Whose Life Plan does NOT include logging?

When i encounter a meal away from home such as with family or a restaurant that doesn't exactly fit into the system, I just break it down. You know if you had some meat, some mash, assume butter and salt. Or just wing it from something close on the list. The point being, this isn't an exact science so much as it is a change of behavior and a new discipline.

If you expect to eat there again, make it a recipe and store it

If you're diet aware in terms of when and how much is going in and you're aware of the benefits of activity and a healthy approximate calorie deficit, then results will be realized. Stressing over each calorie is unnecessary. I'm sure I'll encounter a flame to the contrary but it doesn't help to obsess over the counter, that isn't quality of life.

If you've been following this site for just say 4 weeks and logged honestly, then you've changed your behavior for the better.
Just keep rolling on.

I don't think that I will be logging for the rest of my life, but for right now, it really helps me to see what the calorie and macro content will look like depending on the foods that I eat. As it is now, I am able to plan out a day's worth of foods using my recipes with no issue. I would like to keep that up until I am able to do this with "surprises" like going out to eat.

I plan on getting to the point where I am maintaining, and then getting a better feel for making food choices without logging, and then just tapering off until I can do it on my own. I don't think I will ever deactivate my account though, just in case I need to come back.

If you take your fitness and weight seriously you need to log. By seriously I mean like professional bodybuilders, models, etc or serious fitness enthusiasts...do you think they just eat whatever they want? No, they log every single calorie they eat. Their diet and exercise is under extreme control.
Now if u want to lose weight, it helps to count calories accurately so you know what works and what doesn't and have a benchmark for how many calories you need until you get to your goal weight...
After that, again if you're really serious you will keep logging to maintain otherwise you'll go back to where you were before.
It all depends on how serious you are ...If you want an okay body you may not need to do all these things. If you want to build and maintain an extremely impressive body you'll have to log.

Could have sworn I'd already answered this but can't find my reply!

In the beginning I logged and worked out cals for everything, since I've discovered I lose faster on gluten free/low carb and roughly how many cals I eat in lunches and dinners with no potato, rice, pasta, bread etc and it rarely goes over my cal allowance I don't bother now if I'm having something I already know won't go over.

I exercise and don't log that either but I do allow 'treat' that day, but don't eat back all my exercise calories and this seems to be working for me so far.... soon as it stops working I'll try and come up with something else to shake things up, but lost 21 lbs so far this way.

I logged everything for about six months, until I had met my goal and I was into maintaining my weight for about two months. I rarely log now. Some days I do if I want to check a day's worth of food, but as long as my weight stays withing a few pounds of my end goal, and does not rise, I won't log.

I eat a balance of food, with whole grains, veggies, lean proteins, etc, but I also now know I can have a few chips, or that scoop of ice cream, and not gain weight. My diet, like life, is about balance.

If the day comes where I wake up 10 pounds over my goal and I need a kick in the pants, I may log again, but for now, I've stopped.

I logged until i hit my goal, and in that time i felt that I'd learned a lot about what i eat. I now know how to eat sensibly, and can estimate when i'm having a good and bad day, and exercise accordingly. I've got what i wanted from the site, now i feel i can maintain without logging food. However, i do log my exercise as i find this a motivator.

If you are begininning your journey, I would wholeheartedly recommend you log food. If, as you say, you eat at your parents house and are unable to estimate the calorie content of food there, you might not be ready to judge your own food intake and stop logging. Stick with it, it gets easier, especially if there are foods you eat often.

Never gave it a thought! The day I stop enjoying the process of logging in food , I stop!

I like this.