole wheat boule. It came out of the oven at 3.30pm... I had crazy carb cravings so I made myself a sandwich with two huge slices (400 calories of bread!), and some ham and swiss. It was amazing. I ended up skipping dinner (I wasn't that hungry anymore after that), went for a long walk, and I still ended up with a 300+ calorie deficit. Totally worth it.
Seriously though, most days if I end up giving in to something I'm craving (I also had a big bowl of rice with sugar and milk as a second breakfast yesterday morning!), I still end up under maintenance because I'm just less hungry later anyway... Ok I didn't hit my macros (was only 7/8g off though), but life's too short to deprive yourself all the time.
My goal is set for sedentary. so far today i have 13,288 steps at 3pm. I'm pretty sure that's not sedentary. I hope my indulgent days balance themself out in the long runr3 -
What you are doing is living like a skinny person. That is what they do! I think you've got it down. Skinny people eat what they want..they just don't do it constantly… they cut back after a big weekend..to them it is easy and makes sense and isn't a big deal.victoria_1024 wrote: »I've only been in maintenance since April after losing 90 lbs but I do have that longing to just eat whatever I want and go back to my old habits! And the jealousy that other people don't have to think about all this as much as I do and they can just go about their lives! Like others, I like being thin and I'm motivated to stay that way but some days are harder than others.
Something that works for me is taking weekends off of logging. Sometimes just a day, sometimes 3 days. I just eat what I want and don't care. I always gain weight of course, so then I eat at a slight deficit starting Monday morning and it comes off very quickly. I always continue with a high activity level and exercise. And it's not like I eat an entire pizza by myself, I do try to be mindful but I definitely go over by quite a bit and I don't log. I know this wouldn't work for everyone but I like it because i still get to really enjoy food on a regular basis but while still feeling in control of the process. I'd rather eat at a deficit some days and over eat other days than eat at maintenance all the time. But that's just what has worked for me. I'm still new to this so I'm assuming what works for me will change too!0 -
I don't want to quit but, I'm also sick of being so fastidius. I went to a deli today and got this for $2.59 Alot better than going to subway right? I didn't have breakfast and i walked to the deli which is 2.4 miles one way away as well as walking to dunkin doughnuts for coffee this morning so why do i feel guilty?
Just eat less later/tomorrow.
Yesterday I made a whole wheat boule. It came out of the oven at 3.30pm... I had crazy carb cravings so I made myself a sandwich with two huge slices (400 calories of bread!), and some ham and swiss. It was amazing. I ended up skipping dinner (I wasn't that hungry anymore after that), went for a long walk, and I still ended up with a 300+ calorie deficit. Totally worth it.
Seriously though, most days if I end up giving in to something I'm craving (I also had a big bowl of rice with sugar and milk as a second breakfast yesterday morning!), I still end up under maintenance because I'm just less hungry later anyway... Ok I didn't hit my macros (was only 7/8g off though), but life's too short to deprive yourself all the time.
My goal is set for sedentary. so far today i have 13,288 steps at 3pm. I'm pretty sure that's not sedentary. I hope my indulgent days balance themself out in the long runr
>5000 steps = starts to exceed sedentary person calories
>7500 steps = starts to exceeed lightly active person calories
>10000 to 12000 steps = starts to exceed active person calories
>12500 to 15500 steps = starts to exceed very active person calories
At > 13288 your corresponding MFP setting without logging any additional exercise would be "very active"0 -
You can take a break stop logging and see what happens but If you gain 5 lbs then you'll have to make a decision, to start logging or gain more weight and eventually... start logging again
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Thanks again for all the responses!! Just a little update...so far this week, I haven't really logged. I've continued to weigh and measure my food, and quickly add the calories in my head, but not really log. I have tried not to spend too much time thinking ahead about what I'm going to eat. I've just made sure that each meal (breakfast,lunch,dinner,snacks) has been under the amount of calories I've allotted for that meal. 450-450-600-300. So far, I've been able to add in my head the approximate amount of calories I've had at the end of the day, and I've come in under that every day. I actually think I've been eating less calories this week and feeling more satisfied.
I may log this weekend because of the holiday and some events I have scheduled that are outside of the ordinary. Chances are, I'll end up over my calories, but I want to allow myself to enjoy without guilt. Anyway, I really feel hopeful that I will be able to eventually quit logging all together and be able to eat intuitively. It's still way too early to know that for sure, but I'm hopeful!2 -
Thanks all for the discussion! I reached my goal loss of about 15 lbs a year ago and have been logging maintenance since then. I can definitely relate to the OP about having to log. I pre-log most days to see where I can It's just a habit at this point and I don't feel bad about going over as long as I'm under or at maintenance the rest of the week. I've been within 5 lbs of my "goal weight" since last August so I feel pretty confident about being able to cut back when needed.
Where I'm having trouble is that my maintenance calories according to MFP and TDEE calculators is only about 1300-1400 calories. I have a pretty small build and am relatively active in the warmer months by working in a city and walking to/from public transit, but am getting discouraged about having to think about calories for the rest of my life to not gain a ton of weight. If I go over 1300 and don't have at least 15,000 steps that day I see the difference right away on the scale. For now I'm fine with logging and checking in, but I'm not even 30 yet and I get stuck looking forward and trying to motivate my future-self to exercise which is hard because I barely do now besides walking.0 -
I'm going to keep following this thread, I really enjoy your updates and am looking forward to seeing how this phase of the process goes for you I really hope you get to where you want to be! 3
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