Do you plan on counting calories your whole life in order to maintain?
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Yes I will plan on counting calories the rest of my life. Not counting calories is what got me here in the first place. But I am not going to go to bed hungry, I am not going to deny myself treats, I am not going to the obsessive. I will probably log and track the rest of my life. And that's okay with me13
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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!
Please define "natural". Do you find the use of tools in general not natural?
Specific 1's yes, such as; a food scale & gym equipment! Once these tools didn't exist, to ensure that we maintained; an ideal weight/strong physique but yet, we did!2 -
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?
Specific 1's yes, such as; a food scale & gym equipment! Once these tools didn't exist, to ensure that we maintained; an ideal weight/strong physique but yet, we did!
How do you feel about cars? At one time we all stayed fit and healthy walking everywhere we had to go.6 -
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?
Specific 1's yes, such as; a food scale & gym equipment! Once these tools didn't exist, to ensure that we maintained; an ideal weight/strong physique but yet, we did!
How do you feel about cars? At one time we all stayed fit and healthy walking everywhere we had to go.
Some of us still do, at least; for the most part! However not everything necessary's within, what's considered; to be walking distance!
I believe that you're mistaking, my comparison; as me being against modernization! If that were so then it'd be quite hypocritical of me, to be using MFP; when instead figuring my CICO's also plausible without MFP!1 -
I've gone into maintenance twice in the past six years. In both cases, my weight slowly started to drift upwards. This is a problem if I'm not weighing myself and taking corrective action when I've gone up five pounds.
I've decided in maintenance I need to either track my calories or weigh myself regularly, but probably don't need to do both -- and also have sworn to myself that I will never ever buy larger clothing again because my clothing is getting tight -- if that happens, it means go back into calorie counting again.15 -
ManOhMan, I don't think I've ever tried to plan the whole rest of my life in advance: I'm not gonna start now, even though at this stage (age 62), there's surely more if it behind me than ahead!
I'm heading into year 3 of maintenance. I'm logging most days now, skipping a few that are too annoying (major grazing from heavy-appetizer buffet for a meal, say - waaaay more effort than it's worth at this point, even if I think I overate) or the rare day I'm unmotivated. (I logged like religion while losing, because I wanted solid info about expected progress, and to estimate maintenance calories.)
Right now, I expect to keep logging for the foreseeable future, because it seems like it helps me accomplish what I need to do to stay happy, at very reasonable effort. It might go on forever.
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I will never 'unlearn' all the numbers I've seen and worked with in the past 5 years. I know I'll have periods where I log, sometimes I'll weigh my foods, sometimes I'll just eyeball and log, sometimes I wont log, but I will always keep a mental tally in my head cause I dont think I'll ever not care about what I'm eating again.3
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@AnnPT77 , don't be so sure. The way Aubrey de Grey talks about it, you may have a few more healthy years ahead than behind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6ARUQ5LoUo3
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vaguely. Won't always be super close. Right now I am 'spitballing' everything while doing a slow bulk and it is going as planned. I am pretty good at maintaining without logging because I've memorized the calories of so many things.3
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I don't know...I don't want to, but I may have to. I find it a bit stressful, to be honest, but I think it's the only reasonable way forward for me since my hunger cues are so inconsistent.2
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I am in the process of transitioning from calorie counting to mindful eating.... going to try it for a few months to see what happens.
I'm doing this as well. I'm going to continue to track my weight in the libra app to make sure my trend stays within my maintenance weight limits.2 -
Wasn't planning on it but I think I'm going to have to. I eat like an *kitten* otherwise. Even when I'm counting...I'm an idiot. Here's to a life of entering food in a stupid app.9
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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!
Please define "natural". Do you find the use of tools in general not natural?
Specific 1's yes, such as; a food scale & gym equipment! Once these tools didn't exist, to ensure that we maintained; an ideal weight/strong physique but yet, we did!
How do you feel about cars? At one time we all stayed fit and healthy walking everywhere we had to go.
Some of us still do, at least; for the most part! However not everything necessary's within, what's considered; to be walking distance!
I believe that you're mistaking, my comparison; as me being against modernization! If that were so then it'd be quite hypocritical of me, to be using MFP; when instead figuring my CICO's also plausible without MFP!
Haha, I really didn't think you were a real life luddite!
Where I'm coming from is the assumption that using some tools (like calorie counting) isn't natural, while using others (like a ruler - or a car) somehow is.6 -
Yes. I find it freeing to be able to keep track of my exercise and calories. I gained weight for many reasons, but one of the BIG ones was that I did not weigh myself for over 10 years. I plan to weigh weekly and log/track for the rest of my life. I'm 52, so I lived most of my life without it, but I don't want to go back to being 100 lbs. overweight.3
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I weigh daily and track my exercise, but rarely track my food. I eat the same food fairly consistently so I generally know about how many calories I eat. If I start to get to the high end of my 5 lb maintenance range I eat in a deficit for a few days to get back to the lower to mid-range. I generally stay within about a 2 lb range without much effort (although I rarely have a day that I would call over eating). I have been in maintenance for 8 months after losing 20 lbs in 3 months.4
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Regarding what's natural and unnatural--it's pretty unnatural to have as much food and the types of food we have available to us 24/7 (think 2 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts). In order to deal with that fact and and the natural tendency we were born with to eat what we can when we can, I think using an "unnatural " tool such as mfp to control ourselves is warranted. For me, anyway.12
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lightenup2016 wrote: »Regarding what's natural and unnatural--it's pretty unnatural to have as much food and the types of food we have available to us 24/7 (think 2 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts). In order to deal with that fact and and the natural tendency we were born with to eat what we can when we can, I think using an "unnatural " tool such as mfp to control ourselves is warranted. For me, anyway.
Yes, my thoughts exactly! I was starting to type this idea but you beat me to it2 -
@BeccaLoves2lift - cheers to success for both of us! I have the same strategy to weigh daily and track the trend.
We will see how the process progresses...1 -
Yes - for the foreseeable future anyway. I've reached maintenance before, logged for a while, then got out of the habit. My weight drifted back up.
This time around, I lost the weight, and have been maintaining for 14 months or so. I still weigh myself and my food daily, and keep a food journal. I like to eat, so I can easily eat more than my body needs if I don't keep track.
I do take breaks for vacations or holidays, and am not as strict with situations like parties or going out to eat. But for the most part, I keep track.
I don't view it as a chore, more like a fun science or math project. And it doesn't take that much effort, so why not if it helps keep me on track?6 -
JeromeBarry1 wrote: »@AnnPT77 , don't be so sure. The way Aubrey de Grey talks about it, you may have a few more healthy years ahead than behind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6ARUQ5LoUo
We'll see, and I'm hedging my bets . . . but my money says Imma flame out in 20-25 years, regardless of emerging med tech. I already dodged death once on 60/40 live/die odds, genetics says 80s, and (sadly? happily?) even at 62, I'm (hedonistically speaking) really Not A Good Girl, entirely.5
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