Is logging sustainable long term?
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I've been here logging and maintaining successfully since 2011. I guess it's all about your mindset. If you have a negative attitude about it, it's probably not sustainable. For me, it's a simple habit that takes not too much longer than brushing my teeth. I intend to keep on logging here as long as the site exists. I have no reason to stop doing something that has proven effective for me. It works and it works well. But I guess it's not for everyone.
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I usually log when I cook something new or when my conditions change, like a new job or international move. Other than that I now got a good hang of it.
Have you looked at it the other way around? What does going out give you? Is the food so much better than your own? Are you bored otherwise? Or is it about being with friends? Even if you cannot log, you can make better choices with what you learn with logging, or just accept its your decision to eat a certain meal. Or if you are just bored find something that you enjoy doing and keep eating out for those special occasions.2 -
That caloric transaction you talk about isn't just a feeling. It's the real cost/benefit relationship between food and health in my life, whether I'm paying attention to it or not.Live_life_well wrote: »Hey,
Like many of you, I joined this site because I wanted to make a lasting change in my diet and to hopefully lose a couple of pounds in the process. I have been logging religiously over the past 20 days and it has gone well.
The main issue for me is that I don't see this process as sustainable long term. (1) I feel like an accountant every time I eat, (2) Every meal feels like a business transaction with legal paperwork to sign, (3) I went from eating out twice a day to once in 20 days as my usual spots don't allow accurate logging, (4) I no longer judge food by just its taste - everything is a real estate deal with calories replacing money.
Anyone else having success with logging but wary of it being something that they can stick to long term?
Yeah, I think it is sustainable in the long term for me anyway. At first, I complained that logging took longer than cooking, eating, and cleaning up afterward. It was also extremely frustrating. Countless times I would almost finish a long list of recipe ingredients only to somehow lose it in cyberspace. Or get to the end and discover my beef stew had 18,000 calories per serving. If my goal was "to hopefully lose a couple of pounds" I wouldn't have considered the learning curve worthwhile.
Most of that frustration has gone away as I've slowly gained experience and gotten used to doing it. Sometimes the logging is done while I"m deciding what to eat. If not, it's done before the meal is cooked. It might be easier for me because I rarely eat out. Also, I enjoy cooking for myself and thinking about ingredients and how to prepare them is something I'd be doing the rest of my life either way. But time goes by either way. If I hadn't been doing this the upward weight trendline would likely have continued and I might have gone from 274 to 300. Instead, I'm now at 242 and looking forward to graduating from obese to overweight, maybe this summer. From there, "normal" will be in sight and setting new goals will be in order.
They will definitely involve eating in such a way as to control calorie input/output because over the last few years every time I stop paying attention; every time I stop logging, the weight gradually increases and before I know it I'm at a new lifetime high. So I'm as certain as I can be that whether through MyFitnessPlan.com or not, I'll continue to track calories and nutrition as well as weight and other health metrics for the long term.
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Live_life_well wrote: »The main issue for me is that I don't see this process as sustainable long term. (1) I feel like an accountant every time I eat, (2) Every meal feels like a business transaction with legal paperwork to sign, (3) I went from eating out twice a day to once in 20 days as my usual spots don't allow accurate logging, (4) I no longer judge food by just its taste - everything is a real estate deal with calories replacing money.
Yeah!!!
Isn't that great!!! Love the data and the numbers! 
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I don't know if "Is logging sustainable long term?" is the best question. Some people have to log long term, others don't. Doing something unnecessary that you don't even like, is not sustainable. But if you need it, and like it, it's sustainable.
I think there's a dynamic between habits, attitudes and food environment. Every person has their ways of thinking about certain things, and like certain things, but that can change - when you start doing something differerent(ly), you may end up liking that better than what you did before. Sometimes you need a "positive attitude" to make that change happen, sometimes it just happens. Sometimes a new environment sets off a change in habits. Sometimes new habits force a change of your environment.
I have counted calories before, in another program, and I can deeply relate to your points. MFP was different for me, though. It was no judgement, just a calorie goal to hit, and macros, if I wanted. This freedom and taking personal responsibility had a tremendous impact on my relationship with food. Food was no longer a dichotomy of boring but good for me vs delicious but unhealthy. Logging in here made me seek out the best I could get for my calories, both in nutrition and in taste. It actually turned out I love most nutritious foods, and I can eat anything in moderation. I had just misunderstood, and when I had tried to "eat healthy", I had eaten unbalanced and restrictive (low fat, low sugar, low salt) and never felt relaxed and curious enough to really get to know all the differerent flavors of real food. In this process I practiced mindful eating - I paid attention to portion sizes and feedback from my body and brain. I also started to really enjoy cooking - I could make whatever I wanted and make it taste delicious, it's easy and a lot cheaper, so now I go out to eat only if I "have to" (away from home, meeting someone).
