Do you plan on counting calories your whole life in order to maintain?
Replies
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I have been logging food daily for 3-4 years without feeling it was a huge effort. I don't know if I will do it the rest of my life. When I get to 80 years I might say *kitten* it and not worry about weight.
Even if I don't log I will have a rough idea of calories in my head.
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Yes and no. Truthfully, I don’t count accurately as some on here. I eat out a lot and estimate. And even when I eat in, I’m too lay to constantly weigh food. I do sometimes, but not a lot.
BUT, I like tracking food. It is a meal planner for me to look back and see what I ate and what to recook. And also to have an idea of calories and general weight ups and downs.
So, do I like generally tracking? Yes. But it’s very easy going and non specific. Otherwise it would annoy me and definitely wouldn’t do it forever.5 -
Yes. I stopped before because I thought I was good and packed on all the weight I lost and then some.3
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track yes but counting noooo....after a while you know your body really well You also have go to foods that just work for you....its super ez. just takes some eperience3
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I have to. I was at goal and working towards toning and becoming more fit then I just slipped back to where I was. I can’t have my favorite foods “in moderation”. They just can’t be at my house or I’ll eat the whole box of cookies or bottle of wine or batcch of cupcakes in one night.6
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What I’ve found maintaining over the past 7 months is that when I go over, like gobbling down a few pieces of candy like I did tonight, if I log it I often find it wasn’t as disastrous as I’d thought. In my two previous (but failed) attempts at maintenance over the past 4 years I’d stop logging, then have some bad days and be afraid to look at the red, and eventually get worse and worse with logging, and regain the weight. Now, no matter what, I log it and try to lower my red for the day. So that I slip by 200 calories, rather than 800. That’s been working to allow me to maintain in a 5# range.13
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If/when I reach my goal weight, I'd like to try to maintain upon my own; I'll weigh myself monthly {28 days} instead of weekly & if I gain 10 pounds, I'll return to weighing/logging; my consumables!0
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I've never logged here or used any other calorie counting service, but I plan my meals ahead of time and track what I've eaten in my written food/exercise journal. I also weigh/portion items out with that's easy for me to go crazy on or high calorie things like unsalted cashews.
Doing both has helped me lose a lot of weight, keep it off and I haven't experienced any yo-yoing with my weight loss.
Also this keeps me in control and planning keeps me prepared at meal times.
If I want to keep those 80+ pounds off, I'm completely fine with planning, tracking and weighing/portioning some items out for the rest of my life. It just takes minutes a day, it's not hard to do and it's totally worth the effort.
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Yep, it seems like a Small price to pay for keeping it off.7
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Not religiously. But I'm not that strict now lol.0
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I've been more lax about counting. I still count, but I (too often) tend to go over my calories. Guess what - gained back 15 lbs. But I like dessert, and that can make a 300-400 calorie difference in my days. If I don't make up for it somewhat, I'll be over every single time.
On days when I restrict myself, obviously, I wouldn't have to count calories to stay under.2 -
I'm still losing, so I can't say for sure, but I'm prepared to keep counting. I'm on a medication that causes weight gain, so I have to be very careful or I'll gain back all that I've lost.2
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cwolfman13 wrote: »IMO, it's a teaching tool...kinda like training wheels. Eventually you just learn to ride...
Agreed.
For some it takes longer, some reach this goal faster ... but the goal has to be to get rid of this tool.
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I'm far from maintenance yet but I can't imagine I'll ever stop logging completely. I hope after a while I may be able to relax a bit, just logging every now and then to make sure I'm not letting bad habits creep back in. Also, if I have something I don't normally eat I would make sure to log that.0
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I'll do what I have to do to maintain the body I've worked so hard to achieve. I've lost and gained hundreds of lbs over the years, and I've come to realize that certain actions keep my weight off and keep being feeling good (no small thing), and others don't.
I have to:
. Count calories (I do it in a little cheap drugstore notebook).
. Do 10,000 steps a day.
. Work out at least 5 days a week
. Weigh myself every day.
What works for others works for others. But, honestly, I've tried what works for others, and I've learned the hard way what works for me!16 -
Detritus_1965 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »IMO, it's a teaching tool...kinda like training wheels. Eventually you just learn to ride...
Agreed.
For some it takes longer, some reach this goal faster ... but the goal has to be to get rid of this tool.
I personally don't believe that. The goal of learning the multiplication table and long division is to be able to do certain calculations. The goal is to do these calculations, not to get rid of calculators. It's easy to pull out a calculator, but if it's not available you can do the math in your head. Same with calorie counting. The goal is not to eat at a surplus. If someone chooses logging as a tool to achieve that, they're in no way better or worse than someone who chooses eating patterns to achieve that, and some may choose to go for both. I have been logging coming up on 6 years now. My goal is not to stop logging, but to continue controlling my eating, calorie counting or not. What someone finds sustainable varies from person to person.23 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »Detritus_1965 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »IMO, it's a teaching tool...kinda like training wheels. Eventually you just learn to ride...
Agreed.
For some it takes longer, some reach this goal faster ... but the goal has to be to get rid of this tool.
