Not tracking
TrinaLorna
Posts: 1 Member
Has anyone lost weight by not tracking, and just estimating that they are eating less calories then they are burning?
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Replies
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I'm sure they have. The trick is to succeed at actually consuming fewer calories than they are burning. It's hard because people tend to underestimate calories in and overestimate calories out.4
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Not "by not tracking", and probably not by "just estimating that they are eating less calories then they are burning" - the first sounds like it's the tracking that prevents weightloss, and the second sounds suspiciously like underestimating calories in and overestimating calories out - but sure, you can lose weight without tracking. To lose weight, you just have to eat less than you burn, but for real, consistently and for a long time. If you accept that, and do that, you lose weight.5
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Some people, but not all, are able to eat less without tracking. To lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit regardless of how you do it. If you manage to find a way to eat less (ACTUALLY eat less, not just feel like you do) then sure, you can lose weight without tracking.4
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I have. It works for some, not others.0
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It can work if you can remember well what all you have had. People generally underestimate what they had. Why not track though? Its really not that hard and sounds a bit lazy. Will likely not work if you can't spend a little time tracking. I have done both and tracking has always worked for me when estimating has not.0
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I did that when I first stated to lose. After 4 month I stated to track then realized I could have been eating way more than I was and still lose. I am glad I learned that lesson soon rather than later.6
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I've never used a tracking app or website and I've lost over 80 pounds and kept it off for over 5 years.
I'm not sure if this counts or not, but I keep a food journal to plan and track my meals. I am aware of my calorie intake, I weigh some things and read labels however. I'm not just eating whatever I want and how much I want.
I lost about half of my weight before I discovered the forums here. What I was doing was working for me so I continued and I still continue to keep a food/exercise journal. It keeps me on track and helps me to stay in control.
What I do is definitely not for everyone, but for me there's something about writing things down and seeing it on paper that helps me to succeed.6 -
I have in the past. i was sure I was under because I cut way back - to an extreme that caused me to lose a lot of muscle mass. Then when i hit goal, I returned to old eating habits with a plan of trying to curb it a little and go back to the extreme diet for a few weeks if the weight crept up. That didn't work because I would get to the top of the range and expand the range a little, get there again and decide to start the diet at the beginning of the next month or after the holidays or... By the time I tried again, it was discouraging amount to lose and I kept making exceptions with the idea I would start soon and the next thing you know I was back up again.9
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Sure, I did when I was very obese. At that point, simply cutting back portions a little was enough to put me in a calorie deficit, even though I wasn’t quite aware that this was why it worked. The problem was that this only worked for a little while. I never lost more than 15 pounds this way.
The reasons it didn’t work for me long term?
First, without weighing my food, I unintentionally let my portion sizes creep back up. A little bite here and a little bite there add up.
Second, as I lost weight, my calorie needs decreased, but I did not understand or compensate for that.
Third, because I was only creating a small deficit, my weight loss happened slowly. I couldn’t always see it happening, and I didn’t have the data that MFP gives me, so I couldn’t figure out what was wrong.
Fourth, foods that I thought were “healthy” were not necessarily low calorie. Because I wasn’t tracking, I didn’t understand the difference.
Ultimately I just decided that my body was not “meant” to lose weight, and I went right back to how I had previously eaten, and gained the weight back.
So while I did lose a small amount of weight temporarily without tracking, it only left me discouraged and unwilling to continue long term. With MFP I lost 100 pounds and have been maintaining for a year.11 -
After being on these forums for many years, I think what CarvedTone said is really important. I've read the frustration in hundreds or thousands of posts here. "I'm starving!" "I can't do it!" "I give up!"
He way under-ate to lose weight. Then tried to eat normally and when the weight crept back up, he told himself to go back on that really miserable restrictive low calorie "plan" he had tucked away. That miserable life is hard to go back to.
When losing weight in a healthy way, I didn't cut calories so much that it was miserable. I merely took the calorie goals given to me by this site and used them. I ate around 1500-1800 per day through almost my entire 80 pound loss - except right at the beginning when I tried to eat 1200. Yeah, that was awful and I couldn't stick to it. I wasn't miserable at 1500 plus exercise calories, it took me maybe five minutes per day to log food, and it was (and is) sustainable and healthy.
