Is This Really Worth It?

Kbasore
Kbasore Posts: 25 Member
Morning Fitness Pal! Quick question: I'm just curious from those who have been here a while.. does this logging your intake actually make a difference? I know it all makes sense to log your food, but does it really make a difference? Just coming out of a funk and curious.

Thanks,

Kristen
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Replies

  • gianna42
    gianna42 Posts: 5,991 Member
    Yes. When I didn't log, I didn't lose.
  • AshFace22
    AshFace22 Posts: 25 Member
    Yes! I can't emphasize enough how important it is to track your calories. Even on a maintenance. You could ensure yourself every day that you won't overeat when it could easily happen. Mfp tracking helps you to stay in balance and in check with yourself. Discipline is key.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited May 2017
    Kbasore wrote: »
    Morning Fitness Pal! Quick question: I'm just curious from those who have been here a while.. does this logging your intake actually make a difference? I know it all makes sense to log your food, but does it really make a difference? Just coming out of a funk and curious.

    Thanks,

    Kristen

    Yes it does.

    I could do one of those elimination or meal replacement diets where I didn't have to log, but then I wouldn't learn anything. I'm fat because my portions are too big. Logging is my reality check.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,907 Member
    Try it and see. ::shrug::
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
    It totally depends on you. It was not worth it to me. I found it too time consuming and frustrating, and found more success by simply paying attention and eating less. But others find it extremely helpful.

    Only you can decide if it's worth it for you.
  • Kbasore
    Kbasore Posts: 25 Member
    gianna42 wrote: »
    Yes. When I didn't log, I didn't lose.

    Do you always use your workout allotted calories as well?
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    Kbasore wrote: »
    Morning Fitness Pal! Quick question: I'm just curious from those who have been here a while.. does this logging your intake actually make a difference? I know it all makes sense to log your food, but does it really make a difference? Just coming out of a funk and curious.

    Thanks,

    Kristen

    Logging your food accurately and staying in your deficit is probably the only thing that does matter. If your desired result is fat loss, you have to be in a deficit. I have plenty of friends who have decided that they don't need to log their food, they just need to lift heavy. Some of them started before I did in 2015 as well. They can certainly out lift me, but I don't know any of them that are happy with the way they look in the mirror. They get stronger, they build muscle, but tend to not lose fat because they eat what they want and don't practice any control with caloric intake. The result is they train hard, and it increases their appetite so they eat more. Most of them don't gain much weight, but they certainly don't lose it very fast either. I decided a while back that I was going to focus on weight loss until I hit my goal, then slowly ramp myself up to maintenance, then practice recomp for about a year or even two if necessary before considering cutting/bulking cycles. I figured it took me 20+ years to ruin my body and it wasn't going to be a quick fix no matter how I looked at it. Logging my food is the only thing that made me successful. I've been at it for a bit over two years now, hit my goal within the first year and have maintained for a year or a bit more. I may not be as strong as the people who lift heavy and don't log their food, but I like what I see in the mirror for the most part and it gets better every day. Log your food. It makes a difference. At least until you hit your goals and learn how and what you can eat and when you can eat it and how to adjust your exercise routine to pay for days when you fall off the wagon because everyone is human.
  • MsHarryWinston
    MsHarryWinston Posts: 1,027 Member
    Omg yes. Tracking=success.
    It's so easy to overeat. I was at a meeting yesterday and they passed around a bag of Cadbury chocolate. I ate a SINGLE tiny 4g teeny wrapped ball of chocolate without looking at the nutrition value. It was nice to just participate in the group yumminess you know?
    But being dutiful, I grabbed the bag to log it after and be accountable. 40 calories!!!!!!! For a chocolate the size of a SMALL purple grape. I could have had a whole snack bag of popcorn for 100 cals! Literally fistful after fistful of popcorn.

    It's seeing the hard truth of the numbers like that that make you say, "Is puting this in my mouth really worth it for my goals?"
    And no, it wasn't worth it. It wasn't a huge deal to my day in the end but I now know going forward that Cadbury can suck it. I can get my chocolate fix in MUCH more calorie friendly ways.

