Do you accept that you'll have to log for the rest of your life(or atleast the foreseeable future)?
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SugaSugaNooo wrote: »Very interesting question and I'm not sure if I'm actually accepting this fact yet, even though I know it's true.
I've been on and off on MFP for 8 years now and everytime I was off, the weight slowly crept back on. I really thought/hoped that eventually the healthy eating would become natural to me and that I wouldn't crave junkfood anymore, but that never really happened to me.
I've never let it go truly bad again though, but the only way for me to keep it down, is by logging. I do take regular breaks though or I'll drive myself mad and become too obsessed.
This is me. I keep thinking I'll be able to give it up, and I'm fine for a while, but then slowly I begin to creep upward. I'm a sloppy logger (and also good at eyeing portion sizes) but I need to do it. Recording the numbers makes it "real."2 -
I log with my morning coffee anyway. But I feel like I'd be able to skip logging once I'm in maintenance and just make sure to keep an eye on my weight. Or at least be a little more lax about certain things. For example, I logged the 5 french fries I stole from my kids last night. Probably wouldn't bother in maintenance.0
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Honestly? Not only do I accept it, but I embrace it. Logging has brought me a freedom I haven't had in the last 20 years. It has brought me awareness regarding food, and it helped me learn a lot about nutrition. And it only "costs" me a few minutes a day.12
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I've been in maintenance for a long time now and I've realized that for me personally, I just couldn't keep doing the numbers game-at a certain point in the process I became completely burned out and mentally exhausted. I tracked/counted calories for years and more and more I struggled with the whole process.
So for me personally, I had to adapt and come up with a different maintenance strategy. I'm now very low carb/almost zero carb, and by having very strict parameters with what I can eat, it's taken away the need to track anything, anymore. I'm now maintaining a very lean body-weight without counting/tracking/measuring at all.
Very low carb will not appeal to most people, however its allowed me to maintain without having to stress about the numbers anymore. For me that's worth the trade-off of not being able to eat certain foods anymore.
Op, maintenance is challenging no matter how you go about it. The key is to experiment and find a way that works for you. And then also realize that you can adjust your maintenance plan as you go along and adapt it to fit your current goals etc10 -
I like logging. It's been six years. It's a nice habit that encourages mindfulness. At this point I don't think it changes my eating but it's good for me.7
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I don't plan to log forever, but I am committing to a daily weighing in and going back to logging when the trend creeps up.5
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Yes, I think I will continue to keep a daily food diary. Every time I don't log my food I gain back a few pounds. My daughter got married 2 weeks ago and we had a lot of out-of-town visitors along with lots of food that I don't usually eat. In just a few days, I added 4 lbs. Just got back on track to using the food diary and I have lost 2 of those pounds. It doesn't just melt off easily any more.
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MadisonMolly2017 wrote: »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!
I LOVE THIS- where you said it's your "lifeline," your "secret weapon." It's my SECRET WEAPON! Bwahahaha! I love it. thinking of it positively instead of negatively. Not something I have to do, but something I CAN do. What an amazing tool we have! And that it's electronic and convenient. Not lugging around a manual and a giant scale.11 -
cooliocat123 wrote: »MadisonMolly2017 wrote: »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!
I LOVE THIS- where you said it's your "lifeline," your "secret weapon." It's my SECRET WEAPON! Bwahahaha! I love it. thinking of it positively instead of negatively. Not something I have to do, but something I CAN do. What an amazing tool we have! And that it's electronic and convenient. Not lugging around a manual and a giant scale.
@cooliocat123
Yes! The manual omg . Unsustainable!
The apps & tools these days make it SO EASY!
Thanks!0 -
I've come to realize that those who accept that life is suffering have a better track record than those who don't.
