I used to count religiously and it worked out extremely well for me in terms of losing weight.

But when I hit my goal weight, I saw a nutritionist because I was worried about my sanity in terms of counting everything. She told me to stop counting since I wasn't trying to lose weight anymore. At first I logged everything until I hit my new allowance for the day, but then I realized she was right - that counting every single thing for the rest of my life would not be healthy.

Remember, this is not the weight loss forum, where counting is the whole point. Counting is a tool to reach goal weight, not a way to maintain it for the rest of your life.

And yes, I know half the people here disagree with me. I still frequent these forums to give out advice about losing weight and maintaining it. I also like the food forums because people are always posting new finds.

Original Post by figurethefat:

Good to see your advice David, but perhaps everyone is not as good at estimating your daily intake as you might be :)

I usually just log it as I eat it, ha ha, or I log up what I'm taking to work to eat. The other day I logged up some dinner, but decided to have something else, so I just changed it.

Sometimes I eat, then put it in later, so for me it just depends on the situation. I think the planning ahead idea can be a very positive and helpful thing.

 To some extent I still plan ahead, but only vaguely.

When I was counting I would literally plan every single thing I was eating, the night before.  

Original Post by dm84:

I used to count religiously and it worked out extremely well for me in terms of losing weight.

But when I hit my goal weight, I saw a nutritionist because I was worried about my sanity in terms of counting everything. She told me to stop counting since I wasn't trying to lose weight anymore. At first I logged everything until I hit my new allowance for the day, but then I realized she was right - that counting every single thing for the rest of my life would not be healthy.

Remember, this is not the weight loss forum, where counting is the whole point. Counting is a tool to reach goal weight, not a way to maintain it for the rest of your life.

And yes, I know half the people here disagree with me. I still frequent these forums to give out advice about losing weight and maintaining it. I also like the food forums because people are always posting new finds.

I agree with you, for once. XP Continuously counting calories is a pain and I don't want to see myself in 30 years still doing it for maintenance. If you eat healthy, up a pound or down a pound every month isn't going to affect your life oh-so-dramatically, you know?

I usually plan out my entire day and log in advance.  I don't like surprises!  The way I do it is by food groups.  I log my servings - 5 veggies & fruit, 3 whole grains, 3 proteins, 3 or 4 dairy, 3 fats, making sure I have all the stuff on hand.  Then I check the Analysis and see if I'm missing anything.  Finally, I add discretionary items like treats and condiments until I reach my calorie limit of 1450 to lose or 1800 to maintain. 

I go back and tweak it if my plans change, for instance if I go out to lunch or something.

Original Post by nads27:

I absolutely LOVE counting calories.

For once in my life I don't have to feel guilty for eating something that may not be ultra-healthy but is still within my calories.  If I wasn't counting I'd never be quite sure and wouldn't be able to enjoy the food so much.  Guilt was one of the driving factors for my overeating.

I'll always have an obsessive compulsive overeating disorder but at least now what I'm putting in my body isn't too much, and I'm thin!

Not to be mean, but it sounds like you're ignoring the root of the problem and using a band aid solution instead.

I was a compulsive overeater too, but when I lost weight, I wanted to rid myself of that, because I didn't see the point in becoming thin unless I could learn how to control myself without relying on a computer to do it for me for the rest of my life.

Have you ever tried not counting? Just curious.

Original Post by caitling:

I completely plan out my meals each day, but I leave some room to make changes too because my school doesn't always have the foods they say that they do.

Same here caitling, I plan out at the beginning of the day but it can always come out of hand and the school cantine doesn't always have what I want :[ Binging is the biggest problem I'm facing ATM and trying to get away from. Any ideas?

sarjane,

Like you if I have something I know I am planning on having during the day I will log it in first. That way I can work around it the rest of the day if it is something special with extra calories.

My breakfast is usually pretty much the same each day and varies only by about 40 calories one way or the other. Lunch is often my big meal of the day so then once I have had lunch I know how many calories I have left for my afternoon and evening. Depending if I have something planned for dinner that will take a sizeable portion of my remaining calories or not I decide on my snacks. If I have already gotten in all my veggies for the day after eating lunch, and I don't have plans for something like salmon steaks on the BBQ for dinner, I like to have multiple snacks thru the afternoon and evening. Crackers with peanut butter, pineapple spears and strawberries, dates with almonds etc

On workdays I pack my food and log everything in before I leave. That way I make sure I have a good balance and keep my sodium, fiber, or sugar levels in check. If I feel hungry at the end of the day, I make my snack choice something that fits in or improves the balance. If I'm low on fats, peanut butter. If I'm low on protein, turkey. 

I like logging and weighing food in because I'm still fairly new at it and don't feel like I have a good grasp on eyeballing or estimating good balances and portions yet. But I am learning all I can and plan to eventually stop logging and weighing. Just not ready now.

I have only been maintaining for a few months so I am still figuring it all out. I still log and count for the most part but I don't panic if say I am on vacation and can't log.  I am getting more comfortable with estimating and planning my food for the day.  After 14 months of counting, logging, measuring and weighing I can pretty much eyeball the right portion size.  Sometimes for high calorie meats I will estimate the portion and then weigh just to check myself.  So far so good. 

new to this, just hit my goal weight yesterday. but i seriously can't deal with counting calories every day. in fact when i was losing weight, i would give it a rest for a couple of days, either estimating or making up for it the following days.  but i do believe that i will need to spot check myself.

we have to spot check a few processes at work as things can get out of hand, so why not apply that to my dieting practices as well. many times at work, you think you are ok, but then find out you have been over or under estimating or you were completely wrong in the beginning. so i think my plan, once i get the hang of eating on my maintenance calories (so a couple more months) is to do a count every 3 or 4 days.

but ive come to the realization that i will have to sort of eat like im on a diet for the rest of my life. not a strict diet, but i can't go back to the way i ate before.

the little squirrels in my head have started to  turn the wheels in my head to 'flesh out' a maintenance plan for myself.