I stopped tracking..and geez!

(Charlotte) #1

I’ve been keto for 5 months now, lost 45lbs so far and the last two months it has been very low to no progress. I am by no means complaining at all about my progress this far because it has been fantastic and I know and expect there will be peaks and valleys. I obsessively weighed and tracked everything I ate. I decided two weeks ago to stop tracking to see if I could comfortably trust my ability to listen to what my body was telling me to eat.

In that two weeks I have had such positive results.
1) Weight loss picked up. Not tracking has forced me to listen to what my body wants and not what I think I should eat. So I’m no longer eating with macros on my mind.
2) Less stress. I don’t stress over questioning if my macros were right and if I was eating enough or too much. I found that my obsessive tracking was a huge crutch and I seeing those macros several times a day was actually a bad thing. I would either eat to hit those macros, not eat because I was already at my macros, or cheat because I could “afford” the carbs because I hadn’t hit my personal 15g limit. Now I’m actually consuming roughly half of my carb limit or less and not tempted to cheat since I really don’t really know the exact number my carbs are at in any given time.
3) Freedom. I honestly feel a sense of freedom in not tracking. Some days I eat more, some days I eat less, and some days I end up fasting. I feel free not being tethered to an app all the time.
4) My BK and BG have improved. The huge plus side in not tracking (for me) is my BK has gone up from 0.9 to 1.6 and my BG is down 10 mmol/l overall.

I feel confident that I have moved past my need to track and trust myself more to make good choices and listen to what my body telling me. So yay for small victories both scale and non scale. I was scared to stop logging everything, but it has been great for me personally. Just wanted to share.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

Wow! That is very interesting. So many people seem to feel that minute tracking is necessary, that it’s rather surprising to read that someone got better results from not tracking! :+1:

(William Shafer III) #3

I have to admit I’m a bit envious of you. I guess a lifetime of horrible eating habits still haunt me. I do OMAD/Keto and plan my meal pretty extensively. If were to eat as much as I wanted when I wanted I’d eat way too much. Good going! You’ve gotten to where some of us still struggle for.

(Justin ) #4

Hey Charlotte, I am just over two months in and I am starting to do the same but it is easy for me now because I am OMAD also. But I agree with you and I know my body and am listening to it. It is a bit of a good feeling of freedom not worrying about so many things to track when eating multiple meals though. Glad stress is reduced and I bet that has a big part in the weight loss picking up since your body isnt fighting as much. Congrats and keep it up!

(Jody) #5

This is amazing! Congrats! LOVE THIS.

(less is more, more or less) #6

I’m ditto with your experience. I’ve stopped tracking and have seen the same results, except for the BK/BG values. I haven’t a clue what mine are.

It is awesome not having to OCD-like enter every bloody thing I eat.

Sigh. That said, for new people, however, they may not know what they’re eating. There is value, but boy, when you graduate off trackers, life is good!

(Charlotte) #7

Thanks. This is a huge deal for me because I was a massive carb addict. In the beginning tracking was necessary for me because I was so unsure of what I was doing, but in that time I learned what I can eat, how much, and when. I started to find that tracking seemed to be an unnecessary stressor and thats what prompted me to try step away from the apps. Now I just use them to keep up with my bio trends which I check maybe once every couple days. I never realized how much time I spent on those apps until today.

(Charlotte) #8

:100:% agree!

(Lorena) #9

@Luckymisslucy
Thank you for this! I have been wanting to get off the tracking roller coaster but tracking has been my life for so many years that at times I am afraid to stop. Your post is so encouraging! Trusting what your body is telling you must be awesome!

(Charlotte) #10

You’ve been tracking for years. You know what you’re doing. If you want to get off tracking, try it for 1 day and see how you feel. If you feel good about it, go for another day. It’s just one day, if it doesn’t go well then you haven’t lost anything. You just need a confidence booster. :slight_smile:

(Jody) #11

I totally agree with this approach. I tossed my scale over a decade ago, talk about freedom. I started to get a little OCD with my blood sugar testing, but have managed to re-frame, knowing it’s a short term tool until I am officially non diabetic. I have been doing intuitive eating for over a decade as well, so comfortable with the listening to my body vs my disordered ‘thoughts’.

The interesting thing I learned, the more I learned to listen to my body when it comes to food, I used that same sense of intuition in other parts of my life, work, relationships. I listen when my body speaks. It’s pretty damn smart.

(Deborah ) #12

So much this!!! I’ve been keto for about 11 mos. and stopped tracking after about the first month. I decided since keto is a WOL, not just a “diet”, that I don’t want to live my life constantly calculating numbers!

(Scott) #13

When using calorie deficit I logged and tracked, it was a pain in the Ass!. When I found out counting calories on keto is optional I said “I am in”. I haven’t counted, measured or tracked anything and it just works. I love it!

#14

Excellent update, Charlotte! I’m very proud of you.

Thanks for sharing this! :+1:

(Khara) #15

This is exactly what I’ve experienced. I needed to track in order to know what I was putting in my body. And after some time I had the hang of it. I still use an app if I’m curious about a new food but usually only enter that food and not my entire day. (The only thing I don’t like about not tracking is I don’t have the data to tie to lab work and also don’t have data to tie to weight loss or stalls. But, that is not enough of a driver to make me want to spend time tracking right now. I think it’s a good tool now and then to self assess a possible issue but otherwise definitely feel that learning to listen to my body is the ideal way.)

Exactly. I really like the way this was said. Tracking is great for learning but we can graduate and move on from it and learn a better way, how to listen to our body.

Congrats on your awesome successes!

(Lorena) #16

It’s true I’ve been tracking for years but only a little over 3 months on Keto. But you’ve inspired me to wing it!

(Alec) #17

You are the Ghrelin poster child! Clearly your story resonates with a lot of people, and is giving some people a push to do the ghrelin thing. :clap::clap::clap:

I think this is the absolute key to long term weight management on any diet or WOE. The problem with most non-keto WOEs is that the signals are messed up and it doesn’t work.

I have this on/off binary problem. I am either on plan or off plan, and there’s no middle ground. I have changed “on plan” to be less obsessive, less tracking, no weighing, just trusting the hunger signals. I am planning for this to be forever, and I hope and think it can be.

Satiety and her subtleties are worth learning.

(Alec) #18

@Luckymisslucy, by the way, when I first saw your topic title I thought you were going to say you had gained weight from not tracking… what a fantastic surprise! Great post. Love it.

(Katie) #19

This is all wonderful, thank you for sharing. Definitely gives hope.

(MooBoom) #20

Can relate to this! Tracking is so important early on while you learn how your body responds to certain foods, and what is ok to eat. But once that’s all internalised knowledge, it can become oppressive to focus on the numbers.

Good for you, and congrats on your continued progress!