If I hadn't learned how to eat during the process, I wouldn't have really learned the lesson, ya know?10 -
I don’t track now, but tracking calorie intake for a year helped me get a good understanding calorie amounts in foods and what it takes to maintain my weight.1
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Lots of people do. I never have but I'm working on trying to maintain my weight without tracking. Tips that I've heard, are focus on eating for good health (so lots of vegetables basically - fill you up for not a lot of calories usually), eat plenty of protein, it helps some people to have somewhat set meal times so they aren't just grazing all day long, learn portion sizes. There are the rules like "protein should be the size of your palm" etc.0
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cmriverside wrote: »After being on these forums for many years, I think what CarvedTone said is really important. I've read the frustration in hundreds or thousands of posts here. "I'm starving!" "I can't do it!" "I give up!"
He way under-ate to lose weight. Then tried to eat normally and when the weight crept back up, he told himself to go back on that really miserable restrictive low calorie "plan" he had tucked away. That miserable life is hard to go back to.
When losing weight in a healthy way, I didn't cut calories so much that it was miserable. I merely took the calorie goals given to me by this site and used them. I ate around 1500-1800 per day through almost my entire 80 pound loss - except right at the beginning when I tried to eat 1200. Yeah, that was awful and I couldn't stick to it. I wasn't miserable at 1500 plus exercise calories, it took me maybe five minutes per day to log food, and it was (and is) sustainable and healthy.
If I hadn't learned how to eat during the process, I wouldn't have really learned the lesson, ya know?
I did the same.... i am cursed and lucky at the same time. I did not start tracking accurately until I was losing my last 40lbs. Should have nor lost it... lol0 -
I lost a lot of weight several years ago without tracking the whole time. I tracked for about 3 week to get myself in better habits of eating the correct portion sizes, better foods, etc, and then just kept eating that way. I personally don't plan on tracking my calories for the rest of my life - just rebuilding better habits.1
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I look at it this way: If I'm going to drive to a small town in a state far away that I've never been to, I can do it one of two ways - I can use a map/GPS navigation which gives me a clear route to my destination, or I can just start driving and try to figure it out as I go.
Either way, I'll probably get there eventually - but one of those two ways is the easier and more direct route.7 -
I look at it this way: If I'm going to drive to a small town in a state far away that I've never been to, I can do it one of two ways - I can use a map/GPS navigation which gives me a clear route to my destination, or I can just start driving and try to figure it out as I go.
Either way, I'll probably get there eventually - but one of those two ways is the easier and more direct route.
But sometimes it's fun to get lost and go on an adventure! No?
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I look at it this way: If I'm going to drive to a small town in a state far away that I've never been to, I can do it one of two ways - I can use a map/GPS navigation which gives me a clear route to my destination, or I can just start driving and try to figure it out as I go.
Either way, I'll probably get there eventually - but one of those two ways is the easier and more direct route.
But sometimes it's fun to get lost and go on an adventure! No?
Absolutely! But I'm not going to go into travel forums and post "HELP HELP HELP!!!! LOST IN IOWA, DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!!!!!" threads if I choose to do it that way.
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Tracking I think is good for establishing baselines, and is especially good if you can account for fiber intake etc (not just the macros). But I never want to count calories, points or any other thing as an end to itself. I suspect here I'll be tracking actual food intake for around a month, but afterwards having geared myself back to foods of a more healthy nature, I'll let the numbers alone. To be honest, the main reason I am tracking now is to get a handle on fiber and salt intake. I consider tracking to be a tool, but just a short term one, and one of many.0
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I look at it this way: If I'm going to drive to a small town in a state far away that I've never been to, I can do it one of two ways - I can use a map/GPS navigation which gives me a clear route to my destination, or I can just start driving and try to figure it out as I go.
Either way, I'll probably get there eventually - but one of those two ways is the easier and more direct route.
But sometimes it's fun to get lost and go on an adventure! No?
Absolutely! But I'm not going to go into travel forums and post "HELP HELP HELP!!!! LOST IN IOWA, DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!!!!!" threads if I choose to do it that way.
Or, "I ran out of gas because I decided not to look at the gas gauge because adventure."
Part of the advantage of tracking food is I got to eat ENOUGH. So it wasn't really that hard. I didn't suffer or just try to wrestle my body into submission for the cause. I didn't run out of gas because I refused to look at the gas gauge.
I mean you can lose weight by under-eating, but at what cost? Muscle loss, hair loss, depression, fatigue, irritability, confusion. Why not just eat enough but not too much? How do I do that? Log food. Simples.4 -
cmriverside wrote: »I look at it this way: If I'm going to drive to a small town in a state far away that I've never been to, I can do it one of two ways - I can use a map/GPS navigation which gives me a clear route to my destination, or I can just start driving and try to figure it out as I go.
