Anybody else get tired of counting calories?
Replies
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cartersmom06 wrote: »Nope - been doing this for 4 years now. Takes 5-10 mins/day and keeps me maintaining possibly the most critically important health indicator.
I'd rather do that than not track and fail.
You're looking for something easier than 10 mins/day?
Its not 10 mins a day because i dont eat the same things every day. I dont plan out my meals, I eat when im hungry.
This is not a criticism at all, but just something to think about. I also never used to plan what I was going to eat or when. But when I realized I had gained 20 lbs and I started logging, I realized logging was easier when I did do some meal planning. So I started doing it, at least sometimes. And now, I honestly think it's the mindfully planning ahead that is really helping me maintain, probably more so than actually logging it. I had to get to a place in my life and in my head where prioritizing how I was fueling my body was worth that time. I tend to take 10-15 minutes on the weekend to think about what I want to be eating this week and making up my shopping list. And I prep my lunches, plus basics for other meals like a big pot of rice, or roasting veggies, or baking a pan of chicken thighs (on good weeks at least
. I will still go off plan if I feel like it, but not too often.
In my experience, when you leave things to chance, they have a better chance of going badly and tend to require more work to get right than if you had just planned for it in the first place.
Everyone's thought process is different, so just because this was necessary for me doesn't mean it is for you. It just seemed relevant, at least for me.11 -
I guess, on further reflection, I'd add this: Calorie counting isn't necessary for everyone. For some, it never is, and for others, it's a short term strategy to get a handle on things. Monitoring body weight, or fit of clothes, then adjusting eating can also work, and there are probably other reasonable methods.
Calorie management is the only way to gain, lose, or maintain weight, but calorie counting isn't the only way to accomplish calorie management.
For me, calorie counting's the easiest way, though.
My wife and I had this discussion last night. She has always managed her weight well and I am the one that struggles. She doesn't count calories, but it is a necessary step for me. Someone posted recently that none of us got fat intentionally - that was insightful for me. I didn't overeat on purpose. I didn't know how to manage my weight and caloric intake. Logging meals allows me to manage that.11 -
cartersmom06 wrote: »Nope - been doing this for 4 years now. Takes 5-10 mins/day and keeps me maintaining possibly the most critically important health indicator.
I'd rather do that than not track and fail.
You're looking for something easier than 10 mins/day?
Its not 10 mins a day because i dont eat the same things every day. I dont plan out my meals, I eat when im hungry.
How long have you been doing this? I spent more time in the beginning, but learned to guess on low risk items and be careful around high calorie food. Most of this is going through the routine so that you can make educated estimates.
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cartersmom06 wrote: »Nope - been doing this for 4 years now. Takes 5-10 mins/day and keeps me maintaining possibly the most critically important health indicator.
I'd rather do that than not track and fail.
You're looking for something easier than 10 mins/day?
Its not 10 mins a day because i dont eat the same things every day. I dont plan out my meals, I eat when im hungry.
This is not a criticism at all, but just something to think about. I also never used to plan what I was going to eat or when. But when I realized I had gained 20 lbs and I started logging, I realized logging was easier when I did do some meal planning. So I started doing it, at least sometimes. And now, I honestly think it's the mindfully planning ahead that is really helping me maintain, probably more so than actually logging it. I had to get to a place in my life and in my head where prioritizing how I was fueling my body was worth that time. I tend to take 10-15 minutes on the weekend to think about what I want to be eating this week and making up my shopping list. And I prep my lunches, plus basics for other meals like a big pot of rice, or roasting veggies, or baking a pan of chicken thighs (on good weeks at least . I will still go off plan if I feel like it, but not too often.
In my experience, when you leave things to chance, they have a better chance of going badly and tend to require more work to get right than if you had just planned for it in the first place.
Everyone's thought process is different, so just because this was necessary for me doesn't mean it is for you. It just seemed relevant, at least for me.
