A break from tracking is sometimes OKAY

RedheadedPrincess14
RedheadedPrincess14 Posts: 415 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I think it's okay to take a little tracking break once in a while. I took 9 days off recently and I actually lost just as much weight as I usually do. I didn't do this to lose, to gain, to maintain... I did it because my mind told me that a week off would be okay. I didn't use it as an excuse to binge. I just ate the same foods I normally eat, without weighing them, until I was full and it worked... for me. for everyone? Maybe not but I do t regret my little break and now coming back, I feel reassured in myself and that this is only a tool, not a lifeline :)

Replies

  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
    That's a pretty good sign for maintenance! I don't want to go off tracking for now (okay, some of it is to maintain my streak, but I'm also a data nut), but my goal is to be able to maintain without tracking, and I actually feel pretty good about that the way things are going. Good for you!
  • jennybearlv
    jennybearlv Posts: 1,519 Member
    I love diet breaks. I took two that lasted a month and my weight slowed, but I still kept losing. I recently came back from a three month break, unplanned, but still worth it. I gained ten pounds back, but most of it fell right off as soon as I started logging again. I think I gained a little muscle too. Telling yourself it's a break and it's okay feels so much better than getting fed up, falling off the wagon, and never coming back.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    edited August 2017
    I'm having to track all the time right now because if I take a break from tracking I seem to find it very hard to get back into it again. So I don't take breaks.

    Tracking everything is working fine for me just now, and if I have to do it forever then that's better than continuing to get heavier and heavier, but if I can find a way to avoid that, it would be better. Sounds like you are doing better than me at this, OP.
  • Mezzie1024
    Mezzie1024 Posts: 380 Member
    I took a two week break and feel better for it. I stayed the same weight (with several ups and downs, of course).
  • MommaGem2017
    MommaGem2017 Posts: 405 Member
    Yeah, I don't think I'll ever be able to take a break from tracking, even in maintenance, because I know I have Zero intuition about proper portion sizes :'(:'(
  • MommaGem2017
    MommaGem2017 Posts: 405 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I've taken off for about 4 years and 4 months...
    MommaGem2017 wrote: »
    Yeah, I don't think I'll ever be able to take a break from tracking, even in maintenance, because I know I have Zero intuition about proper portion sizes :'(:'(

    I don't count calories, but I still measure and weigh out portions of many things...you don't need to log to properly portion food.

    My general point is that I don't have an good sense of taking in the right amount for proper maintenance. Every time I lose weight, then stop tracking, the weight comes back. I am coming to terms with tracking as a lifestyle for me.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I've taken off for about 4 years and 4 months...
    MommaGem2017 wrote: »
    Yeah, I don't think I'll ever be able to take a break from tracking, even in maintenance, because I know I have Zero intuition about proper portion sizes :'(:'(

    I don't count calories, but I still measure and weigh out portions of many things...you don't need to log to properly portion food.

    I log off and on, but when not logging (most of the last year) I also still do this.
  • kumardoc
    kumardoc Posts: 14 Member
    edited August 2017
    What do you mean by taking a break? Is it not logging on eating even unhealthy stuff but logging them in. Or is it something I don't understand as a newbie. Please educate me. Thanks!
  • jennybearlv
    jennybearlv Posts: 1,519 Member
    drkumar_shiv wrote: »
    What do you mean by taking a break? Is it not logging on eating even unhealthy stuff but logging them in. Or is it something I don't understand as a newbie. Please educate me. Thanks!

    Here is a good thread on diet breaks from last year:
    community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10481830/the-diet-break/p1

    There are two kinds of diet breaks. You can use the tools you used dieting to eat intuitively like the OP or you can log at your maintenance calories. I've done both methods and came back feeling much better.
  • RedheadedPrincess14
    RedheadedPrincess14 Posts: 415 Member
    I also just wanted to add that I'm only 5 pounds from my goal weight and not overweight so every case is different and you have to know yourself really well but to be honest, I was scared to stop tracking which is why I gave myself the chance. If you have medical reasons to lose weight, I'd address the most significant medical problems first- so, if there's are physical then I'd suggest sticking to tracking pretty rigidly as I did to lose over 20 pounds, but if your finding it obsessive and addictive then maybe you need to say out your mental health. the break was l liberating for me but some people will definitely not have that experience. Thank you all for your kind words :)
  • mazdauk
    mazdauk Posts: 1,380 Member
    I've been at maintenance (with the odd little lb or two here and there due to holiday indulgence!) for nearly 4 years, but continue to log every day - if I go over then I try to go under the next day, so I'm about average for the week. Or I do a bit extra exercise.
    I log my food for the day in the morning, then add anything extra and any exercise calories as I go (NEVER pre-log exercise calories!!) Its not a big deal, I do it on my phone, my tablet or my PC depending on what is nearest (though the tablet app is a bit of a pain now to amend things - don't know why its stopped letting you do that!!)
    I know I have little willpower, so one biscuit would be three if I didn't log. And if I go over then I can see what I've done and know its my own fault if suddenly something is a bit tight!
  • Mezzie1024
    Mezzie1024 Posts: 380 Member
    drkumar_shiv wrote: »
    What do you mean by taking a break? Is it not logging on eating even unhealthy stuff but logging them in. Or is it something I don't understand as a newbie. Please educate me. Thanks!

    I recently took a full-on break for two weeks. No logging, and I ate whatever I wanted. Some days that was a lot, some days it wasn't. The great thing was my energy went way up and I got a ton of exercise in. At the end of those two weeks, I weighed the same as when I began. My lesson from that: I was underestimating my maintenance calories for the amount of activity I was trying to do.

    Now I'm logging again, but with 200 more calories per day than before. So far, so good. I've got energy and I'm losing very slowly (it looks like a quarter of a pound/week, but I'll be more sure after a few weeks) to get to the bottom of my maintenance range, and then I'll bump the calories up again as needed.

    At other times, I've taken maintenance breaks where I kept logging but ate to maintenance levels daily for a week or two.
  • DebLaBounty
    DebLaBounty Posts: 1,169 Member
    I just went on a 5 day vacation with friends I hadn't seen in a year, and it was glorious. We cooked food at the house we rented and went to a restaurant once, and I didn't log anything. We walked miles on the beach. It's the first time I didn't log in 75 days. Today I've started my 1-day streak of logging. It was good to take the break and realize that I can eat close to my target without using a tracker to account for every single morsel I consume.
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