Keeping track of calorie intake long-term!!!

Well, fifteen pounds lighter from counting everything I have put in my mouth since 02/12/07 eight days after my 45th birthday and 3 days after my doctor suggested gastric bypass.  Just in case you are wondering I am currently down to 286 from 301 & I am so proud of me.  I eat around 1200 to 1500 calories per day. 

People are actually starting to notice as they had not said a word in the past as a mentioned in a previous post. 

Now this is my dilemma:  I have been writing everything down and adding the calories up at the end of the night before I sleep on a Daily Food and Beverage Diary Sheet.  This has been a very handy tool but I am really tired of doing this.  But I am scared that if I stop writing the calories down and calculating every morsel I ate for the day (and I mean every morsel) I will slip back into my old eating habits. 

I am very aware of all of the calories in the foods that I eat (nutritionist will be my next career) and could basically do it all in my head per meal but the fear of losing the power, i.e. willpower by not having that hardcopy to view my daily intake is more than I can stand.   As well as I know I can't do this forever, I have to be strong and just leg go at some point. 

So what should I do?  Continue to write this down or should I just let my intuition and knowledge guide me when I have had my limit of calories for the day.  I mean, I know how many calories are in a chicken leg & that I can't eat the skin, but I am so scared if I don't write it down I will somehow lose control of this whole thing.  HELP.  How have you long-termers kept track of your caloric intake?   

First of all, congratulations on your 15 pound loss! I know exactly what you are going through. I started out at 270 and it's been a long road to my current weight which is 176. It took me two years, but it was worth every minute. You're on your way!!

Have you tried the "food log" on this website? I find it very convenient because it adds everything up for you and it's easier to type rather than write (for me, anyway). I would hesitate to stop doing something if it's working for you. It might feel cumbersome to picture yourself writing this stuff down forever, but hey, if it's working, don't change it! That's my philosophy.

Or, you could try stopping the writing and just pay close attention to whether or not your weight starts heading in the other direction. And if you do start gaining again, just go right back to writing it down again. Hope this helps - good luck! =) Kris

well, what happened with me was i basically know what a 1/4 cup looks like, or what a serving of ice cream is. i usualy have a ball park of where my calories are, they are pretty accurate. ( within the 200 calorie range)

but for the most part i eat healthy and until im full and satisfied.

calorie counitng leads to OCD behavior, my suggestion is to ween off it slowly

I went to weight watchers for 3 years and I got so tired of writing down everything i ate. When i quit I started gaining and have gained back half of the 75 lbs. I lost. I have found keeping track of my intake on this site is much easier than writing it all down. Been here a month and have lost 5 lbs. so far. Not a quick fix, but at least its going in the right direction. Good luck to you.

i'm weening myself off of writing down.. i wrote down everything (on here) all last year.. for a full year.. i have made my healthy choices a habit and now i keep a calculator on my computer open and when i eat something i just add it to the calculator.. i know what healthy food choices are now and i'm still eating very heatlhy.. but i found that if i don't keep a tally then i tend to go over where i want to be.  and on the weekends i do not add at all.. but i still have a rough idea of what i'm taking in.. 

try it for a week just eating what comes naturally.  Then write down and measure and count, and see how close you are to your calorie budget.  If you are off enough to make a difference, then go back to counting and writing down.  If you are not off enough to make a difference, then go 2 weeks.  then count and measure and write down to see if you are off enough to make a difference.  If so, go back to counting and writing down.  If not, then go 3 weeks, and so on and so forth.

being able to review what i ate throughout the day gives me more willpower in not eating more at the end of the day... i stopped counting a while back and tried to keep a mental note of what i'd eaten, which worked on good days, but if i ever had an urge to binge (usually as a result of stress or smething), i had very little control over it... now, when i had something to look at that showed me i'd already eaten enough, i had more power in telling myself i wasn't really hungry, just bored or stressed, etc... needless to say i'm now back to documenting daily calories...

Congratulations on your 15 pound loss.  Good for you!  I feel your pain. I hate weighing every piece of food and then writing it down.  But I found out the hard way that if I stop doing that my portion sizes gradually get bigger and bigger.  And in the blink of an eye I have just gained back all the weight I lost.  I have told myself that this is what I have to do.  So it has become as much a part of my day as say taking a shower.     

I'm on this diet and I'm tracking everything in my notebook, I wouldn't even consider changing things up. I want to lose those 2 pounds a week while I can (since I can fit in a 1000 daily deficit in). The question for you is, how badly do you want to lose the weight? Do you want to lose 2 pounds a week or go down to maybe 1 a week here... 2 on rare occassions... or even risk not dropping any weight in a week. While you may be great at tracking everything in your mind... it's still a nice bit of accountability having the notebook around.

If it's getting too tedious, start abbreviating. Seriously, my breakfast... I don't bother to write down every item I had... I tally it up as I'm eating and then write that number down.

There's no reason to go too batty with the notebook thing... and if you carry too big a notebook it probably is time to downsize to a tiny pad you keep in your pocket. Heck I saw a nice one at walmart that was even in a little leather case and was smaller than my wallet. But a $0.25 tiny notebook will do as well.

So, if you are serious about wanting to get rid of the fat as efficiently as possible... then track your calories on paper (paper is far easier than the site if you already know how many calories are in everything)... but just cut out the exacting details.