Where do you stop tracking?

I think it depends on why you track and what you do with that knowledge. I’ve been tracking for over two years, family thought it was weird but now it’s just “one of Claire’s weird habits”. BUT I do it to track my macros and sometimes I go waaaaay over. Sometimes under. It doesn’t stop me eating cake or chocolate, but a day heavy on those things might make me stop and think that I need to get more veggies in my diet the next few days. I enjoy food and this app allows me to track my food to fuel my hobby (weightlifting). I don’t obsess, it’s a good tool for my hobby, and I don’t beat myself up if I don’t hit my targets 🤷‍♂️

spiriteagle99 wrote: »

I have been tracking ever since I started MFP about 8 years ago. I don't weigh everything, since I am maintaining successfully without needing to, but I do log everything i eat as well as all my exercise. I was a yoyo dieter for most of my life, gaining and losing the same 40 lbs. over and over. Every time I lost weight, I would eventually go back to my old eating habits and the weight would come back. By logging consistently, I maintain an awareness of exactly what I am eating and how it relates to my weight. I know how much extra I should eat to maintain my weight after doing a hard workout. I know whether I can have a bowl of ice cream or just a banana for dessert. I have some days that are over on calories and some that are under. It balances out. But I don't get into the kind of mindless indulgence that sabotaged me in the past.

This is me. Started MFP in Jan 2013...with the exception of a short amount of time, I've pretty much tracked all the way through.
I'll add that I don't have kids so I can't weigh in on that part, only speaking for myself here, but I tend to equate it to having a financial budget. Some people are very good at adding in their heads and keeping their spending in check. Others have to track carefully or they have a tendency to get out of control/overdraw, etc. That's pretty much me. I need something to keep track..I'm not very good at eyeballing and doing things in my head. I've been doing this for so long now that it feels weird when I DON'T track. I don't assign any emotions or emphasis to it...its just something I do each today, like brushing my teeth.

I've been tracking most days since July 2015. I don't feel like it creates an unhealthy relationship with food, for me, but I think that's going to be a very individual question.

I was obese for around 3 *decades* before these 5+ years at a healthy weight. I had high cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, joint problems, a late-stage case of type of cancer that's more likely with obesity, and more. That, while (in the final dozen years of obesity) being a very active exerciser, low resting heart rate, "in the pack" race performance, etc. While I still have some residual joint issues, the pain is *much* reduced, and all the other health conditions are gone.

If the price of that is 10-15 minutes a day (generous estimate) of logging, it seems like a small price. I don't feel obsessive about it. For example, if I forget to weigh/measure an item, it doesn't cause anxiety, I just rough estimate & go on. I eat restaurant and social meals for which I don't have sound calorie estimates, and don't worry about it. I skip logging a day here or there, now, if it involves a lot of things that would be tedious to look up, or be hard to estimate, because skipping the rare day (even if it's high calorie) is meaningless.

I'm a hedonic eater, and I don't particularly want to change that, I just want to stay healthy alongside that maximized enjoyment. (I do get good nutrition, but I enjoy a range of foods, so that isn't any kind of pleasure sacrifice, for me.) Logging most of the time lets me eat every last delicious calorie, and know that I'm maintaining my weight, and hitting nutritional targets. I know myself pretty well, and portion creep is very likely, without some kind of metrics. I'm not willing to do some of the things some others do to stay at reasonable calories (repetitive meals, never allowing big splurges, etc.). The scale is too slow a feedback mechanism, and I'm very capable of denial.

I tried some short experiments without logging (couple of weeks), and it diminished my quality of life. (Less enjoyment, more thinking about under-nutrition - especially protein, as a vegetarian - or about overdoing calories.)

On top of that, I'm sure the technical details of the process are easier for me than for some, because of living alone. I'm not splitting up meals with other people, normally, and not routinely eating things others cook (even when there's not a pandemic). I'm in a very efficient routine of weighing things as I cook, noting, logging after I eat, that adds virtually no time to the prep, and minimal for the logging.

I could stop logging (psychologically), but given my personal life preferences, strengths, limitations, for now it seems like that would be an irrational decision . . . for me. Won't be true for everyone.

IMO, there are many, many things about weight loss and weight maintenance that need to be very personalized, tailored to the circumstances and psychology of the individual. Whether to log, and for how long, is one of them.

Hamiltonfamily2018 wrote: »

but does it get to a point where long term tracking; measuring everything can become and create an unhealthy presentation of food and just learning true cues and how to live? Should we deny ourselves because we already ate our limits but true hungry still remains and with the opposite sometimes I wonder if I’m JUST eating because I logged and planned for it rather then maybe I had enough but I want to hit that protein goal, or I just have left over calories to splurge on.

That's YOU. That's how you perceive tracking, it's not how all of us do. I do trust my cues, and plan on easing up on calories when I hit my goals....but I know me and if I don't track my brain will think "Oh but it's just a bit of extra cheesecake", and I will forget I ever ate it and have a snack or two later...before you know it I'm 600 calories over consistently and then I'm wondering how I put on 12 pounds.
Can it become an "unhealhy presentation of food", sure. I have learned through this process what hunger actually is and how to feed it without going overboard...that is entirely because I keep tracking and plan to do so for the forseeable future.
It's like having a handrail; Will I fall off the ledge without it? If I'm careful, probably not, but I'd rather have guidance along the way

Hamiltonfamily2018 wrote: »

kshama2001 wrote: »

I'd avoid reading articles with click-baity headlines like this. The title is "How ‘healthy’ food tracking apps could actually be leading to an increase in disordered eating" but when you read the article the thrust is that tracking can be bad for people who already have eating disorders. Well, duh.