If my suffering amounts to 10 mins/day to maintain a healthy weight, so be it. Easy day.10 -
No, I only log when cutting weight. I was 227 when I quit logging and I did a mini-dirty bulk/ some maintenance through the summer where I shot from the hip on protein and calories, drank and partied like a frat boy and basically did what I wanted and when...when I decided to dial it back I was peaking at 243ish and I cut to 236 over 5 weeks without tracking (some was water weight), been back to tracking for 2 weeks and I'm 231ish now. I'm going to get sub 220 (probably around 210) and then go back to shooting from the hip. I've tracked macros/calories/protein enough for close to a decade, my eyeball and mental math aren't too far off.1
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Logging has been THE key to getting the weight off and to maintaining that weight loss this time around compared to all my prior yo-yo failures, so yes, I absolutely intend to continue doing so for the rest of my life. I've been at it almost two years now and it has become habitual, and I would feel lost without it.6
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Been logging off and on here since 2013. I find it keeps me more accountable and less out of control with eating.
With that in mind I don’t really care I’ll be tracking forever, I’ve accepted it as part of modern living. Sure I could live off fruits/veg and meat only but I personally get way too bored just eating those things exclusively so I need to track to enjoy more variety 😋5 -
I presently am not logging, and have been able to maintain (and make progress) without being stringent. I kind of figured out what I need to do to stay where I am. I will admit that failure to log has failed me in the past, I've been at this for awhile with a few periods of time where I slipped back into old habits. I use mfp mostly for the community now but it taught me alot about choices, macros, and budgeting5
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I like logging in my day to day life because I have the same schedule and basically the same meals on work days. Its harder on vacation and during holidays. I dont think i can log obsessively every day forever, but i do think the key factor is continuing to weigh in at least once every week or two. Some people hate the idea of yo-yo dieting but you could always get to goal weight, let up on logging for a while, keep weighing yourself, and immediately tighten up when you gain 6, 7, 8 pounds or whatever you decide. As long as you dont go crazy and eat a bunch right away amd try to keep the same habits, itll probably take months before you need to lose again.3
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I only log when I notice something is going awry - weight *loss* for "no reason" or weight *gain* for "no reason." OR if I'm planning/anticipating some kind of lifestyle change - moving to a new city, starting a new job, etc.
I've had the same bowls and plates for 20 years, and I tend to eat the same range of foods day in and day out, and I cook most of my family's meals from scratch - therefore measuring the ingredients and having a baseline of what portion of what I'm cooking I'll eat and how many calories are in whatever.
I'm not a gourmand or anything, so tracking in my head is reasonably easy unless a particular trend or ingredient is new to me. (Like cooking for vegans. That was a crazy learning curve about what one "serving" looks like.)5 -
Full disclosure, I lost all my weigh using Loseit, but I didn't like all the features dying off. I enjoy the forums to remind me that I'm a binge away from gaining weight. Now, I think this year will be eight years on maintenance. I haven't logged in around four. I logged religiously for years. I don't any longer. I have a red line that I'm honest about and I weigh daily. If I stay at or above that red line (195 for me) for more than a couple of weeks, I'll log again. I haven't hit that. The fear of having to reenter all my recipes is enough of a deterrant for me.
Right now, I'm sitting at around 190 (and I'd guess less than 20% BF -- I've trained hard to get there and add muscle). I'm fine with that. I have a completely different relationship with food now. I plan snacks only on occasion and I plan every meal carefully. My wife found out she was allergic to cow dairy and I'm allergic to wheat -- eating the same way -- cow dairy and gluten free eliminates like 95% of the processed junk and fast food, so that helps a lot. I don't see that as a pain, I just see it as the way we have to eat. Both are healthier and have had doctor office visits where they have told us both that our numbers and vital signs are ideal for our ages -- mid and late 50s.4 -
My mission, should I decide to accept is, is to face my reality and the music every day. MFP works and so does the connection with others. I accept it.4
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MikePfirrman wrote: »<snipped>The fear of having to reenter all my recipes is enough of a deterrant for me.
Man, that is the truth.
I've looked around at other online logging programs because MFP is so buggy but the thought of starting over sounds daunting!6
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