Hi all, from what I read on this board it seems like everyone here tracks their food intake and calories. I haven't tracked calories since my first weeks post-surgery, but I do track exercise and my measurements, and eat very mindfully. The reason is that I have a history of disordered eating and am concerned that I can get too obsessive with tracking. My therapist is also not a fan of calorie tracking. In the distant past I've gotten very obsessive with tracking, but in the more recent past I feel more a weird combination of laziness and anxiety around it.

I'm 9 months out and have had great success post-surgery (100+ lbs down) but am wondering if I should rethink my no-tracking stance as I get into more challenging territory closer to my goal weight. Anyone else in the same boat?

I am firmly in the tracking camp. Unrepentant. LOL.

Knowing a cause and effect relationship with food is vital for my peace of mind and sanity. And it takes 2 seconds longer to do something. That way you can actively adjust when adjustment is necessary and you don't have to do a lot of guess work to figure it out. It's call empirical evidence rather than magical thinking and hocus pocus. Cuz I can spit in one hand and wish in the other and guess which one is gonna stand up?

No disrespect to your RD and I fully understand your issue.

My PA tells me to count calories and my nutritionist tells me to measure. Since portion control is my nemisis I track calories and eyeball portions. I hate the idea of deprivation so I pay attention within reason. No sweets or higher carbs until maintenance. Do whatever works for you.

I don't track calories or weigh food and was never told to by the surgeon or the bariatric nurse. I was just told to 'eat small, eat healthy'. I keep a food diary and record my weight weekly, but that's all. Food doesn't control me any more, so I don't want to spend more time thinking about it than I do currently. It's just there when I need it.

I do not track but I am pre-op

Edited September 13, 20196 yr by AliciaKC

38 minutes ago, looly said:

I don't track calories or weigh food and was never told to by the surgeon or the bariatric nurse. I was just told to 'eat small, eat healthy'. I keep a food diary and record my weight weekly, but that's all. Food doesn't control me any more, so I don't want to spend more time thinking about it than I do currently. It's just there when I need it.

It's good to hear that this is also working for you too--I was also never told to count calories by my bariatric nutritionist or surgeon, rather they gave me guidelines to stay within (i.e. no refined sugar, always whole grain, eat five times a day, etc.) My nutritionist actually wants me to eat more carbs... different strokes I guess!

2 hours ago, FluffyChix said:

It's call empirical evidence rather than magical thinking and hocus pocus.

Haha you've got a point! I'm going to give this some thought and potentially start tracking soon. One question--do you use measurement cups or a kitchen scale or both? I live in Europe and the way we track everything is metric / with a kitchen scale, which feels *quite* exact.

9 minutes ago, bodycando said:

Haha you've got a point! I'm going to give this some thought and potentially start tracking soon. One question--do you use measurement cups or a kitchen scale or both? I live in Europe and the way we track everything is metric / with a kitchen scale, which feels *quite* exact.

Volume is king. Right? But we need to know in a quantitative way, how much weight we're eating. So I put a 1 cup by volume measuring cup on the scale (think that is 240ml for you?), weigh in 85g-112g of protein by weight, then fill the cup up with veg. Depending on what the veg is, that could be from 28-57g or so of veggies.

Hope that helps!

1 hour ago, bodycando said:

It's good to hear that this is also working for you too--I was also never told to count calories by my bariatric nutritionist or surgeon, rather they gave me guidelines to stay within (i.e. no refined sugar, always whole grain, eat five times a day, etc.) My nutritionist actually wants me to eat more carbs... different strokes I guess!

It's interesting that you should say that about carbs...I ate a lot of protein in comparison to everything else to begin with, and had pretty awful constipation. The nurse told me to increase the proportion of healthy carbs and the problem sorted itself out.

different methods work for different people. I'm a calorie counter, even though my dietitian hates that and wants me to do "intuitive eating" instead. Sorry - but that doesn't work for me. I intuitively ate my way up to 373 lbs in the past. I'm going to continue calorie counting as that DOES work - at least for me. Sounds like it would not work for you. So I'd say do whatever works. It's going to be different for different people.

