Today's food notes? Do you use this?

ushkii

I have never put anything in this area of the FOOD tab. I guess I don't have notes about today's food.

What do you use it for?
How often do you use it?
Any good ideas for use?

Any funny entries?

or like me do you NOT use it?

Thanks for your time, if you looked please comment yea or nay on it's usefullness.

rharris86dc

I use it to track what MFP thinks I would weigh in 5 weeks "if every day were like today."

It's not always accurate, but sometimes it has been spot on.

I may have used it once to comment about a new recipe or something I tried that worked out rather well.

Pandorian

I use it for "unusual occurrences" like if my calories are way short because I didn't eat due to my health issue preventing me from doing so, then I can look back and refer to just how often that issue flared up so I can give an accurate accounting to the Dr at my next regular visit.

If I just had a rough day I'll write in there too.

My most frequent post in that is my "in 5 weeks you'll weigh" from closing my diary for the day. I was tracking Blood-pressure etc there but I think i moved that to actual measurements. 3 entries in measurements I think. Systolic BPM and whatever the term is for the third one :P

LuLuRunner1

I recently went out of town for training and it was hard to track my calories since we were eating out and eating things that I didn't even begin to know how to track. One of my MFP buddies recommended using the food notes to jot down what I did eat. This still keeps you accountable for everything, but at those times when it's impossible to actually weigh & measure & know how things are fixed.

They said they also used it when they didn't have a lot of time to enter their food individually into the tracker. They would enter it in the notes and then when they had a chance, enter it in the tracker.

Some days I will also put whether I was starving or not hungry at all.

jacksonpt

I've used it a few times for things like "upped my calories" or "fundraising pancake breakfast" type things, but since they don't show up in the reports I run they end up being of little use to me.

Pandorian

Forgot too it's very useful if you're "Quick adding" calories to give it a name.... but once you start naming your quick added calories you might as well have searched for the food item (I'll go back later based on what is in the food notes and actually add the item when I have more spare time)

megz4987

I use it if I "quick add" calories stating what it was that I ate. On my phone It only allows me to see about 5-6 food options if I search for something and if it's not in there, I quick add the calories and jot a note.

auntied

I'm X weight watchers so I put what my points would have been....

NomNomCupcakes

I use it everyday I remember to write what I did or didn't do for exercise, (especially write why I DIDNT exercise) why I ate what I ate, and what my day was like lol like a journal.

Pandorian

If the "Report" you're running is from the food diary link for 'view printable report" or something the yellow/orange button at the bottom of the food diary there is a checkbox to include "food notes"... so you could get a report of nothing but your food notes with relevant date which is what I do when I'm heading to the Dr and he wants to know how frequent I've had flare-ups.

horror_hamster

I write a short snippet about the day. For example: "Ate a late breakfast, after church. Had supper at 4:30." or "what a crazy day, had breakfast at 8, ran to a meeting, had snack at 1, ran to another meeting, had soup at 3, went to another meeting, grabbed a handful of chips and headed home"

I do this to help me figure out a pattern. Is there a week that I notated that I ate strangely and therefore gained/lost weight that week? Also, it allows me to put reminders of GOOD things I did (i list me NSVs a lot)

jennmoore3

I use it for quick calorie adding. If I am out and I look something up on let's say pizza hut web site, and they say X calories but I don't find a MFP match then I will use the quick add calories. Then I say in the notes... lunch 250 cal=pizza hut

dolphin9803

I use it. I don't use it often only when I go over my cals just to let me know what was different that day. Say for instance "gave into craving for sweets" BAD I know but if I cut every sweet out and stick with only healthy stuff I know I will fail desperately (from experience) or on days I have sweets as a snack I say " mini goal accomplished didn't eat the whole candy bar"....lol weird things like that help me throughout this journey.

p1xelate

I use it to track the in 5 weeks I would weigh. . . and for quick add calories so I can remember why I added them

BeccaB1981

I have only used it a couple times but I like some of the things other posters are using it for so I think I am going to start using it a lot more often!!

ushkii

Wow, thanks for all the input. How would Search for food notes?

Cristy_AZ

I rarely use it, but sometimes if something needs explanation... like if I was too lazy to edit a recipe that was already in the database but I made it without salt... I'd explain that my sodium is THAT far over.. stuff like that. I've seen people use it for their daily weight or what the database says they will weigh in 5 weeks. I've also used it on a very few occasions to explain why I didn't eat.. (like I was very sick or just had surgery... I'm not one to skip meals, so always thought it needed explaining.)

Lyadeia

I am calorie and carb cycling, and I pre-plan/pre-log my food entries. I use the notes section as a reminder of my "high" days so that I can plan on having more calories or carbs on that particular day compared to my goals written on the page.

KiyaK

I use it all the time! I just write about my day. Why I might have eaten something or something I resisted. (ex: someone brought cookies to work AGAIN today! Will try to resist!) how I felt (ex: ran out of energy in the middle of workout. Need to eat more before.) or something else along those lines. I LOVE that aspect of MFP!

havalinaaa

I use it to note:

-special events
-if I'm sick
-if I took medicine

So far that's about it. I've been thinking about noting when I'm eating at a restaurant so I'll know the count is much more of a guess than normal.

bizco

I use it every day. If I weighed myself that day I'll make a note of it; I only log my weight once a week but sometimes I'll weigh myself 2-3 times per week. I also use it to note the time of day of my meals. I don't eat on a regular schedule so it helps me keep track of time between meals/snacks. For example, "finished breakfast at 8:30am plus calcium pill"; "protein shake after workout at 4:30pm." I'll also make notes if I feel unusual or not quite 100%. For example, "feel dead tired today and no appetite"; "starving all day and couldn't control my appetite." If I ever have to use the Quick Calorie feature, I make a note of why I had to use it; for example "dinner out at Maverick's." If I consume more than one alcoholic beverage on any given day I make a note of why I did, for example "work happy hour." The list goes on.