This is a good point. I've always combined logging with meal planning. This has multiple good impacts for me -- I'm making fewer spur-of-the-moment food decisions (not a problem for some people, but I tend to choose higher calorie stuff when I'm deciding at the last minute what to eat), I'm able to complete my shopping and ensure I have everything I need for meals that meet my goals, I can pre-prep meals to make busy days easier, and I can pre-log so I can make adjustments if I see I've planned a day that will leave me feel unsatisfied.
If I was just logging and not doing any sort of planning, I don't think I'd have been as successful.6 -
cartersmom06 wrote: »Nope - been doing this for 4 years now. Takes 5-10 mins/day and keeps me maintaining possibly the most critically important health indicator.
I'd rather do that than not track and fail.
You're looking for something easier than 10 mins/day?
Its not 10 mins a day because i dont eat the same things every day. I dont plan out my meals, I eat when im hungry.
This is not a criticism at all, but just something to think about. I also never used to plan what I was going to eat or when. But when I realized I had gained 20 lbs and I started logging, I realized logging was easier when I did do some meal planning. So I started doing it, at least sometimes. And now, I honestly think it's the mindfully planning ahead that is really helping me maintain, probably more so than actually logging it. I had to get to a place in my life and in my head where prioritizing how I was fueling my body was worth that time. I tend to take 10-15 minutes on the weekend to think about what I want to be eating this week and making up my shopping list. And I prep my lunches, plus basics for other meals like a big pot of rice, or roasting veggies, or baking a pan of chicken thighs (on good weeks at least . I will still go off plan if I feel like it, but not too often.
In my experience, when you leave things to chance, they have a better chance of going badly and tend to require more work to get right than if you had just planned for it in the first place.
Everyone's thought process is different, so just because this was necessary for me doesn't mean it is for you. It just seemed relevant, at least for me.
Yup, everyone is different. I'm a happy logger, but almost never meal plan. I do tend to eat similar breakfasts/lunches from day to day, but that's been true forever: I'm kinda comatose until the day's been rolling for many hours, so routine and simplicity in the first 6 hours or so are just my jam. Dinner pretty much always starts with looking in the fridge and thinking "hmmm . . . what sounds good?". Sometimes lunch does, too.
Meal planning and happy weighing/logging of food aren't joined at the hip, IMO.4 -
976 day streak here, according to my front page.
That is over 2.5 years straight, without a break.
Sounds like you just want to lose weight without being mindful of what you eat and eating a bit less than you need.
Sorry, it does not get "easier" than that.
If people could actually eat "intuitively" (in proper amounts and/or macros) then they would not be carrying excess body fat.
Unfortunately the human brain has evolved to not work that way when it comes to food.
Therefore most people cannot do it successfully.
The question is: What are you more tired of?
Excess body fat or Logging your food
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I do get tired of it and take a break from it sometimes, but even when I'm not logging, I still catch myself weighing out serving most of the time, habit I guess. I end up eating most of the same things either way, so I probably end up eating the same amount of calories.
I tend to stick with a lot of the same food for a little while and then get tired of some things and change it up for a while. Changing things up a bit always makes me want to go back to logging for a while since I'm not as familiar with the calorie counts and how much a serving weighs.
Do what works for you bc it all comes down to a calorie deficit, and how you create that deficit is up to you.1 -
janejellyroll wrote: »cartersmom06 wrote: »Nope - been doing this for 4 years now. Takes 5-10 mins/day and keeps me maintaining possibly the most critically important health indicator.
I'd rather do that than not track and fail.
You're looking for something easier than 10 mins/day?
Its not 10 mins a day because i dont eat the same things every day. I dont plan out my meals, I eat when im hungry.
