steve0mania wrote: »

No tracking for me! I gave it up about a year after I made lifetime, and converted to core, then intuitive-maintenance. I did go back a year or two ago and try to track again (needed to take off a few pounds), but I just couldn't stand doing it! So, I'm back to an "intuitive" approach.

Would you mind clarifying what you mean by " intuitive maintenance?" I use Cronometer Food Tracking

Haven't tracked in YEARS. I did do some tracking on MFP a couple of years ago and found that I disliked it as much as I ever did. I'm doing well just paying attention to portion sizes and eating when hungry instead of just eating to be eating.

I quit tracking even before I quit WW - years ago. I did go back to use a free app - Lose It - and lost pretty well, down to match the lowest point I hit on WW, 10 lbs. below goal weight. I have tried MFP tracking, but had limited success. I don't believe in their calorie counts. Food too low, exercise too high. I have done pretty well the last six months just avoiding trigger foods and watching my portion sizes. I am down 19 lbs. from where I was in November, back to my old WW goal weight.

Flintwinch wrote: »

steve0mania wrote: »

No tracking for me! I gave it up about a year after I made lifetime, and converted to core, then intuitive-maintenance. I did go back a year or two ago and try to track again (needed to take off a few pounds), but I just couldn't stand doing it! So, I'm back to an "intuitive" approach.

Would you mind clarifying what you mean by " intuitive maintenance?" I use Cronometer Food Tracking

Sure thing. Intuitive maintenance is basically eating when hungry, eating enough to satisfy you (but no more), and not eating when you're not hungry. There's no weighing, measuring, or tracking involved.

My version may be considered "impure," because I do weigh and measure a few items to ensure that they are a "portion." Early in my WW time, I realized that it takes me 20 minutes or more to feel satisfied. In other words, my feeling of satiety takes a bit of time to catch up with my stomach being full. I manage this by eating a (somewhat) measured-out portion, finishing it, and waiting for a while before having an additional portion. If I wait, I almost never feel the need for an additional serving.

The converse to this is that it's challenging for me when we bring all of the food out to the table. It's too easy in that case to mindlessly grab another bite of something simply because it's there. Because of this, we tend to plate our food in the kitchen and carry it out to the dining room table.

If I wait, it's often surprising to me how little food one really needs to feel satisfied!

Flintwinch wrote: »

steve0mania wrote: »

...If I wait, it's often surprising to me how little food one really needs to feel satisfied!

Thanks for your clarification. I am interested in your description of the gap between fullness and satiety. I imagine that this varies between individuals, but I'd guess 20 minutes is about average. The Japanese have a saying about eating until you are 80% full, which probably corresponds to the feeling of satiety. This is something I may experiment with in addition to daily tracking. I appreciate the helpful tip. FWiW, I track weight less frequently than most WW folks. Daily changes--or possibly weeklychanges-- are influenced by too many inconsequential factors

Yes, the gap between satiety and fullness is critical to understand and appreciate. Before I joined WW I often kept eating until I felt "stuffed." Certainly we can pack in way more calories in a sitting than we need! On the old GOAD board, we'd occasionally have a discussion about how many of us were scared to every feel hungry...like we'd somehow starve to death between lunch and dinner, or between dinner and breakfast the next morning! Learning that we don't have to stuff ourselves to be "satisfied" after a meal, and that what we often think of as "hunger" often isn't hunger, but rather other feelings, like cravings, habitual feels, boredom, etc, all helps with the process of taking in less calories than we burn.

I'm a pretty short person, and as such, my daily caloric requirements are (annoyingly) low. I think I probably need around 1300 calories to maintain my weight near my personal target. That doesn't leave a lot of room for "extras." Thus, I've worked to cut back on calories where I can, and yet still feel sated. There is a great book called "Volumetrics" that seemed to be well-aligned with some of the older WW programs. The upshot was to figure out how to take a greater bulk of lower-calorie foods to help you feel sated without going crazy on the calorie intake. I fully believe in that approach. That's why I still weigh/measure some of my foods: I'm trying to have "just enough" for satiety without taking in too much.

The second point you raised, about daily weighing, is also very true. I weigh daily, but I find that helps me to recognize that day-to-day fluctuations are not "real weight," but related to other transient factors. For me, daily weighing helps me to feel numb to the day-to-day changes, and focus on the overall movement of the curve.

I've been noticing that sigh lately (last couple weeks)! I mean, I actually noticed it! And listened to it ... rarely 🙁. Due to this realization, I have instead resorted, just today, to smaller portions! We'll see how it works. More in that 'task' post.