Will I have to Be Here for the Rest of My Life?

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  • SunnyAndrsn
    SunnyAndrsn Posts: 369 Member
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    Am I stuck counting calories and trying to hit marcos for the rest of my life? Will I forever have to run away from soda, sugar, bad carbs, and anything that brings me joy? Am I stuck eating a sugar free cottage cheese cake on my wedding day and expecting my guest to love it as well?

    This haunts me. I have dreams of counting calories and worry that I'm doing everything wrong. Over Spring Break I went to visit my boyfriend and I ate like I didn't care. Which at that point, I DID NOT CARE. I was happy, I was full, I was lovin' it. I'm back home now and dread having to buy foods with bar codes just so I can make sure I'm counting right. I can't even eat out because 90% of the places I want to go to don't have nutrition facts and guessing calories upsets me to no end.

    So am I stuck? Will MFP be my new home from here on out?

    I don't eat anything that doesn't taste good to me--PERIOD. If you can't do this and enjoy what your eating, please re-evaluate what you are eating. I do think for me, that I will have to monitor calories for years to come, but I hope that it will finally 'click' in terms of what an actual serving size is, and what normal calorie intake should be.

    I spent years ignore my body signals, if you did the same, it'll take time to learn the signals again.

    I agree with you on guessing calories too--it's very frustrating and I hate not knowing. I try to pick the places ahead of time, and then research as best as I can to plan it out. Do that enough times, and eventually you'll know.
  • IveLanded
    IveLanded Posts: 797 Member
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    No. This obviously isn't where you'll be "stuck".

    You said it yourself......you know you wont stick to it. You talk about how awful it is. If you say it's awful, it will be. If you say you wont stick to you, you won't.
  • HorrorChix89
    HorrorChix89 Posts: 1,229 Member
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    I didn't say it's "awful" but I don't want to spend the rest of my life constantly worrying that a Blue Yummy Yummy will make me go over my budget. I don't want to be the freak that stands in the store scanning bar codes for lunch. I don't want every conversation I have with people to be about healthy eating or "I heard you're wrong about starvation mode". I don't want to look at my boyfriend and complain to him about how he needs to go to the gym at least 3 times a week and weight train.

    I know it sounds like I'm saying this is the worst thing in the world for me. I mean I did lose 8lbs...although I've seemed to have gained 4 lbs in water weight (says everyone to make me feel better about my heavy gain).
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
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    You have to have a healthy mindset to stick with this forever.

    I've been doing this for 5 years now, and I still enjoy eating healthy. Do I have a day where I eat a bunch of bad food? OF COURSE. But as long as I stick to 85% eating healthy and watching what I eat, I'll maintain. And if I take a vacation or something and don't watch, I will come back and do a week of strict eating and exercising so I get back to normal. It turns into routine really. Eventually you start to memorize calorie counts of your favorite foods and you can do a mental calculation in your head. I can rattle off the calorie counts of thousands of foods...it has become second nature to me.

    If you have a mindset of "Do I have to do this for the rest of my life" instead actually changing your life for the better, my guess is you will return back to your old habits.

    And as for the cottage cheese wedding cake (LOL), that sounds nasty and would be very extreme in my opinion. There's always room for cake. :wink:
  • Tajdancer
    Tajdancer Posts: 82 Member
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    No, I don't think so. After you do this for so long hopefully you will just know what your limits are, you will naturally gravitate towards healthier choices and stay active!

    This is what I'm thinking. Lifestyle change. To "stop" doing this would mean another lifestyle change. One that I'm really not interesting in making.

    I think that, once I get to maintenance, I'll know what healthy eating is all about, will stick with it because it makes me feel good, and I'll have no desire to go back to eating crap and not being active. That doesn't mean I'll feel like I need to track every calorie consumed or burned.
  • iuew
    iuew Posts: 624 Member
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    Am I stuck counting calories and trying to hit marcos for the rest of my life?

    depends on whether that's what works for you
    Will I forever have to run away from soda, sugar, bad carbs, and anything that brings me joy? Am I stuck eating a sugar free cottage cheese cake on my wedding day and expecting my guest to love it as well?

    no. most of us on maintenance have slip days. will you be able to eat everything in sight on your honeymoon and not gain weight? no. can you have a nice dinner and cake at your wedding? sure.
    This haunts me. I have dreams of counting calories and worry that I'm doing everything wrong. Over Spring Break I went to visit my boyfriend and I ate like I didn't care. Which at that point, I DID NOT CARE. I was happy, I was full, I was lovin' it. I'm back home now and dread having to buy foods with bar codes just so I can make sure I'm counting right. I can't even eat out because 90% of the places I want to go to don't have nutrition facts and guessing calories upsets me to no end.

