of your calories somewhere? I have done fitday and didn't like it. Most recently I have been doing the daily plate. But it's a pain to have to go in and log it all. Since Saturday I have just been tracking it in my head. I am hoping this doesn't throw me way off. But I feel like I have been doing this for a while now and know how much I can eat of what and when and It was getting too tedious to track it all at tdp. So I'm hoping my head will work it all out. Anyone else just track it mentally?

If I weigh in on Sunday and find out this was not a good idea, I will go back to tracking on tdp.

I track it mentally and so far, so good. I eat mostly the same things day in and day out. I've got all my meals down pat. So there's no reason for me to log in my food. If I am eating something new, then I will look up the calorie count. If at any point this no longer works, like you said, I will go back to tracking FAITHFULLY. Well, I shouldn't say faithfully, because what I'm doing now is pretty darn faithful, but it's just not WRITTEN anywhere.

What I do is not for everyone, but it works for me. And if and when it stops working - there WILL be changes.

I use DietPower. I started my weightloss journey exactly 327 days ago and I have logged absolutely everything (food and exercise) for 327 days.

I used DietPower previously. I have not gone back to that database but during that effort I went close to 1 1/2 years without missing a beat.

I see this as something that I will potentially do for a lifetime. It keeps me focused. Last time I quite I gained it all back. It is not that I did not know that I was falling apart but not logging it allowed me to stick my head in the sand and pretend like it was not happening.

Lori

Yes, even when I cheat I only let myself cheat with things I can track. Its not that difficult for me because I usually eat alot of the same foods (and don't need to look everything up). I eat the same breakfast most days so I really don't have that much to track. For some reason having to enter my food into a neat little digital log keeps me incredibly honest.

for now I do it all with fitday. Once I reach my goal I'm going to relax a bit and focus on portions

I don't do mine online. I find that it works better for me to actually write it all down in a notepad/journal. That way I can look at my b-fast, lunch, dinner and snacks each day... by only flipping my page.

I know that I am still sticking to my allotted calories. I have no desire to cheat. If I think I'm not being honest, I will start tracking again. I am determined to lose this weight this time. I am even chosing clementines over a 100 cal snack pack or a bowl of cereal in the evening. My two weaknesses. I am loving the new me and it's giving me so much motivation. But like I said, if I find this isn't working, I will go back to tracking.

I still track what I eat (most days.) I use fitday. The thing is that I can't eat the same things day in day out. I love food and can't handle boredum. So there really is no way for me to truely track in my head.

I do agree that fitday can be tedious though. I love being on the computer, so it doesn't bother me, but I can see how it would.

If tracking in your head works for you I see no problem with it. Whatever works, works.

I don't track mine, simply because..I don't want to have something else to obsess about. I don't want to have to count calories for the rest of my life...so eating better and exercising is all I'm doing...I know what I can and shouldn't have basically. I'm determined to make this my last time up and down the diet trail.

I have a spread sheet that I log everything into. I have a TOPS book that has the calorie count on most products that I use but when its a package I just log in the calorie count on the package.

On weekends I write it down because my grandson likes to mess with the computer and he is only 2 so I don't use the computer when he is around.

I look forward to the day that I might not have to do this but it may be a while because I don't trust myself. I have a naughty side that overlooks things like portion control and doesn't know right from wrong.

When I was losing weight and counting calories, I used Fitday to measure calories with as much accuracy as I possibly can. Now that I'm maintaining, I estimate my calories in my head.

I keep a blog as well as Excel spread sheets that lists everything that I have consumed since I started this. I find that it helps me stay accountable.

I count everything, even the bad days (only two since Dec. 7th) in FitDay - the purchased/downloaded one. When I make new dinners (something I haven't mad before) I'll try it out in FitDay first, deleting it if I don't think it's worth the calories. I learned the hard way that I need to track, for at least the next few years, and probably longer than that.

Not everybody does, in the end whatever works for you is the right thing.

I keep a notebook and I write down everything I eat and the corresponding calorie count (or my best guess in some cases). I also track my water intake and write down what I did in terms of exercise. When I stopped doing this for about eight months, my weight loss stalled. As soon as I started doing it again, I started losing again.