Is it really worth...
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I haven't logged in maintenance except for the very first month or so...I figure I have days that I'm over and days where I'm under...it's all worked out, more or less maintaining for a bit over 5 years.
If I logged, I would most likely log an over day just to see how it all nets out over the week...2 -
Tracking your cals when you go over? Why?
I mean there’s not much we can do about it except maybe feel discouraged...Opinions?
TÍA
I don't know, I mean either you track or you don't. Why only track on the "good" days and then go AWOL on the days you are over? What's the point? It would be like only updating your checkbook when you make deposits and not when you write a check or spend money. Why bother at all?
I see people here that do that and then have no clue what their real intake is and can't figure out why they are where they are. If you are in maintenance and you seem to have it figured out and don't log I can totally see that, but to me part of logging is the accountability and if you blow off logging for days that are over calorie then you are sort of burying your head in the sand and not being honest with yourself, like if you don't log it then it didn't happen.
Just my 2 cents. Your mileage may vary. See store for details. Offer not valid in Puerto Rico and South Dakota.16 -
Every food, every day. Anything else is a slippery slope.7
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CarvedTones wrote: »Every food, every day. Anything else is a slippery slope.
That's the way I feel also. I made goal little more than a month ago, and have stayed within a 2-lb range since then, but I *know* the day I don't log - even if it's mostly estimated - is the beginning of a slide back into old habits. That is unacceptable to me, after I've come this far and worked this hard to get healthy. Logging is my safety net for the foreseeable future.7 -
Tracking, for me, keeps me honest. On those days when I go over, and I mean 'way over as well as a mere 250 calories, I see it and I have to acknowledge it, and then I move on. I never miss a meal to make up for overindulging. I just keep on going. It has worked well for me for the past 3 years in maintenance and the 6 I have been with MFP.2
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I've been logging food for nearly eleven years. There were some times that I didn't, and before too long I would one day be up ten pounds and saying, "Hm. When was the last time I skipped dessert? Or had more than potatoes as a vegetable?"
For me NOT logging has always had consequences - not good ones.
I have to do a lot of things on a daily basis to keep all my life-balls in the air. It's worth it to me to log everything.
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When I stopped logging, I started regaining the pounds I'd lost...this time, I will continue to log.3
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I do because I already spent zillions of years telling myself little lies about how much I was eating. That didn’t work for me so I decided to do something different.10
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SummerSkier wrote: »Tracking your cals when you go over? Why?
I mean there’s not much we can do about it except maybe feel discouraged...Opinions?
TÍA
I think since you are successfully long term maintaining it is probably not necessary for you. Others still losing or new to maintenance might want to for reasons above.
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Yes I understand and I stated that in my second post0 -
It’s maybe because doing this for so many years you know, or at least I do, I’m always 2-3 lbs heavier on Monday I know it’s because I eat extra Sat-Sun I track my cals back to losing 1,500-1,600 and in 2 days I’m down 2 lbs in 2 more days back to where I started, and every week is the same unless is TOM but because I know I don’t panic...Set point???
I always was very bad at losing (YES I tracked everything) it took me forever, but once I got to my goal (-47) the # just stays around the same...
So I can say for me, Maintenance it’s pretty easy...easy enough to stop weighing my PB
(Almost 10 years)0 -
Absolutely, for the accountability and the ACTUAL data, not the games your mind will play on you to let you do what you want. It may well also stop you going to excess when the facts are right there in front of you. Over is one thing, gluttony is another.2
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The latest medical studies have shown that logging, checking weight, and exercise are the most effective way to keep weight off.
Good Luck4 -
With the "calorie banking" technique (single most useful thing I've picked up on the forum here, BTW), you carry over excesses from one day to the next. Reminding you to eat less the next day. Works great.
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MelanieCN77 wrote: »Absolutely, for the accountability and the ACTUAL data, not the games your mind will play on you to let you do what you want. It may well also stop you going to excess when the facts are right there in front of you. Over is one thing, gluttony is another.