This is not a criticism at all, but just something to think about. I also never used to plan what I was going to eat or when. But when I realized I had gained 20 lbs and I started logging, I realized logging was easier when I did do some meal planning. So I started doing it, at least sometimes. And now, I honestly think it's the mindfully planning ahead that is really helping me maintain, probably more so than actually logging it. I had to get to a place in my life and in my head where prioritizing how I was fueling my body was worth that time. I tend to take 10-15 minutes on the weekend to think about what I want to be eating this week and making up my shopping list. And I prep my lunches, plus basics for other meals like a big pot of rice, or roasting veggies, or baking a pan of chicken thighs (on good weeks at least . I will still go off plan if I feel like it, but not too often.
In my experience, when you leave things to chance, they have a better chance of going badly and tend to require more work to get right than if you had just planned for it in the first place.
Everyone's thought process is different, so just because this was necessary for me doesn't mean it is for you. It just seemed relevant, at least for me.
This is a good point. I've always combined logging with meal planning. This has multiple good impacts for me -- I'm making fewer spur-of-the-moment food decisions (not a problem for some people, but I tend to choose higher calorie stuff when I'm deciding at the last minute what to eat), I'm able to complete my shopping and ensure I have everything I need for meals that meet my goals, I can pre-prep meals to make busy days easier, and I can pre-log so I can make adjustments if I see I've planned a day that will leave me feel unsatisfied.
If I was just logging and not doing any sort of planning, I don't think I'd have been as successful.
and meal plannign saves me money because i don't wander down to the cafeteria at work for a bagel or qdoba - i eat what i had planned for the day2 -
Reading some of the comments, I think some people are definitely in a situation of not being able to see the forest for the trees when it comes to counting and logging. What I mean by that is: If you are finding yourself driven crazy by weighing and measuring every little thing that goes into your cooking, then don't do that anymore. It's much better to log, even if you are estimating, than not log at all.
I do use a food scale, but mostly to weigh portions of finished dishes to estimate the calories based of the ingredients. Is it perfect? No. But it allows me to do it all in only a couple of minutes a day and keep me a lot more on track than not logging.
Most meals only have a couple of items in them that are high calorie. If you don't get the exact right estimate of how much onion is in your dish, you will survive the counting process. I am certainly not bashing exact measurements. If you can do it, that is awesome and will be the best way to do it. But if you can't, just doing the best you can and keeping with it is good enough. My calorie counting has not been perfect, but by keeping with it and getting the majority of it right has helped me a lot.14 -
deannalfisher wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »cartersmom06 wrote: »Nope - been doing this for 4 years now. Takes 5-10 mins/day and keeps me maintaining possibly the most critically important health indicator.
I'd rather do that than not track and fail.
You're looking for something easier than 10 mins/day?
Its not 10 mins a day because i dont eat the same things every day. I dont plan out my meals, I eat when im hungry.
This is not a criticism at all, but just something to think about. I also never used to plan what I was going to eat or when. But when I realized I had gained 20 lbs and I started logging, I realized logging was easier when I did do some meal planning. So I started doing it, at least sometimes. And now, I honestly think it's the mindfully planning ahead that is really helping me maintain, probably more so than actually logging it. I had to get to a place in my life and in my head where prioritizing how I was fueling my body was worth that time. I tend to take 10-15 minutes on the weekend to think about what I want to be eating this week and making up my shopping list. And I prep my lunches, plus basics for other meals like a big pot of rice, or roasting veggies, or baking a pan of chicken thighs (on good weeks at least . I will still go off plan if I feel like it, but not too often.
In my experience, when you leave things to chance, they have a better chance of going badly and tend to require more work to get right than if you had just planned for it in the first place.
Everyone's thought process is different, so just because this was necessary for me doesn't mean it is for you. It just seemed relevant, at least for me.
This is a good point. I've always combined logging with meal planning. This has multiple good impacts for me -- I'm making fewer spur-of-the-moment food decisions (not a problem for some people, but I tend to choose higher calorie stuff when I'm deciding at the last minute what to eat), I'm able to complete my shopping and ensure I have everything I need for meals that meet my goals, I can pre-prep meals to make busy days easier, and I can pre-log so I can make adjustments if I see I've planned a day that will leave me feel unsatisfied.
