Is myfitnesspal healthy longterm?
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You can use it to keep on track.0
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I usually find that the “health advocates” who oppose calorie counting are often selling a book, diet plan or snake oil that nobody would need if they just counted calories.24
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foreverblissful wrote: »
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.
Hmm. But if you view calorie counting as bad or obsessive, why would it only matter after you've reached your goal weight? Wouldn't it be bad or "obsessive" from the very beginning? I mean, you're still using the same program either way. So why do you see that it suddenly becomes bad just because you use it for maintenance rather than loss? The program doesn't just suddenly become "restrictive", it's still the same old thing.
A ton of people continue to use MFP after reaching their goal weight. After all, you need to work to keep your goal weight. It is a lifestyle change. Going back to your old lifestyle would just mean going back to your old weight.14 -
Well one thing I absolutely know for sure......if I don't keep using MFP and keeping a check on my calorie count when I reach goal I'll put back on ALL [+ some} of the weight I worked so hard and long to lose as I have done before....i.e. classic YO YO.
At long last my mindset has changed.....when I was reducing before I have mentally thought...oh well it's not forever then I can eat much more of the things I love. Now I think.....Yay! it is forever and when I reach goal I'll still be able to eat the great food I love....just a little bit more.13 -
suziecue25 wrote: »Well one thing I absolutely know for sure......if I don't keep using MFP and keeping a check on my calorie count when I reach goal I'll put back on ALL [+ some} of the weight I worked so hard and long to lose as I have done before....i.e. classic YO YO.
At long last my mindset has changed.....when I was reducing before I have mentally thought...oh well it's not forever then I can eat much more of the things I love. Now I think.....Yay! it is forever and when I reach goal I'll still be able to eat the great food I love....just a little bit more.
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Anyone can call themselves a "health advocate." There are no qualifications whatsoever to be one. If someone believes that they're working in the name of better health--even if they're 100% wrong--they can claim to be a health advocate. (That goes for any sort of "advocate," by the way, unless the word is part of someone's formal title.)
Whether or not tracking calories is a healthy long-term activity depends on your individual mental health. Tracking calories does not inherently lead to eating disorders or obsessive behavior. However, if an individual has those sorts of mental health concerns or develops symptoms of them, then tracking calories may not be a good option and that person should talk with their therapist about it.8 -
Now that I've lost all the weight I needed to and have been in maintenance for a few years, I don't weigh or measure my food 100% of the time. I have the experience to know what an appropriate portion size is now, as well as how much of it I can generally have in any given day.
I have a maintenance weight range, and I weigh myself several times a week. If I see that my weight is consistently trending up over a few weeks, I'll return to logging to get back on track and to make sure my 'portion size sense' hasn't gotten rusty.
I still like to play "Guess the weight," though. My kitchen scale has a permanent home on the counter and I will, occasionally, grab a handful of grapes, for example, guess how much they weigh and then pop them on the food scale to see how close I was.
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Appears as though I’m in the significant minority here, but I guess it depends on how you define “using” MFP. I used the tracking tool for over 2 years, but eventually realized I was becoming obsessive and making life choices based on calories rather than relationships.
Still on MFP almost daily, but haven’t used the tracking in over a year. Now I use it for the community support and recipe builder. I manage rough calorie counting in my head now.6 -
I think it really helps to teach us about food and therefore be able to make better choices. My problem is that I know fully well that eating x is a lot better for me nutrient and calorie wise, but i'll still eat y anyway because why not?
Then my weight creeps up, so I log food again to bring it back down.
I go for months without logging though, I can maintain for a while until I start getting too complacent and eating like an idiot.
I still am active with my friends though even if I'm not logging and that helps me too - to keep accountable I suppose!2 -
Appears as though I’m in the significant minority here, but I guess it depends on how you define “using” MFP. I used the tracking tool for over 2 years, but eventually realized I was becoming obsessive and making life choices based on calories rather than relationships.
Still on MFP almost daily, but haven’t used the tracking in over a year. Now I use it for the community support and recipe builder. I manage rough calorie counting in my head now.
I agree with you. I think some personality types get affected more than others. If you've got OCD, counting calories is all the excuse your brain needs to go overboard. Life is easier when you don't count calories, but are aware of what you can eat and what portion sizes are appropriate, but you'll always be at risk for your weight creeping back up.
