Do you accept that you'll have to log for the rest of your life(or atleast the foreseeable future)?
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I'm planning to log for the duration.
1. I just consider it daily maintenance, like taking vitamins and brushing my teeth.
2. I have so many other things in my life to track, I can't keep track of what I eat in my head.
3. I come for the logging, but I stay for the forum support.21 -
I fought it for a long time-- a LOOOONG time. Like 12 years long time.
But I've come to accept that for me it's like brushing my teeth in the morning or putting on my seat belt in the car: it has become a ritual of self care that, while I may not particularly look forward to or love to do, I don't recoil at the thought any more and I know that it is in my long term best interest.
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I don't see the problem is logging or not logging food but rather that you "slack off and regain 7, 15, 30 pounds".
That you don't intervene until you have re-added a whole lot of weight is what you need to fix IMHO.
30lbs didn't happen overnight, it's the mindset you need to get right first. There are more ways than just food logging to reduce your intake but first you have to decide you need to.
(I haven't logged my food in years, but I have to intervene when I hit my upper limit to stop a drift becomming a slide.)15 -
I don't accept that as necessary for me, but I understand everyone is different. Being in maintenance, or slow loss (in and out) over the past year, I logged for some times, didn't log for others, etc.
Logging calms that nagging anxiety in my mind about eating too much, which sometimes causes me to over-restrict. However, logging also frustrates me and keeps me from being even a little relaxed.
I'm logging most days right now (probably 5/7 days) because DH is trying to lose weight. My logging is an example for him, and it's something we talk about. I feel I could stop and still maintain my weight. I'm on the computer a lot for work during the day. It gives me a sanity break to pop over and log anyway.5 -
Do you accept that you'll have to log for the rest of your life(or atleast the foreseeable future)?
There's very little that I actually "Have" to do, in the strictest sense of the word. I'm pointing that out because one day at a time works very well for me, and when it's put into the context of "Have to" for an undetermined period of time I tend to get rebellious, even if the activity is in my best interests, because it's become burdensome.
I'm not logging today, haven't for 2 or 3 days because I don't "have" to. If the need arises, then I'll log again, because I can and it benefits me, not because I have to.
/climbs_off_soapbox10 -
I eat many of the same foods over and over, so logging is no big deal for me. It's like brushing my teeth. I am NOT going to gain my weight back and all the health problems I had, so this is a minor "nuisance" compared to where I came from.9
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I don't see the problem is logging or not logging food but rather that you "slack off and regain 7, 15, 30 pounds".
That you don't intervene until you have re-added a whole lot of weight is what you need to fix IMHO.
30lbs didn't happen overnight, it's the mindset you need to get right first. There are more ways than just food logging to reduce your intake but first you have to decide you need to.
(I haven't logged my food in years, but I have to intervene when I hit my upper limit to stop a drift becomming a slide.)
i understand most of my issue is that I get frustrated. Logging, What I can/can't eat calorie wise, Weighing even. All of it just really catches up and I quit because mentally I get into a spiral and it ends up sending me into a depression.
Which is why I'm concerned about making it as simple and non stressful as I can since I'm going there again, it sucks
Yes I have anxiety, yes I'm getting help for it.4 -
I don't see the problem is logging or not logging food but rather that you "slack off and regain 7, 15, 30 pounds".
That you don't intervene until you have re-added a whole lot of weight is what you need to fix IMHO.
30lbs didn't happen overnight, it's the mindset you need to get right first. There are more ways than just food logging to reduce your intake but first you have to decide you need to.
(I haven't logged my food in years, but I have to intervene when I hit my upper limit to stop a drift becomming a slide.)
i understand most of my issue is that I get frustrated. Logging, What I can/can't eat calorie wise, Weighing even. All of it just really catches up and I quit because mentally I get into a spiral and it ends up sending me into a depression.
Which is why I'm concerned about making it as simple and non stressful as I can since I'm going there again, it sucks
Yes I have anxiety, yes I'm getting help for it.
You have my sympathies. You also sound similar to my daughter.
It's not a binary choice between highly detailed and accurate logging and no logging at all though.
Perhaps somewhere on that spectrum might be your personal sweet spot that gives you the control you want without the onerous pressure of weighing every last scrap of food?
For example:
When I lost my excess weight I made a deliberate choice to make logging easy, painless and quick but also consistent. Consistency plus adjusting based on actual results over time is also perfectly effective.
I weighed high calorie items a few times to get the serving portions dialled in. Grouped my average regular drinks, vitamins etc into one meal so I could copy forward in one go. Used Quick Adds for complex or difficult to estimate one off meals, estimated shared portions, used the barcode scanner, didn't bother about accuracy for low calorie items. Even with this a lot less than perfect methodology I was only about 200cals/day off. Just adjusted my daily goal by 200 cals.
Estimating is an art in practice as well as a science in theory.
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I don't weigh or measure anything; just estimate it, but I still log it.
I step on the scales almost every day to notice trends, but record it only once a week.
On days when I go over my calorie budget or my weight creeps up, I compare my intake with several days back and adjust downward a tad for a few days.
That ends the 'it won't hurt' for a while ... because it DOES hurt if not arrested.
Logging is no big deal. If it's getting close to midnight, I take a minute to log stuff.
If I'm not home, I'll use my phone.
Doesn't take long, & it's worth the long-term benefit.
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It's just like keeping a budget. You don't keep a financial budget hoping someday you'll be able to effortlessly spend and save the right amounts of money without planning and writing it down. My weight and health is just as important (if not more so) than my bank account.
I really love this analogy, and hadn't thought of it in these terms. I've been a faithful budgeter for YEARS. But always feel like I'm working toward not "having" to log my food. This really helped put it in a new perspective for me!
