Do you plan on counting calories your whole life in order to maintain?
Replies
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No. It was a helpful tool while I was losing, but I developed good enough habits that I don't find counting and tracking necessary anymore. I weigh myself regularly so if I do go above my maintenance range, I can correct it quickly before it gets out of hand. I also tend to stay pretty active- if I was sedentary I would need to pay a lot more attention to how many calories I'm taking in, and in that case I might still be tracking.
Everyone is different though. If counting works for you and doesn't feel like a chore, there's absolutely nothing wrong with continuing it.7 -
Westschmeis wrote: »Once you have learned and habituated your needs for calorie level, as opposed to wants and thoughtless eating, and you have learned the actual caloric content of most of your regular foods, there is no further need for formal counting, But, yes, you have to be aware and make appropriate choices for intake and output the rest of your life, if you truly expect to have a fit and healthy lifestyle. Harder to do for some of us than for others, but every single person is subject to the results of CICO, whether you count or not.
I can understand how this works. The things is, everyone needs to make sacrifices somewhere for weight maintenance, be it types of food, amounts of food, frequency, giving into wants less often, time for exercise, the act of counting calories and many other options. People pick their sacrifices and it's smart to go for what feels easier or what you see yourself doing long term.
To me logging feels easier than giving up on wants and "just because" foods, or giving up the flexibility of eating an amount of food one day and then eating another amount of the same food next day.
Generally, people who are successful not counting have set rules and habit patterns that work for them. This wouldn't work for me because I don't like rules that I can't bend or patterns that don't change constantly, so my choice of sacrifice is to poke my phone every time I eat something, which can be obsessive and annoying for some but not for me.16 -
It would be interesting to see the results of a controlled study of people who reach their goal weight and maintain it by logging daily for at least 6 months to a year, who then are divided into groups of those who continue to log daily and those who don't log at all over the following year.
The hypothesis to be tested would be whether those who continue to log daily are able to maintain their weight better than those who don't.
My guess is that those who continue to log would, as a group, be better able to do so than those who don't.
Any sports Phd or Master's candidates out their who could use this as a thesis topic?
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It would be interesting to see the results of a controlled study of people who reach their goal weight and maintain it by logging daily for at least 6 months to a year, who then are divided into groups of those who continue to log daily and those who don't log at all over the following year.
The hypothesis to be tested would be whether those who continue to log daily are able to maintain their weight better than those who don't.
My guess is that those who continue to log would, as a group, be better able to do so than those who don't.
Any sports Phd or Master's candidates out their who could use this as a thesis topic?
There is a resource that tracks successful losers and maintainers and looks for strategies that help maintain losses.
http://www.nwcr.ws/
If you are older than 18 years and have maintained a loss of >30lbs for a year then you can join the registry and become part of the study.
The common behaviors are a focus on a low fat diet (>25% of calories from fats), a monitoring of food consumption, maintaining higher levels of activity and monitoring body weight on a regular basis.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9665679?dopt=Abstract1 -
NOPE, never have done it once and do not own a scale1
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For those who wish to not count calories, here is a good perspective. It might not include all the ins and outs and for those of us who can't trust our signals it may not work, just thought it would help those who have not been obese long term or don't have the mechanisms that make this not viable. Even as a calorie counter I found some of these strategies interesting (especially in the second part) because they can work alongside calorie tracking.
Part 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUbHeINM7WI
Part 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh_yClvCzLs 5 -
Yes, I do.0
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BitofaState wrote: »It would be interesting to see the results of a controlled study of people who reach their goal weight and maintain it by logging daily for at least 6 months to a year, who then are divided into groups of those who continue to log daily and those who don't log at all over the following year.
The hypothesis to be tested would be whether those who continue to log daily are able to maintain their weight better than those who don't.
My guess is that those who continue to log would, as a group, be better able to do so than those who don't.
Any sports Phd or Master's candidates out their who could use this as a thesis topic?
There is a resource that tracks successful losers and maintainers and looks for strategies that help maintain losses.
http://www.nwcr.ws/
If you are older than 18 years and have maintained a loss of >30lbs for a year then you can join the registry and become part of the study.
