Tips to maintain without daily tracking for the rest of my life, please?
Malethyst
Posts: 18 Member
I've gotten to goal multiple times over the years, and I tracked for almost a year straight. I stopped tracking and after a while slowly gained weight back. I got up to 10 lbs over goal this time so I came back to MFP and I've lost 2 lbs so far this time. Losing is pretty easy for me, as long as my mindset is right. I'm hoping there's a mindset I need to adopt for maintenance that will make it possible to manage my weight without tracking long term. Has anyone had luck with this?
I'm on medications that cause weight gain, and they may contribute some, but I know they aren't fully to blame.
I'm 5'3" and I maintain at 1500 - 1600 calories. My goal weight is 118.
I'm open to any friend requests from females, also. I could use some support.
I'm on medications that cause weight gain, and they may contribute some, but I know they aren't fully to blame.
I'm 5'3" and I maintain at 1500 - 1600 calories. My goal weight is 118.
I'm open to any friend requests from females, also. I could use some support.
6
Replies
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if you were tracking for a year, you probably know approximate calorie counts and portion sizes for most of the foods you eat regularly. you don't necessarily need to track every calorie everyday in MFP or weigh every food with a digital scale, but can do more loose approximations for your daily food intake, with your maintenance calories in mind. watch your weight and give yourself a GW range of 5-8 lbs. if you see your weight trending toward the upper end of that range, cut back a bit on your portion sizes or cut out a snack until your weight settles to the middle of your goal again. it's important when you hit your goal to not get into the mentality that now you can relax completely and eat whatever you want. Unfortunately, you'll still need to monitor your weight/measurements regularly and at least loosely track your food intake in order to maintain.14
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I'm your height, but my goal weight is a little higher, around 125, so I maintain on around 1900-2000. I've been in maintenance for almost four years now, and I hope I have useful insight. I continued tracking for nine months after I hit goal weight, initially planning on doing it indefintely, but it started to feel a) limiting and b) unnecessary. I noticed that I would have alternating hungry and stuffed days, and I wanted to eat more in tune with my appetite. So I stopped using my food diary, stopped thinking in calories. But I had also learned how large portions - of anything, because this time, I had practiced eating anything I liked, not subsisting on diet food - were appropriate for me, and accepted that I had to eat less for the rest of my life, in order to maintain a lower weight. I had also started planning meals, in a spreadsheet, which turns into a log as I eat, and I only plan meals I really want to eat, but count or weigh almost everything I eat/drink, and usually stop before I have had way too much. This is totally different from earlier weight management attempts - I would just assume that I had learnt enough about nutrition to stay slim, and that I was slim, so I could eat anything I wanted now, in any amounts, and it didn't even really count, if nobody could see me eat it (a slight disconnect there).
So the mindset one has to adopt for maintenanance, is that this (eating less, not necessarily tracking), is for life - but also that it is for life, so it better be good.16 -
Overall, I spend less time logging than I do brushing and flossing my teeth. Logging gives me confidence in my calorie intake amount rather than having a cloud of uncertainty hanging over me all day every day.
If your relaxed way of eating leads to weight gain then you'll need some sort of constraint, be that intuitive eating or something more structured like logging.17 -
I weigh daily and keep a casual eye on developing trends. Haven't logged food in ages but still log my exercise as it gives me a guide to my overall requirements (it's a very significant contributor for me and varies a lot from season to season - probably not necessary for most people).
I also have an upper weight limit that is my intervention point. More rigorous about that in the cycling months but happy to drift up a bit in winter and lose a few pounds again in Spring. I don't see maintenance as necessarily a flat line.
Typically my intervention is just making lower calorie choices or nibbling a few hundred calories off my calorie balance here or there. Might be food substitutions, skipping breakfast (easy for me), not fuelling some of my bike rides (easy way for me to trim off 1000 cals on odd days). I never go into "diet mode" though, pretty relaxed on getting back in range slowly. For me it's the trend that matters. Notice I'm using the word easy - meaning easy for me, knowing yourself (strengths and weaknesses) is very important.
@kommodevaran
I'm perhaps a bit of an anomaly in that I eat more at maintenance compared to when I was a chubster as now I'm semi retired I'm more active and have more time to enjoy my exercise. Long term maintenance has to take change into account.
"....but also that it is for life, so it better be good." - Agreed, I really enjoy maintenance and I think that's important to long term success, I enjoy my food, my exercise and living in a healthy body.
