how do you do what you do?

spend time the night before and log all of your food so you have a plan for the next day then you may only have to edit a couple of things each night but there is not a need to spend more than 15-20 minutes a day logging your food and exercise in.

If you have an iphone get the app, its saved me soooo much time as my phone is always on me, and i don't have to keep getting on the laptop. x

This is the only social networking site allowed on a government computer. I kill time here at work and enter everything in one fell swoop!

Ditto! This site isn't blocked at work so I use it then. I barely use MFP at home, which is a killer for my weekends. The iPhone app is a great backup but it's quite slow if your wifi or 3g isn't great in that area.

I also spend a bit too much time at work reading the forum posts. :embarassed:

I do think it's true though that the more time you spend on the site, the easier it is to achieve your goals. I find it keeps me motivated and encourages me not to fail. Having a number of friends on MFP holds me accountable. I feel like if I went off the wagon, I'd not only be letting myself down, but them as well!

I'm also fortunate that my wife is as committed to this as well. We both log our calories and exercise and we've been spending an inordinate amount of time at the gym. We keep each other motivated.

I agree that planning out your meals in advance is a great idea. During the week, we're pretty much on autopilot. We each have our routine breakfasts and lunches and when it comes to dinners, we each tend to have our own low-calorie meals that we stick to. On the weekends, we'll try and plan a substantial meal that is hearty and low-calorie.

I've also created a worksheet to aid in tracking all the ingredients that tend to go into more complicated dishes and we have each created a personal food entry called "Generic - Calorie" that is just one calorie. Once I've calculated how many calories are in a serving, I can just easily log that one item. For example, if a serving of dinner is 300 calories, I just enter 300 servings of "Generic - Calorie". Granted, it doesn't show me the entire nutritional breakdown for that item, but it does save a considerable amount of time, and we just try to ensure that whatever we make is low in sodium. Also we look for ways to replace items in recipes with lower-calorie / healthier options. For example, ground turkey instead of ground beef, splenda instead of sugar, etc ...

Hope that helps!

This is the only social networking site allowed on a government computer. I kill time here at work and enter everything in one fell swoop!

Same here. It's the only networking site not blocked. I leave mpf on almost all day and check in on everyone and log as the day goes on.

I find it pretty easy to keep up with my food and exercise diary. This site makes it pretty easy as it saves what you have entered previously so you can just go back and check it off. A lot of times I'll enter my dinner in early in the day if I already know what we are having. I have found this website to be crucial to my weight loss success. It has really opened my eyes to how much I was eating before.

I can never find time to keep this update! I feel like people who commit a good amount of time to this site do well? Is this assumption true? How do you do what you do?

It does take a little time, no matter when you log your food. But, remember, while you are logging, you aren't eating.

I must say I don't track food an exersise on here anymore, I more or less come here for the boards ..I write down everything I eat at home in a book with my boyfriend. I work at a computer all day, I don't touch one when I get home unless I have to

But these boards are the best of it's kind!

Ditto--I spend most of my free time at work on here--I try to put in what I'm going to have for lunch--then if it is too much--then I know what to eat/what not to eat!
I don't think the more time you are on here the better off you are--I just feel that if you commit to writing down every lil thing that goes into you mouth --you are a lil more conscious and aware of what you are actually eating--I hate seeing those RED numbers in the calorie/fat/etc!! Also--it helps me to make SURE to work-out daily--I get to write it down!!! Yeah!

I'm a SAHM, so I'm here all day everyday, but I do as a lot of other do on here - I plan my day ahead of time and try to stick to it, I either log tomorrows food in at night before I go to bed or first thing in the morning. I think planning has a big part in sucess. I log on quite frequently to update food, exercise, browse the message boards, or blog, and all the while I'm on here I keep thinking I should be using this time for something more active but I still get my exercise in and play with my kids, my house is the one who suffers :laugh:

Good luck and log as much as you can, it defninitely helps!