PLANNING YOUR FOOD DIARY?

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  • metulchik
    metulchik Posts: 59 Member
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    I pre-log for the day and plan my meals to stay within my limits, and I also plan for my exercise and its been working well. Before I would find myself going over at the end of the day and not having time left to exercise and burn off the calories!
  • nccarolb
    nccarolb Posts: 858 Member
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    I enter my foods the night before. A large part of this is because I pack both breakfast and lunch (plus snacks) for work M-F and I work long days so I need to know what I'm going to eat as soon as I get home. If I don't have it planned out, it's tempting to grab something quick which might not necessarily be over calorie, but is going to be less healthy. It takes so much of the stress out of my day beginning with being able to pre-pack my meals the night before so that I'm not in such a rush getting out the door. This doesn't mean that I don't ever deviate, but it definitely has helped me along the journey. Oh, and I always leave room for a treat at night even if I don't have exercise calories to eat back--helps keep me from feeling deprived.
  • Hungry_Annie
    Hungry_Annie Posts: 807 Member
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    I usually plan out my day the night before. I find I stay on track better. I log my breakfast and lunch and snacks, but usually leave supper blank cuz I don't always know what we're having. I used to log as I go but I found that I would keep eating and snacking and when I went to log it all, it was way more than I thought it would be!
  • iamhealingmyself
    iamhealingmyself Posts: 579 Member
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    I found when I didn't prepare my foods for at least a few days in advance (meaning having veggies and safe foods on hand) I would be left with last minute lazy choices. But if I opened the fridge and had stuff setup ready to go for recipes and whatnot I had planned to use then it was much easier. I didn't log my food until it was actually eaten because things to happen but whatever works for you. Knowing you have a plan helps with the feeling of being overwhelmed and the lazy attacks that convince you fast is ok because you're tired or frustrated or don't have everything you need. It does take a little bit of time to plan, shop and setup, but aren't you worth it???
  • debrakgoogins
    debrakgoogins Posts: 2,033 Member
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    I don't always plan out my whole week but I do consider what I will be doing. For instance, this week, we had an office outing. I looked at the menu for the restaurant before we went so I could make good choices without feeling pressured when it was time to order. I also use the recipe builder to figure out how much a meal is going to cost me so I know what I should have for the other meals on that day.
  • dmt4641
    dmt4641 Posts: 409 Member
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    Definitely. I plan dinners a week in advance so I only grocery shop once. So I will input my dinners days in advance. Breakfast and lunch I usually buy 2 or 3 options for the week with similar calorie counts so they are interchangeable depending on my mood. I save up several hundred calories for snacks and a little over a hundred for any little treat after dinner. I usually try to have balanced macros for breakfast, lunch and dinner and use snacks to tweak macros as needed. For example, if I am low on protein for the day I would have a protein smoothie for snack. If I am eating only homemade food it is pretty easy to stay within my calories and macros. If I am eating out of the house at a restaurant then I really have to preplan what I am going to order and usually save up calories.
  • NataBost
    NataBost Posts: 418 Member
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    I plan the night before because I like waking up knowing I have a plan in place. Otherwise I wander into the kitchen in the morning and start grabbing whatever I see. I write out the whole day and then make up meals/snacks so that they are ready to go for the next day. I find I'm much more likely to stick to healthy snacks (like hummus and cucumber sticks) if they are already prepped when I want to eat them. It also helps me to eat a balanced meal plan throughout the day (making sure I get the veggies in). When I don't plan ahead I find that I overeat during the day and end up with no calories left for dinner (resulting in a plate of broccoli for dinner - not fun!).

    Three tips:

    1. Be flexible. Sometimes I end up changing what I want to eat for a meal, but having an 'idea' in place helps me make a 'swap' for something similar (like grilled salmon on my salad instead of grilled chicken). If you make a plan, then change your mind and don't want something - change it. Don't force yourself to eat it just because you put it in writing. You'll be much happier!

    2. Leave wiggle room. I generally leave 100-150 calories out of the plan so that if I get hungry I have room to eat an extra snack. Sometimes I don't end up eating the calories and that's okay. But when I do eat an extra snack I don't have that 'man I blew it!' feeling because they were essentially 'extra' calories anyway. [Maybe just a mind game, but it works for me!]

