How often do you log your food in a day?

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angelzprophecy
angelzprophecy Posts: 130
in Health and Weight Loss
I like to try to plan out and log my food for the day in the mornings a lot but i find that i rarely ever follow my exact plan since doing it this way is so restrictive.
Do you guys log in as you eat through out the day or log all at once at the end of the day or plan and log it in at the start of the day?
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Replies

  • princesstoadstool82
    princesstoadstool82 Posts: 371 Member
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    Ive done alk of the above. .. but I do like to pre log the day. .. lets me know if I can and should fit in other things and I can then adjust for macros too..
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    i log in the morning, after breakfast... i make my lunch for work the night before, so i know what that is to log in advance, and we generally have a menu of what's for dinner each day so i can log that in advance as well... the only thing that might change is the number of snacks depending on my cals/macros/how much exercise i do.

    weekends i log as i eat.
  • maasha81
    maasha81 Posts: 733 Member
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    Most times I log as I eat. If I have prepared a meal then I input them one time.
  • Amitysk
    Amitysk Posts: 705 Member
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    I typically log as I go. It works pretty well for me especially now as I know how my meals break down. If I have around 600-800 calories left after lunch I'm usually good for dinner....and wine.
  • dezwark
    dezwark Posts: 144 Member
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    I log as I go. I am not very good with planning much. I am also not the best at logging either but I am trying to get better at this too.
  • lavaughan69
    lavaughan69 Posts: 459 Member
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    I log my breakfast and lunch and mid day snack right before I eat lunch. Then I log dinner after I eat it. I'll also edit my lunch or mid day snack if I didn't get a chance to eat something I packed. Right before bed I'll log my night time snack and complete.
  • gmthisfeller
    gmthisfeller Posts: 779 Member
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    I log as I go for both meals, snacks, and exercise.
  • sfbaumgarten
    sfbaumgarten Posts: 912 Member
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    I typically log my day in advance and make changes as they come. Works pretty well on workdays because I pack a lunch and such, but my menu on the weekends isn't as predictable.
  • Pandora_King
    Pandora_King Posts: 153
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    I plan my food for the week on Sunday so that I have a schedule and can get to it quickly. I make some changes during each day but mostly stick to it. This way I have less of a chance of making bad decisions.
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
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    I log my breakfast and lunch and mid day snack right before I eat lunch. Then I log dinner after I eat it. I'll also edit my lunch or mid day snack if I didn't get a chance to eat something I packed. Right before bed I'll log my night time snack and complete.

    Essentially this is what I do too. I don't always do a night time snack, but I leave my diary open until then just in case. But that's during the week. I do not plan my meals as much on the weekend, so I am usually logging as I go or at the end of the day. Sometimes, I don't get around to logging until the next morning.
  • tristaj90
    tristaj90 Posts: 330 Member
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    I normally try to plan ahead... so I put everything in in the morning but then If I dont feel like eating something I had planned to eat I make edits. I'm constantly making edits. I just try to keep it under my calorie goal :)
  • staceypunk
    staceypunk Posts: 924 Member
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    I log the things I am pretty sure are going to happen in the morning. Easy for me because I eat the same things all the time, except for dinners. I also have a desk job so it's easy for me to log any changes right after I eat. At home I log my dinner right after I eat it. I don't want to forget anything. On weekends, I typically log it all on Monday.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    I try to pre-log my food for the day in the morning as much as I can. It helps me to stay on track and also get an idea of what kind of burn I need to achieve during my workout or what wiggle room I may have. Like today, I know I'm going to have 200-300 calories leftover so I know if I'm a bit peckish, I can go ahead and have an extra snack or two and if not, that works too since I was over during the weekend so being under today will help make up for that. But there are days, especially on weekends, when I may not know every little thing I'm going to eat so I pre-log what I can and fill in the rest as I go. I may not always log on to MFP to update my food journal but I at least jot it down somewhere and then make updates the next time I log in.
  • MissSarahAllison315
    MissSarahAllison315 Posts: 263 Member
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    I pack my lunch for work in the mornings, but I always log it in after I eat it....I don't like the restriction of putting everything in in the morning. Life isn't that predictable! Unfortunately lol. Since I always eat the same thing for breakfast, I can usually safely put that in before I eat it though :p Lunch is logged around 1, and dinner is either logged in as I eat it or the next morning (whoops!)
  • doug_pierce
    doug_pierce Posts: 255
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    I log meals and exercise as they occur. If I can't log immediately, I'll backfill. Like the question of how often to weigh yourself, there's no right answer here. Just have to figure out what works best for you.
  • eyecandyrayce
    eyecandyrayce Posts: 260 Member
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    I log in the morning while I'm eating my breakfast. I also make sure to leave 200-300 calories free for unplanned snacks and then, if I still have it free after dinner, I allow myself some dessert. Some days I end up not eating a snack I had logged and taken. I just remove them.

    I only weigh myself once a month. This way I don't get discouraged by bad weeks or weeks when the weight isn't dropping as much.
  • pensarepink
    pensarepink Posts: 18 Member
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    On weekdays I tend to pre-plan my day and log all meals/snacks after breakfast. I pack my lunch in the morning so I know what I'm having for that meal. There's usually a dinner meal plan for the week as well so I tend to know what I'll be having for dinner. I log my water as I go. I don't log my exercise until I actually have the readouts from my HRM to get the most accurate calorie burn info. I don't complete my log for the day until just before bed (when I know I won't be having any more snacks, etc.)

    Pre-planning/tracking really keeps me on task.

    On the weekends I tend to log as I go since there's less structure to my meals. Sometimes I'll only eat breakfast and a very late lunch with a light snack for dinner.
  • FitWarrior7
    FitWarrior7 Posts: 332 Member
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    I log my dinner and typically complete the prior day's entry the next morning. Otherwise most meals are as I go or when I get a chance throughout the day.
  • Shuuma
    Shuuma Posts: 465 Member
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    I typically log my day in advance and make changes as they come. Works pretty well on workdays because I pack a lunch and such, but my menu on the weekends isn't as predictable.

    This is what I do. I log everything I'm "planning" on having during the day, pack my lunch, and adjust as the day goes along. This works for me really well because I've never tracked food before. It gives me a great base and allows me to be flexible if dinner plans change. Weekends are also difficult, but I generally sketch something out as a starting point and go from there.
  • ohthatzhott
    ohthatzhott Posts: 19 Member
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    I like doing it in advance because it's like a preview of my future cal consumption and I can tailor it from there.

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