How and when do you log your intake?

oat_bran

I got curious about this reading another thread where the OP was saying they were tired of counting calories and many people respond by saying that logging takes them only a few minutes a day. I notice that cooking and meal prepping takes much longer when I need to weigh everything and log. Not to mention the time I spend planning the meals in advance making sure I get all the ingredients I need and also waste as little food as possible. So it got me wondering how exactly and when people log their intake.

-do you mostly log food on your computer or on mfp app?

-do you plan and pre-log your most of your meals or do you decide what you want in the last moment?

-do you log once a day, say, at the end of the day or log every meal separately throughout the day?

-if you log once at the end of the day, how do you remember servings sizes and weights of everything?

-when you cook meals/recipes from scratch do you log the ingredients as you weigh them while you cook or do you write the ingredients and weights down and then log them later? or just memorize the weights and log later?

-in case you try to hit your macro goals, does it take you more time to adjust the ingredient quantity in order to have the right macro percentages while staying within your calorie goals?

-how do you deal with recipes that contain other recipes as ingredients?

-when you cook multiple servings of anything at once do you put them into different containers or do memorize the weight of one serving and then measure one serving using the scale?

-and most importantly, how the hell do you manage to cook for yourself and others at the same time (considering the people you cook for are not tracking their intake with you)? Say, you're making a multiple ingredient dish for yourself and your partner/friend and they are not dieting and clearly need a bigger portion than you, how do you divide your dish between while making sure you get the right amount of everything?

Chef_Barbell

I keep it simple and estimate. I'd rather consistant than accurate all the time. Works for me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

cmriverside

I have a food scale and paper and pen in the kitchen. I write down grams. Sometimes I log ahead, sometimes right after and sometimes I do all the food for the day at one time. It really does only take five minutes a day for me.

Recipes - I write down the grams of each ingredient and then figure portions based on grams, too.

If I eat 160 grams of the recipe I log 160 grams.

It doesn't matter if I'm sharing it.

I log my portion.

Yes, I may get a little bit more protein or less fat than someone else's portion.

This whole thing is a matter of best estimates, and I've been at my maintenance weight for over 10 years, so I'm thinking close enough is good enough.

Food is not the only data I track, so I adjust if things start going sideways.

janejellyroll

I pre-log, generally taking 5 or so minutes in the morning to log what I plan to eat the next day. If adjustments are necessary, I make them right after eating the meal in question. I have a notepad in the kitchen where I will jot down weights while I'm cooking.

Recipes that contain other recipes can be a real pain. There is another logging site that allows you to add recipes *to* recipes and I wish MFP would allow that as well. Sometimes I will create both recipes and choose them both, sometimes I'll just include the subrecipe in the larger one so I only have to log one thing.

When I make something, I'll portion the leftovers into individual servings right away (this works very well for me because I typically use them for lunch on subsequent days).

I typically cook only for myself (my husband and I have different tastes). If I am making something for both of us, I'll make the servings match the weight (in grams) so that I can more accurately measure how much I'm eating. When I cook for myself, I'm generally just eyeballing the portions because I know I'll be eating all of it and it will even out.

Panini911

-do you mostly log food on your computer or on mfp app? A mix of both

-do you plan and pre-log your most of your meals or do you decide what you want in the last moment? mostly pre-log. snacks are added in based on what i need for the day or...just what i wanted.

-do you log once a day, say, at the end of the day or log every meal separately throughout the day? usually in the morning i log for the day, then in the evening i'll adjust if needed

-if you log once at the end of the day, how do you remember servings sizes and weights of everything?

-when you cook meals/recipes from scratch do you log the ingredients as you weigh them while you cook or do you write the ingredients and weights down and then log them later? or just memorize the weights and log later? I input in recipe builder as i prep

-in case you try to hit your macro goals, does it take you more time to adjust the ingredient quantity in order to have the right macro percentages while staying within your calorie goals? I don't do this based on individual meal but overlal day and usually use snacks to adjust were needed (low protein dinner = high protein snacks). i also don't super worry about macros and if i eat lower protein one day i'll try to pick higher protein options the next if possible.