If I was just logging and not doing any sort of planning, I don't think I'd have been as successful.
and meal plannign saves me money because i don't wander down to the cafeteria at work for a bagel or qdoba - i eat what i had planned for the day
Yeah, I can't even imagine how much money I'd be spending if I was buying my lunch at work each day . . .3 -
janejellyroll wrote: »deannalfisher wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »cartersmom06 wrote: »Nope - been doing this for 4 years now. Takes 5-10 mins/day and keeps me maintaining possibly the most critically important health indicator.
I'd rather do that than not track and fail.
You're looking for something easier than 10 mins/day?
Its not 10 mins a day because i dont eat the same things every day. I dont plan out my meals, I eat when im hungry.
This is not a criticism at all, but just something to think about. I also never used to plan what I was going to eat or when. But when I realized I had gained 20 lbs and I started logging, I realized logging was easier when I did do some meal planning. So I started doing it, at least sometimes. And now, I honestly think it's the mindfully planning ahead that is really helping me maintain, probably more so than actually logging it. I had to get to a place in my life and in my head where prioritizing how I was fueling my body was worth that time. I tend to take 10-15 minutes on the weekend to think about what I want to be eating this week and making up my shopping list. And I prep my lunches, plus basics for other meals like a big pot of rice, or roasting veggies, or baking a pan of chicken thighs (on good weeks at least . I will still go off plan if I feel like it, but not too often.
In my experience, when you leave things to chance, they have a better chance of going badly and tend to require more work to get right than if you had just planned for it in the first place.
Everyone's thought process is different, so just because this was necessary for me doesn't mean it is for you. It just seemed relevant, at least for me.
This is a good point. I've always combined logging with meal planning. This has multiple good impacts for me -- I'm making fewer spur-of-the-moment food decisions (not a problem for some people, but I tend to choose higher calorie stuff when I'm deciding at the last minute what to eat), I'm able to complete my shopping and ensure I have everything I need for meals that meet my goals, I can pre-prep meals to make busy days easier, and I can pre-log so I can make adjustments if I see I've planned a day that will leave me feel unsatisfied.
If I was just logging and not doing any sort of planning, I don't think I'd have been as successful.
and meal plannign saves me money because i don't wander down to the cafeteria at work for a bagel or qdoba - i eat what i had planned for the day
Yeah, I can't even imagine how much money I'd be spending if I was buying my lunch at work each day . . .
i was in the bad habit of stopping at a grocery store in the am and buying stuff to eat through-out...easily 10-15 dollars a day0 -
Reading some of the comments, I think some people are definitely in a situation of not being able to see the forest for the trees when it comes to counting and logging. What I mean by that is: If you are finding yourself driven crazy by weighing and measuring every little thing that goes into your cooking, then don't do that anymore. It's much better to log, even if you are estimating, than not log at all.
I do use a food scale, but mostly to weigh portions of finished dishes to estimate the calories based of the ingredients. Is it perfect? No. But it allows me to do it all in only a couple of minutes a day and keep me a lot more on track than not logging.
Most meals only have a couple of items in them that are high calorie. If you don't get the exact right estimate of how much onion is in your dish, you will survive the counting process. I am certainly not bashing exact measurements. If you can do it, that is awesome and will be the best way to do it. But if you can't, just doing the best you can and keeping with it is good enough. My calorie counting has not been perfect, but by keeping with it and getting the majority of it right has helped me a lot.
It's true that many have success this way, but the OP was also bemoaning a lack of progress, which would indicate a need for more accuracy, not less.
I don't often log very low calorie foods, and I'm OK with using the entry in my recipe builder even if I know the amounts were likely off a little. I don't weigh things like eggs, bread slices, and most prepackaged foods like some do. But so far, these things don't affect my results. If they did, I would be more careful.
Also, occasionally I find that I have underestimated my intake for the day and my log reveals I can have more and still meet my goals. I want everything I've got coming to me!
