Track for the rest of you life??

I know it's a longggg way to go, hopefully, but honestly...YES!

It is the only way I have successfully been able to lose weight and keep healthy.

I see myself getting to my goal weight and trying to keep up the same habits but not tracking unless it becomes a problem and I start gaining from not entering in every bite. But I would like to get to the point that I do not have to track anymore and I can stay near my goal.

I plan on tracking until I get to my goal weight and then maybe for another month to "set" my weight. After that I will quit but I will continue to work out where I weigh myself every day and if I put back a pound or two, I'll start tracking again to shave them off. That's my plan anyway.

I am really hoping that over time I will develop better balance skills and be able to judge healthy without tracking.

However, Tracking my food is the number one thing that works for me in weight loss. Track ! track ! Track!

I don't. I think like any habit, once you do it long enough, you will be able to eat healthily without out having the numbers.

Maybe not as closely as I do right now but I think that after you do it for a while when you get to your maintenance weight it becomes a habit and second nature, so even if you don't actively track every day you'll still have changed some habits and will still pay attention to what you do and eat from now on.

This journey has been one of enlightenment to me and I expect the knowledge I gain here daily to stay with me throughout my life.

I would think that over time, tracking your diet and exercise will become such a habit that
you may find you don't need to rely so much on the information.

However, it's always a good idea that if you stop tracking for a bit to log in to check up on how you are doing.

And lastly, if you tracking becomes necessary to live a healthy life, so be it! So many people need to take medications
daily for the rest of their life. Isnt this a much better alternative?! 80)

I will track faithfully until I reach my goal weight. Then, I imagine I'll need at least 6 months of maintenance to kind of determine the best calorie level to maintain. I would like to get to a point where I can maintain without having to log everyday. It might be that maybe I log the first week of every month just to make sure I'm staying on track. I'll have to wait and see and how maintenance goes and whether I feel I can keep it in check without logging all the time. But if I find I need to track daily for the rest of my life, I will.

I think I will probably track for a while after I get to where I want to be, and then just keep an eye on my weight and how I look in the mirror. If I start to gain a little I'll do what I need to do. Like someone said before, I think it will be like any other habit.

When I get to my goal weight, I plan on strictly tracking on the weekdays but being free on the weekends. I am hoping that it will balance out and I will be able to maintain.

Sigh. Yes.

I've successfully lost weight three times between the ages of 25 and 50, and every time, what worked was:
* eating less,
* exercising more
* logging ever f*cking thing that went in my mouth
* weighing every day.

But then when I reached my goal, I stopped logging--telling myself "I know what I'm doing, now. I'm a pro at this! I have successfully conquered my battle with food!"

And, each time, AT FIRST, I was right. Each time, I maintained my weight for about two years. And then, as my confidence increased, I stopped logging; I stopped weighing every day. . . . and then slowly--almost without noticing--the old habits sneaked back in. A missed workout here; and extra "treat" there. Although I was eating healthy, I would simply eat too much, and in two to five years I was back where I started. . . or even heavier.

So. . . .THIS time, I have to accept that this is just something I have to do.

I want to stamp my feet and hold my breath until I turn blue, and beat my little fists against the floor while tossing my head back and forth and scream "NO NO NO NO NO!"

But tantrum aside, I KNOW that logging and weighing EVERY DAY AMEN is the key for me. It's my daily moment of truth; it's my honesty with me. And it's just what I have to do to be successful.

I plan on doing it for the rest of my life... I probably won't want to keep it on record but at least a year's worth of information. Just because it gives me peace of mind. I know without that "control" of knowing what I have eaten and what I have left I would be lost again.

I like others, plan on tracking at maintenance for a few months and the go "off the grid". I plan to track by scale an if I gain a few pounds then track and take it off...

I don't plan to unless it becomes a problem and I gain some of the weight back. I'd take one day off a week right now (my rest day) from logging so we will see how that goes

I know for me, in the past, I have had the greatest success while tracking. However, once I've hit my goal weight, I've stopped tracking, do well for a period of time maintaining the weight loss and then when the pounds start creeping back on I think to myself, "oh, it's only a couple of ounces (or pounds), no big deal", and then suddenly I'm 20 pounds heavier again. This time I plan to track for at least three months past my goal and then monitor my intake a couple of times a week from that point on to ensure I stay on point.