-how do you deal with recipes that contain other recipes as ingredients? i don't do this? it hasn't happened.

-when you cook multiple servings of anything at once do you put them into different containers or do memorize the weight of one serving and then measure one serving using the scale? mostly different containers with if you weight before and after you can figure out the portion of the recipe without having to use special contrainers.

-and most importantly, how the hell do you manage to cook for yourself and others at the same time (considering the people you cook for are not tracking their intake with you)? Say, you're making a multiple ingredient dish for yourself and your partner/friend and they are not dieting and clearly need a bigger portion than you, how do you divide your dish between while making sure you get the right amount of everything? I mostly am on my own so not an issue. but if you weigh before (raw) and after (cooked) you can calculate portion of total meal eaten. I also tend ot have different sides (ex: i don't usually go for the regular rice and stuff but cauliflower rice) and mostly eat veggies which are easier to caluclate.

TavistockToad

I pre log the night before as I prep my breakfast and lunch for the next day in the evening. I weigh all the salad etc as it goes in my lunch box.

We have a menu for our evening meal so I guesstimate portions for that, or make a recipe, or use a recipe I already have created.

I add snacks as I eat them, exercise cals in the evening and then supper if I fancy it or have the cals.

5-10 minutes max per day.

I've been on here for years so I know how to hit my macros most days, but the odd day of 85g of protein instead of 100g isn't the end of the world!

nutmegoreo

oat_bran wrote: »

I got curious about this reading another thread where the OP was saying they were tired of counting calories and many people respond by saying that logging takes them only a few minutes a day. I notice that cooking and meal prepping takes much longer when I need to weigh everything and log. Not to mention the time I spend planning the meals in advance making sure I get all the ingredients I need and also waste as little food as possible. So it got me wondering how exactly and when people log their intake.

-do you mostly log food on your computer or on mfp app? Sometimes computer sometimes app. If I have time while cooking, I will enter on the app. If I don't have time while I'm cooking, I log on my laptop while eating. If I have time for neither, I write it down and log it later. If I'm batch cooking, I bring my laptop to the kitchen and log as I add ingredients.

-do you plan and pre-log your most of your meals or do you decide what you want in the last moment? I only ever pre-plan lunches when I'm on early shift. I like to make what I feel like having at the time.

-do you log once a day, say, at the end of the day or log every meal separately throughout the day? Most often I log as I go, so I know where I'm at with my targets. I only pre-log those lunches and may have to delete something or add a treat grabbed from the breakroom at the end of the work day.

-if you log once at the end of the day, how do you remember servings sizes and weights of everything? I write it down.

-when you cook meals/recipes from scratch do you log the ingredients as you weigh them while you cook or do you write the ingredients and weights down and then log them later? or just memorize the weights and log later? When batch cooking, I enter as I go. If I'm just making in the moment, I have a dry erase board on my fridge to write it down, I will sometimes log in the app from there, or I will take a picture, if I'm going to log it later.

-in case you try to hit your macro goals, does it take you more time to adjust the ingredient quantity in order to have the right macro percentages while staying within your calorie goals? Nope, I don't worry about macros while cooking. I try to hit a bit of everything with each meal, but sometimes the end of the day will consist of a snack specifically to hit targets, if needed. I've been doing this long enough, that this isn't usually an issue.

-how do you deal with recipes that contain other recipes as ingredients? Enter the recipe as an ingredient. I enter my recipes as the number of servings equaling the grams of the finished recipe, so when adding it to something else, or taking a portion the next day, I weigh out how much I use and that is my number of servings.

-when you cook multiple servings of anything at once do you put them into different containers or do memorize the weight of one serving and then measure one serving using the scale? As above. I weigh the final product, and make that my number of servings. When I take a scoop of chili, I weight that scoop, and enter that number of servings.