Either way, I'll probably get there eventually - but one of those two ways is the easier and more direct route.
But sometimes it's fun to get lost and go on an adventure! No?
Absolutely! But I'm not going to go into travel forums and post "HELP HELP HELP!!!! LOST IN IOWA, DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!!!!!" threads if I choose to do it that way.
Or, "I ran out of gas because I decided not to look at the gas gauge because adventure."
Part of the advantage of tracking food is I got to eat ENOUGH. So it wasn't really that hard. I didn't suffer or just try to wrestle my body into submission for the cause. I didn't run out of gas because I refused to look at the gas gauge.
I mean you can lose weight by under-eating, but at what cost? Muscle loss, hair loss, depression, fatigue, irritability, confusion. Why not just eat enough but not too much? How do I do that? Log food. Simples.
Oh I agree tracking is very helpful for sure, no denying that. But how do I know I'm eating enough if I don't track? I use the scale. Weight is dropping too fast, eat more. Not enough eat less. Again not for everyone but a way to do it without logging food.2 -
cmriverside wrote: »I look at it this way: If I'm going to drive to a small town in a state far away that I've never been to, I can do it one of two ways - I can use a map/GPS navigation which gives me a clear route to my destination, or I can just start driving and try to figure it out as I go.
Either way, I'll probably get there eventually - but one of those two ways is the easier and more direct route.
But sometimes it's fun to get lost and go on an adventure! No?
Absolutely! But I'm not going to go into travel forums and post "HELP HELP HELP!!!! LOST IN IOWA, DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!!!!!" threads if I choose to do it that way.
Or, "I ran out of gas because I decided not to look at the gas gauge because adventure."
Part of the advantage of tracking food is I got to eat ENOUGH. So it wasn't really that hard. I didn't suffer or just try to wrestle my body into submission for the cause. I didn't run out of gas because I refused to look at the gas gauge.
I mean you can lose weight by under-eating, but at what cost? Muscle loss, hair loss, depression, fatigue, irritability, confusion. Why not just eat enough but not too much? How do I do that? Log food. Simples.
Oh I agree tracking is very helpful for sure, no denying that. But how do I know I'm eating enough if I don't track? I use the scale. Weight is dropping too fast, eat more. Not enough eat less. Again not for everyone but a way to do it without logging food.
Yup.
I just think people who are over-weight need to get that skill in their toolbox.
Or maybe that's just me, but I love seeing the numbers and tracking. I don't love stepping on the scale, and honestly I forget to do it on most Mondays, which is my tracking day for body-weight. Not only that, but my food choices start going wonky when I don't see the protein numbers and fiber numbers. Before too long I start living on peanut butter sandwiches and yogurt with berries. I need to see those vegetables logged.2 -
cmriverside wrote: »I look at it this way: If I'm going to drive to a small town in a state far away that I've never been to, I can do it one of two ways - I can use a map/GPS navigation which gives me a clear route to my destination, or I can just start driving and try to figure it out as I go.
Either way, I'll probably get there eventually - but one of those two ways is the easier and more direct route.
But sometimes it's fun to get lost and go on an adventure! No?
Absolutely! But I'm not going to go into travel forums and post "HELP HELP HELP!!!! LOST IN IOWA, DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!!!!!" threads if I choose to do it that way.
Or, "I ran out of gas because I decided not to look at the gas gauge because adventure."
Part of the advantage of tracking food is I got to eat ENOUGH. So it wasn't really that hard. I didn't suffer or just try to wrestle my body into submission for the cause. I didn't run out of gas because I refused to look at the gas gauge.
I mean you can lose weight by under-eating, but at what cost? Muscle loss, hair loss, depression, fatigue, irritability, confusion. Why not just eat enough but not too much? How do I do that? Log food. Simples.
I agree, but some carbs are better for you than others, some fats are better for you than others. But goals are set in terms of the three macros: Carb, Fats, Proteins. While you might be able to change percentages, this belies the fact that some carb sources are not remotely healthy, while others indeed are. Or that some fats are not healthy, but various others are?
BTW, right now I AM tracking, but I'm not all that concerned about the main selling points of tracking.6 -
cmriverside wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »I look at it this way: If I'm going to drive to a small town in a state far away that I've never been to, I can do it one of two ways - I can use a map/GPS navigation which gives me a clear route to my destination, or I can just start driving and try to figure it out as I go.
Either way, I'll probably get there eventually - but one of those two ways is the easier and more direct route.
But sometimes it's fun to get lost and go on an adventure! No?
