Is MFP Forever?

I'm not sure what I'll do. I'd like to be able to eat sensibly enough and stay active to where I don't need to log my food anymore...but I don't want to quit before I get to that point so I'll probably log for a while after I reach my goal to get used to maintaining. That's all still pretty far away for me right now, though.

Once I reach goal and begin maintenance I will still log. The difference between losing and what I need to maintain is only about 300 calories a day. That is easy to go over. I don't want to ever have to be in a position where I need to lose a significant amount of weight again. Logging is easy and part of my life.. so guess I am a MFP logger for life...

I think I'll have to budget my money forever, no matter where I am financially, so that I can be secure and independent. I have to know how much there is and where it’s going in order to set, have, and meet, my goals - however high they may be.

Food (aka calories) is the same thing. It’s a resource and I’ll always have to keep track of the quality and quantity. I don’t think about this as just losing weight. It’s about quality control.

This is exactly how I see it too. And worded beautifully.

I've been maintaining with MFP for a year+ and I honestly don't see why, at this point, I would ever stop logging all together.

MFP forever? Most definitely. I have found an amazing support group here. It's a lifestyle!

I'm guess for about a year AFTER i reach my goal weight, I plan on using it until I can internalize what eating properly feels like.
I'm guess that's how long it will take, for me to judge the correct types and amounts of food that I need in a day.

--Going from my old eating habits to lose 1 lb a week was a disruption -- I had to learn a new way to eat.
--When my lose 1 lb a week calories hit 1200 calories I went to lose 1/2 lb a week -- another disruption and far more distressing than I realized to add calories back.
--When I got to 5 lb from my goal I stopped letting MFP take away calories and starting adding them back, so I lost slower, but was learning how to eat at my maintenance weight.

So I'm 145 lbs now and planning to go on maintenance for 140 lbs. That should give me some trial and error wiggle room. So I can see cause an effect. I'm having a hard time adding that last 40 calories back into my diet. Maybe I WILL lose that extra 5 lbs past my goal and get to 140. (Should take me a year at .1 lb a week). Maybe not. I'm am a little afraid of over reaching past what I'm able to maintain. As far as I'm concerned it's all about the maintenance. I'd rather come up short of my goal, but be able to keep it off rather than exceeding my goal and gain it all back and them some.

So day by day. I expect I'll taper off on tracking toward the 2nd half of the year. I'm thinking I'll test myself a couple of times and keep a handwritten journal for a week. Then plug it into MFP to see if my estimates are accurate. When I can judge accurately I'll feel more confident about weaning myself off of this tool. But for now no hard and fast deadline. I'll stay here as long as I need to.

It's smart to watch what you eat. If you stop logging your food and exercise the moment you hit your goal, chances are you'll eat too much and lose track and next think you know you've gained it all back.

The smart thing to do is keep logging your diaries for at least a few months and slowly add more food and maintain your goal weight. Once you've worked on mainting for a while, then slowly stop logging if you want to. Don't just drop it when you hit your goal.

I have been at goal or near goal for about seven years.

I switched from WW points when they changed to points plus to MFP.

I will forever track. I have stopped tracking a few times what I eat and guess what, I end up gaining. At first, I do well maintaining without journaling but then I get relaxed and my portions get bigger and choices not so good.

So for me, I must journal.

Is MFP Forever?

Is this real life?

After reached goal weight and started getting those sexy, feminine non-visible muscles. (which will take a small while, I think). By then I should have fair knowledge of how many kcal I get through what foods, and know just about how much food is enough. Then again, I'm a creature of habit and eat the same thing every weekday (same breakfast, somewhat same lunch, different dinners every day of the week, but the same every week).

Food (aka calories) is the same thing. It’s a resource and I’ll always have to keep track of the quality and quantity. I don’t think about this as just losing weight. It’s about quality control.

^^^^^^^^ this