Edited from original comment.6 -
I will definitely not be able (or willing) to spend my entire life doing that.
Yes - I totally resonate with everything you wrote. I wouldn't be able to do the calorie counting if I didn't live alone right now. Sharing food with others is a real headache of making mental notes ... I do lots of "quick add calories" after the fact in those cases. The whole logging thing is definitely an obsessive mindset, and I can only do it for a limited time.
I lost 25 lbs in 4 months with MFP three years ago, and stopped logging food (with huge relief) as soon as I hit my goal weight. I maintained that goal weight for over a year with no logging, because I was so intuitively aware of caloric value.
But then I quit thinking about it and just ate whatever I wanted, so now I'm re-losing those same 25 lbs, obsessively logging every mouthful again. When I reach my goal weight this time, I will again be enormously happy to quit the whole routine of weighing and recording -- but will strive to continue the background awareness on into the future, rather than only for the first year after losing.
My year-plus of maintenance with no logging proved to me that I'm not doomed to a future of food logging for the rest of my life, but my back-sliding for the two years after that showed me that a certain degree of mindfulness will always be necessary.
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cartersmom06 wrote: »Nope - been doing this for 4 years now. Takes 5-10 mins/day and keeps me maintaining possibly the most critically important health indicator.
I'd rather do that than not track and fail.
You're looking for something easier than 10 mins/day?
Its not 10 mins a day because i dont eat the same things every day. I dont plan out my meals, I eat when im hungry.
This is not a criticism at all, but just something to think about. I also never used to plan what I was going to eat or when. But when I realized I had gained 20 lbs and I started logging, I realized logging was easier when I did do some meal planning. So I started doing it, at least sometimes. And now, I honestly think it's the mindfully planning ahead that is really helping me maintain, probably more so than actually logging it. I had to get to a place in my life and in my head where prioritizing how I was fueling my body was worth that time. I tend to take 10-15 minutes on the weekend to think about what I want to be eating this week and making up my shopping list. And I prep my lunches, plus basics for other meals like a big pot of rice, or roasting veggies, or baking a pan of chicken thighs (on good weeks at least . I will still go off plan if I feel like it, but not too often.
In my experience, when you leave things to chance, they have a better chance of going badly and tend to require more work to get right than if you had just planned for it in the first place.
Everyone's thought process is different, so just because this was necessary for me doesn't mean it is for you. It just seemed relevant, at least for me.
Yup, everyone is different. I'm a happy logger, but almost never meal plan. I do tend to eat similar breakfasts/lunches from day to day, but that's been true forever: I'm kinda comatose until the day's been rolling for many hours, so routine and simplicity in the first 6 hours or so are just my jam. Dinner pretty much always starts with looking in the fridge and thinking "hmmm . . . what sounds good?". Sometimes lunch does, too.
Meal planning and happy weighing/logging of food aren't joined at the hip, IMO.
I think this is a really interesting discussion, and that what people mean by meal planning is hugely varied too.
I don't meal plan as in decide at the beginning of the week what I will eat. I do sometimes make some lunches ahead on Sunday (to take to work). I also decide when shopping basically what meats and veg I will be eating that week, but not how I will eat them (and sometimes I just take things out of the freezer, but even that requires a day or so in advance planning).
I tend to eat basically the same breakfast (varied based on vegetables I have on hand), and either a a lunch I prepared in advance (and logged then -- I'll move it around from day to day if I was wrong about when I would eat it) or leftovers from the night before or there are a few places I might buy lunch and I know what fits and meets my preferences for vegetables and calories and so on.
For dinner, I tend to decide during the day what I will have, but it's constrained by what I know I have on hand, and how late I get home (if really late, I plan something that will be even faster to make than my normal choices). Sometimes I might decide I want something that takes longer (or is crockpot based) and so plan that in advance.