Absolutely! But I'm not going to go into travel forums and post "HELP HELP HELP!!!! LOST IN IOWA, DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!!!!!" threads if I choose to do it that way.
Or, "I ran out of gas because I decided not to look at the gas gauge because adventure."
Part of the advantage of tracking food is I got to eat ENOUGH. So it wasn't really that hard. I didn't suffer or just try to wrestle my body into submission for the cause. I didn't run out of gas because I refused to look at the gas gauge.
I mean you can lose weight by under-eating, but at what cost? Muscle loss, hair loss, depression, fatigue, irritability, confusion. Why not just eat enough but not too much? How do I do that? Log food. Simples.
Oh I agree tracking is very helpful for sure, no denying that. But how do I know I'm eating enough if I don't track? I use the scale. Weight is dropping too fast, eat more. Not enough eat less. Again not for everyone but a way to do it without logging food.
Yup.
I just think people who are over-weight need to get that skill in their toolbox.
Or maybe that's just me, but I love seeing the numbers and tracking. I don't love stepping on the scale, and honestly I forget to do it on most Mondays, which is my tracking day for body-weight. Not only that, but my food choices start going wonky when I don't see the protein numbers and fiber numbers. Before too long I start living on peanut butter sandwiches and yogurt with berries. I need to see those vegetables logged.
See the funny thing for me I was kind of the opposite.. when I track I get lazy.. my food choices are limited..I start to only eat food that I can easily weigh, that are prepackaged, or I was eating only food I had entered already. For me it wasn't working out in a healthy way that made me happy.3 -
cmriverside wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »I look at it this way: If I'm going to drive to a small town in a state far away that I've never been to, I can do it one of two ways - I can use a map/GPS navigation which gives me a clear route to my destination, or I can just start driving and try to figure it out as I go.
Either way, I'll probably get there eventually - but one of those two ways is the easier and more direct route.
But sometimes it's fun to get lost and go on an adventure! No?
Absolutely! But I'm not going to go into travel forums and post "HELP HELP HELP!!!! LOST IN IOWA, DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!!!!!" threads if I choose to do it that way.
Or, "I ran out of gas because I decided not to look at the gas gauge because adventure."
Part of the advantage of tracking food is I got to eat ENOUGH. So it wasn't really that hard. I didn't suffer or just try to wrestle my body into submission for the cause. I didn't run out of gas because I refused to look at the gas gauge.
I mean you can lose weight by under-eating, but at what cost? Muscle loss, hair loss, depression, fatigue, irritability, confusion. Why not just eat enough but not too much? How do I do that? Log food. Simples.
Oh I agree tracking is very helpful for sure, no denying that. But how do I know I'm eating enough if I don't track? I use the scale. Weight is dropping too fast, eat more. Not enough eat less. Again not for everyone but a way to do it without logging food.
Yup.
I just think people who are over-weight need to get that skill in their toolbox.
Or maybe that's just me, but I love seeing the numbers and tracking. I don't love stepping on the scale, and honestly I forget to do it on most Mondays, which is my tracking day for body-weight. Not only that, but my food choices start going wonky when I don't see the protein numbers and fiber numbers. Before too long I start living on peanut butter sandwiches and yogurt with berries. I need to see those vegetables logged.
See the funny thing for me I was kind of the opposite.. when I track I get lazy.. my food choices are limited..I start to only eat food that I can easily weigh, that are prepackaged, or I was eating only food I had entered already. For me it wasn't working out in a healthy way that made me happy.
I agree w/ this. When I'm meticulously logging all my calories, I hate the idea of having to look every little thing up and create recipes so I just eat the same things over and over and only make things I've already created recipes for etc. to make logging easier.1 -
cmriverside wrote: »I look at it this way: If I'm going to drive to a small town in a state far away that I've never been to, I can do it one of two ways - I can use a map/GPS navigation which gives me a clear route to my destination, or I can just start driving and try to figure it out as I go.
Either way, I'll probably get there eventually - but one of those two ways is the easier and more direct route.
But sometimes it's fun to get lost and go on an adventure! No?
Absolutely! But I'm not going to go into travel forums and post "HELP HELP HELP!!!! LOST IN IOWA, DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!!!!!" threads if I choose to do it that way.
Or, "I ran out of gas because I decided not to look at the gas gauge because adventure."
Part of the advantage of tracking food is I got to eat ENOUGH. So it wasn't really that hard. I didn't suffer or just try to wrestle my body into submission for the cause. I didn't run out of gas because I refused to look at the gas gauge.
