Do you track?

I know that when I was losing weight, I found that tracking both my activity levels and intake really helped me manage my weight loss. Often if I found my weight loss stalling, I'd check and find that my caloric intake was too low or I wasn't getting enough protein in. When I'd make the appropriate adjustments, I'd get going again. The other thing I found was that when tracking my activity I realized that I needed to up my caloric intake a bit to be sure that I was getting that baseline of 800 to 1000 calories a day to be sure that I didn't drop into starvation mode where your body gets more efficient with less calories.

Now, that I've lost the excess weight and shifted to the maintenance phase of my journey, I find that I don't journal my intake or activity nearly as much as used to. Now, I only do it if I see a trend occurring that I don't like... Either dropping or gaining too much weight. When I look at my logs, I find that I can actually see what I'm doing and when I make the appropriate corrections, so that I'm getting in enough protein, my weight balances out very quickly. 

I have tried Fitday, Sparkpeople and LiveStrong/MyDailyPlate. I really like www.mydailyplate.com the best so far because I don't have to reinvent the wheel when I'm logging my food choices. I like the graphic pie chart that immediately shows me a visual so I can 'see' if my proportion of protiens, carbs and fats are on track. 

So, my question is do you track your intake or activity? Have you found it helpful? Which tools have you tried and which do you like?

Hi Ann,

As you know, like  you, I often wear a pedometer. It both motivates and validates my level of activity. I also don't track my intake nearly as often now as I used to. Now, I tend to do it when I need to get myself back on track. 

It sounds to me like you are doing what you need to do to take care of you and your are doing it well.