For me (not everyone, obviously) just eating what and when I feel like it wouldn't work, since I have set times when eating makes sense (after I get home from work, in the morning before going to work and after running, at lunch time, although that can be basically any time of day that makes sense for me). I feel dissatisfied breaking meals up into smaller snacks, so I just would never be "hmm, feel hungry now, with have a little something" vs. having a meal, which might make it simpler (depending on what the snacks are -- on the whole snack foods, whether whole foods or packaged stuff, seems like it might be simpler to log). If I had to stop at the store every day to get what I felt like eating, cooking itself (and shopping) would be a huge pain, not logging! (And I understand you are not saying you do this either, but when people say they don't plan at all and eat what they are in the mood for, that's what it kind of sounds like to me -- what you said you do, work with what you have on hand, is basically what I do.)
I don't prelog except for lunches I make in advance.5 -
Accidental duplicate.0
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I will definitely not be able (or willing) to spend my entire life doing that.
Yes - I totally resonate with everything you wrote. I wouldn't be able to do the calorie counting if I didn't live alone right now. Sharing food with others is a real headache of making mental notes ... I do lots of "quick add calories" after the fact in those cases. The whole logging thing is definitely an obsessive mindset, and I can only do it for a limited time.
I lost 25 lbs in 4 months with MFP three years ago, and stopped logging food (with huge relief) as soon as I hit my goal weight. I maintained that goal weight for over a year with no logging, because I was so intuitively aware of caloric value.
But then I quit thinking about it and just ate whatever I wanted, so now I'm re-losing those same 25 lbs, obsessively logging every mouthful again. When I reach my goal weight this time, I will again be enormously happy to quit the whole routine of weighing and recording -- but will strive to continue the background awareness on into the future, rather than only for the first year after losing.
My year-plus of maintenance with no logging proved to me that I'm not doomed to a future of food logging for the rest of my life, but my back-sliding for the two years after that showed me that a certain degree of mindfulness will always be necessary.
It's great that you maintained for over a year without logging. However, logging is not "definitely an obsessive mindset." Many of us who have been doing it for a while spend maybe 5-10 minutes per day logging our food. I like my usual breakfast, so I just copy it into my food diary on most days. The meals that I cook frequently are in my recipe builder, so I just go in and tweak the ingredients as necessary each time I make that dish. I do a lot of meal prep and often have leftovers for lunch, so again I'm just copying the same information across multiple diary entries. While you may dislike logging, it's neither fair nor accurate to say it constitutes an obsession for others.16 -
janejellyroll wrote: »deannalfisher wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »cartersmom06 wrote: »Nope - been doing this for 4 years now. Takes 5-10 mins/day and keeps me maintaining possibly the most critically important health indicator.
I'd rather do that than not track and fail.
You're looking for something easier than 10 mins/day?
Its not 10 mins a day because i dont eat the same things every day. I dont plan out my meals, I eat when im hungry.
This is not a criticism at all, but just something to think about. I also never used to plan what I was going to eat or when. But when I realized I had gained 20 lbs and I started logging, I realized logging was easier when I did do some meal planning. So I started doing it, at least sometimes. And now, I honestly think it's the mindfully planning ahead that is really helping me maintain, probably more so than actually logging it. I had to get to a place in my life and in my head where prioritizing how I was fueling my body was worth that time. I tend to take 10-15 minutes on the weekend to think about what I want to be eating this week and making up my shopping list. And I prep my lunches, plus basics for other meals like a big pot of rice, or roasting veggies, or baking a pan of chicken thighs (on good weeks at least . I will still go off plan if I feel like it, but not too often.
In my experience, when you leave things to chance, they have a better chance of going badly and tend to require more work to get right than if you had just planned for it in the first place.
Everyone's thought process is different, so just because this was necessary for me doesn't mean it is for you. It just seemed relevant, at least for me.
