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foreverblissful
Posts: 7Member Member
Posts: 7Member Member
Is myfitnesspal healthy longterm?
foreverblissful
Posts: 7Member Member
Posts: 7Member Member
I’m currently still in the process of losing weight(I have 11 more pounds to go), but I’m curious what other members do after they reach their weight goal. Is it (mentally)healthy to continue to use myfitnesspal on a day-to-day basis? I’m sure using myfitnesspal would be easy and pretty accurate but I’m wondering if that’s too restrictive. On the flip side, I’m also worried if I ditch myfitnesspal that I will revert to gaining weight due to not being able to see my calories.
What do you all recommend?
What do you all recommend?
Replies
What is important is how it translates onto your day to day life. If it causes you worry or anxiety, that's obviously not healthy. But that's about what's happening in your head.
I have been logging for 4 years, maintaining for about 2 of them. It takes me maybe a minute a day. I never worry about it, even when I go over. I enjoy the *kitten* out of my food. I eat out and at other people's homes whenever the opportunity arises.
My relationship with food is a million times healthier than it was before logging. Knowing where I stand has removed my anxiety around food. Maybe I'll stop someday, but I see no reason to for now.
I'm sure there are people whose mindsets make focusing on the numbers problematic. If that's you, then counting indefinitely might not be the best decision.
In what way do you find it too restrictive?
I don't see how it's too restrictive. It's the same as it is now. I eat to my calorie goal but instead of being in a deficit, I eat at maintenance. I have to eat the same number of calories whether or not I use MFP so I figure I might as well be aware of the choices I making rather than just guessing and hoping I'm staying on track.
I've never considered this as restrictive, obsessive or anything negative other than helping me keep up my heath and wellness.
I would like to know this as well. I find using MFP to be quite the opposite.
So MFP can be just as useful a tool to those who are in maintenance as those who are losing. All the same principals still apply, you can just eat more calories in maintenance. How restrictive you want to be with it is up to you. You may find that you don't need to log everyday or you are fine with just using your goal as a general target. Ultimately, you may find that you don't need it. But I still think it's a valuable tool.
I used MFP a number of years ago when I lost weight and successfully got to my goal weight. Then I moved on with my life and thought I didn't need it anymore. I slowly gained until I was higher than I had ever been. Now that I am back again, I plan to keep up with MFP in some form once I hit my goals.
Restrictive as in I've always heard health advocates say negative things about calorie counting tools(especially in reference to obsession), so I was wondering if continuing MFP was unheard of in the community. I know ultimately it depends on me, I just wasn't sure if that was something anyone even did.
Can you link me to one of these studies? Now I'm curious.
I know. One of my problems has been that I eat relatively healthy(for the most part) but I'm really bad with portions and judging how they fit in the grand scheme of things(especially if it isn't pre-planned). If I didn't have MFP I wouldn't realize how many calories and sugar was in an apple(I love apples)! And as someone who has blood sugar problems it helps keep that at bay while also reminding me that even eating too much healthy foods can set me back.
I can't promise that I'll be using it for the rest of my life, but I'm still logging in year 3 of maintenance here, after the better part of a year of weight loss before that. I don't feel particuarly obsessed, it's just a useful tool that helps me balance my long-term goals (staying at a healthy weight) with my short term desires (eating all the yummy foods).
I agree that it's like balancing one's checkbook or keeping a financial budget . . . neither of which I do, despite being a woman of modest means. For some reason, I seem to be able to manage money intuitively, but not manage eating intuitively. Go figure.
In maintenance, I skip the odd day or few of logging sometimes, and don't feel stressed about it when I do it. That doesn't sound super obsessed, to me.
I suspect some health advocates may have false impressions of calorie counting. I'm betting people come to them for help when they've become obsessed, so they see relatively many obsessed calorie counters, and pretty much zero of those of us who are perking along contentedly, finding it useful, and a minimal time investment for the value it brings us.
Personally, I think it would only become obsessive if anxiety meant you not eating any food without weighing it first. This would mean either taking scales out with you or not eating out at all. Obsessive would mean thinking about food and what you were going to eat for much of the day. For me, obsessive would be having anxiety because you went over your calories for the day or your macros weren't balanced for your liking. Obsessive would affect every aspect of your life. If calorie counting did all that then mentally you should not be calorie counting.
If you find that calorie counting can be quite freeing as stress is decreased with meal planning and eating, if calorie counting shows you that you do not have to restrict foods you enjoy to meet your calorie goals and nutritional needs, if calorie counting gives you less anxiety about eating out because you have learnt that a treat meal every now and then makes no difference to weight, if calorie counting gives you more freedom to eat out because you learn to portion control better, then calorie counting is great for your mental health and is a tool that is used very effectively.
What “health advocates” and are they perhaps trying to sell you on their “super simple, no calorie counting needed” plan for lifelong success?
Take a look at the Maintaining Weight forum for examples of people that have lost the weight, kept it off, and still continue to use MFP in some capacity. I’ve been in maintenance for 3+ years after losing my weight with MFP. Although I’m less rigid than I used to be about my logging, I have no plans to stop using these tools overall.
Without knowing what these 'health advocates' actually say it's difficult to comment.
But if you personally find MFP useful for weight loss then at the moment that's all you need to know.
I don't know who the "health advocates" are or exactly what they're saying, and roachrypt makes a good point, but I think to discount the actual results so many people are seeing with calorie counting due to some advocates opinion would be pointless.