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I made it a goal to learn how to maintain my weight without logging my calories in MFP, and I stopped filling out my diary about 2 months ago and I've been successful so far. I've actually lost about 3 lbs. (I am wanting to get to the low end of my happy range so that was intentional)
The main thing I do is just stick to somewhat set meal times. I eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and 1 or 2 snacks. I don't "allow" myself to just randomly grab stuff from the pantry and munch on it while I'm cooking dinner, and I don't grab a bag of chips and bring it with me to the couch, etc. If I want chips I portion some out into a bowl and put the rest away. Same types of things I would do while counting calories. Also just because I'm not counting calories doesn't mean I'm still not calorie-aware. I check nutrition labels and stuff to make sure what I'm eating is in an "acceptable range".
I also try to fill my plate with a big portion of vegetables so I can fill up on that and eat less of the other stuff.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, I also work the other side of the equation too by staying active.10 -
I do intermittent fasting for my maintenance. I don't count calories or carbs. My eating window is between 1 and 8 hours. 1 or 2 days a week I will not eat anything and just drink water. Ive been maintaining my weight for over a year.11
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I logged for the first 2 months /25 lbs of loss, then lost another 125 without logging. It's all about knowing your portion sizes. This was easier for me than some because I have a lot of repeat meals.8
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Been in maintenance over 5 years, sometimes I log to see where my macros are or if its coming up to a holiday and I want to knock a few pounds of it helps me focus on cutting calories. I don't need to log my meals in order to maintain my weight, as long as I keep a handle on my snacking I know my weight will be stable.
Recently I've been on a cut so I was weighing foods again - it was encouraging to see my eyeballing portions were spot on.8 -
Meal plans!2
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I wish I could help. Every time I stop logging my weight creeps up. After many, many years, it’s pretty effortless to log. I wish i had better intuitive earring skills, but I just don’t.21
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I’m 5”2 and a low weight for me is 118, and high right now at 128. I’ve been a chronic yo-yo dieter with disordered eating issues since my teens. All that has screwed up my metabolism.
I’m currently working on long term reverse diet bc I should be able to maintain on more than 1400 calories a day with my level of activity. I’ve copied and pasted some threads below that I had saved. They are all about petite women and maintenance calories/weight.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10641330/light-petites-maintaining-on-2000-calories#latest
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10014310/any-slim-shorties-maintaining#latest
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10660198/woman-who-can-maintain-on-2000-calories-how#latest6 -
Would you be open to logging in maintenance for a few months, until you have the hang of it, and then seeing what happens when you stop logging and just try to follow that pattern? I personally have continued logging, but I can imagine that if you established a good pattern and then just followed the scale, it might work for you.1
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Hi! I have been maintaining my weight for about 1 3/4 years and not tracking food. I run 4 days a week (about 20-25 miles a week).3
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Given that you know logging works maybe the question should be 'tips for logging easily'. Once you've got your digital scales (with a tare function) and entered your typical food items if it takes you more than an additional five minutes you're doing something wrong...
I try not to be anal about it, life's too short...if it's too complicated one day for some reason I either guesstimate or just miss it out and move on to the next day.13 -
Given that you know logging works maybe the question should be 'tips for logging easily'. Once you've got your digital scales (with a tare function) and entered your typical food items if it takes you more than an additional five minutes you're doing something wrong...
I try not to be anal about it, life's too short...if it's too complicated one day for some reason I either guesstimate or just miss it out and move on to the next day.
^^^ Pretty much this
When weight creep happens, it's usually because I've a few too many of those "complicated" days. The good thing about all this is that the process never changes. The skills and habits for using the food scales and at least knowing approximate portions are easy to tighten up on.2 -
Given that you know logging works maybe the question should be 'tips for logging easily'. Once you've got your digital scales (with a tare function) and entered your typical food items if it takes you more than an additional five minutes you're doing something wrong...
I try not to be anal about it, life's too short...if it's too complicated one day for some reason I either guesstimate or just miss it out and move on to the next day.
And this too
I think we often make things difficult so we have an excuse to stop.8 -
I hate to be repetitive, but I'm going to be. I like logging. It works well for me. My husband can't do it. He has needed to loose weight (60 pounds) for years. He had been a yo yo dieter and it never stuck. He also can't stick with MFP to save his life.