    3. Plan the junk. I plan the ice cream, Dove chocolate, and whatever else right into my day as part of my daily calories. If I know I get a small bowl of ice cream after dinner then I am generally able to fend off cravings for junk throughout the day.

    ^^ This. I am definitely not a perfect logger, but pre-planning has helped me a lot. I tend to pre-log during the work week. Weekends are a little more loosy-goosy.
  • frodopuppy
    frodopuppy Posts: 75
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    everyone's different, if I plan ahead I tend to mess up and go over I feel like I'm restricted eating just what I logged early in the day
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    when i was losing, i pre-logged everything for about 2-3 months. It really helped me just stay on track and I didn't have to stop during the day and figure out if I had calories for this or that or whatever...everything was just planned out and I didn't really deviate from that.

    After a few months of being really consistent, everything really just became habit and I didn't have to pre-log so much...I kinda had an idea in my head of what calories I was eating before I logged it. I still pre-logged to an extent because when we grocery shop we shop for a week with breakfasts, lunches, and dinners all planned for...so I pretty much know/knew what I was having for any given meal.
  • NatalieG525
    NatalieG525 Posts: 65 Member
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    I plan it out each morning, otherwise I know i'll go over or something. I find it nice to be prepared :)
  • NianMaya
    NianMaya Posts: 108
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    Yes I plan the day before. My coworkers and I will also plan days in advance to eat out for lunch, like Chipotle. It gave everyone something to look forward too.
  • Synamin
    Synamin Posts: 80 Member
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    I plan a week in advance, using ZIplist which is a grocery and recipe app.
  • KatM2014
    KatM2014 Posts: 263 Member
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    I have a meal planner on my fridge for the week ahead (you can get lots of templates online), log my food and prepare my lunch the night before, it just takes some of the pressure off!
  • KatM2014
    KatM2014 Posts: 263 Member
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    I like this planner, because it doubles as a shopping list: http://www.theprojectgirl.com/2009/01/19/menu-planning-form-free-download/
  • oneloopygirl
    oneloopygirl Posts: 151 Member
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    I do this all the time. Sometimes I do a couple of days worth. My husband and I try to plan dinners for a few days at a time to work with our schedules. Planning helps keep me on track with food and avoid quick food calories.
  • AcaciaHavens
    AcaciaHavens Posts: 4
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    Yes! This is paramount to my success. It took me a long time to recognize that this was one if the reasons I failed myself in the past.
  • manda79rn
    manda79rn Posts: 45 Member
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    Being prepared is what sets me up for sticking to things as much as I do, I meal prep probably 2 times a week, I work 3 12 days a week so the day before my work stretch I will prep all my meals and have them good to go and also prep my families dinners for when I'm going, it is so very helpful but that's also my personality type..everyone is so different, give it a go and see if it works for you! :)
  • glowgirl14
    glowgirl14 Posts: 200 Member
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    Absolutely...I almost always screw up if I don't pre-log. Especially hitting my macros. I eat pretty much the same thing for breakfast every day, but the rest of the day is planned around the protein/carbs in my dinner. I do my planning in the morning, and print it out if I have a busy day so I can keep track/make changes. I am working on having a set day a week where I add recipes for my dinners so they are easy to add on the day i make them. (And accurate!) Success lies in making things easy to do. If something is hard, we are likely to follow the path of least resistance if there is a hiccup in our day.
  • Ely82010
    Ely82010 Posts: 1,998 Member
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    For the most part, I am a planner in my everyday life and I am always making list of things that I need to do but I never totally planned my meals when I was losing, and I still don't do it now that I am in maintenance. I do log all my meals as soon as I am done, if possible.

    I always have an idea of what I was going to make and eat but it is all in my head, not written in my food diary. I still don't know what I am going to have for lunch today but I know that for dinner I will have chicken breasts; full recipe and side dishes are still to be determined. I very seldom eat the same food all the time, and I am always improvising or changing recipes at the last moment, so pre-planning and pre-logging would be a waste of time for me.

    For me, not planning all my meals ahead of time helps me to be more aware of calories and nutrition without constantly depending in this database. If I over did a macro or calories in one meal, I just change things in the next one.

    But I agree that we are all different and we should do what fit our schedule, family life, and personality.

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