The common behaviors are a focus on a low fat diet (>25% of calories from fats), a monitoring of food consumption, maintaining higher levels of activity and monitoring body weight on a regular basis.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9665679?dopt=Abstract
I'm a participant of the NWCR study. They send you surveys every year or so to see where you stand and what your habits are. It's a survey, so there are a lot of yes/no and multiple choice questions. *They* chose the focus for the survey. I find the survey is overly fixated on fat consumption, among other things. For example, on the last one, there was a question about if you decrease the butter/oil you use while baking. NO! That would give me dry shi**y muffins. However, I *do* often decrease the amount of sugar I use (this was not an option, they were only asking about oil). There are very few questions, if any at all, that concern logging.
They do give you the option to write some additional comments at the end of the survey, and I always end up writing a book. I do wonder if anyone ever reads it!6 -
No but I suspect I may have to0
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WickedPineapple wrote: »BitofaState wrote: »It would be interesting to see the results of a controlled study of people who reach their goal weight and maintain it by logging daily for at least 6 months to a year, who then are divided into groups of those who continue to log daily and those who don't log at all over the following year.
The hypothesis to be tested would be whether those who continue to log daily are able to maintain their weight better than those who don't.
My guess is that those who continue to log would, as a group, be better able to do so than those who don't.
Any sports Phd or Master's candidates out their who could use this as a thesis topic?
There is a resource that tracks successful losers and maintainers and looks for strategies that help maintain losses.
http://www.nwcr.ws/
If you are older than 18 years and have maintained a loss of >30lbs for a year then you can join the registry and become part of the study.
The common behaviors are a focus on a low fat diet (>25% of calories from fats), a monitoring of food consumption, maintaining higher levels of activity and monitoring body weight on a regular basis.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9665679?dopt=Abstract
I'm a participant of the NWCR study. They send you surveys every year or so to see where you stand and what your habits are. It's a survey, so there are a lot of yes/no and multiple choice questions. *They* chose the focus for the survey. I find the survey is overly fixated on fat consumption, among other things. For example, on the last one, there was a question about if you decrease the butter/oil you use while baking. NO! That would give me dry shi**y muffins. However, I *do* often decrease the amount of sugar I use (this was not an option, they were only asking about oil). There are very few questions, if any at all, that concern logging.
They do give you the option to write some additional comments at the end of the survey, and I always end up writing a book. I do wonder if anyone ever reads it!
This is one of the reasons I started being active in these forums. I have read their research papers, but actually listening to one of the subjects adds a new dimension to it! Thanks for the comment. I would love to add you as a friend if I could.1 -
I need the structure. The times I've stopped logging is when I've gained weight back. It's not that I don't know what a healthy amount of food is, it's just easier to have that extra slice of pizza or extra helping of dinner if you don't log it. I tend to eat the same things for lunch and same rotation of dinners anyways - I don't suspect it'll be that challenging.
When I feel like logging is the last thing I want to do for the day, I don't do it. I think everyone will find their own happy medium that allows them to maintain their own success. It all just boils down to the process that works for you.4 -
It would be interesting to see the results of a controlled study of people who reach their goal weight and maintain it by logging daily for at least 6 months to a year, who then are divided into groups of those who continue to log daily and those who don't log at all over the following year.
The hypothesis to be tested would be whether those who continue to log daily are able to maintain their weight better than those who don't.
My guess is that those who continue to log would, as a group, be better able to do so than those who don't.
Any sports Phd or Master's candidates out their who could use this as a thesis topic?
I also wonder what the difference would be for someone who's had weight issues most of their life vs someone who didn't.
I've been pretty lean most of my life...I was never more than 10-12% BF until after I turned 30. My issue really wasn't food compulsions or anything like that...I graduated university at 30 and went from being a very active person to working 12 hours per day behind a desk and put on 40-50 Lbs over the course of about 8 years.
I don't find managing my weight to be particularly difficult and I don't put a ton of thought into it...my biggest thing I think is maintaining a good activity level like I used to. I do eat a bit better in terms of getting my veggies in and whatnot as well...but I really think keeping my activity level up is what has made maintenance pretty easy.