I am 7 months out from surgery. My nutritionist told me to count calories (plus grams of protein and water consumption) for at least a year. And there was homework! I had to show her my spreadsheet every time I saw her.

I stopped counting calories and everything else about four months ago. By then, I had a very good sense of what I should eat and in what amount. And to be honest, tracking everything drove me a little crazy. I continued to lose weight consistently after that and reached my goal weight in six months, so it obviously had no impact on my success.

47 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

different methods work for different people. I'm a calorie counter, even though my dietitian hates that and wants me to do "intuitive eating" instead. Sorry - but that doesn't work for me. I intuitively ate my way up to 373 lbs in the past. I'm going to continue calorie counting as that DOES work - at least for me. Sounds like it would not work for you. So I'd say do whatever works. It's going to be different for different people.

Can I officially become a fan girl?

This is me to a T. I intuitively ate my way up to 325lbs.

Yes, I have some genetic predis, some medical stuff, a few meds, but I also have behaviors that were all Willy Wonka Oompa Loompa around food. And I am gonna just own it. I didn't magically end up at the Morbid Obesity Ball. I contributed to my own destruction through willful self-indulgent choices and emotional and uncontrolled pursuit of hedonistic food panacea.

So if I want a snowballs hope in hell of "magically" keeping this weight off, I better hold my toes to the fire and my actions accountable. The only way I can do that is to not "wing it" or "eyeball it" or whatever euphamism you want to tack in there. Cuz I sure as hell plan on weighing daily, and weighing and measuring to know how to fix things when I'm 3-5lbs up from goal. I hope and pray I never see anywhere close to 325 again. I was a dead woman walking and felt miserable 24/7/365.

Edited September 13, 20196 yr by FluffyChix

Me

I have never tracked. I find it too difficult, too time consuming and just generally frustrating. The closest I have got to tracking is keeping notes in a diary, usually before dieticians appointments. When she looks she just scans through checking the protein and gives me pointers as to where I can improve. The practice I go to don’t actively encourage tracking.

So my take would be if you are happy to do it go for it. If you don’t want to have to work out exactly what is in every mouthful and you are healthy and losing ( or maintaining) as per your plan then don’t.

Different strokes for different folks

I tracked the first 16 months and I always would eat all my calories, when I stopped tracking I lost a few more pounds. I was obsessed with tracking and eating but now I eat more normally and try to be mindful. I am a daily weigher so if the scale starts going up I pay attention to what I am doing. I also still weigh and measure when I start to see the scale go up and I spot check myself sometimes just to be safe. None of us ever want to go back to where we came from and for me I need to keep myself in check for life

I think you should try to coordinate with your WLS doctor and your therapist for the best plan for you.

Your situation is unique, and I want you stay healthy in both body AND mind. You deserve nothing less. ?

Good luck, and congratulations on all of your success so far!

7 hours ago, bodycando said:

Hi all, from what I read on this board it seems like everyone here tracks their food intake and calories. I haven't tracked calories since my first weeks post-surgery, but I do track exercise and my measurements, and eat very mindfully. The reason is that I have a history of disordered eating and am concerned that I can get too obsessive with tracking. My therapist is also not a fan of calorie tracking. In the distant past I've gotten very obsessive with tracking, but in the more recent past I feel more a weird combination of laziness and anxiety around it.

I'm 9 months out and have had great success post-surgery (100+ lbs down) but am wondering if I should rethink my no-tracking stance as I get into more challenging territory closer to my goal weight. Anyone else in the same boat?

Congratulations on 9 months out and 102 pounds lost. You may want to follow your therapist advice if they are concerned about your eating disorder.

To track or not to track? Great question.

It’s important to know yourself. What works for one person may not work for another. Choose what will make you successful long term. You are the only one who has to be happy with your weight loss.

Some can consistently lose weight without logging. They eat healthy and keep their calories low.

For others it’s hard to lose weight/maintain guessing calories and macros. Your restriction becomes less over time. Extra calories can slip back in.

Tracking can help with the bariatric basics. It’s a great tool to learn portions, stay in your weight loss calorie zone, and protein goals. It helps change old behaviors and gives you some accountability. This does not mean you have to log lifelong.

To each their own.