    And this is why tracking is worth the effort.
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
    Kbasore wrote: »
    Morning Fitness Pal! Quick question: I'm just curious from those who have been here a while.. does this logging your intake actually make a difference? I know it all makes sense to log your food, but does it really make a difference? Just coming out of a funk and curious.

    Thanks,

    Kristen

    Did for me, once I understood things.
    Allowed me to get my BF % down to have a lean physique.
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    It's seeing the hard truth of the numbers like that that make you say, "Is puting this in my mouth really worth it for my goals?"

    Off topic really.. but I'd have do say... yes chocolate is always worth it. ;) I simply eat dark chocolate or no sugar added chocolate ice cream, or both. I swear I will run/walk/work out an extra 30 minutes just for more chocolate. But no, I don't let it thwart my goals, I just find ways to fit it in. Cadbury is the worst (or the best depending on how you look at it). Try Hershey's Special Dark, it's one of my favs and is lower in calories than a lot of milk chocolate.

  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
    Yes, it really does make a difference. My past Sunday was a binge day, a high-calorie day, a IDGAF day, but it was a day in which I measured and recorded everything. Since then I've been in a calorie deficit consistently, exercised valiantly, drank vast quantities of water, and still haven't erased the gains from Sunday. Logging accurately gives me the reality check that my calorie deficit since then simply has not grown large enough to reverse the fat gains from Sunday. It's not water and sodium. It's not constipated poop. It's just going to take an especially long time to erase one helluva day.
  • Nikion901
    Nikion901 Posts: 2,467 Member
    Kbasore wrote: »
    Morning Fitness Pal! Quick question: I'm just curious from those who have been here a while.. does this logging your intake actually make a difference? I know it all makes sense to log your food, but does it really make a difference? Just coming out of a funk and curious.

    Thanks,

    Kristen

    It only makes sense if it helps you stay within the calorie deficit or increase you are looking to hit. Cause what it does it tell you where you are as you log your intake to reaching that. If you log just for the sake of logging, it can still give you good information about the food you eat ... like the macro breakdown. But ... it is a tool that you can use or abuse, like any other.
  • GirlGettingFit37
    GirlGettingFit37 Posts: 146 Member
    edited May 2017
    Tracking your meals makes all the difference, at least for me it does. I log everything, the good the bad and the sometimes ugly. I measure and weigh everything. If I stop tracking I start gaining. :)
  • gianna42
    gianna42 Posts: 5,991 Member
    Kbasore wrote: »
    gianna42 wrote: »
    Yes. When I didn't log, I didn't lose.

    Do you always use your workout allotted calories as well?

    I always used at least some of them while losing. Now, I sometimes use all of them. I think you have to find what works for you with that one - there are some variables such as how accurate your burn calculation is, as well as how accurate your food input is. I never weighed or carefully measured, so I knew that I wanted that "cushion" and didn't eat every exercise calorie back.
  • EggToni
    EggToni Posts: 190 Member
    Logging is the only way I can lose weight. Plus I've learned a lot here from helpful members. Good success!
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    Very few people are good at estimating what a particular weight or measure of food looks like without actually weighing or measuring it. Most people also wouldn't know how many calories are in that food without looking it up, and would have trouble mentally keeping track of the calorie or nutrient content of the food they've eaten in a day. Logging removes all of those sources of error.

    It's often helpful to try this out for yourself when you first start logging, so you can get a sense of what you have been eating vs. what you want to eat. Grab a jar of peanut butter, or some other food that isn't packaged in single servings. Take out the amount you would normally eat, and guess how many calories are in it. Then weigh the food, look at the nutrition label, and see how close your guess was.
  • karenzehob
    karenzehob Posts: 87 Member
    edited May 2017
    MFP and logging everything is the only thing i've ever had success losing weight with.
  • EggToni wrote: »
    Logging is the only way I can lose weight. Plus I've learned a lot here from helpful members. Good success!

    Could not have said it better myself - good luck!