I logged in here for a year, hit maintenance, then used Fitbit for another six months. I was initially ready to keep on logging indefinitely, but it started to feel burdensome as well as unnecessary and limiting - my appetite wouldn't quite hit what I had prelogged, but my weight was stable, I had no trouble sticking to appropriate portions and my urge to nibble was gone, and I saw how little precision logging actually provided, while what was actually needed, was consistency over time. In the meantime, I had started planning (and thus logging) my meals in a spreadsheet (better overview and faster). So I stopped tracking. I had also started weighing daily, and that was a good move, because I made other changes and the same time and miscalculated, and my weight started to climb. But some simple adjustments took care of it.
Since then, I have learnt new things every week. It's a challenging process that feels meaningful. I'm so grateful to MFP and the community.11 -
I logged for the first 3 years here, I've been at goal for almost 5 years now... but it was essential I logged in those early years or I'd have went back to old eating habits.
You are over thinking things, I wouldn't let calorie counting stop me from eating out, I'd guesstimate the cals.4 -
I think of logging more like a fuel tank indicator, my body requires fuel and this is the way I make sure that I get adequate fuel of good quality, logging has become as natural to me as brushing my teeth in the morning, it's just part of my routine, I plan my food ahead of time, most of the time and pre-log so it only takes about 5 mins in the morning or the day before and then a minute or two to tweak weights/portions. I think I am now on Day 383.
As for eating out, you're never going to be 100% accurate, but that's ok. Your weight loss trend over time is what is important and one meal out now and again is not going to impact it, there a wise quote floating around the boards that you see from time-to-time that goes along these lines:
"One burger won't make you fat and one salad won't make you thin"
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kommodevaran wrote: »I don't know if "Is logging sustainable long term?" is the best question. Some people have to log long term, others don't. Doing something unnecessary that you don't even like, is not sustainable. But if you need it, and like it, it's sustainable.
I think there's a dynamic between habits, attitudes and food environment. Every person has their ways of thinking about certain things, and like certain things, but that can change - when you start doing something differerent(ly), you may end up liking that better than what you did before. Sometimes you need a "positive attitude" to make that change happen, sometimes it just happens. Sometimes a new environment sets off a change in habits. Sometimes new habits force a change of your environment.
I have counted calories before, in another program, and I can deeply relate to your points. MFP was different for me, though. It was no judgement, just a calorie goal to hit, and macros, if I wanted. This freedom and taking personal responsibility had a tremendous impact on my relationship with food. Food was no longer a dichotomy of boring but good for me vs delicious but unhealthy. Logging in here made me seek out the best I could get for my calories, both in nutrition and in taste. It actually turned out I love most nutritious foods, and I can eat anything in moderation. I had just misunderstood, and when I had tried to "eat healthy", I had eaten unbalanced and restrictive (low fat, low sugar, low salt) and never felt relaxed and curious enough to really get to know all the differerent flavors of real food. In this process I practiced mindful eating - I paid attention to portion sizes and feedback from my body and brain. I also started to really enjoy cooking - I could make whatever I wanted and make it taste delicious, it's easy and a lot cheaper, so now I go out to eat only if I "have to" (away from home, meeting someone).
I logged in here for a year, hit maintenance, then used Fitbit for another six months. I was initially ready to keep on logging indefinitely, but it started to feel burdensome as well as unnecessary and limiting - my appetite wouldn't quite hit what I had prelogged, but my weight was stable, I had no trouble sticking to appropriate portions and my urge to nibble was gone, and I saw how little precision logging actually provided, while what was actually needed, was consistency over time. In the meantime, I had started planning (and thus logging) my meals in a spreadsheet (better overview and faster). So I stopped tracking. I had also started weighing daily, and that was a good move, because I made other changes and the same time and miscalculated, and my weight started to climb. But some simple adjustments took care of it.
Since then, I have learnt new things every week. It's a challenging process that feels meaningful. I'm so grateful to MFP and the community.