"Apps that help you obsess are bad if you have a problem obsessing" is more honest but just
isn't as interesting.

Also "weighing your ingredients...are all textbook signs of disordered eating" is just ridiculous. Clearly the author had never worked in a commercial kitchen where ingredients are commonly weighed or is aware that outside the US food scales are far more common.

Right- but there is a difference between working in a commercial kitchen, or making a recipe at home with measurements and measuring everything for daily logging; as in one Ted Talk I watched called “Life is too short too short to weigh your cornflakes” GREAT vid - now as most everyone above said they aren’t 100% all the time; and if this is how one wants to live okay we all have our own lives and lifestyles.
I just noticed my habits of taking pictures and then having pre-measured foods in the fridge and my kids holding up a bag saying “what’s up with this?”- or me grilling my husband with what he is putting in the meal he was preparing the family. I think it’s interesting to look at. As the author points out my habits are an “eating disorder” now, I wouldn’t look at it or say it is, but it is eye opening and made me stop and think of these moments I’ve had over the past 6 weeks and how long term I could be doing my kids a disservice with my behavior.

AGAIN! I know it may come off as though I’m saying “People STOP doing this”- No, we all have separate journeys, habits and ways we use these tools. It’s just something I find intriguing and I think worth putting some thought into for myself and maybe not scrolling past and ignoring. Growth is my 2021 goal...

I saw four people who are relaxed about tracking above. It is very important to note that three of them are in maintenance, and the fourth did not say. Choosing to stop tracking faithfully once one reaches maintenance is one thing; abandoning it prematurely is another.

Tracking isn't for everyone, sure. But it seems like you are choosing sources of information to confirm your bias against tracking, something for you to be aware of.

Hamiltonfamily2018 wrote: »

kshama2001 wrote: »

I'd avoid reading articles with click-baity headlines like this. The title is "How ‘healthy’ food tracking apps could actually be leading to an increase in disordered eating" but when you read the article the thrust is that tracking can be bad for people who already have eating disorders. Well, duh.

"Apps that help you obsess are bad if you have a problem obsessing" is more honest but just
isn't as interesting.

Also "weighing your ingredients...are all textbook signs of disordered eating" is just ridiculous. Clearly the author had never worked in a commercial kitchen where ingredients are commonly weighed or is aware that outside the US food scales are far more common.

Right- but there is a difference between working in a commercial kitchen, or making a recipe at home with measurements and measuring everything for daily logging; as in one Ted Talk I watched called “Life is too short too short to weigh your cornflakes” GREAT vid - now as most everyone above said they aren’t 100% all the time; and if this is how one wants to live okay we all have our own lives and lifestyles.
I just noticed my habits of taking pictures and then having pre-measured foods in the fridge and my kids holding up a bag saying “what’s up with this?”- or me grilling my husband with what he is putting in the meal he was preparing the family. I think it’s interesting to look at. As the author points out my habits are an “eating disorder” now, I wouldn’t look at it or say it is, but it is eye opening and made me stop and think of these moments I’ve had over the past 6 weeks and how long term I could be doing my kids a disservice with my behavior.

AGAIN! I know it may come off as though I’m saying “People STOP doing this”- No, we all have separate journeys, habits and ways we use these tools. It’s just something I find intriguing and I think worth putting some thought into for myself and maybe not scrolling past and ignoring. Growth is my 2021 goal...

I would say to the bolded that it only becomes a disservice if you make it that way. How do you answer your kids when they ask what's up with it? Do you treat it as a learning opportunity (ie.."I'm measuring out servings for a few weeks so I can teach myself what a serving size is supposed to look like", and then showing them) or as a shameful/embarrassing thing to hide/divert their attention from?

What are your thoughts though on tracking. I mean NO DISRESPECT if you are a long term tracker and this WILL come out wrong- but does it get to a point where long term tracking; measuring everything can become and create an unhealthy presentation of food and just learning true cues and how to live?

I have tracked - with a few short breaks when on vacation or suchlike- since 2013.
Long after reaching my goal which I did at end of that year.
so, 10 months of losing followed by 7 years of maitenance.

BUT - it is important to note that continuing tracking does not neccesarily mean 'measuring everything' - my tracking is quite loose: a lot of estimates and law of averages.

It isnt a false dichotomy between measuring/weighing everything to the nth degree and not doing it at all.

I dont think I am creating an unhealthy presentation of food or do not know how to live.

Tracking is a tool - use it or dont use it and use it in the way that suits you.

I liken it to using a shopping list - some people use them for a while, some use them forever (I am in this team also).
Ive gone from writing "Milk, 3 x 600ml cartons, xyz brand, top shelf of fridge, aisle 5" - to "milk x 3" - I dont need all the detail but I still need something.

I think it’s a normal human thing to intuit, at a gut level, that other people are psychologically similar to us. It’s extremely hard to imagine what it would be like to live inside a different world view. Nonetheless, that intuition frequently misleads.

The assumption that food logging is somehow inherently obsessive strikes me that way. It’s rare (that I know of) to see anyone suggest that having a financial budget and sticking to it is inherently obsessive, or that looking at the gas gauge when one gets in the car is compulsive. But make it about calories/nutrition, or the bodyweight scale, and those ideas start to come out.

Obsession is about individuals’ psychology: Not the actions, but their ideation about those actions. Conceptually, nearly anything can be obsessive. Somehow, metrics related to food, bodyweight and eating tend to bring out those assumptions very quickly, maybe because food- and weight-related assumptions are statistically more common, or something?