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This is the first time I have ever logged my food. I hope I can keep this up. Only on my second day. I started with a personal trainer on Thursday.10
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I don't see the problem is logging or not logging food but rather that you "slack off and regain 7, 15, 30 pounds".
That you don't intervene until you have re-added a whole lot of weight is what you need to fix IMHO.
30lbs didn't happen overnight, it's the mindset you need to get right first. There are more ways than just food logging to reduce your intake but first you have to decide you need to.
(I haven't logged my food in years, but I have to intervene when I hit my upper limit to stop a drift becomming a slide.)
i understand most of my issue is that I get frustrated. Logging, What I can/can't eat calorie wise, Weighing even. All of it just really catches up and I quit because mentally I get into a spiral and it ends up sending me into a depression.
Which is why I'm concerned about making it as simple and non stressful as I can since I'm going there again, it sucks
Yes I have anxiety, yes I'm getting help for it.
I understand. I weighed my food and managed a 75 lb weight loss. Woke up one morning only 15 lbs from goal and just couldn't do it anymore. My anxiety was out the roof. I ended up gaining about 60 lbs back. This time around I knew that I had to do something different. I set out to learn about portion control. I also gave a lot of thought about what I wanted my food to look like not just for losing weight but for the rest of my life. Meal planning and batch cooking has helped me tremendously. When I cook I go ahead and divide my portions out. I do still calculate the calories in my recipes so that I know how many servings I can get out of it.
When I started back losing I was using MFP to loosely log my meals to see if my estimates were close to what I wanted. I now use a food journal that I just jot down what I eat. As long as I don't have to use that scale I am good to go. I just can't go back to using it now...maybe I will have to when I quit losing as I get close to goal weight or maybe I will just choose to be happy with the weight where ever it ends. So far I have lost 28 lbs with this method. I am actually losing a little faster than what I planned but I figure that in another 15 to 20 lbs it will even out.
Good luck. I think logging is a wonderful thing for those that can but for those of us that can't we have to find other methods to accomplish our goals.
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I think I need to for awhile longer. I notice when I do log I tend to eat more 'normal' meals because it makes me be more mindful. When I don't log it's easier for me to grab handfuls of random things. I might maintain my weight but my macros can be pretty unbalanced, and then eventually weight creeps back on. Or sometimes I get stressed and don't eat enough, so it's a way to catch it on the other end, too.
I'm relatively loose with it though, just trying to get an idea of what ballpark I'm into. When I'm on holiday and some weekends I don't log.3 -
I don't track much anymore and if I do, I am not very strict. Vacations, holidays, eating out are never logged. I have been in maintenance for 9 years so I have a good hold on my diet (as a way of eating), and I have a good relation ship with food. I hope that things don't change in the future because weighing and logging every morsel that I cook and put in my mouth is not a way of living for me. However, people has to do what ever is necessary to keep their weight under control.5
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I might be a freak. But I enjoy logging. I esp enjoy it when I realize I am UNDER for the day and can have an extra treat or so. To me it's important to make sure I eat enough as well as not too much on a longer term basis.18
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not a binary choice between highly detailed and accurate logging and no logging at all though.
Perhaps somewhere on that spectrum might be your personal sweet spot that gives you the control you want without the onerous pressure of weighing every last scrap of food?
I think this is a really important point - it isnt all or nothing.
Yes I have continued logging in maitenance ( over 5 years now) - but I dont weight lettuce leafs,cherry tomatoes etc or do before and after banana peel maths, every mandarine ,cappacino, egg etc is just the same size and law of averages wins out, I do bar codes, I do guestimates.
I take a couple of weeks a year off if I go on a vacation.
Some people compare this to cleaning your teeth - but that is something we all do ( I hope!) and not an optional thing like logging which works for some and not for others.
I think a better analogy is shopping lists - some people shop fine without them, some people wean off them, and shop intuitively, others keep using them.
Following my example about logging - I have gone from the equivalent of writing "low fat milk, xyz brand, 600ml cartons x 3, 2nd aisle, tops shelf of fridge" to "milk" - I dont need all the detail but I do still write it on the list.6 -
OP - is your goal really to stop calorie counting, or just to not log in the app?2
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suzannakmoran wrote: »It would be lovely if we just got into the habit of automatically eating the right types and amounts of foods every day without logging, but hey, I'm over 50 and haven't magically developed that habit quite yet (and I for one have been fighting my weight and impulse eating since I was 11), so I for one am not counting on good habits to protect me. Maybe if I'm in goal range for 6 years I'll change my mind. But I've never been there more than a year.
Every time I have stopped doing logging and weighing, pounds have crept or sometimes flung themselves back on. I think for me, slacking in logging and weighing is a sign that I'm already starting to slack in paying attention to nutrition and exercise, not a cause of it.
So yep, I think it does indeed have to be part of my life forever. Fortunately, I find it kind of interesting if not quite fun.
This is me as well (age 53). I’m only successful maintaining if I log, but honestly, I can’t imagine being 80 years old and weighing and measuring everything I eat. I feel that, somewhere along the way, I need to learn how to eat “normally” without logging. I’m not quite sure how to go about that, though.4 -
I log my food for the data! I like looking at monthly trends & comparing.
I used to weigh 228-237 for decades, and for 7 months (Dec-June) my average wt was under 155lbs (top of my maintenance Range). I got sick & it lasted 6 weeks. Scale went up, and I’m now turning it around. Currently 156.
I don’t get clear hunger or not hungry signals, so I will track & weigh unless that happens in the next 6 lbs. I don’t mind it. I know it’s my lifeline, my secret weapon.
If I do develop a reliable approach to food/exercise in the coming months/years, I’ll reassess.
No reason to worry about “doing it for the rest of our lives.” Just today!4 -
Yes.0
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