Food Diary

MeekMeals

So you mean to tell me that the majority of you all log in every piece of food you put in your mouth daily. Even that "1" potatoe chip or small bite of a cookie. Or the 5 fries from mcdonalds? I was just wondering... And if your diary is an accurate account of how you all eat then YOU GUYS ARE FRIGGIN AMAZING!!!! I take my hat off and raise my glass to you!!!:drinker:

amberlineilene

I tend to log everything in because I have the app on my phone, and it's with me everywhere I go

ladybg81

I do log each little bite. Those bites add up to major calories and probably part of the reason I am here in the first place!!

natskedat

I try to log everything, half a frosted sugar cookie included. If I'm going to accomplish my goals, I want to know exactly what I'm eating. If I have a slow day or a day of poor performance, I can go back and look at my diary and hopefully identify a problem area. I can make effective change in my life when I'm honest with myself. I also like keeping my diary public to show others that a an active lifestyle demands a lot of food! Calories aren't something to be afraid of, they're the energy you need to do the things you want to do in your life!

Athena413

I tend to log everything in because I have the app on my phone, and it's with me everywhere I go

I find that the phone app makes it a lot easier because then I don't have to try and remember it all day or make myself notes or anything. I do log absolutely everything, though. Until you understand how many calories you're actually consuming, how can you know how to offset them? Even the little things add up...

donicagalek

The fact that I don't want to bother logging the one potato chip is kind of a deterrent from eating it. Yeah, I'm *that* lazy. :-D

On the other hand, I never log my coffee or tea (I drink them both black but I think there's still a couple calories per cup). Sometimes I don't log that 1/2 tsp of bacon grease I put on my potato before microwaving it, but those are the days where half of the bread crumbs I logged to put on my baked fish never made it to my mouth. Not a great practice if I were trying to be diligent about how much I'm eating of fat cals and carb cals...but pretty good for overall cals. :-D

oscelyn

Yes. Weigh and measure everything!

LadyT02182011

Yes ma'am! Every single thing! I also weigh and measure everything as well!

flutterqueen04

I do log each little bite. Those bites add up to major calories and probably part of the reason I am here in the first place!!

Amen! Same here for me!

rschmmidt

The fact that I don't want to bother logging the one potato chip is kind of a deterrent from eating it. Yeah, I'm *that* lazy. :-D

Me too - it's actually a good deterrent strategy!

lyn267

Yep - log it all. It really becomes a habit rather quickly. It also keeps you from grazing. I actually try and plan out what I will eat in the morning. That way I know what wiggle room I have. And it makes me get my exercise in if I know I'm going out or plan to comsume more food. I know, I obsessed. I think you have to have an obsessive personality to use this site. But I have the time to do this. Some people are too busy to plan ahead like I do.

Spayrroe

lol, I agree with some of the others. Most of the time I log what I'm going to eat before I eat it. There's a good number of times that I look at stats on it and think to myself "nope, no one available to dress up like a zombie and chase me around the parking lot for two hours, guess I shouldn't eat that", lol. It's so helpful in making better food choices. My daughter wanted those mini bunny marshmallows that they sell this time of year. I looked at the bag yesterday thinking I could just have a serving and log it. For one serving (15 bunnies) it's 100cals. Now, 100 cals doesn't seem terrible, but then I thought about how it's not really going to make me feel satisfied for very long, and I'll end up being hungry in like half an hour. For those same 100 cals, I went through my fridge to see what else I could have, and ended up going with two Clementines (which is only 80 cals) which were more volume, better for me, and still satisfied the want for something sweet.

UpEarly

Yep... I log everything with calories. In fact, this morning I logged a quarter piece of bacon (20 calories) and a tablespoon of lowfat milk (8 calories). I think the little bits add up quickly!

Although, Tameka... not logging every little thing looks like it's working perfectly for you. You look GREAT and have lost so much weight! :-)

Nikki2Fit

I use the phone app which definately helps me to keep up with what goes in. Also, I dont preplan dinner this way if I have a weak moment during the day and eat a few chips or one of the lil ones chicken nuggets I can adjust dinner to compensate. Honestly, I feel better knowing exactly what I put in.

michelec64

Yep - log it all. It really becomes a habit rather quickly. It also keeps you from grazing. I actually try and plan out what I will eat in the morning. That way I know what wiggle room I have.

I pretty much have the same things for breakfast and lunch so I log those in first thing in the morning, that way I'll know how many calories I have to play around with for dinner. For instance, yesterday morning after I logged in my breakfast and lunch I had just over 700 net calories left over. I was feeling like some pizza for dinner, so I knew if I passed on an afternoon snack that I could have my 2 slices and beer and still stay in my limit.

