Is it really worth...

The latest medical studies have shown that logging, checking weight, and exercise are the most effective way to keep weight off.
Good Luck

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.

bfanny 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

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.

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.

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.

I have gotten a little bad about estimating a few things I could have weighed but I log. I find I am more likely to have overestimated instead of underestimating when I estimate and then weigh. I am scared of the "Boom 45 pounds" (in my case, it would be 65+ to get back to my old weight)

I've had days when I thought I was over then actually counted what I ate and found I was ok. For me it was definately worth tracking. Had I not logged it I would have continued to eat. This has become a very valuable maintenance tool for me.

Here’s a picture of a “log everything” week for me.

Mari22na wrote: »

Nope. I don't believe in undereating to pay for overeating or any overage the next day. It only digs a much deeper hole. Every day is a new day if you need to think of it as hitting the reset button. I'm in it for the long haul, no such thing as the finish line with your positive food management plan.

I don’t believe in undereating either. Balancing the overage over several days is a very different thing though. My daily goal is 2000, and I have figured out my ”comfort zone” with it is about 15% to either direction, so 1700-2300. I know I have some days when I’m over, so I try to keep the ”regular” days at 1700-2000, so I can average the 2000 or preferably a bit less than that. If I go higher than the 2300 I usually feel sluggish or physically crappy the next day, if I go under the 1700, especially for more than one consecutive day, I get tired, irritable and devour everything edible. So, if I hit the occasional 2500-cal day, I need at least two days to balance that out.

Keeps you honest and helps you realize that eating a bowl full of ice cream or a delicious meal at a restaurant won't add enough calories to gain an extra pound in one day. Keeps you from feeling like a failure when you are only 500 calories over your daily limit.