When my doctor put me on the Whole 30 plan in May for health reasons, he joined in. It's basically paleo: you drop alcohol, dairy, sweeteners, grains, and legumes. After 30 days we added back alcohol. NO WEIGHING OR CALORIE COUNTING ALLOWED. (I cheated and kept logging and weighing because that's what I do. He didn't.) We liked it so much we basically have stayed on the diet (plus alcohol) since.
He has lost 25 pounds without tracking and without hunger. He's still dropping.
If you don't want to track you have to modify your diet in a sustainable way. We found this sustainable and easy (we recently added back some rice occasionally and I'll treat myself to ice cream or bakery once in a while when I feel like it). It's been delicious.
* P.S. I also dropped the weight I needed to lose to get back in my zone and my calories didn't even change.4 -
I've been in maintenance for a year now and still log daily. Some don't need to but I do. It is just too easy to forget those extra calories consumed and go over. I think for everyone it's different. I only weigh once a week but that is a must too. Good luck you will find what works for you. If you find you are gaining without doing the logging I would suggest you return to loggging. It really takes very little time.10
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I don't log and have not during my recent weight loss journey. I did log for a long time and it just didn't work for me. It turned eating into a chore I realize that is not the case with most people.
However, I do find it helpful that I have logged, because I know the calories of most every single food item I eat
So now, I know what to eat and what not to eat.. and I don't kid myself. I also have rules for my healthy life. No fried foods, no sugar or desserts in the house, I don't use butter at home. I drizzle olive oil carefully from the cap so it is a small amount.
I know what healthy portions of meat should look like.. I eat carbs all the time in the form of potatoes and rice, but keep it to a half cup. I do have a food scale on my counter, and I check the weight of my food all the time.
This works for me, makes me feel free..but I don't eat freely.
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elisa123gal wrote: »I don't log and have not during my recent weight loss journey. I did log for a long time and it just didn't work for me. It turned eating into a chore I realize that is not the case with most people.
However, I do find it helpful that I have logged, because I know the calories of most every single food item I eat
So now, I know what to eat and what not to eat.. and I don't kid myself. I also have rules for my healthy life. No fried foods, no sugar or desserts in the house, I don't use butter at home. I drizzle olive oil carefully from the cap so it is a small amount.
I know what healthy portions of meat should look like.. I eat carbs all the time in the form of potatoes and rice, but keep it to a half cup. I do have a food scale on my counter, and I check the weight of my food all the time.
This works for me, makes me feel free..but I don't eat freely.
Pretty much all of this for me. Except the not keeping sugar and desserts in the house. I still eat plenty of those. But I'm mindful about what my main meals consist of and keep a running tally of my daily protein intake in my head. If I hadn't weighed and logged for a while I wouldn't be able to do that. It was very eye opening for me, but I'm glad I don't have to keep it up.1 -
I think you either have eating “rules” like no snacks, no dairy, no desserts, no meat, low carb, run 5 miles a day, etc or you log to keep the calories in check. I prefer to log and eat the foods I like. It’s a lot more stressful to have rules about what I can and can’t eat than it is to log everyday. I also take vacation breaks where I eat what and how much I want for that week. I will gain a couple of real pounds during the vacation, cut calories for a week and then go back to maintainamce calories. I’ve only maintained a 74 lb loss for 6 months, but so far so good. A lot better than my past weight losses where I started gaining back as soon as the diet ended.10
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I haven't logged in about 5.5 years of maintenance. I eat well for the most part from a nutritional standpoint and exercise regularly...that's about it. I keep an eye on the scale and if it starts to creep up as a trend, I know I just need to scale back a snack or something for a couple of weeks.3
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I weigh daily and keep a casual eye on developing trends. Haven't logged food in ages but still log my exercise as it gives me a guide to my overall requirements (it's a very significant contributor for me and varies a lot from season to season - probably not necessary for most people).
I also have an upper weight limit that is my intervention point. More rigorous about that in the cycling months but happy to drift up a bit in winter and lose a few pounds again in Spring. I don't see maintenance as necessarily a flat line.
Typically my intervention is just making lower calorie choices or nibbling a few hundred calories off my calorie balance here or there. Might be food substitutions, skipping breakfast (easy for me), not fuelling some of my bike rides (easy way for me to trim off 1000 cals on odd days). I never go into "diet mode" though, pretty relaxed on getting back in range slowly. For me it's the trend that matters. Notice I'm using the word easy - meaning easy for me, knowing yourself (strengths and weaknesses) is very important.
@kommodevaran
I'm perhaps a bit of an anomaly in that I eat more at maintenance compared to when I was a chubster as now I'm semi retired I'm more active and have more time to enjoy my exercise. Long term maintenance has to take change into account.
