Anxiety About Choosing Not To log A Meal

If you aren’t eating in a disordered way then I don’t see the problem with continuing to log meals. You say you are burned out from “logging every little bite” but that if you skip logging a couple of meals where you know you didn’t overeat you get overly worried. Can you find a middle ground and log approximations of what you ate over the weekend so that you can reassure yourself that you did indeed eat as you think you did?

Since you both dieted and did a recomp what do you intend to do to maintain in the long term? At least in my case I log what I eat whenever I can because it is easier and less stressful for me. If I can’t log I don’t do what others would call eating intuitively. To me intuitively means something very specific now - not necessarily just avoiding eating until “I’ve stuffed myself too full” as you say — instead if I can’t log exactly I eyeball what I am eating and apply what I have learned over a couple of years of eating at a slow deficit (and now maintaining) to eat what I know will be close to my maintenance calories (or at least what I have decided I will eat that day taking into account my maintenance calories for the week). I don’t think that my definition is actually what people mean when they say they are eating intuitively!

Weight is tough and messes with your head. But if you found what works for you to get you to where you need to be, what is wrong with continuing to use the tools that serve you? I don’t feel like we get any extra points for being able to do this blindfolded and with our hands tied behind our backs. So use what helps but also don’t put extra pressure on yourself to either log or not log every single day if life gets in the way. It is not as if the true measure of health is not having to pay attention. I think it is actually quite the opposite for most people.

I’ve had periods of logging and not logging. The non logging periods are when I’m in maintenance.
It gets better with practice. I remember being worried about portion creep, meals out and so forth. But actually it turns out I can balance my intake without an app.

There is nothing wrong with deciding to log for the rest of your life, I just find it tedious after a few months. I am logging again at the moment as I want to drop a few pounds for summer. I intend to stop once I have.

Many long term maintainers here swear by logging as a tool to keep them on track. I’m not one of those people.

You could just keep a rough paper and pencil journal of your food without calorie counting as a way of staying mindful of what you are consuming. This could be a transitional step away from logging.

First of all, kudos for logging during 8 months !

I think you need to ask yourself what will provoke the most anxiety: the thought of possibly gaining weight, or the chore of logging? Only you can answer that - there is no right or wrong - and then you'll know what to do.