Tracking recipes gets old

jen14128

I'm really bad at tracking because of my diet. I am vegetarian, and I do not eat a lot of processed foods (with the convenient barcode and calorie count on the bag) so I have to log recipes and calculate almost every time I eat... it gets old and then I end up giving up on MFP. This site makes it as easy as possible which is great, but still after a week or so of calculating every recipe it just gets difficult. Anyone else have similar issues? Do you have any tricks to stay motivated?

thavoice

I'm really bad at tracking because of my diet. I am vegetarian, and I do not eat a lot of processed foods (with the convenient barcode and calorie count on the bag) so I have to log recipes and calculate almost every time I eat... it gets old and then I end up giving up on MFP. This site makes it as easy as possible which is great, but still after a week or so of calculating every recipe it just gets difficult. Anyone else have similar issues? Do you have any tricks to stay motivated?

To quite honest after about 6 weeks I got very good at approximating the calories of the food I eat.

Most people get into a routine and arent eating hundreds of different foods and after awhile you can plan and eat things and still track your calories without a whole lot of effort.

At least for me that is.

I dont track on MFP. I just simply write it down on my spreadsheet as I feel the more effort you have to put into something, the more you start to dread it.

girlwithcurls2

I had the same trouble at first, but I wanted my counts to be accurate, so I made it a point to invest the time to input each and every recipe I cooked (mainly dinners). It paid off after the first 30 days, because I found myself cooking the same meals. During the next 30 days, I didn't have to add as many recipes, but I added anything new. Same over the next 30 days... Eventually, I figure most of my meals (I plan and shop each weekend) will be in my own recipes, other than the odd one or two that might come up during the week. It's worth it. It's a bit time consuming initially, but you'll be glad that you're being more accurate. It gets easier

Ready2Rock206

If you want to lose the weight you'll take the 5 minutes or so it takes it log a recipe. If you can't commit to that maybe you're not ready to lose the weight yet. Nothing wrong with that. Your motivation needs to come from your desire to succeed.

peleroja

Do you have a food scale? It makes logging recipes ridiculously easy. I just measure everything as I go before I throw it in whatever I'm cooking. It takes only a couple extra minutes, and then I also can find the total weight, which makes portioning simple too.

You can just jot the weights down as you go and add it later, too. I have a stand for my iPad that I usually use when I'm coking but it's just as easy to write "tomatoes 100g" or whatever as you go.

aqualeo1

Have you been using the recipe builder? You only have to input each recipe one time. It's a PITA for a few weeks but by then most of what you eat should be in your database. Only takes a few minutes.