This is a good point. I've always combined logging with meal planning. This has multiple good impacts for me -- I'm making fewer spur-of-the-moment food decisions (not a problem for some people, but I tend to choose higher calorie stuff when I'm deciding at the last minute what to eat), I'm able to complete my shopping and ensure I have everything I need for meals that meet my goals, I can pre-prep meals to make busy days easier, and I can pre-log so I can make adjustments if I see I've planned a day that will leave me feel unsatisfied.
If I was just logging and not doing any sort of planning, I don't think I'd have been as successful.
and meal plannign saves me money because i don't wander down to the cafeteria at work for a bagel or qdoba - i eat what i had planned for the day
Yeah, I can't even imagine how much money I'd be spending if I was buying my lunch at work each day . . .
I use a money tracker called MINT< and I can compare the two months before food logging with the two months since, and there is not one fast food transaction to be found now. Where before, I was at McD or Wendy's almost every single day of the week, and sometimes twice. And, at the beer-n-burger joint for dinner 3 x a week.
Every time I freeze a meal of rice, beans and meat that cost me about $1.35 to make, I have a little self-righteous 'yah me' moment.
;-)13 -
janejellyroll wrote: »deannalfisher wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »cartersmom06 wrote: »Nope - been doing this for 4 years now. Takes 5-10 mins/day and keeps me maintaining possibly the most critically important health indicator.
I'd rather do that than not track and fail.
You're looking for something easier than 10 mins/day?
Its not 10 mins a day because i dont eat the same things every day. I dont plan out my meals, I eat when im hungry.
This is not a criticism at all, but just something to think about. I also never used to plan what I was going to eat or when. But when I realized I had gained 20 lbs and I started logging, I realized logging was easier when I did do some meal planning. So I started doing it, at least sometimes. And now, I honestly think it's the mindfully planning ahead that is really helping me maintain, probably more so than actually logging it. I had to get to a place in my life and in my head where prioritizing how I was fueling my body was worth that time. I tend to take 10-15 minutes on the weekend to think about what I want to be eating this week and making up my shopping list. And I prep my lunches, plus basics for other meals like a big pot of rice, or roasting veggies, or baking a pan of chicken thighs (on good weeks at least . I will still go off plan if I feel like it, but not too often.
In my experience, when you leave things to chance, they have a better chance of going badly and tend to require more work to get right than if you had just planned for it in the first place.
Everyone's thought process is different, so just because this was necessary for me doesn't mean it is for you. It just seemed relevant, at least for me.
This is a good point. I've always combined logging with meal planning. This has multiple good impacts for me -- I'm making fewer spur-of-the-moment food decisions (not a problem for some people, but I tend to choose higher calorie stuff when I'm deciding at the last minute what to eat), I'm able to complete my shopping and ensure I have everything I need for meals that meet my goals, I can pre-prep meals to make busy days easier, and I can pre-log so I can make adjustments if I see I've planned a day that will leave me feel unsatisfied.
If I was just logging and not doing any sort of planning, I don't think I'd have been as successful.
and meal plannign saves me money because i don't wander down to the cafeteria at work for a bagel or qdoba - i eat what i had planned for the day
Yeah, I can't even imagine how much money I'd be spending if I was buying my lunch at work each day . . .
I use a money tracker called MINT< and I can compare the two months before food logging with the two months since, and there is not one fast food transaction to be found now. Where before, I was at McD or Wendy's almost every single day of the week, and sometimes twice. And, at the beer-n-burger joint for dinner 3 x a week.
Every time I freeze a meal of rice, beans and meat that cost me about $1.35 to make, I have a little self-righteous 'yah me' moment.
;-)
Oh, I'm still buying beer!
Seriously, it's an amazing money saver.
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I am tired of gaining weight when I get lax about logging my food. I don't eat intuitively and gain weight every single time I stop logging for any length of time. Is logging my food repetitive and annoying sometimes? Yes. Is my health more important to me than the annoyance? Yes.8
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Weighing & logging is “hard”? Being overweight is hard. Choose your hard.18
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Yes I do, but when I stop counting calories I can quickly eat to many extra calories which leads to weight gain quickly for me or a stall in losing weight, which I'm still in the process of getting to goal. And truthfully for me it will be a life long process unless I really learn what a true serving size looks like or learn intuitive eating as others mentioned.1
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cartersmom06 wrote: »Getting tired of logging everything I eat...there has to be an easier way!