I personally don't believe that. The goal of learning the multiplication table and long division is to be able to do certain calculations. The goal is to do these calculations, not to get rid of calculators. It's easy to pull out a calculator, but if it's not available you can do the math in your head. Same with calorie counting. The goal is not to eat at a surplus. If someone chooses logging as a tool to achieve that, they're in no way better or worse than someone who chooses eating patterns to achieve that, and some may choose to go for both. I have been logging coming up on 6 years now. My goal is not to stop logging, but to continue controlling my eating, calorie counting or not. What someone finds sustainable varies from person to person.
Agreed. I am also a recovering hedonistic/binge eater, so it makes sense for me to count. I just have in the last 2 years learned what a portion is. I started with pen and paper and upgraded to MFP. MFP makes life #ell of a lot easier. I don't freak as much if I don't have my phone anymore. I estimate what I have, and give myself an overage when I do get to log.2 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »I probably will. Maybe not as meticulously, and there may be days, weeks, or even months where I won't log, but at least a rough tally in my head will always happen. There may be times where I do mini diets when I wake up one morning and the scale reads above my hard limit for maximum weight, then I would tighten up my logging for a while.
Some people can successfully get into a working routine, but my hunger, appetite, and overall mood for what I want to do are kind of unpredictable with no pattern to grab onto and build a stable routine around, so I expect counting calories will always be in the cards for me if I want to maintain.
I think this will probably be me. I've been logging for two years now and lost 70lbs so far, and I intend to keep it off. After I get to my goal and spend a few months at maintenance, I'd like to try easing off the counting and see how things go. I'll still weigh myself regularly, and have a tolerance range for fluctuations that will send me back to a deficit if I go above it, but I'd like to see if I can manage without actually logging everything.
On the other hand, if that isn't successful, then I'll probably count calories for the rest of my life. Because, as this poster says...GOT_Obsessed wrote: »Yep, it seems like a Small price to pay for keeping it off.6 -
emberlynn16 wrote: »just curious
Pretty much "Yes".1 -
I I have been maintaining for close to 8 years, and I weigh and log home made meals but I am not very strict with it. I mostly do it to keep track of my macros. Sometimes I don't log meals until the end of the day and I keep the information of what ever I ate in my head
. For recipes, I write everything down in a piece of paper and I enter the information in the database when I have the time.
I take breaks from the kitchen scale and logging when I go on vacation (short or long), during the holidays, and sometimes during the weekend when I eat out or at a friend's house. But I do weigh myself several times a week and that helps me to keep my weight under control.
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As someone said above, it's now a habit and isn't too much trouble to do, especially w/MFP at my fingertips.
After 21 months, while I "know" roughly how many cals are in the things that I eat regularly, I'm still surprised by how many cals other things that I don't eat regularly contain AND there are still those days that I am at/near my cal limit and need to either eat less (or something else in order to balance my macros) and/or exercise more to meet my cal limit.
So, I plan to count my cals (and macros) for life.5 -
Interesting. It seems almost like some folks think counting calories forever is a bad thing and something to try to wean off of? What harm is there in it? I can see being a little less strict about it but if it works where is the negative? Unless of course you just hate using MFP to log.13
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After I maintain for 2 solid years (it’s been 18 months), I plan to stop logging. I’ll weigh myself every day, and log as needed if (and when) I go over my range.3
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Most likely. I am lousy with portion control, and logging helps me not forget what I have eaten. I don't mind doing it. It's just a part of my life now, like early morning exercise sessions.
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It annoys me when people think everyone's goal should be to stop calorie counting and/or tracking. Calorie counting is a tool, not a crutch, unless one would consider a ruler a crutch, and expect everyone's goal should be to accurately measure an inch without it. Sure, some people are good at eyeballing, and if they don't apply it to a project where more precision is required, they get through life just fine without rulers. Nothing wrong with that, unless those people then turn around and expect those of us working on projects where that sixteenth of an inch makes a difference to learn to eyeball it, and believe we are obsessed or weak when eyeballing doesn't work for our particular purposes.26
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SummerSkier wrote: »Interesting. It seems almost like some folks think counting calories forever is a bad thing and something to try to wean off of? What harm is there in it? I can see being a little less strict about it but if it works where is the negative? Unless of course you just hate using MFP to log.
I am guessing because it isn't natural, to do especially upon; a regular basis!9 -
SummerSkier wrote: »Interesting. It seems almost like some folks think counting calories forever is a bad thing and something to try to wean off of? What harm is there in it? I can see being a little less strict about it but if it works where is the negative? Unless of course you just hate using MFP to log.
I am guessing because it isn't natural, to do especially upon; a regular basis!
Please define "natural". Do you find the use of tools in general not natural?6 -
You could ask me if I plan on doing anything for my whole life and my answer would be "hell, I don't know, even if it's sustainable, who knows what curve balls life will throw at me!". I'm here trying to figure out what I should have for dinner tonight
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I will plan to count for the rest of my life. I know that if I stop, I'll drift upwards.5
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scottydewwannalosewt wrote: »This little dity answers your question precisely.
Dieter's Psalm
Strict is my diet. I must not want.
It maketh me to lie down at night hungry.
It leadeth me past the confectioners.
It trieth my willpower.
It leadeth me in the paths of alteration
for my figure's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the aisles
of the pastry department, I will buy
no sweetrolls for they are fattening.
The cakes and the pies, they tempt me.
Before me is a table set with
green beans and lettuce.
I filleth my stomach with liquids,
My day's quota runneth over.
Surely calorie and weight charts will
follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the fear of scales forever.
That's rubbish9
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