Is MFP Forever?

I don't plan on using the calorie counter beyond reaching my goal weight, but it's a good supportive community so I'm sure I'll hang around a little.

I think keeping a food journal is just a part of a healthy lifestyle, whether you are at your goal weight or not. It will help with maintaining your weight. So whether or not you decide to continue using MFP, you should definately keep a daily log of the foods you eat to keep yourself on track.

I think as you go through the weight loss process you begin to learn just how much food and exercise you need to lose and or maintain your weight. So using this tool will not be necessary at that point. Especially once you reach your goal. My plan is to do maintenance for at least a month just to get familiar with what I need to do. Then I will taper off. I do like the community so that is always something to turn to.

umm... I never thought about this.. I hope to reach my goal weight by counting and tracking calories.. so if I want to stay there, then I should continue MFP. Or calculate in my mind where I'm at for the day. However, for me, calculating my calories in my head has never worked before.

I guess it's like Facebook,,, unfortunately that will never go away.. and I hope MFP won't either.

I believe it is always something I'll have to be mindful of. While I may not use it as frequently as I do now, I believe I will check in periodically for the foreseeable future. Maybe go off if I'm ok and if I gain a few pounds then get back on track. We'll see how it goes!

Today I posted a blog post and in the blog post I challenged my readers to post "I train because..." and they answer the question. This is something I'd considered training my mind, to know what is good for me, to know when enough is enough, to say no, to be able to weigh it all in my head. I'm sure I'll count calories even when I'm at my goal. Just because I'm training myself to look at nutrition facts already. Even if I don't write them down I will count them in my head. It's pretty much in my head to do so.

I agree that logging everything you eat forever seems a little unreasonable, but a food diary has value beyond just weight loss. There will be times after we're all at our goal weight that we will want to log for a week or two at a time.
For instance, my mom has high blood pressure; as a way to support her in her low sodium diet, I logged my sodium intake for a week. My mother-in-law, who is at the low end of normal on a BMI chart, logged her diet for two weeks to chart her average calcium intake.
Instead of viewing logging as a means to an end, we should shoot for viewing logging as a reasonable way to get the information we need to meet any health challenge (weight, micro-nutrients, even headache trends).

I reached my goal a while back, but am still around. Knowing me, I will eventually stop logging in, but not yet. However, the lessons learned as to HOW MUCH to eat, or how many calories something has, will stay with me long after.

When I joined MFP a few weeks ago, my goal is to lose 20 lbs. I may go ahead and go for 5 more lbs. But when I reach my goal, I will still log my meals and keep track of the calories. Some days Im sure I will go way over since I will be eating some cake or pie along the way and even a chili dog here and there. But I plan to stay within my calories most days. But once you reach your goal, I see no reason to stay within the limited calories everyday. But this will help us all to never gain the weight back if we keep track of what we are eating. I will weigh in weekly also. That way if I gain a lb,, it will be easy to get that lb off in just a few days.

Even for someone like myself who's within their weight range, I think MFP is such a useful tool for keeping my motivation up to keep myself moving so I am less prone to depression. I find that I can never stop learning or improving on my own health and well being. Even if a person were to reach their goal weight, if it were myself I would need to continue with logging my progress to maintain my weight and my health, otherwise for myself I know without the discipline of logging in every day, I would definitely slide through the cracks in a depressive, sedentary lump.