-and most importantly, how the hell do you manage to cook for yourself and others at the same time (considering the people you cook for are not tracking their intake with you)? Say, you're making a multiple ingredient dish for yourself and your partner/friend and they are not dieting and clearly need a bigger portion than you, how do you divide your dish between while making sure you get the right amount of everything? While I rarely cook for others, using the finished weight as the number of servings works well here. They take how ever much they want, I take the amount I want and weigh my portion, that's my number of servings, and I don't need to worry about leftovers, because I just use the weight to determine servings.

born_of_fire74

I use the website rather than the app.

I'm part of a lunch program at work so I know a week in advance what my lunches will be. I plan a week at a time, working around whatever lunches I'm getting from the kitchen at work.

I pre-log a week in advance but will make adjustments and alterations depending on what I actually end up eating. For example, if I don't go crossfit in the morning, I don't need a protein shake before breakfast so I'll delete that and alter my day as needed.

I cook the same maybe dozen things and have reduced my overall diet in this fashion so it's easy to log things once I've entered them initially.

Eh, I don't worry too much about macros. I try to get close but the only thing I'm really careful about is getting enough protein. I find the things I eat for protein get me the proper amount of fat most days too. I let carbs fall where they may but they tend to be on target as well just because I've reduced the variety of what I eat so thoroughly.

I don't really deal with recipes that contain other recipes as ingredients. If I'm at a total loss, I'll find something that I think is close enough in the database.

When I meal prep using my slow cooker, I make the entire recipe then divide it into equal portions in as many containers as needed and use the per container entry when logging.

Husband eats quite differently than I do. He's a carb volume eater whereas I prefer LCHF and he tries to eat vegan whereas I eat meat and LOTS of dairy. As a result, he and I prepare our meals separately. Just one more thing I love about my empty nest! For family dinners and special occasions, I generally don't log those days. I just eat intuitively and try not to get too out of control. Because these events are pretty rare, it doesn't affect my overall progress much.

Like Chef-barbell, I focus on consistency more than extreme accuracy. I'm not a competitive athlete or body builder so close is good enough for me. It's sometimes frustrating when I see the progress others have made in the same or shorter lengths of time than I have but I'm pretty lazy--as long as I'm not gaining, I am mostly satisfied.

oat_bran

cmriverside wrote: »

I have a food scale and paper and pen in the kitchen. I write down grams. Sometimes I log ahead, sometimes right after and sometimes I do all the food for the day at one time. It really does only take five minutes a day for me.

Recipes - I write down the grams of each ingredient and then figure portions based on grams, too.

If I eat 160 grams of the recipe I log 160 grams.

It doesn't matter if I'm sharing it.

I log my portion.

Let me check if I got that right, you're saying that if you make a recipe and the whole things weights, say, 1500g, you log it as 1500g servings and then weigh your portion and it weighs 160g and you log it as 160 servings?

Chef_Barbell

oat_bran wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

I have a food scale and paper and pen in the kitchen. I write down grams. Sometimes I log ahead, sometimes right after and sometimes I do all the food for the day at one time. It really does only take five minutes a day for me.

Recipes - I write down the grams of each ingredient and then figure portions based on grams, too.

If I eat 160 grams of the recipe I log 160 grams.

It doesn't matter if I'm sharing it.

I log my portion.

Let me check if I got that right, you're saying that if you make a recipe and the whole things weights, say, 1500g, you log it as 1500g servings and then weigh your portion and it weighs 160g and you log it as 160 servings?

Exactly that.

Gisel2015

@oat_bran

-do you mostly log food on your computer or on mfp app? PC

-do you plan and pre-log your most of your meals or do you decide what you want in the last moment? I very seldom pre-plan and when I do is just to have a general idea. I don't pre-log unless the meal is already done or cooking or if it is something frozen.

