I stopped tracking..and geez!

#22

This is awesome!

I admit to being an obsessive tracker, but I also know that it’s really not for everybody and the idea of it is a total turn-off for a lot of people. So it’s great to hear from someone that isn’t tracking, but is also doing it in a logical way instead of a “Dude, just eat whatever” sort of way. :grin:

I’m pretty confident I’ll never be able to lose weight without tracking; I just lose focus too quickly. But I really don’t plan on doing it once I get to my goal weight–hopefully, I won’t need or want the more sophisticated data at that point and can get by with the basics.

(Cindy) #23

You might be surprised. Most people, for whatever reason, inherently rebel against rules. Even those rules that are meant to make you healthier. By making how much you eat and when you eat a “rule,” it reinforces the need for the rule. As long as you’re eating keto-approved foods, you should try letting go of the rules. LISTEN to your hunger signals. You might not hear them at first if you’re used to being regimented, and you might eat too much at first if you’re not used to paying attention to satiety signals…but remove the artificial guidelines and you might be pleasantly surprised.

#24

Yep, I figured out a while back that if I had to track macros and log everything I eat then I would either become a miserable obsessive or just quit and move on. For a good while I just kept a kind of a mental running tally of any carbs I had during the day. Then as I progressed to more and more animal products it got easier and easier. Now I’m kind of free-form carnivore and just eat without worrying too much about it.
It’s awesome.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #25

I eat the same thing everyday, so no need to track. Bacon, cabbage, onions, pork chop. green beans, butter.

(MooBoom) #26

Wow! That fascinates me on so many levels. Do you ever get bored? Have you always preferred to eat the same things even pre-keto?
Whilst I couldn’t eat the same thing every day (I’d get so bored) I can see some definite advantages. Grocery shopping would be easier, food costs relatively stable, meal times routine, same with prep/clean up etc.

#27

@MooBoom this has been my experience. I like to be lazy when it comes to keto (you might have heard me mention this before), so I like to have a lot of the same foods.

I made a list awhile back of the various “staples” in my keto kitchen, and told Lisa, just make sure we always have these items, and I’ll figure out something to eat.

Now here’s the thing. Eating, pre-keto, used to be a chore for me, something I had to do, now I truly enjoy my food even though it’s relatively the same things every week. There’s something about knowing how good this food is for me, that accentuates the flavor and enjoyment of eating it. Not only does it taste good, I know it is good for me.

So, it’s hard for me to get bored about what I’m eating when I’m simultaneously rewarding myself, while I’m eating it.

Lazy and beneficial. It’s the best of both worlds!

(MooBoom) #28

@dlc96_darren that makes a great deal of sense. The tyranny of many choices being removed can actually (counter intuitively) make us more happy with the remaining choices.

I try to eat as varied a diet as possible within the keto framework because I love to cook and create recipes. Life would be simpler if I were lazier :joy:

(Carol) #29

Great post @Luckymisslucy! I’ve been on board with this since sometime in my second month. It makes this woe so much easier for me and it has worked very, very well.

(PSackmann) #30

I have the exact opposite problem with OMAD, I find it very hard to get enough calories in on my one meal. You might be surprised if you allow yourself to eat without pre-planning one day, then track afterwards. I know I was surprised when I realized how hard it was to hit those high calorie numbers when no carbs are added.

(PSackmann) #31

This, so much this. I know I can always track for a while if I need to, since I currently can’t weight accurately, my feedback isn’t a number either, but how I feel and my measurements getting slowly smaller. Scary at times though, for me.

(hottie turned hag) #32

Another no-tracker here.

From the start (Aug 2017) I counted neither cals nor macros and ate once/24h.

I’m a data nerd and into minute detail so one would think tracking’d be right up my alley.

I didn’t because I wanted it as simple as possible and as thoughtless, that’s why the once/24h aspect.
I have overdone it sometimes and can feel it immediately; I just do 48 or 72h when this happens and that “regulates” things so to speak.

I’ve never been an emotional eater so prob why this works for me; if one has an emotional component tracking may work better than my winging it approach.

(Jody) #33

I have an eating disorder, so I have to keep myself in check. No scales, no food journaling, no monitors other than my blood sugar monitor. I even have to limit tape measures and recently even removed a full length mirror in the house I was suddenly obsessed with :heart_eyes:.

(hottie turned hag) #34

@Jody2 I don’t have an ED but I do have ocd and am obsessive about detail. I don’t own a scale because I’d be on it several times per day and obsessing. I knew if I started tracking it’d become an obsession so I didn’t go there. Also the once/24h thing helps keep the obsession down and the gorging fun, up :pig::pig2::pig_nose:

I did it for pure simplicity but ended up liking the eating a lot at once thing, rather than parceling out -and obsessing on amounts- several times per day as I knew that’d be an an obsession trigger.

