Any suggestions to make logging food less frustrating?

NDgrrrl144
NDgrrrl144 Posts: 8 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Does anyone else find it frustrating to log food? Maybe frustrating isn't 100% the right word...but the frustration comes from the fact that it is really time consuming! Sure, if I was eating frozen pizza or Stouffer's dishes every night it would be easy - but that's not healthy food! In order to log healthy food, you have to look up each and every ingredient, make a meal, attempt to guess how many servings it actually is...I just find that this causes me not to want to log at all, and then I get off track. Any suggestions?

Replies

  • chickenz
    chickenz Posts: 101 Member
    Once you set up your recipes it is easy going. Most people generally eat the same favorite meals over and over
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    If you're mainly only concerned about calories, you can "quick add" them.
  • bokodasu
    bokodasu Posts: 629 Member
    For ingredients, always use the word "raw" when you're searching, it almost always puts the USDA values first. (So "carrots raw" not "carrots")

    Use the recipes feature. If you always roast chicken with olive oil and carrots, but you change up your sauces or other vegetables or whatever, make the base chicken/oil/carrots a recipe and then manually add the other stuff.

    Once you've been doing it a bit, the stuff you use most often really does float to the top and it gets a lot easier. It also breaks that up by meal, so there's stuff that I always add for lunch even if I have it for dinner on a particular day, just because I know it's in my lunch list and I won't have to search for it if I do it that way.
  • KenosFeoh
    KenosFeoh Posts: 1,837 Member
    If I'm really pressed for time, I use something that sounds close rather than putting in my own recipe. I don't think any of the numbers are exact, so approximations are o.k.
  • LidijaR
    LidijaR Posts: 11 Member
    I find it very exciting acctualy;) But it is me and i am a finance lady so like to count! I love to put new receipies and check their nutrition values.. And as it was said in above replies once you set up your receipes and ingridiens it is very easy.
  • LoosingMyLast15
    LoosingMyLast15 Posts: 1,457 Member
    Does anyone else find it frustrating to log food? Maybe frustrating isn't 100% the right word...but the frustration comes from the fact that it is really time consuming! Sure, if I was eating frozen pizza or Stouffer's dishes every night it would be easy - but that's not healthy food! In order to log healthy food, you have to look up each and every ingredient, make a meal, attempt to guess how many servings it actually is...I just find that this causes me not to want to log at all, and then I get off track. Any suggestions?

    for me personally it's too time consuming for me to do all that work. if it's a dish i make i will create a recipe for it, most of the time i do not include spices which i realize have calories in them but i'm not overly concerned. i do weigh my food but i also don't stress over finding the EXACT items in the food list or the exact sauteed chicken in the food list either. i'm more apt to use a restaurant's sauteed chicken than i am to create a recipe for it. if i'm off in my calories than i'm off ( i try to overestimate - rather have my calories a little high than WAY under). since i'm not concerned if it takes me a year to loose the weight this system works for me.
  • ecka723
    ecka723 Posts: 148 Member
    Out of all of the features on MFP, I use the recipe calculator the most! I tend to make the same meals over a two or three week period, so I add all the basics of the meals together (i.e. pasta and sauce for Spaghetti) and add what I changed to that particular recipe (what type of meat, veggies I added to the sauce, Parmesan cheese, etc.) in my daily tracker, but the original recipe always stays the same.

    I hope you can find a solution! Also, I almost always use the "recent" tab when searching foods, as I tend to buy the same brands week after week.
  • NDgrrrl144
    NDgrrrl144 Posts: 8 Member
    Thanks for your help guys! I really like the idea of grouping common base ingredients (ex, pasta and sauce) and then adding the specifics separately. Keep the ideas coming!


    Oh, and just to put this out there, I love supporting people on here and making new friends, so feel free to add me =)
  • BiohazrD
    BiohazrD Posts: 48
    Barcode scanner on the phone app + common foods/meals/recipies/etc
  • MissJanet55
    MissJanet55 Posts: 457 Member
    I actually kind of enjoy entering my recipes and seeing how they come out. I try to make it a bit of a game and see if I can guestimate from the recipe.