Well, this certainly isn't the first time @kommodevaran made the point I'd been planning to make before I did, and much more eloquently too! Your question doesn't have a yes or no answer: some people are going to be like @machka9 up there (and me, for that matter) and find logging to be not a chore at all. I've got a color coded spreadsheet (two, actually, since I started a new one for 2017) and I actually find it motivating to watch those numbers and graphs move around every day. I suspect that I wouldn't have much difficulty sustaining this into maintenance, although I'm already moving towards looser measuring and logging. For other people, it's not sustainable, and it sounds like you're in that camp. That's totally fine! Logging is just a tool. So long as you have some way of monitoring and controlling your intake and output as necessary, you're going to be fine.3 -
I have been logging off and on since 2010. It's allowed my to maintain my weight within a 10lb range which is fine.0
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Pre-planning and keeping track of my meals in my written food journal has been very sustainable for me for the past 6 years. I've lost a lot of weight, kept it all off and now I'm the smallest I've ever been as an adult. I maintain a 10 pound weight range year round.
Planning and tracking keeps me accountable, in control, helps me to fit things in/spread out my macros and it's very easy to do. Just takes minutes to complete.
I don't know what the future holds, but for me to stay this way I will have to stay on top of my food intake in some way for the rest of my life. I'm okay with this and it doesn't feel obsessive. It's just my new normal now.
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Live_life_well wrote: »Hey,
Like many of you, I joined this site because I wanted to make a lasting change in my diet and to hopefully lose a couple of pounds in the process. I have been logging religiously over the past 20 days and it has gone well.
The main issue for me is that I don't see this process as sustainable long term. (1) I feel like an accountant every time I eat, (2) Every meal feels like a business transaction with legal paperwork to sign, (3) I went from eating out twice a day to once in 20 days as my usual spots don't allow accurate logging, (4) I no longer judge food by just its taste - everything is a real estate deal with calories replacing money.
Anyone else having success with logging but wary of it being something that they can stick to long term?
Items 1, 2, and 4 - I don't feel like an accountant every time I eat, meals don't feel like business transactions, and I select food by its taste as well as calorie content. The difference between your attitudes toward logging and mine are related to the values and thoughts we associate with the process of logging. If you want to make permanent changes, you need to be cognizant of what you're putting into your mouth and make choices accordingly. Logging is one way to do this - another is to change the values and thoughts you associate with the process of logging and eating. Or, find another way to manage your input without logging (fancy way of saying that is "internalize a normal way of eating"). That's a behavioral issue rather than a nutritional issue. You might want to read the Beck Diet Solution which covers the behavioral part and will be helpful no matter what approach you take to weight loss.
https://beckdietsolution.wordpress.com
http://diet.beckinstitute.org
The other thing I'll point out is that you can save favorite foods for repeated use, and use the bar scanner with packaged foods. Logging becomes easier over time, not harder. After using MFP for several years, total time I spend logging food per day is probably two or three minutes at this point.
Item 3 - As sgt1372 says, close enough for jazz. Or don't sweat the small stuff. Find something similar in the database and log that. A few meals where you're not 100% accurate here and there aren't going to make any difference.5 -
Only you can decide whether it's sustainable for you. It is for some people and it isn't for others. It was not for me. But I still met my goal and have maintained the loss for 2 years without logging.2
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I think the key is to find things you like and once you've eaten them, they are already in your log, so just find them and relog them. My issue is weighing stuff, but that's a minor hassle. Like others have said I go ahead and log my breakfast and lunch in the morning and then I know what I can do for supper, when I'm not at work and most likely to struggle.0
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I'm approaching a 1,700-day streak of actually logging every day (not just accessing the site), and I've been in maintenance for the entire time (except maybe the first 60 days, where I changed a lot of my eating habits and dropped 12lbs). I have decided to stop several times, but it is really just a habit now and only takes up 10-15 minutes of my day, so I have just continued to do it, with no end in sight. I mostly just monitor my protein totals / % to ensure I'm getting enough.6
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Live_life_well wrote: »
The main issue for me is that I don't see this process as sustainable long term. (1) I feel like an accountant every time I eat, (2) Every meal feels like a business transaction with legal paperwork to sign, (3) I went from eating out twice a day to once in 20 days as my usual spots don't allow accurate logging, (4) I no longer judge food by just its taste - everything is a real estate deal with calories replacing money.
As to #4, how do you spend your money? Do you budget for your necessary expenses and save up for extras & splurges, or do you just randomly go around buying whatever catches your eye? Everything requires a value judgment- can I afford it right now? Is it worth what it's going to cost me? Calories are no different. It doesn't (usually) mean you have to skip the things you really want, but you do have to plan a little (or go deeply into debt). Logging is just the equivalent of balancing the books.
