MFP alternatives

Options
13

Replies

  • kgoodman0108
    kgoodman0108 Posts: 158
    Options
    You could always do it the geeky way and create a massive excel spreadsheet. :drinker:
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    Options
    It is strange that it is very common for people to reply to this complaint by saying they mostly eat the same things. People who agree or disagree both say this. Have you ever wondered why that is, perhaps you've trained yourself to eat the same foods over and over to make it easier to log. I know I have. I was just discussing how variety makes eating right so much easier and more fun (especially true for vegans). I want the freedom to try something new on a whim, or to not have the same meal twice in a month, the current system doesn't make that easy, in fact, in reinforces the exact opposite behavior.


    I can look up and log any meal in three minutes. It doesn't matter if I've had it before or not. I think you are making this way harder than it needs to be.

    I don't eat all the same things. I just know how to use an alphabetized list.

    Yeah, I've been here two years, logging every single day and I don't think it's ever taken more than 5 minutes to log my entire day. This site has many, many problems and could be improved dramatically on a lot of fronts if someone cared. Having said that, it's still the best option out there so I'm still here.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    Options
    bumping.
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    Options
    It is strange that it is very common for people to reply to this complaint by saying they mostly eat the same things. People who agree or disagree both say this. Have you ever wondered why that is, perhaps you've trained yourself to eat the same foods over and over to make it easier to log. I know I have. I was just discussing how variety makes eating right so much easier and more fun (especially true for vegans). I want the freedom to try something new on a whim, or to not have the same meal twice in a month, the current system doesn't make that easy, in fact, in reinforces the exact opposite behavior.


    I can look up and log any meal in three minutes. It doesn't matter if I've had it before or not. I think you are making this way harder than it needs to be.

    I don't eat all the same things. I just know how to use an alphabetized list.

    ^ This. It takes me less than 5 minutes to log pretty much any meal.
  • mfaine
    mfaine Posts: 84 Member
    Options
    I :heart: MFP. The database is cluttered but I have figured my way around it pretty good. What foods do you have a problem logging?

    When you go to the database and type an ingredient, for example cinnamon, the very first thing in the list should be cinnamon, plain and simple, instead you get Apple Cinnamon Chex. It would be nice if I could just filter out all of the brand name stuff and simply enter actual ingredients.

    Same problem. I absolutely hate most user entered stuff because everyone has a different focus and I never know what the person who entered the item was interested in. Some things have no macros, some don't bother to add sodium. Most days now I just use the standard ones because I like that I can weigh my milk etc.. Not being able to use my 'recent' /'my foods' in recipes really blows also. Honestly.. even for a retarded coder it shouldn't be THAT hard to have a check box to exclude user items.

    You bring up another good point: inconsistency in how the user interface works. If you click on an item in your food log,you can modify it; move it to a different meal, change the amount, etc. Why can't you do this in recipes? Instead you have to delete the item, search for it, and re-add it, in order to change even a minor ingredient detail. You can delete meals and recipes but not foods, why not? Also, why can't I use a recipe or a meal as an ingredient for another recipe or meal, etc. And as you pointed out, why are my recent items and foods not available in recipes?
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,841 Member
    Options
    I use the MFP app on my iPhone to enter most of my meals. I use the barcode scanner and it pull up the food probably 80% of the time, which makes it super easy to add the food directly in my log or to a recipe. That to me is golden.

    I don't vary too much in what I eat so then I have all the recent adds there and it goes pretty quick.

    I do agree there could be a bit of a purge in the DB to remove so many duplicates though.

    What is awesome is there are so many decent websites and apps out now that will fit anyone preferences. Just gotta fine the one that fits you.

    Good luck.
  • TylerJ76
    TylerJ76 Posts: 4,375 Member
    Options
    CYA!
  • kennethmgreen
    kennethmgreen Posts: 1,759 Member
    Options
    If you use the database here, always use the entries in the database that have been entered by the MFP Staff. They are entered correctly, and they give options of ounces or grams.

    You can find these by looking for the entries in the database that have NO ASTERISK ( * ) in front of them.

    When it comes to any fruit or vegetable, the easiest way is to enter "Avocado raw" - if you always enter "raw" it cuts the list way down and makes it much easier to find the no asterisk ones. That applies to meats, too.

    Also, if you enter your own food, or EDIT any foods they will also appear with no asterisk and can also then be found quickly in MY FOODS.

    ..................................

    Once you get your favorite foods into your MY FOODS, it only takes about 3 minutes per meal.

    I've looked. There is no better system or database. This is the one, make it work for you. It's worth it!!

    Good luck.
    Good info. I wish there was a way to filter out anything with an asterisk.

    I entered a protein bar today. It was a Honey Stinger Dark Chocolate Mint Almond bar. I typed in "stinger mint" and all three entries that came back had the correct nutritional values. But all three entries were misspelled. Maybe that shouldn't matter. But it make me cry a little bit.

    ETA: I just discovered that when you edit an entry, you do have access to the name too. I'm off to correct some spelling!
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,229 Member
    Options
    What exactly do you have invested in the site? It's a free site so you aren't investing money... and if you aren't willing to invest the time in logging? :indifferent:
  • VelociMama
    VelociMama Posts: 3,119 Member
    Options
    If you use the database here, always use the entries in the database that have been entered by the MFP Staff. They are entered correctly, and they give options of ounces or grams.

    You can find these by looking for the entries in the database that have NO ASTERISK ( * ) in front of them.

    those are getting harder and harder to find though. the last several times i've entered basic foods, i had to wade through a TON of entries, and still couldn't find the official one.

