When you are tired of tracking...

liz60625
liz60625 Posts: 17 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all-looking for some advice re tracking. I know it’s best if I do, but I’m at a point where I’m stuck and the last thing I feel like doing is tracking. Do you have tips or tricks when you get to that point? What can I do to get me through this unmotivated part of dieting but still stay on track until I can take tracking up again? Thanks for any tips.

Replies

  • ducatiroche
    ducatiroche Posts: 10 Member
    A bit boring but I tend to eat meal plans that I know add up to the right calories (as opposed to choosing several meals)
  • Hannahwalksfar
    Hannahwalksfar Posts: 572 Member
    Once you’ve been properly tracking for ages you can pretty well eyeball and know ballpark calories. Well, I find I can. Just watch out for portion creeping
  • staticsplit
    staticsplit Posts: 538 Member
    I recently took a few weeks off logging because I was tired of it. I don't know if I could lose weight without tracking but I found it quite easy to maintain.
  • tlpina82
    tlpina82 Posts: 229 Member
    liz60625 wrote: »
    Hi all-looking for some advice re tracking. I know it’s best if I do, but I’m at a point where I’m stuck and the last thing I feel like doing is tracking. Do you have tips or tricks when you get to that point? What can I do to get me through this unmotivated part of dieting but still stay on track until I can take tracking up again? Thanks for any tips.

    Where are you stuck at the moment? Did you stop losing? Stop gaining?
    Or are you just tired of the day to day logging?
  • o0kody0o
    o0kody0o Posts: 642 Member
    I went through this phase too. I find that taking some time before bed to pre-log what I’ll eat the following day helps. It takes maybe only 10 minutes to do and I also weigh out my portions the night before too, so that everything is ready for me.

    Last month wasn’t good for me and I did feel like giving up. I think the majority of us have got to that point at some time or another. I just reminded myself of how much weight I’ve lost (44lbs) and I knew that if I continued to slack, then I’d end up where I started (or worse) and I did not want that to happen. I know it can be hard but just try and stick with it and you will see results.
  • Tedebearduff
    Tedebearduff Posts: 1,155 Member
    liz60625 wrote: »
    Hi all-looking for some advice re tracking. I know it’s best if I do, but I’m at a point where I’m stuck and the last thing I feel like doing is tracking. Do you have tips or tricks when you get to that point? What can I do to get me through this unmotivated part of dieting but still stay on track until I can take tracking up again? Thanks for any tips.

    Just track your stuff would be different if you where done and at maintenance and wanted to see what it was like not to track but to just kind of jump ship when you're annoyed will get you knowhere.
  • missysippy930
    missysippy930 Posts: 2,577 Member
    This is something you do totally for your own benefit. It takes very little time in the scheme of things. Remind yourself why you are doing this. It’s surely worth the effort.
  • gallicinvasion
    gallicinvasion Posts: 1,015 Member
    Can you track a different way that’s a little less arduous for a bit? Maybe just write down your foods and portions in a small notebook. Then you can roughly track and stay mindful, but it’ll be a nice change of pace from sloggiv through the app. (I LOVE MFP, but my app has gotten so slow lately that it’s getting annoying to log, even with saved meals and recipes).
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    liz60625 wrote: »
    Hi all-looking for some advice re tracking. I know it’s best if I do, but I’m at a point where I’m stuck and the last thing I feel like doing is tracking. Do you have tips or tricks when you get to that point? What can I do to get me through this unmotivated part of dieting but still stay on track until I can take tracking up again? Thanks for any tips.

    @liz60625 at 63 with health falling off of a cliff I just quit dieting to lose weight forever after 40 years of yo yoing weight.

    Now I just eat for better health markers on annual labs and my joint pain is well managed. I only track my weight each morn which automatically does the net calorie counting for me.

    The side effect other than good pain management is without trying I was down by 50 pounds in the first year of just eating all I want that gives me better health and health markers. For the past 4 years I have maintained that 50 pound weight loss never going hungry.

    In time with enough reading and trial and error eating I found the Way Of Eating that has been working well for me for 5 years now with better health markers at 68 than at 38.

    First stopping all weight loss efforts was key to my health recovery.

    Best of success as you work to learn the best way for you to eat. We are all different but in time I expect you will find the WOE that works best for your body.
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
    Occasionally I get tired of weighing and stop. Then, in the heady freedom from restraint, I binge on delicious foods and gain weight. Then I am motivated to track again :)
  • scarlett_k
    scarlett_k Posts: 812 Member
    I've suffered from this too. As someone who cooks from scratch practically every day, and rarely the same thing twice in a month, I had just had enough of spending so much time creating recipes and adding everything in for the meals I make. It's time consuming and so boring. I probably spent about 6 months not logging but still managing to maintain in those months, within the past year. I'm back to logging again now as I feel like I had the mental break I needed.
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
    I find that sometimes life’s events are overwhelming and I don’t feel like tracking due to family events or traveling. On those occasions I try to start my day by tracking breakfast and give myself permission not to track the other meals. By the end of the day I have usually tracked at least one other meal. Within a few days I’m back to tracking everything.
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,223 Member
    I went from being frustrated with my results logging lazily (not weighing) 4-5 days/week and not counting much of anything on weekends to feeling in total control and having a full understanding and appropriate expectations of my weight changes by logging meticulously. I made that change over two years ago and I can't see myself going back. It doesn't take that much time and treat it as a habit, not something you have to feel motivated to do. It takes some effort to build the routines but logging my food, weighing myself, and exercising requisite to me physique goals are as ubiquitous to my daily self-care routine as bathing, grooming, brushing teeth, etc.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    Remember why you started in the first place. There's no tricks and no such thing as the Finish Line. What we do to get results is what we continue doing to maintain or find any actual long term weight stability.
  • liz60625
    liz60625 Posts: 17 Member
    I appreciate all the answers and advice!
  • IdLikeToLoseItLoseIt
    IdLikeToLoseItLoseIt Posts: 695 Member
    I’ve grown accustomed to weighing myself nearly every morning, which allows me to stay aware of my weight when I’m not tracking. I think it’s important to have some other method of accountability so that you don’t inadvertently undo the progress you’ve made. Whether that’s scale weight or a fitted pair of pants, something else as a safety net is a must.

    Now, when I’m diligently tracking calories, sometimes I avoid the daily body weight scale, because I get frustrated that results aren’t faster.

    Again though, some method of keeping yourself accountable is important. Fight to maintain your progress, even if you aren’t finished yet or need a little break from tracking.
  • hmhill17
    hmhill17 Posts: 283 Member
    I log my whole day with my morning coffee. Seems to help me stick to it when I see it all laid out. And it motivates me to exercise so I can have a little something that isn't on the list.
    Of course, I've been doing this less than a month so I probably haven't hit tracking fatigue yet.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    hmhill17 wrote: »
    I log my whole day with my morning coffee. Seems to help me stick to it when I see it all laid out. And it motivates me to exercise so I can have a little something that isn't on the list.
    Of course, I've been doing this less than a month so I probably haven't hit tracking fatigue yet.

    You may not ever hit it. It is really a matter of perspective. As someone who has been quite large and lived a fatiguing lifestyle logging is a breeze and it means my life is easier and better.

    I don't even find entering recipes to be a chore. However, I don't typically write recipes that are more than 15 ingredients and many of those would be herbs and spices I have no reason to track. I will also umbrella ingredients like condiments. If I am making a meatloaf and I use mustard, kechup, hot sauce, soy sauce and worcestshire sauce I will increase the amount of ketchup I enter to include all of the calories from the others. All I really care about is the calories, protein, fat, and fiber.
  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
    I enjoy using the MFP system - it has become my daily routine, together with so many interesting topics for education and discussion.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    Create some meal and entire day templates. Sometimes, you think you've just made the ultimate be-all and end-all day but then you don't ever eat those meals again. Switch it all UP. I've made meals for my uzhe coffee routines, heavy duty rocket fuel to cold coffee afternoons. Make it fun because I find tracking my data points to be relaxing, fun and entertaining. It doesn't take much to make me happy. B)

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