I will calorie count forever. My calories will just be higher at my maitenance weight. Its a lifestyle change. Ive watched many a woman 'estimate' when she just wanted to maintain for a while and then oops gain 30lbs back or more. Not worth it. Just spend the extra 2 minutes during meal preparation to measure and weigh.

I voted forever.

But I probably won't be as meticulous as I am now and measure every single thing. It's stressful and I don't think I can handle doing that for the rest of my life. I practice IF and I intend to keep doing it so I'm less worried about going back to my bad eating habit. Plus weekly weigh-ins will keep me in-check.

No idea, really, but i expect that i'll need to count for atleast the first year of maintenance. We'll see from there.

Realistically I will hopefully do what I've been doing, which is:

Count and log everything for a while (couple weeks, couple months maybe), get sick of it, take a few weeks or more off, start seeing the weight loss slow or stall or gain a little bit, then start counting and logging everything again to get me back on track, repeat.

I voted "for the rest of my life." I actually feel weird not logging my food. It's like a game to me. It's like everyday I'm trying to beat my target/high score (or stay within calories) and something is missing when I don't get to log. It helps that I have a nifty app to track things but calorie counting is habit to me. It doesn't matter whether I'm on plan logging in 1500 calories or off-plan logging a 3000+ calorie binge, it all gets entered.

I could probably manage the mindful calorie aware thing, but I'd miss the fun of my daily game.

I don't know, since I have a ways to go but if my metabolism/fitness make up for some cals I might not count 1 or maybe 2 days. I think once I get to goal and maintain I might know what my body needs to stay healthy and trim. (ah it feels like forever from now for me)

I read that it helps to just count for a week every now and then, so you stay aware of your eating habits. So, that is my plan after I reach my goal. But, I also agree with some of the other ladies, that hopefully after while I will be able to eat correct portions because it will be my new "normal".

I've never been thin so I have to idea what I'll need to do to stay thin. I haven't been calorie counting the past month and while I didn't lose weight, I also didn't gain. Just by having a better idea of what a portion looks like vs. how I used to eat is keeping me from gaining, so I'm hoping that when I reach goal and my metabolism recovers, I won't have to be so careful.

However, I'm fully prepared to count for the rest of my life it that's what it takes. I can't remember who said it, but a fellow 3FC lady said something like people who aren't naturally thin don't have the hunger signals naturally thin people are born with. If someone has a chronic illness, they'll take the required medicine and do what they have to do to stay healthy and treat their condition. I've been overweight since I was 5, so if obesity is something I have to battle and keep away by counting calories forever, then I'm going to make it a part of my life and do what I have to do. Though, I am hoping I can at least just count every other day or something when I get to maintaince!

I will have to do it forever to some extent. I did ok with intuitive eating for the end of losing and the beginning of maintenance, but started making "exceptions" way too often, and gained about 8 lbs back. I am now back to my goal weight, and I would say I log 5 out of 7 days at this point.

Being physically full is not a trigger for me to stop eating. I need to see it in black and white to "prove" that yes, I have eaten plenty to fuel my body. If I am truly hungry, I have no problem going over a bit, but it needs to be a conscious decision.

Ideally, I would like to be able to guesstimate calories, and only log/track if I go over a redline number. But for now - the logging is here to stay.

I didn't answer the poll, as my answer doesn't totally fit into either category.

I did log and count the entire time I was actively working on losing. When I hit the 100 lbs. lost point, I stopped both. I have been able to maintain my weight for more than 2 years based on what I learned during the 72 weeks it took to take off the 100 lbs.

However, I had set my goal 20 lbs below the 100 lbs lost once I reached 165 (the original goal) and haven't made any progress at all in that direction. I suspect the only way to get that last 20 off is go to back to logging and counting, but for now I'll just continue to coast.