    most do, except the smallest of locals. you can generally find nutrition info at the restaurant website.
    So am I stuck? Will MFP be my new home from here on out?

    it's up to you. there are a lot of ways to maintain. pull up a stool and have a drink with the rest of us.

    to answer your question, though, yes, you'll have to be aware of what you eat for the rest of your life. however, diet and exercise will become part of your routine. it's not that bad, and it's much better than gaining the weight back and having to do it all over again. you can do it.
  • mes1119
    mes1119 Posts: 1,082 Member
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    I haven't really been logging the past few weeks. Every day or so I do, but since I was logging for a good amount of time I learned a schedule that I can stick with. Eat certain things at certain times, make certain kinds of dinners. Watching portions, eating healthy and making good decisions is more important. Either way, I have been doing this for the past 2-3 weeks or so and still losing a pound a week. I don't think you have to be very strict about what you eat, just be mindful of what you are putting in your body.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
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    I'm back home now and dread having to buy foods with bar codes just so I can make sure I'm counting right.
    Wait wait wait. This is not right at all. You should be buying fresh veggies and meats... not boxes and cans.
  • HorrorChix89
    HorrorChix89 Posts: 1,229 Member
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    I'm back home now and dread having to buy foods with bar codes just so I can make sure I'm counting right.
    Wait wait wait. This is not right at all. You should be buying fresh veggies and meats... not boxes and cans.
    I know what I "should" be buying but I get what I can afford. Fresh veggies and meats are expensive and I can't cook. Last time I was in the kitchen, the stove caught fire and even burned the wiring inside the wall. The over head fan was completely destroyed. So yeah, I'm not cooking unless it comes with microwave instructions and costs less than $1 a serving.

    Plus with meats you have to get other stuff to make it even half way taste good. Same with veggies.
  • prism6
    prism6 Posts: 484 Member
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    there's worse places to be stuck than here... as others have said..umm forget the cottage cheese wedding cake..that would look gross smooshed in your face!
  • HorrorChix89
    HorrorChix89 Posts: 1,229 Member
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    I'm guessing butter cream icing is out of the question too...There's no such thing as a small portion of that. I can eat of gallon of the icing itself
  • Lozze
    Lozze Posts: 1,917 Member
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    I didn't say it's "awful" but I don't want to spend the rest of my life constantly worrying that a Blue Yummy Yummy will make me go over my budget. I don't want to be the freak that stands in the store scanning bar codes for lunch. I don't want every conversation I have with people to be about healthy eating or "I heard you're wrong about starvation mode". I don't want to look at my boyfriend and complain to him about how he needs to go to the gym at least 3 times a week and weight train.

    Um why are you doing this now? The only reason I talk about weight loss currently in real life is when it's initiated by the other person. Not by me. I don't tell anyone what to do. If they ask for help I give it.

    Enjoy life while being healthy.
  • HorrorChix89
    HorrorChix89 Posts: 1,229 Member
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    I didn't say it's "awful" but I don't want to spend the rest of my life constantly worrying that a Blue Yummy Yummy will make me go over my budget. I don't want to be the freak that stands in the store scanning bar codes for lunch. I don't want every conversation I have with people to be about healthy eating or "I heard you're wrong about starvation mode". I don't want to look at my boyfriend and complain to him about how he needs to go to the gym at least 3 times a week and weight train.

    Um why are you doing this now? The only reason I talk about weight loss currently in real life is when it's initiated by the other person. Not by me. I don't tell anyone what to do. If they ask for help I give it.

    Enjoy life while being healthy.
    This site changed me, whether it's good or bad. I don't even know what healthy is. What I enjoy is looked at as NOT healthy. Now I'm stressing about River Fest coming up. Everything there is fried and on a stick. Even the ice cream is deep fried. But no, I'll be the girl sinking back munching on a celery stick while everyone else stuffs their face with gyros and turkey legs.
  • Tourney3p0
    Tourney3p0 Posts: 290 Member
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    Keep in mind that for each 0.5 pounds per week you're trying to lose, that's 250 fewer calories per day. So once you get to maintenance, you're automatically looking at at least 250 more calories to work with. More if you start/continue to work out, and even more if you're set to more than 0.5 pounds per week.

