Keeping track of calories on paper

CrazyMermaid1

Does anyone remember the little book of calories that we used to lose weight before the internet existed? I remember doing the same thing as MFP but it was all by hand.

mtaratoot

I remember of it, but never used it.

I was always AWARE of calories, but didn't count them formally until a dozen years ago. I used the USDA "Super Tracker" database. At some point the USDA decided they should shut the site down because there were commercial services available. Super Tracker was klunky for sure, but it worked for me. I tried a couple commercial sites, and I settled on MFP. I'm glad I did. It has some glitches for sure, but it's very powerful.

AnnPT77

Yes. I used the little book. I think I was in high school, so probably 1970s? They sold it in supermarket checkout lines, IIRC. It really was a *little* book, very limited. Trying to use it was frustrating and too laborious to be practical, not to mention inexact.

I don't remember exactly what the state of food labeling regulations was at the time in the US, but I know labels were not as complete in calorie/nutrition information as they have been in recent years, and they may not even have had much nutrition labeling at all then - I don't remember.

Got curious, poking around the web, it seems like the current "nutrition facts panel" concept didn't arrive until 1994, but that the first baby steps to nutrition labeling started in the 1970s in a very limited way. This article is one I read that gives sort of an easy-to-read overview of the evolution of nutrition labeling:

https://www.fooddive.com/news/the-origins-and-evolution-of-nutrition-facts-labeling/507016/

(I don't know anything about that web site; looks like a food industry journalism outfit, not too many clickbait-y articles with excess exclamation points and bold/underscore/italics. Yes, typographical stuff is one dumb thing I use as a factor in evaluating sites. )

My high school home economics book had a section with calorie information, including calorie needs for various demographics and food calorie lists (copyright 1960, but knowledge about calories goes way back, I think sometime in the 1800s, with some popularization early in the 20th century).

It doesn't include the food/calorie lists, but in case anyone thinks this sounds amusing, I did post some pages from that book here, ones about healthy eating, calorie needs, and "food fads and myths".

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10625791/mainstream-eating-guidance-1960/p1

UncleMac

When I started my weight loss journey back in 2012, the dietitian gave me a small book with a combo of food/exercise diary and calorie/food look up charts... and then he suggested MFP as an alternative. Since I was into the internet, it was an easy choice.

Rxman1971

Back then I didn't need to track calories dam meatbolism I miss you