It might be different if I was trying to maintain a super lean physique at my current age as well...10-12% used to be very easy in my 20s...I'm good with around 15% in my 40s.2 -
I maintained for about a year and a half without counting calories, just let myself go off track a little too long and need an extra boost to get this weight back off (20 pounds gained back, after 140 lost). It's a tool and instills good habits and knowledge for the long run. Sometimes it's good to take a few days to log to make sure you're still on track. I keep watch on my weight and could typically lower my weight back down to normal when I'd get ~5 pounds up, but I struggled with some depression and let it go too long, so now I need to get back to where I was and knowing how much I need to eat there, then I should be able to keep it up without logging again. It's all personal, though, and what works for one person in maintenance won't work for another.2
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Yes. It's been six years. I use it to keep track not to limit myself.4
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I do naturally eat (and desire) way less food than I used to, but yes, I'll probably count forever. There are also certain foods I've cut out of my life for good because I can't mentally moderate myself with them, which helps prevent backsliding. I actually find tracking kind of satisfying and fun to do now. It's part of my self-care routine so I enjoy it!3
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WickedPineapple wrote: »
I'm a participant of the NWCR study. They send you surveys every year or so to see where you stand and what your habits are. It's a survey, so there are a lot of yes/no and multiple choice questions. *They* chose the focus for the survey. I find the survey is overly fixated on fat consumption, among other things. For example, on the last one, there was a question about if you decrease the butter/oil you use while baking. NO! That would give me dry shi**y muffins. However, I *do* often decrease the amount of sugar I use (this was not an option, they were only asking about oil). There are very few questions, if any at all, that concern logging.
They do give you the option to write some additional comments at the end of the survey, and I always end up writing a book. I do wonder if anyone ever reads it!
Thanks for that, much better to get a participant's view.
I would suspect that one of the researchers is looking beyond initial findings if they're doing a deeper dive into fat consumption. Coding an open study with a large participant group study is time consuming so you do sometimes need to force fit your data into categories.
Hopefully they will survey for sugar consumption at some point as it would be interesting to see the strategies for the "pure, white and deadly" substance.1 -
MySweetLavinia wrote: »It's part of my self-care routine so I enjoy it!
This really resonated with me and is why I think I will still track and log everything when I reach my goals.
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WickedPineapple wrote: »I'm a participant of the NWCR study. They send you surveys every year or so to see where you stand and what your habits are.
Thanks for the link to the study group. Just signed up.
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I expect to keep logging while in maintenance. I lost about 40 pounds in 2012, and kept it off until 2015. I gained it all back in about 12 months time. I made several failed attempts to get back into the rhythm of My Fitness Pal over the past 2 years. I have been back into it for 2 months now. I am about 2/3 of the way back to my goal, and don't want to lapse again when I get there. It's easier for me to stay on MFP, than to get back on it again later.7
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No. But I didn't log while losing weight.5
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Yes! I have found that maintenance calories for my height and weight are much lower than I thought (and I'm always hungry) so I start drifting upwards IMMEDIATELY if I do not track.3
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Yes I will log everything. I am capable of gaining 75 pounds just like that!3
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I have lost and regained the weight so many times....that said, I think continuing to log or not log depends on each of us knowing ourselves well enough to know whether continuing logging will help us stay on track once we reach our goal. (I have ten more pounds to go.) When I stopped logging in the past, I fell back into bad habits and gained it back. So, this time, I will log forever. I agree with Trina2040, I must view my calories as a checking account....if I am overdrawn day after day, I'll gain it back.7
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I'm currently obese, and the idea of tracking everything forever makes me not even want to try.9
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God, I hope not.3
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I will probably keep doing it for a long time since plan on bulking and gain weight after my current fat loss plan, and if i dont count calories its easy to go way over or way under for me when im bulking.1
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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.
Omg this is scarily accurate...
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As somebody said here calorie counting is a lot like training wheels. It gives you guidelines to follow so you are more aware of what you are eating. An example is after counting calories and cheating very often eating McDonalds I now know that a McChicken is 350 calories and with Chipotle your average bowl is between 600-850 calories. Also after counting calories so often I know things like a pair of eggs has 12g of protein. I often will look up food items at restaurant to see how many calories they have and their macro breakdown so I can compare it to other foods I often eat.5
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When I reach goal weight I plan on logging either one week out of the month, or a whole month every few months just to make sure my portion sizes and such aren’t accidentally growing.2
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No. With a side order of Absolutely Not. My life is not gonna be about numbers forever. I'm here to develop better food habits that stick with me, not to develop a lifelong dependency on logging data for everything I so much as think about eating. As it stands, I currently have no medical reason to count every bite I take for quite that long.
If you have your own reasons to log for most of your life and don't find it tedious or insanity-inducing, well, that's pretty rad and I support you entirely. I just know that is definitely not how my (admittedly damaged) brain works, and it's safe to say that I will not be doing this forever unless I absolutely must.2
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