I mean you can lose weight by under-eating, but at what cost? Muscle loss, hair loss, depression, fatigue, irritability, confusion. Why not just eat enough but not too much? How do I do that? Log food. Simples.
I agree, but some carbs are better for you than others, some fats are better for you than others. But goals are set in terms of the three macros: Carb, Fats, Proteins. While you might be able to change percentages, this belies the fact that some carb sources are not remotely healthy, while others indeed are. Or that some fats are not healthy, but various others are?
BTW, right now I AM tracking, but I'm not all that concerned about the main selling points of tracking.
You're completely ignoring context and dosage.1 -
cmriverside wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »I look at it this way: If I'm going to drive to a small town in a state far away that I've never been to, I can do it one of two ways - I can use a map/GPS navigation which gives me a clear route to my destination, or I can just start driving and try to figure it out as I go.
Either way, I'll probably get there eventually - but one of those two ways is the easier and more direct route.
But sometimes it's fun to get lost and go on an adventure! No?
Absolutely! But I'm not going to go into travel forums and post "HELP HELP HELP!!!! LOST IN IOWA, DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!!!!!" threads if I choose to do it that way.
Or, "I ran out of gas because I decided not to look at the gas gauge because adventure."
Part of the advantage of tracking food is I got to eat ENOUGH. So it wasn't really that hard. I didn't suffer or just try to wrestle my body into submission for the cause. I didn't run out of gas because I refused to look at the gas gauge.
I mean you can lose weight by under-eating, but at what cost? Muscle loss, hair loss, depression, fatigue, irritability, confusion. Why not just eat enough but not too much? How do I do that? Log food. Simples.
Oh I agree tracking is very helpful for sure, no denying that. But how do I know I'm eating enough if I don't track? I use the scale. Weight is dropping too fast, eat more. Not enough eat less. Again not for everyone but a way to do it without logging food.
Yup.
I just think people who are over-weight need to get that skill in their toolbox.
Or maybe that's just me, but I love seeing the numbers and tracking. I don't love stepping on the scale, and honestly I forget to do it on most Mondays, which is my tracking day for body-weight. Not only that, but my food choices start going wonky when I don't see the protein numbers and fiber numbers. Before too long I start living on peanut butter sandwiches and yogurt with berries. I need to see those vegetables logged.
I'm like you! I find logging fascinating and sometimes making my macros work out is like playing Tetris with my diary
: .
But I do that with everything, I have lists, inventories, counts, everywhere. I constantly have thoughts and questions bouncing around in my head, and writing stuff down reminds me I've dealt with this detail already and I can set it aside. I doubt I NEED to log at this point, but otherwise I would worry that I was eating too much and my scale is broken and I'll wake up one day unable to fit in any of my clothes
I guess some people stress if they are dealing with too many details, and others stress if they don't have enough details. You can manage your weight either way, just have to find the way that works best with the way you think.3 -
I lost 99lbs by tracking for 1 year then decided i didnt need to track anymore 8mo later +36lbs i find its not realistic for me3
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I'm a tracker by nature (I enjoy it and feel a healthy compulsion to do it), but I'm also bad at not tracking. I'm portion blind, I could "feel" like I'm eating a smaller portion but it often turns out I'm not. It's as if just by meaning to eat less, food starts looking like it's less. My portion perception is also heavily influenced by hunger. The same portion can look fine one day, but tiny on a hungry day. When I (rarely) don't track, I still weigh food whenever possible to make sure I'm eating "the usual".
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TrinaLorna wrote: »Has anyone lost weight by not tracking, and just estimating that they are eating less calories then they are burning?
Sure, several times, but during all of those times I didn't have high calorie hyper-palatable food around. If I want to include pizza, ice cream, etc., in what I eat, I need to track.2 -
I was pretty much exactly like @apullum. Years ago I tried another weight loss site and it didn't have nearly as many tracking tools as MFP. I was totally in the dark other than having a calorie goal (which I was in denial about because I didn't want to eat less) so I didn't know anything about macros or weighing food. Repeatedly, I could lose about 15 pounds while doing a ton of cardio. When my weight loss would stop I believed I just wasn't meant to lose weight.
I got fat eating huge volumes of food. I had to relearn how to eat normal portions of food if I was going to be successful and keep the weight off. I had to learn what to do after I hit my goal weight. Logging food for a few years was the price I had to pay in order to form better habits. If you already have some knowledge of eating proper portions of food and just got off track somehow, eating intuitively may work just fine for you. I was definitely not one of those people.4
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