To Track or Not -- Need Your Thoughts Band Buddies

that is a good point to Vlp.   I hate it when things start to feel like a diet because that is when I start to fail because nobody likes to diet or that word.  That is why I never stuck to nothing because you start getting that feeling is when things start to go back to the old ways.

If you really think about it as long as you eat three healthy meals, protein, veggie and carb , in healthy portions , drink your water, and exercise you will be just fine .

My mom does that and she goes by the scale. She gives herself a 5 pound leeway on things.When she hits her five pounds up she starts watching what she eats again. She has always done it that way and can wear clothes from 20 yrs ago.


I think the less you can think of this journey as a diet people would be better off.
 

 When I journal all I tend to think about is food.  I think about what the next meal is on my "plan" for the day.  I am just sticking to my three meals and maybe a snack of some sort if needed.  This has been working great for me.  When I used to do Weigh****chers I tracked everything.  I was obsessed and it made losing weight for me even more of a struggle.  I would say just do your three meals and a snack and see what happens.  If it doesn't work, go back to tracking.

Thanks for the input.. I am going to take a break and see how I do.

I think I need to ask myself more.. am I hungry versus it's lunch time.. I didn't track the beginning but I started too maybe 6 months after surgery to keep accountable.

I just started using myfitnesspal.com and I love it. I don't follow their guidelines for cals and such. I wrote down on a card what my doctor says I should have daily  ( calories, carbs. fat. protein, sodium and fiber) and taped it to my laptop. I do use the website to keep food logged in and to keep myself accountable.

I just joined myfitnesspal.com.
I found out that you can edit all those guidelines too.
Like I set it to 1200 cals per day, etc.
I put it in and forget about it.
Nice!

I think it sounds like a good idea.

I don't track daily (I write down my exercise minutes because I am part of the Exercise Challenge here).

About 1 or 2 days a week, I write down what I eat, and then calculate the calories, to see how I am doing ---- I am working to maintain within a 5 pound range, so I write it down just to keep some accountability.

Thanks for the input. I'm still going to portion my food out and make good choices .. I'm just not going to log them for 1 week and see how I do.

I'd continue tracking, though I am not sure why you're even paying attention to the myfitnesspal suggestions. They're always off, even for the average person. You can go into setting and set your own protein, carb, calorie, fat, etc needs. That's what I do.

 I've tracked since day 1 and it's been a blessing; I still track today mainly to ensure I'm hitting my calories to match my exercise. I kind of like being able to say okay wow I'm in a 700 calorie deficit I can afford to eat 200 calories. Maybe it's just me.

Either way I'd say track, but with your own settings, not the myfitnesspal suggestions.

you know me... I track on Livestrong DAILY and have for the past 4 years....  

Do what works for you friend.  

Regarding this and some of your other recent posts -- It's great you are thinking about this and trying new things/methods  -- that's a winner mentality.


I've tracked pretty religiously since having surgery. Now I know the calorie content of almost anything I eat off the top of my head!   I've been trying to break a long stall and have been having a very hard time consistently keeping my protein up - -which is apparently what my body needs to break a stall from my previous experience. So I'm trying something new this week -- only counting protein and forgetting the rest. Hard to do after logging calories and carbs for so long. So far I think it is working. My pants are a smidgen loser after 5 days. I weigh in on Monday so I'll know for sure then. Personally I think it would be very freeing to not feel like I have to log everything and update Fit Day several times a day. But as a person that LOVES to log things I'm a little worried about not doing it.