Personally, #3 doesn't strike me as a huge sacrifice (it pains me to pay extra for something I can easily do at home, particularly breakfast), but it seems like your approach could be less extreme. Even though accuracy contributes to success, perfection & rigidity are not required.
Is logging sustainable? Is brushing your teeth sustainable? I don't think about it- I just do it. But as others have said, it may or may not be necessary for you long-term or continuously. Most of us who have been at this a while (more than 20 days
) can eyeball a dish/meal and give you a pretty good estimate of the calories involved. The problem can be, over time, that our judgment may start getting skewed again and calorie creep sets in, which can be addressed by another stretch of logging. No biggie. 7 -
I've been logging for 16-17 mos and have rarely missed a day, but I'm not at goal weight. I don't think it's that much of a hardship, especially if you save meals that you eat regularly (my lunch salads are one click) and use the scanner function for packaged foods. Most mornings I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going to eat for the rest of the day. Since dinner is usually my biggest meal, I try to plan backwards from that so I know what I've got left for lunch and (my usually small) breakfast. Maybe it would help if you gave yourself a day off every week?0
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Been logging for 6 months. I feel it is sustainable for me. After logging for a month or so it became second nature. I do look at food as numbers and feel as though I'm on a food budget some days. But that has been good for me. I never thought twice about portions, calories or nutrition before. It's been a real eye opener for me and a great education! Logging keeps me accountable and I imagine that it always will!1
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I have logged every day since January of 2015. I find the process freeing and don't find that it impairs my enjoyment of life. It's just part of my life now. It's much easier than the cycle of weight loss followed by regaining that I went through before I began logging.
But for the purposes of your post, it doesn't really matter what *I* think of it or how sustainable I find it. If it's not sustainable for you, then it's not. Nobody else finding it easy or a great tool for maintaining weight loss is going to change how you feel about it.4 -
Live_life_well wrote: »Hey,
Like many of you, I joined this site because I wanted to make a lasting change in my diet and to hopefully lose a couple of pounds in the process. I have been logging religiously over the past 20 days and it has gone well.
The main issue for me is that I don't see this process as sustainable long term. (1) I feel like an accountant every time I eat, (2) Every meal feels like a business transaction with legal paperwork to sign, (3) I went from eating out twice a day to once in 20 days as my usual spots don't allow accurate logging, (4) I no longer judge food by just its taste - everything is a real estate deal with calories replacing money.
Anyone else having success with logging but wary of it being something that they can stick to long term?
Items 1, 2, and 4 - I don't feel like an accountant every time I eat, meals don't feel like business transactions, and I select food by its taste as well as calorie content. The difference between your attitudes toward logging and mine are related to the values and thoughts we associate with the process of logging. If you want to make permanent changes, you need to be cognizant of what you're putting into your mouth and make choices accordingly. Logging is one way to do this - another is to change the values and thoughts you associate with the process of logging and eating. Or, find another way to manage your input without logging (fancy way of saying that is "internalize a normal way of eating"). That's a behavioral issue rather than a nutritional issue. You might want to read the Beck Diet Solution which covers the behavioral part and will be helpful no matter what approach you take to weight loss.
https://beckdietsolution.wordpress.com
http://diet.beckinstitute.org
The other thing I'll point out is that you can save favorite foods for repeated use, and use the bar scanner with packaged foods. Logging becomes easier over time, not harder. After using MFP for several years, total time I spend logging food per day is probably two or three minutes at this point.
Item 3 - As sgt1372 says, close enough for jazz. Or don't sweat the small stuff. Find something similar in the database and log that. A few meals where you're not 100% accurate here and there aren't going to make any difference.
Also per item 3 - you're still pretty new to this, but it actually is possible to eat out regularly and still lose weight via calorie counting, and the longer you go, the more confidence you'll get in your ability to estimate. Depending on your goals, you may need to cut back, but probably not as much as you have so far. I went from eating out for lunch and dinner maybe 5-6 days a week to bringing my own lunch most days and eating out for dinner only 1-2 a week. I tend to go to mom & pop places and log based on a similar meal from chains like Applebees or TGIFriday's. I try to moderate my portions, but I'm also not ordering based on what I think might be the lowest calorie item on the menu. It really does work out in the long run if you keep an eye on your numbers and are conscientious about it.1 -
Not for me. Logging makes me overly focused on my food and weight and I get a bit obsessive. I found that I have a sense of how many calories are in meals and how much I burn from physical activity without logging and I know how to lose weight. I also enjoy food more when I'm not counting calories. I think that it's different for each person.3
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