What if you fail to enter some Meals of on MFP?

Adventure9

Some days I fail to enter part of the day's meals on MFP. In these situations I usually can't remember the all details of the meals I've missed. When this happens what is "Best Practice" within MFP. It messes up the reports to have a partially filled out day. (Calories, net calories etc) Is it best to just erase the other entries for that day and have a blank day in the reports or is there something else that everyone does in this situation? I wish there was a way to add a notation that just says "incomplete daily entry*

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

nxd10

There are two reasons to log: to guide your eating for the day and to have a long term record of what's going on.

To guide your eating for the day, remember everything you can and log it. You'll probably remember most of it and you'll get better with practice. You'll remember that if you had a burger you probably had a roll, ketchup, onion, tomato, letucce, and pickle. You'll remember you had dressing if you had a salad. It also helps to imagine your plate and systematically ask yourself what you drank, whether you used fork, spoon, knife, etc.

If you do that, you'll be close on your calories and just undershoot a little.

As you use MFP longer you'll get into the habit of both remembering and logging.

If I'm really bad and eat something unusual I may even snap it with my cell phone so I can remember later.

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I would NOT ever erase. The only negative effects partial logging has is on giving you a bad estimate of that day so you eat too much and messing up your weekly journal. Once the day is over the mis-estimation doesn't matter. I personally do like the weekly log a lot. I think estimating the missed meals as I said above it much better than erasing. And practice makes perfect.

Mr_Knight

How many times has this happened in the past week?

Duck_Puddle

I log throught the day as I eat. I don't have incomplete entries. I may "wing it" on things I get at restaurants or parties or whatever, so the entry may not be the exact info for what I actually consumed, but it's always listed. Maybe try that? Or add in a wild guesstimate with quick cals? I don't think a food diary holds a lot of value unless it actually contains all the food you ate (in one form or another).

notdieting

It's what you have eaten that matters, not your stats or reports. If you don't log, you won't know what your intake has been and that will potentially inhibit your weight loss.

It's entirely down to personal choice as to how you deal with it when you have forgotten to log. If I have a 'day off' or, more usually, a 'meal off' where I ignore the calorie count and just eat whatever I fancy, I don't usually bother to log as my reports and stats are not important to me, only that I consistently and sustainably lose weight. This is not a denial thing, it's just that I see little point in logging how bad I've been when I know I've been bad, I planned to be bad and I'm right back on target for the next day or the next meal. Spending ten minutes logging just how bad when the calories are already swimming round my belly seems a little pointless! Lol!

Lleldiranne

I have never thought of erasing partial days. (And I don't think that would help weekly reports either). I am also of the mindset that it's best to log as I go, so I know if I can have that second serving at dinner. I've seen too many people with the "oops, I was over again" issue by waiting till the end of the day. (I've added the MFP app to my phone to help me log when I'm not home). And like someone else said, what really matters is what you've eaten, not what the computer says. The only reason why I would care about looking back at weekly reports was if my weight loss stalled and I couldn't figure out why -- then seeing weekly reports my give me insight about what I need to change.

At the bottom of your food log there is a place for notes. You can always add "incomplete day" to those notes. For me, it's pretty apparent, though, because unless I'm really sick, a day without dinner logged, or more than 200 calories under my goal, is going to incomplete :laugh:

Adventure9

I've been using MFP for 49 days. Out of those 49 days, I have complete entries for 38 of those days and incomplete for 11 of those days.

My question is not one about the importance of logging all or most of the time. I understand that. My question is about "best practice" for times where you don't remember the details.

Thanks!

bert16

I don't really "miss" meals or fail to enter them, but when eating out or at someone else's house, I have no idea how they've prepared the food. At those times, I quick add calories and just conservatively WAG it. That's what I'd recommend as far as a "best practice"; it's the "as well as I can do it" practice, I suppose.

81Katz

I keep a notebook in the kitchen and write everything down as I prepare/weigh it. I later take that info and log it here as I go through out the day. There is no forgetting something I ate. If I don't log something, it's because I purposely choose not to. :grumble:

So no excuses for me!

MB_Positif

Most people rage quit when this happens. Do not let this happen to you. You can do this. :flowerforyou:

Smallbluepebble

Just reading through the posts with interest... I have a feeling that I'm a bid weird as I totally plan what I am going to eat for the day either the day before or first thing in the morning. I then prepare my meals (weighing everything properly - I never eyeball) and then update my food diary accordingly.

I make sure that I have healthy snacks available and have built various recipies of foods that we as a family eat regularly (things like chilli, soup, ratatouille etc.) so it's not something that takes me too long.

The upshot of this is that I fully complete my diary and it's accurate every day. I hope this helps

81Katz

^^^ I agree with this.

I often sit with my notebook the day before and start to write down what I plan to eat/amounts. My food is mostly already logged for today, with some food pre-logged for tomorrow too.

Deipneus

Some days I fail to enter part of the day's meals on MFP. In these situations I usually can't remember the all details of the meals I've missed. When this happens what is "Best Practice" within MFP. It messes up the reports to have a partially filled out day. (Calories, net calories etc) Is it best to just erase the other entries for that day and have a blank day in the reports or is there something else that everyone does in this situation? I wish there was a way to add a notation that just says "incomplete daily entry* Any thoughts would be appreciated.

When you do this, all your efforts are for nothing and you've failed at MFP.

Seriously, there is no cumulutive negative effect. I have been on MFP for about a year and ten months. I've been on maintenance since May of 2012. I used to track meticulously but then it occurred to me that I had become obsessive about logging for no good reason. Now, I often don't log my last meal of the day because once I decide to eat it, it doesn't matter. I never go back and look at past meal logs anyway. The only reason I log is so that I don't get ridiculously off-track.

Mr_Knight

I have a feeling that I'm a bid weird as I totally plan what I am going to eat for the day either the day before or first thing in the morning. I then prepare my meals (weighing everything properly - I never eyeball) and then update my food diary accordingly.

Ditto. I'll often do it the night before, as I assess what is left in fridge and in the pantry after dinner.

That's not weird, that's being prepared.

Mslmesq

There's a phone app you can use to log on the go. That and pre logging what I will eat helps me.

As a worst case, I'd probably estimate and use quick add calories with a note to myself in the food log.

dawn_h_d

There is no way to know exactly every single calorie you have - even if you weigh it, or eat an exact serving of something. You may still be a couple calories off one way or the other.

What do you do if you go to a friend's house for dinner? You can guesstimate and either put something close to it, or guesstimate the calories.

Today I went to the apple orchard. Sounds healthy, right? Until I ate the Apple Cider Doughnut, the Caramel Pumpkin Latte, and all the samples that they have around. I logged the Doughnut and Coffee then guessed at the samples. I may be off, but at least it is something.

Some people plan the day before, but I log as the day goes on because if i have a craving, I want to be able to satisfy it somehow. I have noticed that I am getting better at being able to predict my day and about how many calories I have consumed, but I still log it to be accountable.

herblackwings39

A small notebook or the note function on your phone can be helpful. Just write/type out what you're going to eat or do it after eating. It should only take a few minutes and you'll not have to worry about remembering everything.

If it were me, I'd leave the entry and just do my best to fill it in.