    It would be nice if there were controls for that. Exclude User Contributed Items, Only List Raw Ingredients, etc.

    Definitely this. I cook with a lot of raw ingredients, and it's getting difficult to find the USDA (non-asterisk) food items now.
  • BeeElMarvin
    BeeElMarvin Posts: 2,086 Member
    Options
    I agree that the database could be a lot better and it definitely needs to be cleaned up. I haven't found anything better. Have you made a serious attempt to speak with the staff here? I'm not being facetious, there may be something in the works or you may be able to spur them to do better. Filtering would be a great idea...
  • AMBlass
    AMBlass Posts: 161
    Options
    When I eat packaged or very simple foods (like apple and nut butter) it works great, but I have issues with all the recipe-based meals that we have that don't offer nutritional data. Makes it almost impossible to log even though we are eating healthier (using Paleo cookbooks). It's not really the fault of MFP, but it is frustrating in general.
  • VelociMama
    VelociMama Posts: 3,119 Member
    Options
    When I eat packaged or very simple foods (like apple and nut butter) it works great, but I have issues with all the recipe-based meals that we have that don't offer nutritional data. Makes it almost impossible to log even though we are eating healthier (using Paleo cookbooks). It's not really the fault of MFP, but it is frustrating in general.

    Use the recipe builder under Food --> Recipes and enter your recipes. As long as you make it the same way every time, it'll work nicely.
  • lbesaw
    lbesaw Posts: 267 Member
    Options
    I've never had any major problems....I LOVE my MFP!!
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
    Options
    If you use the database here, always use the entries in the database that have been entered by the MFP Staff. They are entered correctly, and they give options of ounces or grams.

    You can find these by looking for the entries in the database that have NO ASTERISK ( * ) in front of them.

    When it comes to any fruit or vegetable, the easiest way is to enter "Avocado raw" - if you always enter "raw" it cuts the list way down and makes it much easier to find the no asterisk ones. That applies to meats, too.

    Also, if you enter your own food, or EDIT any foods they will also appear with no asterisk and can also then be found quickly in MY FOODS.

    ..................................

    Once you get your favorite foods into your MY FOODS, it only takes about 3 minutes per meal.

    I've looked. There is no better system or database. This is the one, make it work for you. It's worth it!!

    Good luck.

    I didn't know that about the astericks.. thanks! I'm going to pay attention to that going forward.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    Options
    I don't get it. OP is simply saying that he thinks the service could be better and he is even willing to pay for it! He isn't saying that this free service isn't good for the price, he's saying that he would be willing to pay actual $$$ for a better service. (For the record, so am I.) And he isn't just whining, he actually has some suggestions. Oh, sure, they're the same suggestions that have been thrown around since I got here years ago, but still, they're reasonable suggestions.

    I guess I'm just saying that I think your dismissive tone is slightly misplaced here.

    ETA: Oh, and while I suspect they still have the same kinds of problems there, I started at mynetdiary.com before moving to MFP (because MFP was the first service to introduce an iphone app). Perhaps they have everything sorted out over there now.
  • Leeann1979
    Leeann1979 Posts: 1,090 Member
    Options
    I cant even remember to be honest with you, but I think it was ok. I lost some weight using it. Then I switched to Sparkpeople, which again, it was alright. Then I found Calorie Count, which I used for a long time. The issue I had with that site was that the database didnt have a lot of the foods I ate, so I had to manually enter in A LOT. So I went back to Sparkpeople, and it seemed much better than it was years earlier. There weren't many foods I couldnt find.
    Now I have been on MFP consistently for a year and I find it has the most foods, the ones I eat anyway. I can count on 1 hand how many time I have had to manually enter in a food I ate.
    This is just my experience :)
  • kennethmgreen
    kennethmgreen Posts: 1,759 Member
    Options
    I don't get it. OP is simply saying that he thinks the service could be better and he is even willing to pay for it! He isn't saying that this free service isn't good for the price, he's saying that he would be willing to pay actual $$$ for a better service. (For the record, so am I.) And he isn't just whining, he actually has some suggestions. Oh, sure, they're the same suggestions that have been thrown around since I got here years ago, but still, they're reasonable suggestions.

    I guess I'm just saying that I think your dismissive tone is slightly misplaced here.
    Agreed. While it's true that MFP is free, that does not mean respectfully asking for improvements are out of line. I don't get that attitude at all. Even if OP didn't bring up the offer to pay for improvements (though that's worth noting again), I don't understand the "it's free, deal with it" approach. I don't think MFP - as a company - is saying that. Why have a section for feedback?

    If someone is complaining incessantly, not offering a solution, or threatening to go elsewhere, then I'd understand the "it's free, deal with it" responses. But not here.
  • SkimFlatWhite68
    SkimFlatWhite68 Posts: 1,254 Member
    Options
    Life wasn't meant to be easy, but it was meant to be rewarding...

    If I can't find something, I look it up elsewhere and add to my foods. I create my own recipes, that's easy. I put in a bit of effort to get what I want.

    I also paid to join Sparkpeople and Livestrong, and I didn't think much of them, still use MFP every day for the last 2 months since I started.

    I guess you will find a happy medium.
  • Krissy366
    Krissy366 Posts: 458 Member
    Options
    I :heart: MFP. The database is cluttered but I have figured my way around it pretty good. What foods do you have a problem logging?

    I can quick add calories but I can't quick add anything else.

    I find this annoying as well - I wish I could quick add calories and the macros I'm following and give it a simple name, rather than the whole process of adding something to the database only for it to ask me if some incorrectly entered item from someone else is what I'm looking for.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories