I don't understand the "I'm not gonna log it" mentality

I'm logging everything. If I go way over... well, tomorrow is a new day.

Yep, log everything. If not the only person you're fooling is yourself and isn't that how we got here to begin with?

I'll also add that I track my calories knowing what I can have on a weekly basis and if I go over one day, at least I can make some adjustment to the remainder of the week an try to make up for (some of) it.

Sometimes if I go off the deep end (usually starts mid-afternoon and spirals out of control until I go to bed) I will feel too guilty to log my calories in before going to sleep. But I always make myself do it the next morning - which I know is dangerous, because I could forget that one oreo or that huge bite of my daughter's PB&J. I find in the morning though, I am usually over my guilt and ready to start my new day fresh and better than ever.

Do you log it on the previous day's journal or the next morning's journal?

I think the reason some people don't want to log it is he acknowledgement that they slipped from their diet. The good news is a normal healthy person who keeps an eye on their food has days like that too. Some days you want to eat more and in the long run that is fine, because so as long as you are not eating in a certain manner everyday it isn't going to. You may even feel you got that boost to morale you needed to keep the path. That might be a bit over reaching, but I think that might be part of it.

Whether you track it or not doesn't change the fact that you ate it. So if you want to know exactly what's working and what isn't working, tracking must be done diligently and accurately IMHO. It's not bad to have a day where you just ate 4000 calories or something... it's all life. If you want to reach your goal though, you need to know how it affects your progress.

Track everything. Learn from the feedback on the scale and the tape measure.

I was one of those people-- and I will acknowledge that it's one of the reasons I've lost and then put back on the weight or stalled. After rounds of this rodeo, I've FINALLY realized that while I can lie to my brain about portion sizes and foods I don't log not counting, my body is ALWAYS counting (IT KNOW ... muahaha).

They'll learn or they won't. I don't ever want to have to lose this weight ever again, so brutal honesty with myself about how much I'm eating and learning from that is going to be key.

Take care everyone!

Right on! I log it all, the good the bad and the make my thighs even bigger ugly.

My regret the next day helps me from having a repeat performance.

I don't bother logging my black coffee. Apparently a cup of black coffee is 5 calories so I'm sometimes under logging by about 20-35 calories a day. If I get an iced coffee with skim milk (or a 2% latte, or a beer/shot/glass of wine/etc) I log that. I'm rarely within 40 calories of my Net goal so I'm not going crazy about it. I also haven't been logging my water for a while. I know that a trip to the gym is 24 oz of water and a couple of my water tumblers at work is another 40 so generally I hit my 8 glasses on a work day and I drink 3 or 4 fruit2Os on a weekend day so I'm close enough.

As far as food, I log everything I eat and do my best to guess portion sizes and weights if I can't actually weigh my food or get nutrtional info from a restaurant's website or scan a barcode. Those days I generally make a point to come slightly under my net goal to account for error.

I log every single bite. I had just 1 tostito chip with mexican dip yesterday at a cookout and you better believe I logged that! I just don't want to cheat myself. I underestimate my exercising and overestimate my calories, if necessary. Like you said, that's the whole point of counting calories and this website- to keep yourself accountable. If I binge one day, I want to log it so I have to know how bad it feels and it will discourage me from doing it again (hopefully). That's also why I keep my diary open to my friends- encourages me to make better choices about the things I eat since I know people will be looking at it!

Going over one day and not logging it isnt a big deal. One day is VERY small and has nearly no impact on the big picture. Sometimes it is nice to just enjoy a day and not log it. I don't want to feel guilty because I went over my calories and enjoyed myself.

I log everything as well. Pointless to not log things if you want this to actually work-- it's ok to eat what you want, but it's really great to keep it logged so you can see it if you're not seeing the results you want to.

on the rare occasion i am going to be over 100 calories over i just stop logging out of guilt. but that same guilt allows me not to make the same mistake the next day.
OR if i've been drinking...then all logging bets are off.

i hardly log anything. once you reach a point where you know what your body needs to eat in a typical day i don't find it necessary.

I log it so that if I need to go ride my bike because I went over on something without realizing I can go do it. I am not dieting tho. I am eating healthy and not starving myself. Its actually good to eat more some days...keeps your body guessing. JMO

I also try to log the good, the bad and the ugly. Most days on my calendar are complete to a tee. However, there are a few "best guesses" and I always try to over-estimate to cover. But this weekend was a disaster. We had a house full of people all day on Sunday, so my eating consisted of picking at the "buffet" of food. In all honesty, I probably drank more calories than I ate, so I really would not even know where to begin to log Sunday.