I don't have a smart phone to use the app, but I carry around a pocket-sized pad with me to write down what I eat if I go out. Some people might think that's being anal about it, but with 9 lbs. lost in 6 1/2 weeks the numbers speak for themselves.

LJV1031

LOL... I log everything, most sugarless gums are 5 calories or less... a SINGLE Mentos is TEN calories!!! I'm just anal like that. :ohwell:

Believeth64

@ Donicagalek You have done GREAT!!!!!!! and i take my hat off to you:flowerforyou: (on that note) i log all my foods also because i want to be committed to myself i learned from a saying in weight watchers " If You Bite It Write It"

wolfchild59

Last Saturday I was at a happy hour with friends and just took a few nibbles off the plates they ordered for the table. So yeah, my diary for last Saturday has listings for one fry, two rings of fried calamari and one clam. lol

I logged the two pieces of asparagus I ate at Passover Monday. And the 1/4 of a piece of a dark chocolate Dove Promise I had on Tuesday.

The only thing I have stopped logging 100% of is some of my spices. But everything else, I log it either the moment I eat it, or, more typically, before I eat it, to make sure it doesn't do anything screwy to my log/nutritionals for the day.

kayemme

i log everything that i can, but i eat reasonably healthy in general, so if i forget something, it's often not a big deal.

Atlantique

Yes ma'am! Every single thing! I also weigh and measure everything as well!

Same here. And if I eat out (which I do rarely) I really do my best to log it properly.

Don't forget beverages--any that have calories also count.

AquaAura

I didn't the first couple of weeks and those weeks where I had a few days without being completely honest I didn't loose ... I learnt very quickly that it pays to log everything !!!!! yay for ph app though!!

I watched a docco on weight loss and apparently when keeping a food dairy most of us will forget or neglet to add up to 50% of what we eat over a day and hence why we have so much trouble with weight loss...

leomentlines

I log mostly everything, but I don't track chewing gum, or sugar free syrup that I add to iced tea sometimes. I do a visual assessment - if it appears to be ~15 calories or less I don't bother. I usually have enough of a deficit from exercise to cover little things like that.

Quaneshia1983

I log in everything because you are only cheating yourself if you choose not to put certain stuff on here. Then on top of that if you workout you can burn those bad calories that you ate off. That's what I do today I had a slice of pizza and when I logged it in it's 740 calories which put me over my intake, but I know I'm going to workout tonight as soon as I get off work. But that one slice of pizza also showed me exactly what I was putting in mouth but I didn't find out until after I ate the pizza. I want be eating that again.

locomotion

Yup I log everything, even 2 french fries or the fresh lemon juice I add to my water (which is only 6 calories). Since I'm doing this I've gonna do this right. Really, I'll only be cheating myself if I don't. :ohwell:

hmh2

Sometimes I check what I am thinking of eating just to know if I have enogh avalible calories. I want to make a change that is realistic and I can keep. I am teaching my son better habbits by knowing!

dengarrett

Yeah pretty much - having the app on my phone helps a lot. If I take one very small bite of something I won't log it - like maybe a small bit of icing from cakes brought into work. But something like a small reeces cup - yeah I log it. After a while you get to know the caloric content of foods and learn that if you eat something that is like 10 calories you can add that to something else you log. Also, I (and probably everyone) tend to eat a lot of the same things every day, so it makes it easy to copy from previous days.

MeekMeals

I use the phone app which definately helps me to keep up with what goes in. Also, I dont preplan dinner this way if I have a weak moment during the day and eat a few chips or one of the lil ones chicken nuggets I can adjust dinner to compensate. Honestly, I feel better knowing exactly what I put in.

Yeah I'm more like that. I log everything in most the time either the day before or in the morning and I've been on this mission for so long that depending on what my #s look like for the day, I sometimes don't log in the 1 chip I slip up and eat or etc etc. But I make a mental note of it (having previously logged in every bite in the past).

I was just wondering if the majority of everyone's diary was true to the tee.

Oh by the way, I will be peeking into you guys diary now to get some tips!! And healthy snacks and meals.

FearAnLoathing

I log EVERYTHING if its just a bite of a cookie I log it as a whole cookie.
This week im not logging though cuz Im testing something

Losing2Live69

It does take dedication to keep it all logged. I use my phone app all the time. The big thing I make sure I always record are things like ketchup, mayo, and salad dressings. If it has calories I log it...even sweetener and margarine. It gets easier with time.