(when you use the word obsession obsessively :crazy_face:)

(Charlotte) #35

I was a huge emotional eater but after starting keto and tracking everything I learned how to appropriately manage my emotional stability and stress levels and I was able to successfully break that habit. Acknowledging I was an emotional eater before I started keto has been key in my success so far because if you don’t change those behaviors then it’ll make the journey so much harder. Far too many people underestimate how much of a factor emotional well being is on our bodies. Its an after thought… and that’s why I have been tackling keto from a systemic approach. If you can’t manage whats on the inside you’ll never get what you want on the outside in a healthy and permanent way.

(Karim Wassef) #36

Technically, you’re tracking glucose and ketones,… and weight?.. :smiley:

All kidding aside, I think the big takeaway for me is the ability to listen to your body. Many of us hear, but don’t listen or understand.

I personally need my blood glucose and ketones to listen and understand.

Kudos!

(Ketoviking) #37

I love that you’ve been able to do this! And congratulations on the progress made. I tried this for a couple of week and it coincided with my first stall. I freaked out and ran back to my security blanket of tracking. I’ve found tracking reduces stress for me because it takes the guess work out of knowing where I’m sitting on carbs and fats. One day I’m hoping to get to the point you are and just “know” what and how to eat without having a constant app open.

(Charlotte) #38

I actually do track my ketones, glucose, and weight so I can stay on top of things and even then I don’t do it every day… I want to make sure that my not tracking food is going in the right direction, but since my two week experiment was successful I plan on not tracking my bios very often… baby steps. :+1:t2:

(Paul Smith) #39

I am a 78 year ole fart who needed to get control of my blood sugar levels. I recently learned about a heart condition I was given as a gift from an ancestor… Don’t you love it!??
So I needed to get control of my weight because that is the controlling factor of how good my quality of life will be going forward.
Keto seem to be the way to go. I will not do something that I have to constantly keep track of what I am doing. Plus I need something simple enough to where I can sit down and buy or look at the menu and get food that I need.
I don’t track things and I don’t continually weigh myself. All I have done is choose a very narrow eating program that I can choose from a list of foods that I know his available.
So far I’m past 20 and now I’m working on 35 lb.
Wish everybody good luck!

(Adam Sheather) #40

Another no tracker here. I did look at carbohydrate percentage of foods with about 5% being around a mental cut off for something that I would use as an ingredient in anything more than a trace quantity with the 2 exceptions of onion & garlic.

I have been getting my blood work done every 3 months only. My results have been good HbA1C down fron 10 (undiagnosed type 2 diabetes) to 6.1 after 3 months & then steady at 6.1 after the next 3 months which is still considered pre-diabetic but a marked improvement.

My blood marker for fatty liver normalised within a month & is still good.

My HDL has gone up a little & my triglycerides have dropped hugely.

I’ve lost a bit over 20kgs, (around 44lbs) down from 105.5kgs, (around 232.5lbs) to 85kgs (around 187.4 lbs). Most of the weight loss was at the start with the rate of weight loss slowing as time has gone on.

I stalled for a bit at 90kgs because I was doing more habitual eating than I do now. I started losing weight slowly again when I started just eating when I was hungry more often. I still do some social eating & the very few special social occasions where I might drink beer rather than spirits but they are planned decisions rather than off the cuff indulgences. I am not gunning for my sainthood yet! :wink:

I have my Dad on the diet now as well & he is getting good results as well.

Will probably get blood glucose/ketone meters just so I can fine tune things a bit & see the effect that different foods & (especially) beer have on me so I know what I specifically have to be wary of.

Good luck with it all people.

`If it helps, my age is in the late 40s. I was 80kgs, (around 176lbs) when I was 20 years old which is where I felt best. That is a mental target I have but I will be happy with whatever weight I feel best at, be it that weight or lighter or heavier.

P.S Good on you Lonejack for doing something about your health & not writing yourself off because of your age.

(Sue Kitchell) #41

I stopped tracking a few months ago and gained some weight after I lost weight being on strict Keto. I lost a total of 19 pounds and I gained 9 pounds back. Bummer! I started tracking again but I have been a bit less restrictive. I lost 5 pounds of the 9 I regained but it is slow. I am ok with that. Anyway…I am probably a person that needs to track and document, weigh/measure everything. I mean everything! Like now, I want a huge couple of tablespoons of Perfect Keto Nut Butter but I can not justify that right now. I keep looking at my daily log on Cronometer and will decide my fate. I wish I can be like you, but right now i prob need to be accountable and count everything. It works for me even though it is a bit exhausting. I am happy for you. Happy Keto!