-do you log once a day, say, at the end of the day or log every meal separately throughout the day? I log when I am done eating (and if I remember) or sometimes in the middle of the day or the next day

-if you log once at the end of the day, how do you remember servings sizes and weights of everything? Pencil and paper in the kitchen

-when you cook meals/recipes from scratch do you log the ingredients as you weigh them while you cook or do you write the ingredients and weights down and then log them later? or just memorize the weights and log later? Pencil and paper in the kitchen and sometimes just memory

-in case you try to hit your macro goals, does it take you more time to adjust the ingredient quantity in order to have the right macro percentages while staying within your calorie goals? I eat low/moderate carbs, moderate fat and the rest is protein (35% C and P and 30% F). I have been doing this for a long time, so I very seldom need adjustment

-how do you deal with recipes that contain other recipes as ingredients? I do my own recipes

-when you cook multiple servings of anything at once do you put them into different containers or do memorize the weight of one serving and then measure one serving using the scale? If the leftover can be frozen I add a label with the name of the recipe and how many grams/serving.

-and most importantly, how the hell do you manage to cook for yourself and others at the same time (considering the people you cook for are not tracking their intake with you)? Say, you're making a multiple ingredient dish for yourself and your partner/friend and they are not dieting and clearly need a bigger portion than you, how do you divide your dish between while making sure you get the right amount of everything? I cook for my husband and for myself only. We both eat the same thing, he just get a little bit more, but not much because he snacks a lot during the day, and he needs to lose weight (I don't)

I don't weigh or log meals that I cook for company (Thanksgiving and other holidays are an example), so that is not a problem for me. I serve myself smaller portions and let the rest of the people eat what ever they want. I don't log my food either on those occasions.

I have been in maintenance for almost 9 years so I am not very strict with the weighing and logging anymore.

Evamutt

as far as recipes go, like big pot of chicken soup. I weigh everything, write it down then log it into my computer. I use the same pot all the time so next time I may edit the weight of the chicken &/or add/delete other ingredients. As far as logging goes, I log before I eat it. I shop for the same variety of foods , veggies, different meats/poultry/fish & most of our meals are simple, not cooked in sauce(except occasionally for a casserole etc) so either bake, saute, broil. My husband lost 60lbs but not counting calories so he eats more than I do & I just add things he wants, like rice/pasta etc

Elphaba1313

oat_bran wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

I have a food scale and paper and pen in the kitchen. I write down grams. Sometimes I log ahead, sometimes right after and sometimes I do all the food for the day at one time. It really does only take five minutes a day for me.

Recipes - I write down the grams of each ingredient and then figure portions based on grams, too.

If I eat 160 grams of the recipe I log 160 grams.

It doesn't matter if I'm sharing it.

I log my portion.

Let me check if I got that right, you're saying that if you make a recipe and the whole things weights, say, 1500g, you log it as 1500g servings and then weigh your portion and it weighs 160g and you log it as 160 servings?

This is exactly what I do. My goat curry last week weighed 2136g so I said it made 2136 servings and logged I ate 278 servings.
It’s a tip I picked up ages ago from an MFP member and I swear it changed my life!

TonyB0588

-do you mostly log food on your computer or on mfp app? - On the computer or sometimes on my phone's browser. I don't have the App

-do you plan and pre-log your most of your meals or do you decide what you want in the last moment? - I don't pre-log. I simply record what I had, after I eat.

-do you log once a day, say, at the end of the day or log every meal separately throughout the day? - Whenever I get the opportunity. Sometimes it becomes once at the end of the day if I was very busy earlier.

-if you log once at the end of the day, how do you remember servings sizes and weights of everything? - Typically I just pull back up previous entries from the list of Recent or Frequent foods. The serving size would be similar.

-when you cook meals/recipes from scratch do you log the ingredients as you weigh them while you cook or do you write the ingredients and weights down and then log them later? or just memorize the weights and log later?

-in case you try to hit your macro goals, does it take you more time to adjust the ingredient quantity in order to have the right macro percentages while staying within your calorie goals? - I don't do Macros. I just monitor Calories.

-how do you deal with recipes that contain other recipes as ingredients? - You could search for the name of the other recipe in MFP's database and enter the portion of that recipe that was used.

-when you cook multiple servings of anything at once do you put them into different containers or do memorize the weight of one serving and then measure one serving using the scale? - Once you establish how much a serving size is, it doesn't matter how many servings got cooked at the same time. Just dish out out the appropriate amount each day until it's all gone.