"....but also that it is for life, so it better be good." - Agreed, I really enjoy maintenance and I think that's important to long term success, I enjoy my food, my exercise and living in a healthy body.
Why would someone flag this post? I found it informative and helpful...6 -
I tracked for almost a year straight. I stopped tracking and after a while slowly gained weight back.
Thing is that you can't expect the "bad" automatisms that sneaked in for years can be changed in a short period of time.
Maintaining is, just like weight-loss, btw, a question of baby-steps.
Learn to eat according to the needs of your body
Learn to listen to your body again
Exchanging the "bad" automatisms that presented you with some additional lbs takes time, for some it takes longer other make it in a significantly shorter period.
I am maintaining for (almost) two years now and still track more or less accurately (for a given value of accurate).
It is still a long way, but I have time ... no need to hurry ... Haste made me fat
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I would be very curious to know from those of you that don't log any more how much weight you lost. I'm curious if you lost smaller amounts and therefore already had better eating habits than those of us who lost large amounts. Personally I still log and have been in maintenance about a year. I'm scared to death to regain. Am I just paranoid or am I more likely to regain?11
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cheryldumais wrote: »I would be very curious to know from those of you that don't log any more how much weight you lost. I'm curious if you lost smaller amounts and therefore already had better eating habits than those of us who lost large amounts. Personally I still log and have been in maintenance about a year. I'm scared to death to regain. Am I just paranoid or am I more likely to regain?
Well, I for one do fit into your hypothesis. I started mid-BMI, began maintenance at bottom of BMI range and gained back to mid-BMI with muscle. So I haven't really been able to maintain the same weight without logging.2 -
cheryldumais wrote: »I would be very curious to know from those of you that don't log any more how much weight you lost. I'm curious if you lost smaller amounts and therefore already had better eating habits than those of us who lost large amounts. Personally I still log and have been in maintenance about a year. I'm scared to death to regain. Am I just paranoid or am I more likely to regain?
I don't track or log. I'm in maintenance for two years, lost almost 80 lbs. I haven't been logging while losing either. I do keep a close eye on portions, especially high calorie foods. I eat pretty much everything, but not too much bread or pasta, and step on the scale every day. This way i know what's going on. If the "fluctuation" doesn't want to go back down in a few days, i know to cut back on snacks. I don't alter my meals because of weight going up, just snacks. I also ride, so not refeeding 100% after a bike ride helps with managing all those extra snacks that i can't/ won't say no to. I'm happy with what i do. So just tracking weight works for me. And i also check portions of meat, cheeses, nuts and things that have high calorie value with the scale time to time, just to make sure I'm not overdoing it.5 -
mom23mangos wrote: »cheryldumais wrote: »I would be very curious to know from those of you that don't log any more how much weight you lost. I'm curious if you lost smaller amounts and therefore already had better eating habits than those of us who lost large amounts. Personally I still log and have been in maintenance about a year. I'm scared to death to regain. Am I just paranoid or am I more likely to regain?
Well, I for one do fit into your hypothesis. I started mid-BMI, began maintenance at bottom of BMI range and gained back to mid-BMI with muscle. So I haven't really been able to maintain the same weight without logging.
I do too. I've only ever been overweight right after giving birth to my second child and I lost 25 lbs total.1 -
My wife lost a substantial amount of weight before I met her, and has more or less maintained her weight by following a loose set of self-imposed rules. At this point, decades later, these are mostly just natural behaviors for her:
- She usually has a salad at work for her lunch
- She doesn't snack much, and when she does she keeps her portions reasonable
- She doesn't eat at restaurants or get take-out often, and she carefully controls portions when she does
- She cooks a lot
- She allows herself a small dish of ice cream every night. She really looks forward to this, but she won't allow herself to have it if she's had some other treat during the day
- She weighs herself frequently, and has a certain weight limit where she forces herself to cut back on what she's eating7 -
I find that if I keep active, maintenance isn't particularly difficult so long as I'm not going off the rails food wise. It's when my activity level dips that I have issues...this frequently happens in the winter when my fitness as well as general activity tends to be substantially less...I usually put on about 8-10 Lbs. Fortunately, the high water mark usually hits right as spring is approaching and the cycling season kicks off.
This year I'm going to try to stay more active in the winter though...but that ultimately is going to mean spending a lot of time on my indoor trainer, which I don't particularly care for.3
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