Long term maintainers - do you count calories everyday?

ATHLegal
ATHLegal Posts: 352 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hi all. I'm at almost 500 days and counting calories everyday is exhausting me mentally. I go to uni and I can't stop think about food. What I can and cannot eat which makes me feel deprived or guilty if I go over my calories.

My Family tells me I'm too serious as I weight all my food and always get angry when they ask to change what we eat as I hate change of food pattern.

I feel like if I stop, I will get fat again and this is my greatest fear. Please provide some guidance especially from long time maintainers.

Thanks for reading

Replies

  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    Pay attention to how you pants fit around your waist. If they are getting tight, you need to back off on the eating a bit.
  • Arizona_C
    Arizona_C Posts: 1,476 Member
    edited September 2016
    Hi tatho, I didn't log in during two years of stabilisation, just stepped on the scales once in a while, adjusted if necessary. Now I log in again to get more focused and optimise my food choices.

    Since you have been weighting food for 500 days, I guess you've good a pretty good notion about quantites. Why not start by estimating instead of weightening? It can be a first step to control less.

    To maintain, it sounds as you need to get attention a bit elsewhere than on food. Food is far from being only pleasure in life.

    Look in other fields, find what you like and do it. For me, it is dancing, rapping, working photos, doing acrobacy, the possibilities are endless.

    Do have a look what you like; once you are into something you are passionate about, you forget about food
  • snowflake930
    snowflake930 Posts: 2,188 Member
    3 years maintaining on November 3 2016.
    I log everyday, just to keep aware of what I am eating, but not as accurately as I did while losing.
    I also weigh myself everyday still.
    For me that is what I have to do to keep the weight off. I know if I don't, it will be too easy to start down the slippery slope of gaining back the weight.
    For me, it is harder to keep the weight off, than it was losing the weight, so as it is not an issue for me, I will continue logging.
  • hope516
    hope516 Posts: 1,133 Member
    paperpudding wrote: »
    same and I take all packaged food at their stated weight.

    i had no idea that this was a thing??? I assumed I could count on packaged food to be correct!!!

    OP I maintained my weight loss by logging off and on for over 8 years. As my weight spiked by a few pounds I knew it was time to get back on track. However this year I completely checked out of the logging game and have gained back 28 pounds of the 80 I lost!!! It is devastating!! However, Im back here a week and down 11 pounds!!!

    Unfortunately if you are prone to gain weight, are an emotional eater, or addicted to food logging will have to be a part of your life. some ppl are just naturally thin. Some ppl only eat when they are hungry. Some ppl only use food for fuel and not for all the other things it is not intended for. However, if you are not blessed with these talents you will need to log. No need to be hard on yourself. Just be honest and forgiving :)

    good luck!!

  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,282 Member
    Hope, there are some people who say it is neccesary to weigh packaged food as the stated weight may not be accurate.

    Have never held with this myself as I believe stated weight is close enough to accurate - but you will often read people saying otherwise.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    paperpudding wrote: »
    Hope, there are some people who say it is neccesary to weigh packaged food as the stated weight may not be accurate.

    Have never held with this myself as I believe stated weight is close enough to accurate - but you will often read people saying otherwise.

    Depends on the packaged food that you eat, basically, and how often you eat it.

    I retain water like crazy so weighing isn't a great tool for me... so I'd rather log my food... that way I know that I'm not eating enough to gain weight (or that I am. Ugh). Honestly though, it just gives me peace of mind so I don't have to worry if I have a treat.

    My appetite/hunger varies GREATLY depending on the time of the month though, so following a plan and just eating about the same thing every day just wouldn't work for me. I have to log to make sure that I keep a good deficit on the easy weeks to make up for the bad ones.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    hope516 wrote: »
    paperpudding wrote: »
    same and I take all packaged food at their stated weight.

    i had no idea that this was a thing??? I assumed I could count on packaged food to be correct!!!
    Packaged food is allowed a tolerance either side of the stated weight.
    Remember it is unlikely manufacturers will consistently give you extra food for nothing so the AVERAGE is likely to be pretty accurate.

    When logging (IMHO) there's things to bother measuring and there's others it's a PITA for little good reason or benefit.

    There's a strange but pervasive belief on MFP that inaccuracy always works against people whether exercise or food.
  • ATHLegal
    ATHLegal Posts: 352 Member
    Thanks guys. I'll still count calories but I will be a little looser with my food. I'm not going to stress over ever gram but will be more general in weight as well as types of food.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    I log every single meal but stopped logging lettuce and other things under 10 calories. And I eat whatever I want, just less. Especially when I was earlier on, logging often tells me to eat MORE not less. Or tells me when I'm hungry, I should eat because I'm at too deep a deficit. Good luck!
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    edited September 2016
    Nope. Counting them for part of the time I lost the weight was very useful as a learning experience. I weigh myself daily, though.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I've been maintaining going on 3.5 years...I haven't logged in that time.
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    Depends, if I feel I'm floating upwards a little too much then I'll start logging again.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    I haven't logged in quite a while. Yesterday - which I forgot to delete - was just trying to see if someone's (whose diary was closed) Calorie count was reasonable for what she said she ate.

    Every now and then, I'll log a day or two as a check - to make sure I'm eating about what I think I'm eating.
  • rsclause
    rsclause Posts: 3,103 Member
    I felt like I had been retrained on how much and what type of foods to eat and pretty much just kept doing what I had been doing. Without the logging as it is time consuming. My belly size tells me if I am doing it wrong.
  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
    tatho2014 wrote: »
    Hi all. I'm at almost 500 days and counting calories everyday is exhausting me mentally. I go to uni and I can't stop think about food. What I can and cannot eat which makes me feel deprived or guilty if I go over my calories.

    My Family tells me I'm too serious as I weight all my food and always get angry when they ask to change what we eat as I hate change of food pattern.

    I feel like if I stop, I will get fat again and this is my greatest fear. Please provide some guidance especially from long time maintainers.

    Thanks for reading

    I used to do the same exact thing! Since you've been weighing out your food for so long, you have a very good general idea of what your particular serving sizes are supposed to be. Try to wean yourself off of the obsessive logging by first halting the weighing process. Then, use the same idea to get yourself off of logging altogether. You know what you can/can not eat, you know you can have one or two cheat treats wtihout totally throwing off your progress, use all the knowledge you've acquired to make good judgement calls. It's hard when you get in the habit, but it's definitely worth it. Life shouldn't be all about measuring macros.
  • musclegood_fatbad
    musclegood_fatbad Posts: 9,809 Member
    Once you get a good idea of how many calories the things you are eating have, it is pretty easy to figure out your total calories based off of that. I usually only log when I change my calorie count (to either bulk or cut) and once I have my diet dialed in, I don't feel the need to log at all until I change them again.

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