    That said, the unfortunate truth is that you're always going to have a calorie limit where you will gain weight if you eat beyond that limit. This site is just a tool. It allows you to measure how close you are to that limit without going over. If you can work up to a point of being able to mentally calculate how close you are to that limit, this site becomes superfluous.
  • BrewerGeorge
    BrewerGeorge Posts: 397 Member
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    After 9 months, I'm beginning to find balance. The biggest thing is learning to listen to your body. Eating when you're hungry, stopping eating when you're no longer hungry. Building in some routines that serve you well, like ALWAYS eating breakfast, etc.

    I'm still logging, but I'm quite sure I could stop now and maintain my weight.
  • ElPumaMex
    ElPumaMex Posts: 367 Member
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    I know what I "should" be buying but I get what I can afford. Fresh veggies and meats are expensive and I can't cook. Last time I was in the kitchen, the stove caught fire and even burned the wiring inside the wall. The over head fan was completely destroyed. So yeah, I'm not cooking unless it comes with microwave instructions and costs less than $1 a serving.

    Plus with meats you have to get other stuff to make it even half way taste good. Same with veggies.

    I am not sure what your budget is, but I don't necessarily agree that fresh veggies and healthy food is expensive, or at least more expensive than canned or processed food.

    For fruit, I always look for prices below $1 a pound; there is always fruit at that level, and normally is when they are in season.
    So that way you can buy grapes, etc. for below $1 a pound.
    I don't normally but organic, which is VERY expensive; no need to go buy organic to have healthy food at your table.
    For vegetables, same applies.

    As far as meat and cooking: You could buy for example roasted chicken (I find a complete chicken for $6 or $7 at the local grocery) and if you remove the skin it is very healthy, no need to cook.

    For red meat, I always wait for the T-bone to be below $4 a pound before I purchase it.

    Good luck in your MFP journey !
    No need to buy food that you don't like !
  • Lozze
    Lozze Posts: 1,917 Member
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    This site changed me, whether it's good or bad. I don't even know what healthy is. What I enjoy is looked at as NOT healthy. Now I'm stressing about River Fest coming up. Everything there is fried and on a stick. Even the ice cream is deep fried. But no, I'll be the girl sinking back munching on a celery stick while everyone else stuffs their face with gyros and turkey legs.

    Why not? Your body will not shrivel up and die if you have these items? I'm not telling you to go overboard and stuff your face ur there's nothing wrong with indulging sometimes. You might even put on weight. But if you have your treat and then next meal get back to making better choices you'll lose it again.

    If you treat weight loss as temporary it will BE temporary. Figure out how to enjoy your faves and make them rarer. I have nasi goreng once a week and my weight loss has been at quite a fast clip. I only have one food that I won't have. Everything else is fair game. As long as I'm eating healthier more times than not ill continue to lose weight.
  • annacataldo
    annacataldo Posts: 872 Member
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    Counting Calories is different from watching carbs. I dont worry about sugar, fat, carb levels; I just worry about calories. And ive lost 115 pounds total so my methods cant be all that wrong? The watching sugars/fat is health related things, not losing weight related.

    I do eat alot of fat free, sugar free, etc, but only cause its lower calorie. Yesterday I ate pretty good, but with my excess calories i had a donut. today it was icecream. I have pizza regularly. the only thing other than calories that i watch is sodium so i dont see big water weight gains on the scale.

    Your here to live life; not be perfect!
  • elsalily
    elsalily Posts: 47 Member
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    I understand your worries. But I think the more you log on MFP during your weight loss phase, the more it'll help you to instinctively know what's low calorie and what's not. By the time you reach your goal, you'll probably have found a lot more foods that you like that are lower calorie.
    Another thing, even during my weight loss (now) I allow myself a free day (I still don't go over 2000 total if no exercise) and enjoy foods I really crave. That has helped me a great deal because IMO it's easier to follow a restrictive plan when you don't feel deprived. I also have something sweet most days as long as it fits into my macros. (I do not track sugar though)
    Maybe you feel too deprived these days and that's what's getting you down and worrying you?
    Free meals or days are important because not only they help you feel less deprived, but you also know that once you've reached your goals there will be days/ occasions when you won't or shouldn't count calories (wedding, christmas, going out to a restaurant and so on). There's no need to feel guilty about indulging, since that's usually what makes us binge...
    If you know you can indulge once in a while, you'll feel less enclined to overdo it, I think.
    The more you log the more you'll learn about calories, the better your estimates will be and the easier it'll be to maintain even once you're at your goal weight and don't want to log anymore.

    I would suggest once you reach your GW to keep logging while maintaining for 3 months at least and then I think you should be good. Hope this helps :)

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