14 days no logging

newhighnewlow
newhighnewlow Posts: 50 Member
edited November 22 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
and I'm sure I'm generously over-eating.

its always so hard for me to maintain once I've hit the goal weight or accomplished some other goal (like running a marathon). My unhealthy relationship with food means I get to tell myself "I deserve it after so long being good" and "I earned it"

fundamentally - food is still a reward, eating well is still a temporary phase, and and motivation is still best when it is to fix a big problem or achieve a major milestone.

So I can continue to try and change this mindset (harder than it sounds - given that I totally know what's wrong with it academically, but emotionally that has no impact)... or I can somehow turn maintaining into a big goal.

Anyone else out there have a way to pursue and celebrate maintenance instead of just "keeping things steady"?

Replies

  • misnomer1
    misnomer1 Posts: 646 Member
    When im off to work outside home city for a week or more, i consciously eat a little less than i want to, and end up maintaining. Just experience from 2 10day stints. No idea if i can carry this on at home for years at a stretch.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    It’s helpful to know what your normal body fluctuations are. You can eat perfectly and weight will still fluctuate and there’s nothing to be done about it, so don’t panic too soon. That’s why a moderate range is suggested.
  • Lean59man
    Lean59man Posts: 714 Member
    edited November 2017
    Logging is really the only way to be accurate unfortunately.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    Not logging is all well and good if you are stepping on the scales most weeks and seeing that you are in your maintenance range. Sometimes it takes logging to keep us thinking about how much food is going in.

    I no longer need to log my food (been at maintenance since 2013) but I am a creature of habit, how much I eat hardly changes from day to day but I still step on the scales frequently and if I saw a prolonged time at the high end of my goal range I would cut a snack out until I'm back in my comfort zone.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited November 2017
    Lean59man wrote: »
    Logging is really the only way to be accurate unfortunately.

    True - but it's also not a requirement to be accurate (or precise to be more accurate!) to manage your calorie balance and manipulate your weight in the way you choose.
  • Sunnybrooke99
    Sunnybrooke99 Posts: 369 Member
    Celebrate change, but not with food. Get yourself monthly massages, plan a trip, or take a day off work to do your own thing.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Maybe you are overeating, maybe you're not? Do your weigh yourself regularly?

    What if you try to shift the contents of "eating well" from "being really virtuous with food" to "feeding myself regularly and reliably, eating everything I want, but responsibly"?

    You need to tend to the small, seemingly unimportant daily tasks too, not just fix the holes when they appear, or get too big to be ignored. Don't rely on motivation for this - or do you rely on motivation for showering, going to work, brushing teeth, vacuuming, paying bills? Or do you just to it, from habit? Do you need "motivation" to eat, or do you eat because you are hungry? If you don't consistently overeat, you won't regain. If you don't worry so much, and don't glorify/demonize food, it will stop being a big issue, and become just one of those normal, daily, important, but not immersive, parts of your life.
  • Lean59man
    Lean59man Posts: 714 Member
    Bry_Lander wrote: »
    newhighnewlow wrote: »
    fundamentally - food is still a reward, eating well is still a temporary phase, and and motivation is still best when it is to fix a big problem or achieve a major milestone.

    Does food need to be a "reward", or can it be conceptualized primarily as fuel; fuel that ideally you enjoy eating and tastes good, but isn't a driving force in your life?

    Eat to live, don't live to eat.
  • misnomer1
    misnomer1 Posts: 646 Member
    edited November 2017
    Ive lost 8kg, am 76kg at 5'11 now. Ive decided to quit weighing and logging food, because that is not how i wish to continue living. It was a great tool for losing weight, but im where I want to be weight wise.
    Am planning to recomp for at least 6 months, weighing myself frequently to stay in a range with intuitive eating. Lifting weights will give me the physique that i desire, gradually. Will reassess after 6 months.
  • newhighnewlow
    newhighnewlow Posts: 50 Member
    Bry_Lander wrote: »
    newhighnewlow wrote: »
    fundamentally - food is still a reward, eating well is still a temporary phase, and and motivation is still best when it is to fix a big problem or achieve a major milestone.

