Logging before eating?

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If I don't make a plan for the entire day (usually the night before) I tend to fail miserably. I find the most success if I prepare as much of my daily "consumption" ahead of time. For me, I also tend to be more successful if I stick with what I know. ie. eat pretty much the same thing for breakfast and/or lunch. Good luck!

I always plan the night before, although I do leave room for a little tweaking during the day. If I didn't I'd find it really difficult to calorie control. Also it makes sure I have what I need To prepare/cook the meals I want to have.

I'm not perfect in this, but I try to. It allows me an opportunity to see where I am calorie wise. I also figure out options to help with the cravings. I sometimes don't want what I have planned, so I pack at least one other option after I have figured it out on MFP first and change my meals if I use my options.

I log ahead when I know what I will be eating. Today, for example, I put in my breakfast, snack, lunch, and dinner at the same time... because I had already eaten breakfast, packed my snack and lunch, and thrown dinner in the Crock Pot.

I log ahead when I can. But frankly... I try and eat lighter during the day to have more calories left for dinner anyway. I'll still have snacks if I'm hungry but it works out so that I usually have 500 calories or so for dinner, which is plenty.

I plan our family dinner menu for the week, so I'm not tempted to eat at a restaurant. I log my food for the day in the morning before I leave for work. It helps me stick with my plan and say no to extra snacks or temptations.

Hey! i felt the exact same way about logging food before eating..
i used to do it all the time, and many times i would just pig out, or eat something different!
and in a way i used to get "obsessed" over what i was going to eat the next day, or what my next meal would be, so i stopped.
but once i stopped and just logged food as i ate it, i couldn't keep track of the protein, fats etc that well, although i still stayed under my calorie intake.
so what i do now is just log food that I KNOW i'm going to eat, like for breakfast.. i know i'll have this tomorrow...etc
but i don't log meals that i'm not sure i'll eat. prevents me from changing it again :P it's good to plan the next day but normally it turns out different, maybe for the best or worst but my best advice is to have a rough idea of what you're going to eat the next day, log some meals and see how it goes !

I plan my meals the night before. I fix a pot or pan of somethng snd eat it everyday till gone. Like yesterday I made chicken enchilada soup, I will eat for lunch with 1/2 sandwich. and for dinner I will either make something on the fly or a frozen dinner as a back up.

I bring my morning & afternoon snacks and lunch with me to work. So I know what those will be. I pack them, and then log them at my morning break at work.

I log breakfast as I'm eating it (it's the same every morning).

Depending on how I did on my calories for the day, I choose what to do for dinner (tonight it will be a slice of Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat bread toasted with chevre cheese and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar).

I log mine in the morning for the day. I usually eat about the same thing for breakfast, lunch consist usually of a salad w/ protein (nuts or cheese, occasionally meat) no dressings. Snack fruit , nuts or veggies. Then I try to log something for dinner for the day to stay on track. ALWAYS make sure I make my initial food goal without exercises.

I always log it the night before right after I complete my diary entry for the day. I find that it REALLY helps me to keep my portion sizes under control, mostly because I don't want to have to go back and change my diary during the day. Also, I'll know when I really have extra calories to spare (I log workouts ahead of time as well) and when I can't afford that handful of almonds!

A few weeks ago I was doing full time training at work, and would prepare meals in advance and log them the day before. That way I knew exactly what I was eating and didn't deviate from the path. I've been doing Insanity and up until the middle of last week was doing really good with my eating. However, since about the middle of last week I've slipped a little - I've not had time to think about what to eat and then prepare it, so I have a nakd bar here, bowl of porridge there, and then come night time I pig out.

It's really getting me down.

I'm just wondering if anyone tracks their food before they eat it (deciding what to eat and how much etc) and then just sticks to that? Like meal prepping in a way. Does it work for keeping things under stricter control?

If this gig is making you miserable then perhaps you need to look at what you are doing.
If I were you I would just log it when I eat it. In fact, that is what I do.
The stricter control comes from self discipline in either keeping below your calorie limit or engaging in calorie burning activity that allows you room to go above your allocation.
All the best,

Ben

I log ahead sometimes, if I'm worried about what I'm about to eat. Otherwise I just go for it. I'm a pretty repetitive eater though, so not much comes as a huge surprise.

My first and last meals are usually a given (proatmeal/ protein pancakes or shake.... then at night, just a shake), but its the three middle meals I get to allow some variance for.