Yup. But, take a lesson from me. I have been bouncing around this weight(160lbs) for 5ish years. I got down to 145lbs at one point. Then back up. 175-180lbs is always my highest, this is my easy, lazy tracking, if I would stick to it regularly I would be able to maintain at the 145lbs and be where I might want to stay.
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Yes. So then I count points and at best maintain. But...
When I started here 3 years ago I got down to 137 as my lowest adult weight, relatively pain and stress free (not saying easy, but very straightforward). Then I got tired, went back to WW, and bingo! I'm 13 lbs heavier and trying tiki get my groove back.
Lesson learned, don't mess with what works. I could have been at my goal already.
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Hi, everybody. I have a goal to lose 6 kg before the winter holidays, so I can look beautiful in a dress. But counting calories is almost not working and weight goes very slowly. What do you think if I buy a fat-burning supplement https://helloketodiet.com/pro-keto-lab/ will my progress go faster? Or should I look for another solution?19
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@annykey86 You should really start your own thread rather than take over this one. But fat burners don't work, except for giving you a bit more energy if they contain caffeine.9
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Hi, everybody. I have a goal to lose 6 kg before the winter holidays, so I can look beautiful in a dress. But counting calories is almost not working and weight goes very slowly. What do you think if I buy a fat-burning supplement https://helloketodiet.com/pro-keto-lab/ will my progress go faster? Or should I look for another solution?
Lose around 13 pounds in a month, if that's all (or nearly all) you have to lose? Look for another solution, such as a different dress, Spanx, and more patience. Losing weight that fast is likely to make you look drained, sallow, and listless; and sap you of attractive vivacity. Healthy weight loss always goes slowly, and it goes especially slowly when you have relatively little weight to lose. Choose between the fast weight loss, and reasonable assurance of good health and healthy appearance. (I know which I'd pick, but YMMV.)
I just like to see people stay strong, healthy, and attractive while achieving their weight goals.8 -
I log every day because I like data. It helps me not lose my mind when I go through "plateau" periods. For example, right now I have not lost a pound in 12 weeks. Without the accumulated data, I could be tempted to believe a myriad of excuses which might even tempt me to give up completely. But the months of logging shows me that going out 2 to 3 times a week undoes the 2 to 3 days of deficit eating and that's why I'm stuck. And believe it or not, that makes me feel better because I understand there are definite things I could be doing to re-start my weight loss and it's up to me to make those changes.15
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I know I'm just echoing others' posts but no, I don't mind it. Five years in, and maintaining a healthy weight, I'm totally okay with logging everything. I do like that I can take a break for a day or two, or on vacation, but then I like to get right back to it. I also don't sweat inaccurate counts from time to time, like a restaurant meal that gets logged as some generic entree in the database and could be way off. To me, consistency is key and if I'm 80% correct in my logging that's pretty good for maintaining.
I know some people may find it "woo" but I feel like when I don't log I am actually kind of likely of undereating and then wondering why in the world I feel lightheaded and crave chicken nuggets (which I don't even like) or other junk food seemingly out of the blue. Logging everything simply helps me to stay on track eating the right amount of food so that does not happen!10 -
youngmomtaz wrote: »cartersmom06 wrote: »Getting tired of logging everything I eat...there has to be an easier way!
Yup. But, take a lesson from me. I have been bouncing around this weight(160lbs) for 5ish years. I got down to 145lbs at one point. Then back up. 175-180lbs is always my highest, this is my easy, lazy tracking, if I would stick to it regularly I would be able to maintain at the 145lbs and be where I might want to stay.
I do exactly the same thing!1 -
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