    Does food need to be a "reward", or can it be conceptualized primarily as fuel; fuel that ideally you enjoy eating and tastes good, but isn't a driving force in your life?

    that's my point... I know it "should" be fuel. But the emotional side of me doesn't listen to what my brain knows.
  • newhighnewlow
    newhighnewlow Posts: 50 Member
    thanks everyone, for the responses. I think the struggle between what I know I *should* do, what I *could* do, and what happens if I'm not being neurotic/motivated will continue for some time...

    but I'm trying a new tactic, starting yesterday, where I am going to try to log at maintenance. My goal is until new years. My hope is that getting "used to" eating at maintenance will help me make a normal amount a food a habit... because the only habits I have ever had before this are calorie surplus and calorie deficit.

    this has the double benefit of a little accountability over the holidays. :)
  • mamadon
    mamadon Posts: 1,422 Member
    Lean59man wrote: »
    Bry_Lander wrote: »
    newhighnewlow wrote: »
    fundamentally - food is still a reward, eating well is still a temporary phase, and and motivation is still best when it is to fix a big problem or achieve a major milestone.

    Does food need to be a "reward", or can it be conceptualized primarily as fuel; fuel that ideally you enjoy eating and tastes good, but isn't a driving force in your life?

    Eat to live, don't live to eat.

    Although I understand the validity of this statement, I always tend to somewhat disagree with it. I think there should be a middle ground. I personally don't nor do I want to view food as merely a necessity in order to live. Food brings me enjoyment, I love tasting and eating good food, and I love socializing and eating with others. I would be a very sad me, if I lost that feeling.
  • newhighnewlow
    newhighnewlow Posts: 50 Member
    mamadon wrote: »
    Lean59man wrote: »
    Bry_Lander wrote: »
    newhighnewlow wrote: »
    fundamentally - food is still a reward, eating well is still a temporary phase, and and motivation is still best when it is to fix a big problem or achieve a major milestone.

    Does food need to be a "reward", or can it be conceptualized primarily as fuel; fuel that ideally you enjoy eating and tastes good, but isn't a driving force in your life?

    Eat to live, don't live to eat.

    Although I understand the validity of this statement, I always tend to somewhat disagree with it. I think there should be a middle ground. I personally don't nor do I want to view food as merely a necessity in order to live. Food brings me enjoyment, I love tasting and eating good food, and I love socializing and eating with others. I would be a very sad me, if I lost that feeling.

    Yes...some people pretend to be 100% rational, others pretend to be 100% emotional - I ignore both ends of the spectrum because I am in that middle area where some things are rational, others are emotional, and some things are both at once. If someone doesn't have the capacity to see the grey areas, then they don't have the capacity to speak meaningfully to me.
  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
    Hey there! I lost 90 lbs using mfp and logging religiously. I entered maintenance and after about one year of maintaining and still logging religiously, I realized that my relationship with food was still pretty unhealthy and I think logging was making it worse. I was entering a cycle of “celebrating” and basically binging, and then jump back into logging and eating at a deficit. The cycle was happening more and more. So I decided to stop logging and see if I could change my habits. At first I was over eating when I stopped logging. It was that “if I don’t log it, I didn’t eat it” mentality. But after a couple weeks of that I sort of settled in to a new routine. That was March of this year that I stopped logging and I’m happy to say I’m still in my maintenance range and I do think my relationship with food as improved. It’s not perfect and I’ll probably always have to think about food and eating more than other people but I’m ok with that. I’m feeling pretty good about where I’m at now but I figure I’ll keep changing trying new things.
  • newhighnewlow
    newhighnewlow Posts: 50 Member
    victoria_1024 wrote: »
    Hey there! I lost 90 lbs using mfp and logging religiously. I entered maintenance and after about one year of maintaining and still logging religiously, I realized that my relationship with food was still pretty unhealthy and I think logging was making it worse. I was entering a cycle of “celebrating” and basically binging, and then jump back into logging and eating at a deficit. The cycle was happening more and more. So I decided to stop logging and see if I could change my habits. At first I was over eating when I stopped logging. It was that “if I don’t log it, I didn’t eat it” mentality. But after a couple weeks of that I sort of settled in to a new routine. That was March of this year that I stopped logging and I’m happy to say I’m still in my maintenance range and I do think my relationship with food as improved. It’s not perfect and I’ll probably always have to think about food and eating more than other people but I’m ok with that. I’m feeling pretty good about where I’m at now but I figure I’ll keep changing trying new things.

    this is the most inspirational and helpful thing I have ever read on MFP. I think you and I may have some similar thought and action patterns (and may also be outliers relative to the rest of MFP). Thank you for sharing!
This discussion has been closed.

Categories