To track or not to track?

[johnlatte 1,232]

I track, but I track a lot of things in my work so to me it isn't a big deal. It keeps me accountable and I am really interested in the nutritional value of different foods, so it helps with that. Also, my nutritionist has access to my MFP account is always leaving me notes there anyway and I get texts from her if I am not tracking things. I think she's starting to stalk, but that's a whole different movie of the week.

[CowgirlJane 14,261]

I think it is important for us to recognize our own patterns of denial. for me it was the scale. When i stop weighing myself, I am gaining weight. The scale keeps me accountable. I come back from a long camping weekend of much merriment and feeling like i ate too much, only to have a loss and I realize that I matched my food to my activity because crap, I rode horses 5 hours a day, went on a steep hike, pushed wheelbarrows of manure, carried firewood and Water while still eating mostly low carb. - I guess that extra snack of trailmix didn't put me back at 300# now did it? The scale keeps it real for me.

I permit myself to stay within a 2# range and when I get above that, I adjust course. This is so far working but I am not saying it is for everyone.

[Supersweetums 1,164]

I track my weight... not my food.

For me, food tracking and calorie counting is a remnant of my professional dieting days. I do believe in tracking, and it has been an effective tool for me but since I am not likely to do it for life, I moved to a more natural way of monitoring my food even during the weight loss phase.

This is similar to what I do. I didn't want to feel like I was on a diet when I had the surgery done, I wanted it to be a new way of life, and it is! I do weigh myself daily and it keeps me accountable. If I notice a change in the numbers, I start re-adjusting my eating. I have been sleeved for 2.5 years now and maintaining for a year, and so far it has worked for me.

I am glad to see someone else who has had success without tracking because sometimes I feel in the minority and that some people think I am crazy for not tracking at all.

[Butterthebean 8,146]

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I am glad to see someone else who has had success without tracking because sometimes I feel in the minority and that some people think I am crazy for not tracking at all.

Nah....not crazy. Whatever works for you is what you should do. I've been made to feel crazy because I'm still tracking....like I'm on a diet. I'm not on a diet but I also cannot self regulate very well without having the data right in front of me. That's my shortcoming but luckily I don't mind tracking and I have a great group of friends on MFP.

[OneWritersSoul 353]

I track' date=' but I track a lot of things in my work so to me it isn't a big deal. It keeps me accountable and I am really interested in the nutritional value of different foods, so it helps with that. Also, my nutritionist has access to my MFP account is always leaving me notes there anyway and I get texts from her if I am not tracking things. I think she's starting to stalk, but that's a whole different movie of the week. <img src='http://www.bariatricpal.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/happy.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />[/quote']

John, I am looking forward to seeing that movie

[feedyoureye 3,087]

At one point years ago I made a vow to never track again! HaHaHAHA! I laugh in the face of that vow. I track every day, no mater if Im on track or not with what I eat... or going out, or on vacation (really hard to track then) ... I find when I have to write it down, Im not as likely to eat it in the first place if Im going to feel bad about it after. Its like I have a naughty little kid in my brain. Whatever works. I weigh and write it all down. The days/weeks/months where I have blown off the tracking, I'm more likely to gain. Thats how I put on the bounce weight... just eating 'normally' not writing it down. I wish I didn't have to, but I have come to accept this works the best for me at this time. I try not to obsess... I just do it. I am happy that it works!

[Fiddleman 4,376]

I absolutely hate to track. Go figure because my whole career has been about details. I am most successful when I can formulate a set of simple rules that work for me and then follow them religiously. I do a lot of eye balling on portion sizes and listen to my body in terms of satiety or fullness. I do read labels and make decisions of acceptance or rejection, but it is really an organic organization that is all in my head if that makes sense. I cannot really describe exactly what i do because there is a lot of micro adaptation that occurs from day to day. It just works. My hat off to all you MFP über trackers!

[Ms skinniness 3,003]

Ian tracking and am now looking at how quickly I can get past 1200 calories. how many calories are u guys eating ? Most of mine are Protein calories.

[Nicolanz 1,484]

I try to stay around 1000. I still have 50-60 pounds to lose!

[Fiddleman 4,376]

I try and eat up to 1600 calories of Protein, veggies and now some fruit!! It is hard to meet those goals on some days, but try and eat every 2 or 3 hours.

[LindaS 316]

If I don't track, I don't get in enough Protein. I've been tracking at MFP for more than 2 years (since July 2011), and I've only missed one day (it did get recorded a day later). My daily record is over 500 days right now, which makes me want to keep tracking. :-)

[Nicolanz 1,484]

Wow, Linda! That's awesome! Don't mess up the streak now!

[Escape_Pod 358]

I track, unless I've been tackled by the sugar monkey, and then I'm too embarassed to track. Sigh...

There's enough consistency in my meals that it doesn't feel like a huge amount of effort to track, and once or twice when I've eaten something unplanned, tracking it helped me see that I hadn't gone completely off the rails, so I successfully avoided the whole "I ate that so I might as well eat everything bad I've been wanting for the rest of the day" stupidity.

I generally aim for 1200 calories or less, and I don't generally eat back my exercise calories unless I've done something pretty major (like a multi-hour hike, or something burning over 500 calories). I'm still finding the balance point - sometimes if my net calories are too low I'm starving the next day and find it hard to stay on plan.

[swizzly 901]

I tried tracking for a while, but it is too close to the obsessive calorie-counting and restriction I did in my younger years. I tend way more toward the anorexic side of things and was never a binge eater, but eating a spoon of Peanut Butter as a meal and then 'counting' it as 200 calories cos maybe some extra cals were in there that I didn't know about SO I BETTER ROUND UP TO THE NEAREST HUNDRED LOL...was right up my street. So yeah, NOT being obsessive is part of my approach cos I just can't go there without losing my mind. That said, I don't eat wheat, grains or Beans, nor much fruit, so apart from wine and chocolate (LOL) my carbs are low. I eat full-fat everything and try to eat good solid healthy food. I am probably in the 1500-2000 kcal range per day. I don't track my exercise either, nor would I per se 'eat back' my exercise cals either. Just too much room for obsessive behavior, for me.

That said, I do weigh myself nearly every day. That's been good for me cos I vary by like 2-3 kg sometime, which is quite a lot -- but it's just how my body rolls I guess. So it's good not to obsess over a few hundred grams' 'gain'...

[suejersey 263]

I hope to eventually stop tracking because I want this new way of life to be a lifestyle not something that I am still thinking about all the time. Now I track most days - although by the end of the day I sometimes don't put in my dinner/snack but know how many calories and Protein I had left and finish up the day within my goals.

I am eating between 700 - 800 calories right now and 3 meals, 1 or 2 Snacks a day. I like eating this way and if I can keep the calories in line I would think once I hit goal I can experiment with not tracking.

I like the idea of letting the scale be the guide - keeping within 2 pounds and once going over 2 pounds, perhaps start tracking again.