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I spent a lifetime on the weight yoyo - up and down, up and down. Since I joined MFP, my weight has been mostly stable once I lost the last few pounds. I don't weigh what I eat, but I log it. I log my exercise. This allows me to know whether I can eat an extra cookie after dinner or should only eat one. It makes me think twice about having a second beer after a hard run. It also means I don't worry if I eat more than my allotted calories, because I know that yesterday I ate less and it will even out. It keeps me aware of what goes into my mouth in a way that doesn't happen when I'm not logging. My only weight gain during the 5 years I've been here was during vacations when I wasn't logging. It wasn't every much, but it does happen. Getting back to tracking once I was home again meant that weight came off quickly and easily. I don't think I'm obsessed, just aware.6
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foreverblissful wrote: »psychod787 wrote: »This is nothing more than a version of cognitive restraint..... research shows people who use some form of restraint or tracking have far better long term success... I'll take my odds with this tool.
Can you link me to one of these studies? Now I'm curious.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4777230/3 -
I've been on and off MFP for years now (I periodically take a break from it because I spend waaay too much time on the forums ). I'm several years into maintenance and it's nice to have a place to 'hang out,' where there's others who have similar diet/nutrition interests and goals etc. I don't have that with anyone in my real life and it can be a bit isolating at times.10
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I've been on and off MFP for years now (I periodically take a break from it because I spend waaay too much time on the forums ). I'm several years into maintenance and it's nice to have a place to 'hang out,' where there's others who have similar diet/nutrition interests and goals etc. I don't have that with anyone in my real life and it can be a bit isolating at times.
Yes it certainly can. Almost everyone in my family circle is at least a little overweight, some by a lot with the exception of one coworker.
It would be awesome to have one or two....my youngest daughter used to be my workout partner, then she had to go get married and have kids lol.3 -
ANYTHING can be taken to an unhealthy level when it comes to obsession or neuroticism. Can you track your calories, weight, macros, or anything else in a perfectly reasonable, healthy manner? Sure. But you can also take it to the extreme.
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My view is MFP is what you want to make of it...it is a tool..it can be a support system..and a place to vent and just connect with a variety of people..who have different opinions on weight loss. It is also helpful to learn the calories of the foods you eat.
What I think is unhealthy about a lot of the vibe on MFP.. is the "eat what you want and fit it in your calories." be it junk, fast food... and processed foods. You do lose weight.. and losing weight is more healthy than being overweight. But, how much you weigh is just a component to true overall good health.. The MFP focus is CICO..and nutrition, whole foods... fitness for life.... are underplayed and not emphasized.
So use MFP for you... make it fit your goals..be it short term or for life.17 -
Lillymoo01 wrote: »foreverblissful wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »foreverblissful wrote: »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?
In what way do you find it too restrictive?
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.
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.
I have GAD so I'm predisposed to anxiety. I don't log regularly in maintenance because it causes problems for me. I was thinking about food and what I was going to eat for a good portion of the day, I would become anxious if I ate "too great" of a proportion of my calories by halfway through the day. It wasn't like that when I was losing weight. I think maintenance being new to me, the change in goals, etc - and it being a "long term" thing in my mind, where weight loss was a short term goal that had an end.
Anyway, I've kept it off for 6 months, now I'm coming back around to tracking again. It does make me feel comfortable to know what my numbers are, and I'm curious to know I'm getting my macros. I am at a much lower stress point in my life, we'll see how it goes.7 -
I think of it a little bit like being a recovering addict. I may never be able to be like "most" people who can naturally eat and drink in a controlled manner, so I have to always be "working the steps" if I want to stay in recovery. The trade off, though, is that I don't have heart disease, diabetes, lack of mobility, etc, that comes with living with obesity. It's just that I have to take those extra steps to be mindful.
While it's certainly possible to cross over into the territory of being obsessive, tracking what you eat, even for your whole life, isn't obsessive in and of itself.7 -
Once you've been tracking for a long period of time, ie anything up to a year, you've already formed the good habits that will probably stand you in good stead for the rest of your life. That said, there's nothing wrong with going back to tracking after a break if you need to correct either body composition or weight. We've never had it so good these days with so much good nutritional information and tools to help us track and affect our body composition our metabolism and our overall weight. If it feels good then do it, if you get fed doing it then stop, if you stop and it feels like it's all going wrong again you can always start tracking again. I'm 114 days into my second period of tracking, but this time I'm tracking macros rather than pure calories.3
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i met my goal. i stopped tracking. i ate more than my maintenance and now i'm back trying to lose weight.
calorie counting is just a tool.
what your brain does with it is up to your brain. but at the same time, i have GAD and have not found anxiety over my calories
i have minor obsessive thinking, but not to calories.
when i first started, i had a bit of both over calories but now it's just part of my routine like putting on socks or washing dishes. just something that needs to get done9
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