    I don't enter every ingredient, though. If a recipe serving 4 people has 2 tbsp soy sauce, 3 cloves of garlic and a tsp of grated ginger, for instance, I don't really care. The calories are neglible. although I realize this is controversial here.
  • miracole
    miracole Posts: 492 Member
    I just search the most common/biggest ingredients in my meal, find a meal that someone else made that was closest to mine and go with that. For me it's about acknowledging everything that I'm eating, I don't need it to be exact or the labels to be spot on. So long as I have a bit of wiggle room every day I figure it evens out. Has worked well so far! (and I log 6 meals a day so it's a lot of logging!)
  • KathyPBiles
    KathyPBiles Posts: 292 Member
    To be, it helps to keep me accountable. I know if "I bite it, I write it".
  • Timmmy40
    Timmmy40 Posts: 152 Member
    I like logging my food before I eat that way I can add or remove and not worry about eating over. I think the app on my smart phone makes it easiest to log my foods. I have found logging my food and living this new lifestyle it is essential to lose weight. If I do not log I will definitely eat too much. I do not make recipes in my meals because it takes me too long to figure it out. I just add all of the ingredients, but the bar code scanner on my phone makes it a lot easier to log. Good luck! Keep Punching! It Is A Choice! No Excuses! Do Not Quit!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,412 Member
    After you've done it for a while, it gets easier, you learn to use the database effectively, and you get your favorites in the
    "Recent" list or My Foods.

    I can log the entire day's food in less than 9 minutes. . .but it used to take me longer. Learning curve.
  • Bett137
    Bett137 Posts: 1
    It is time consuming to set up in the beginning, but gets faster as you go along and use the same foods again. However, I have been keeping a paper calendar with foods written in them for the times I can't get to a computer (I don't have a smart phone yet). A couple days ago, I wrote down a "nut butter bar" that I ate and the calories, but didn't write down the brand name.

    I was hoping I could add this food to my Snacks since I knew the calories. However, when I clicked on "Add Food", it wants me to add the brand name which I do not know.

    Is there a way to add foods like this bar without the brand name?

    Thanks
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,412 Member
    ....and really, spending ten minutes a day to be a healthy weight is a small price to pay.
  • ecka723
    ecka723 Posts: 148 Member
    It is time consuming to set up in the beginning, but gets faster as you go along and use the same foods again. However, I have been keeping a paper calendar with foods written in them for the times I can't get to a computer (I don't have a smart phone yet). A couple days ago, I wrote down a "nut butter bar" that I ate and the calories, but didn't write down the brand name.

    I was hoping I could add this food to my Snacks since I knew the calories. However, when I clicked on "Add Food", it wants me to add the brand name which I do not know.

    Is there a way to add foods like this bar without the brand name?

    Thanks

    Yes, right by the search button when adding food to your diary, there is a small link that says "Quick add calories only". That should do the trick for you!
  • SugarFemme24
    SugarFemme24 Posts: 47 Member
    I do multi add and just add all the crap that's in my meal that has calories. spices cals are negligible so I don't worry about them.
  • kjoiner1617
    kjoiner1617 Posts: 1 Member
    I use the Perfect Portions scale in combination with MyFitnessPal.
  • dawlschic007
    dawlschic007 Posts: 636 Member
    If it's a meal you eat all the time with the same sides/ingredients, I will take the time to scan or enter in each ingredient and then save it to My Meals (not recipes). This way I can see all the ingredients and easily add in a new ingredient next time or delete a ingredient that I didn't use since I rarely ever make my meals exactly the same each time I cook.

    Also, the more you use it, the easier it gets because you can copy your meals from previous days or just look things up in the recent/frequent lists.
  • sovannac
    sovannac Posts: 445 Member
    I love logging my food. I wish I could log it days in advance but that's because I'm a planner. I agree with everyone else - it's a lot easier when you have all the ingredients and recipes saved. it's only time consuming in the beginning... unless you're eating something different every single day.

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