-and most importantly, how the hell do you manage to cook for yourself and others at the same time (considering the people you cook for are not tracking their intake with you)? Say, you're making a multiple ingredient dish for yourself and your partner/friend and they are not dieting and clearly need a bigger portion than you, how do you divide your dish between while making sure you get the right amount of everything? - I record what I eat. It doesn't matter if the other persons don't record theirs, even though it's from the same dish.

Danp

I log just whenever. For example I just had a cup of coffee and a yogurt for breakfast so I opened the app and logged it. While I was in there I know I won't be eating lunch today so I logged my 0 calorie 'Skip Meal' entry, I know what afternoon snack I brought with me today so I logged that and I'm 95% sure what I'll be having for dinner tonight so I logged that too.

All day logged
Time taken: 45 seconds.

It wasn't always like that but pretty quickly I found I was eating a small subset of foods and meals pretty regularly so logging got quicker the longer I was using the app

But sometimes I'll log as I go, sometimes I'll pre-log so I can plan, sometimes I'll just chuck all my entries in at the end of the day to see how much room I have left for something sweet.

I'm a big supporter of logging only as well as you need to to see progress. I was (and still am) quite heavy and working in a pretty large calorie deficit as a result. This means that I have quite a lot of wiggle room so don't have to be too rigorous and pedantic with my logging and too see progress. Keeping the task as quick and simple as possible make it less of a drag.

I'm also a big supporter of consistency over accuracy. I think you're far better off logging 80% correctly every day than 100% correctly 3 or 4 days out of the week. If logging meticulously is such a PITA that you find yourself avoiding it most days then I feel it's probably best to relax a bit (just a bit) and go for consistency.

oat_bran

From the responses I got, it looks like many people who spend the least time logging:

-eat the same things every day or eat a relatively small variety of foods
-eat a lot of pre-packaged foods, especially single-serving foods or foods where a serving can be easily measured without weighing
-cook only for themselves/eat differently from the other members of the household
-estimate a lot the weights/serving sizes
-don't pay attention to macros
-mostly plan their meals and snacks in advance

SabAteNine

I log whenever, both on the computer as well. As the app.
Breakfast is an easy log and I do it right after. Lunch I'm either logging as I weigh when I make my own, or logging while I'm in the chekkout queue at the supermarket (they have weighed cooked meals so it's easy).
For dinner I usually pre-log with macros in mind and adjust based on how I feel in the moment.
And I pre-log my post-dinner chocolate to make sure I have space for it! If I go over and eat double, I own up to it

Lillymoo01

-do you mostly log food on your computer or on mfp app?
A bit of both but I find the app and my tablet the most convenient

-do you plan and pre-log your most of your meals or do you decide what you want in the last moment?
I will prelog my main meals at the beginning of the day and add snacks along the way depending on the amount of exercise I have done. I have all of my most regular meal combinations under meals and simply add them and adjust the amounts when I prepare the food and weigh individual ingredients

-do you log once a day, say, at the end of the day or log every meal separately throughout the day?
As above

-if you log once at the end of the day, how do you remember servings sizes and weights of everything?
No way my memory is up to remember that kind of detail. I log as I go

-when you cook meals/recipes from scratch do you log the ingredients as you weigh them while you cook or do you write the ingredients and weights down and then log them later? or just memorize the weights and log later?
I weigh as I cook but have all of my regular recipes now added and just edit as I cook

-in case you try to hit your macro goals, does it take you more time to adjust the ingredient quantity in order to have the right macro percentages while staying within your calorie goals?
As long as I meet my minimums for protein and fat I don't really care about macros and I always meet the minimums

-how do you deal with recipes that contain other recipes as ingredients?
In this case I will add the recipe as a food using the macros given and then I can add the recipe as that food

-when you cook multiple servings of anything at once do you put them into different containers or do memorize the weight of one serving and then measure one serving using the scale?
I will have the meal added to my recipe builder and weigh it once cooked (I will weigh the pot/pan empty and again once the food is cooked). Each gram is a single serve. That way all I have to do is weigh the amount I eat at that time

-and most importantly, how the hell do you manage to cook for yourself and others at the same time (considering the people you cook for are not tracking their intake with you)? Say, you're making a multiple ingredient dish for yourself and your partner/friend and they are not dieting and clearly need a bigger portion than you, how do you divide your dish between while making sure you get the right amount of everything?
as above

oat_bran

Lillymoo01 wrote: »

-how do you deal with recipes that contain other recipes as ingredients?
In this case I will add the recipe as a food using the macros given and then I can add the recipe as that food

Great idea! I haven't thought of that!