I am more committed to logging than healthy eating but the former can help with the latter. I did help myself to a second serving of cheesecake a few days ago and could easily have gone for a third if I didn't know I was going to have to log it and see what impact it had. I have 4 kids and there will be a big dinner and dessert tonight and I will probably have seconds. It's quite likely I will go over today. But I will know how much.
On calorie banking, despite warnings I use loans as well as savings. Some people only do savings, preparing for the weekend by eating less the previous week. I will go over without preparing for it and make it up after sometimes. It requires some discipline and can another slippery slope. My "magic eraser" lately has been paddle boarding. I paddle 5+ miles 2 or 3 times a week earning several hundred calories each time. My other primary exercise is walking, but I am pretty consistent and kind of factor that in to my normal diet.3 -
Just saying...I’ve been successfully maintaining for almost 10 years and sometimes I’ll track a splurge sometimes I won’t, I just go back to “normal” (small deficit) the next day and for the rest of my week and at the end my weight stays pretty much the same (+2/-2lbs) minus the guilt/torture of seeing numbers in red...This is to maintain, of course to lose this doesn’t work...Then I guess I’m just “lucky”
You’re successfully maintaining so do what works for you, no one HAS to track everything they eat but for many it is helpful for all the great reasons posted in this thread. The OP you wrote made it sound like you were working on losing weight and the recommendations to log everything - even when overindulging, even when it’s a holiday, even when it’s a wild kitten guess is helpful for those who are losing and may not have as much experience as you.3 -
Tracking your cals when you go over? Why?
I mean there’s not much we can do about it except maybe feel discouraged...Opinions?
TÍA
Absolutely track them!
Tracking isn’t the habit to feel discouraged about in this situation. It’s the tool that will help you figure out patterns that need to be tweaked, and help you realize that the emotional response is out of proportion to the amount you’ve over eaten.
If tracking is one of the habits that helps you lose weight, it’s one of the habits that will help you maintain weight loss.3 -
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I always track it because I hit my goals by the week not the day. I typically go over Friday and/or Saturday but I'm always under for the week by almost 1000 calories. But some weeks I have to watch it to make sure I hit the mark. If I didn't track I wouldn't do that.1
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I am slowly learning to think ahead and plan my meal plan for the day. I envy those who can set up a meal plan for a week. When I know that I can look forward to a meal of high calories, I put in some sort of exercise as well. I am tracking my meals now for 75 days and I am getting better over time.1
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I lost 55 lbs in a bout a year and I never tracked.
What I did was try and stick to three meals a day, no snacks inbetween (not even fruits or anything, just water and tea), and I kept a 16hour window between dinner and breakfast. (I ate dinner at 6pm and breakfast at 10am).
Since I eat very similar breakfast and dinner everyday I counted the calories once, so I knew how much I could eat for lunch. (about 600-700) If I had big lunch or dinner one day I would just skip breakfast the next, so I knew I'd be fine.
Since that worked pretty well for me and I lost weight constantly I never saw a reason to track the calories.
I would however track calories if you a.) don't loose any weight for about a month or b.) constantly gain weight (and I don't mean like water weight, but gaining during a few weeks constantly). Because it's easy to misjudge the calories of one portion and it might be that you overeat every day.
People find it hard to believe that one meal can easily have as much as 1500 calories or even 2000 and it doesn't even need to be an unhealthy one.
My favorite dinner when I weighed about 210lbs was a mixed salad with a piece of salmon. I kept thinking it had probably about 500 calories and wondered why I never lost any weight. But when I actually counted everything, including the dressing I realized the whole thing had about 1500 calories. Holy *kitten*.
So if food is healthy we mostly assume it can't have that many calories. But I know people who wondered why they don't loose any weight- until we found out they kept snacking bananas. One banana is a fine thing. But if you eat five a day (instead of candy) and feel like you don't have to count them, because "it's just fruit", you need to realize it can easily be 100 calories per banana.
Also beverages. I stick to water but I know a lot of people who drink about 500-800 calories a day which adds up!
So yeah. You get pretty good at guessing after a while if you take the time to familiarize yourself with calories and how much one of your standard portion sizes has. So I don't think you need to track FOREVER every single thing you eat.
You should however track if you don't loose any weight and feel like you "barely eat anything", because believe me, that won't be true.
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