MFP Alumni - just wondering...

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Replies

  • 425Recess
    425Recess Posts: 260 Member
    I'm a long time logger - don't remember when I started but it's more than 10 years. I like having the control for times like this "stay at home". I had to adjust my calories because of less activity. Easily done. I also like watching that I am getting the veggies and fruit in and not too much sugar. Obviously it is a habit now and takes less than five minutes. Much less time than on Facebook and much better for me!
  • Skrib69
    Skrib69 Posts: 687 Member
    I’ve just started logging again after trying to go solo for 6 months. I only put back 5-8lbs, but this whole lockdown and working from home has made it so hard I decided I needed to see what was going on. It is so much easier. I use a lot of estimating, but it has highlighted that my portion control had crept out of whack.
  • GBO323
    GBO323 Posts: 336 Member
    edited June 2020
    I got serious in 2009 and lost ~80 pounds by 2014. I still track food and activity....I love the freedom of CICO and if I can eat what I love and still stay in Zone, I'm doing it. Tracking is less of a pain than "guesstimating" and gaining weight. Worth it and part of my lifestyle...it's never a diet!
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,052 Member
    Skrib69 wrote: »
    I’ve just started logging again.... It is so much easier.
    GBO323 wrote: »
    Tracking is less of a pain than "guesstimating" and gaining weight.

    So true!
  • reversemigration
    reversemigration Posts: 168 Member
    For me, logging is a pretty easy habit. It's entirely possible that it's already served its purpose and that I am familiar enough with the foods I usually eat to stay within bounds, and that the scale would reveal any deviations. However, I feel like it's also an accountability tool - knowing I have to look at cold, hard numbers is sometimes enough to dissuade eating something that I ought not. :lol:
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,135 Member
    edited June 2020
    In maintenance for 10 years. I had been inconsistently weighing and logging for a couple years skipping logging all together on vacation or when eating out. Logging was never something that I enjoyed doing or a habit that I embraced.

    On 2/11, and before the sheltering and pandemic took hold of our lives, I fell down and broke my wrist. I was on a cast for 9 weeks and I am still doing occupational therapy, my hand is not "working" normally yet. I stopped weighing my food and logging (with the exception of breakfast) because it was hard to do with one hand, and I was not in the mood to add additional stress. Stress curbs my appetite and I ended losing 5 unwanted lbs.

    Bottom line is that I am not longer logging lunch, dinner or snacks, my wt has been steady after I recuperated almost 3 lbs for the 5 lbs that I had lost, and I am planning NOT to log for as long as I am able to keep my weight under control.

    If I see an upward trend, then I will probably go back to the kitchen scale and the food diary. But it has been very liberating for me to realize that I can manage food and portions on my own.



  • momlongerwalk
    momlongerwalk Posts: 21 Member
    edited July 2020
    I run hot & cold with logging. Sometimes I just can't bear to do it anymore, so I quit, and eat intuitively. That generally works well for awhile, and then I find some bad habit and it stops working, so I'm back to logging. These are long stretches of time, months to a year. And that's okay. I guess since 2014 I've used MFP, but my logging goes back over most my long lifetime. I don't log when traveling (camping), and I lose weight anyway on the road, as food is less accessible. I don't fluctuate more than about 5 pounds, but it's a very noticeable 5 pounds! Also, it's handy because I have some incipient health issues that can be handled by diet, so it helps me track that. Let's call it a bank statement--deposits & withdrawals! Hahahaha! I find if I concentrate on studiously logging high-calorie or problem foods, I don't have to be precise at all with my fruits & veggies. I still measure all high-calorie or problem foods even when not logging to stay cognizant of my portion sizes, which are internalized now. And DH & I do not eat out much, even when when we could. (I crash-dieted off 20 lbs when I was about 22, swearing I would NEVER weigh that much again--except pregnancy--and after that have see-sawed a bit within a 10 lb range, except when I lost too much weight for about a year--oh, that's not good either! And have narrowed that down to a good spot now. And then there's wanting to be trim for sports to keep pressure off joints . . .)
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,974 Member
    edited July 2020
    Been using MFP for a total of 7 yrs over 8 yrs -- 3+4 yrs combined w/a 1 yr hiatus when I fell off the wagon and gained wt again because I renewed bad eating habits stopped using MFP for the year.

    This taught me that I can only maintain my wt by BOTH weighing myself and counting cals daily, which I do not consider a burden but a necessity for my health and well-being.
  • LukesGreenMilk
    LukesGreenMilk Posts: 56 Member
    I would consider myself reactive. I stay below 170 lbs, and as long as I'm there, I don't log. But I do eat mindfully and have a pretty good eye for it now. If I ever creep above 170, I focus more and use MFP tracking, until I'm back below 170. This way I'm not ALWAYS tracking, but I will if I need to.
  • Ikeeptrying2
    Ikeeptrying2 Posts: 156 Member
    Started in 2014. Come / go based on life circumstances.

    Logging is an enormously helpful tool, however, I log on rare occasions but mostly do not. No right or wrong answer. Whatever works best for you is the only right answer for you.
  • BuddhaBunnyFTW
    BuddhaBunnyFTW Posts: 157 Member
    About one year on and then I took three months off and now I'm back on. It helps me make the right choice such as getting a 400 calorie sandwich rather than 700 calorie sandwich. I also weigh myself everyday so I can see my weekly weight cycle which increases from Sunday to Wednesday and then decreases down to Saturday. This way I don't pschye myself out over my normal fluxauations.

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