Lillymoo01 wrote: »

-when you cook multiple servings of anything at once do you put them into different containers or do memorize the weight of one serving and then measure one serving using the scale?
I will have the meal added to my recipe builder and weigh it once cooked (I will weigh the pot/pan empty and again once the food is cooked). Each gram is a single serve. That way all I have to do is weigh the amount I eat at that time

Yeah, a lot of people suggested it! Seems like a great idea. I will definitely use this tip next time, especially when I cook for myself and others.

seltzermint555

I've been using MFP for over 5 years and I always log on a computer, never the app. I only had the app on my phone for a few days and I found it very annoying and buggy. YMMV, of course tons of people prefer the app.

When I was actively losing in 2013-2014, I was extremely detailed in my logging and rarely guess-timated on anything except once or twice a week restaurant meals. I usually tried to log my entire day in advance if possible. I logged things like mustard, pickles, and a mini snack of 6 grapes back in those days. I think it was helpful for me in learning approx. how many calories were in things but over time I see it's not gonna affect much of anything if I eat 1 six calorie pickle spear with my lunch.

Now that I've been in (more or less) a maintenance state for years, I am much more relaxed about it. I log about 90% of the time but usually wind up skipping a meal or two every week, and when I go on vacation I don't log (though I'm still pretty close to my MFP calorie goals). Like some others mentioned, I prefer consistency over total accuracy at this point.

Usually I have a breakfast that is within the 150-300 cal range so I don't sweat that at all, it doesn't take much planning. Around mid-morning I typically log breakfast and what I plan to have for lunch. Mid-afternoon I update it to reflect whatever I've eaten and then see how many calories I have left for dinner, which is always "plenty" since I don't snack...but I look at where I am on carbs, protein, etc, so it makes the difference in whether I (for example) skip rice with my dinner or add in an egg for an extra bit of protein with dinner...stuff like that. I tend to exercise in the evening and log that and finish off my day before bed. If I'm crazy low on calories (let's say I have 400+ left) I will have a snack like nuts/granola/chocolate, but that's pretty rare because in my house we eat larger dinners.

As for most of my logging it is the same stuff over and over. For example we cook with the same couple of oils and I log them from my frequent items, 0.5 tbsp or 1 tbsp. Brown rice, beans, lentils, split peas...always the same serving size and easy to reenter. Pasta, generally the same serving sizes and easy to adjust. The only "new" recipes I regularly enter into MFP are for baking, because I find that very easy and helpful. I do eat in restaurants at least 2X per week and trust most of the MFP database calorie counts or go with Sodexo and such for restaurants that don't have entries in MFP. I feel like that's a total guess and have to just log Indian food or Thai randomly but in the long run it's no major thing to me because I'm not dining out daily, and I know if the chain deli sandwich I logged was 570 calories but felt sort of heavy to me, I don't need to worry about my calorie count being low for the day and it's probably plenty high.

snickerscharlie

cmriverside wrote: »

I have a food scale and paper and pen in the kitchen. I write down grams. Sometimes I log ahead, sometimes right after and sometimes I do all the food for the day at one time. It really does only take five minutes a day for me.

Recipes - I write down the grams of each ingredient and then figure portions based on grams, too.

If I eat 160 grams of the recipe I log 160 grams.

It doesn't matter if I'm sharing it.

I log my portion.

Yes, I may get a little bit more protein or less fat than someone else's portion.

This whole thing is a matter of best estimates, and I've been at my maintenance weight for over 10 years, so I'm thinking close enough is good enough.

Food is not the only data I track, so I adjust if things start going sideways.

The bolded is me, too.