Which do you prefer? Logging by meal or logging by time?

Fiveling
Fiveling Posts: 44 Member
in Motivation and Support
Last night I switched my logging groups to 3 hour blocks, instead of nebulously defined meals (when your first meal of the day is at 3pm, is that still breakfast? dontshootmeimastudent), to see if it makes any difference.

Which do you prefer? Why?

Replies

  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
    I just go by time and let the chips fall where they do.
  • ImpishVanity
    ImpishVanity Posts: 224 Member
    I go by time. Seems simpler.
  • TX_Rhon
    TX_Rhon Posts: 1,549 Member
    I just go by time and let the chips fall where they do.

    This. I am steady breakfast/lunch/dinner during work week but weekends are different.
  • Tiernan1212
    Tiernan1212 Posts: 797 Member
    When I worked nights, I went by time. Since I didn't even wake up til 4pm it just made more sense.

    Now that I'm back to a "normal" schedule, I go by meals, although I'm not overly picky where I put things as long as I log them.
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
    I've been logging by time for over 2 years. It was just easier when I was up at all hours of the night nursing my youngest, and it worked, so never bothered to change it when she weaned and I started sleeping through the night again
  • ruffnstuff
    ruffnstuff Posts: 400 Member
    I work in a school, so my schedule is pretty regular. I log my stuff as meals, but my snacks I tend to just put whereever (not always in my snack category). I figure as long as it's logged, who cares where it goes!
  • RenatoVieira
    RenatoVieira Posts: 10
    I always go by meal, so i don't have any time schedule to eat my meal. If i'm hungry i eat.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    I log by meal name.
  • TheBrolympus
    TheBrolympus Posts: 586 Member
    I log by meal and by category just so I can easily search for the things I usually eat in those meal/category.
  • 1Lightstep
    1Lightstep Posts: 64 Member
    I tried meal segments but with a varied schedule and changeable meal times, I find it easier with time segments.

    Each day starts/ends at midnight with 6 x 4 hour meal intervals 12am - 4 am, 4 am to 8 am etc.

    This way I can see when I am eating most/least at certain times of the day and enables me to plan my calorie needs around it.

    For me, it does not matter what you call a meal, only what you eat. By trying to ensure that from the time I get up to the time I go to bed that each segment has something nutritious in it, I avoid waiting too long to eat and then eating more or eating the wrong foods.

    Everyone is different and using the MFP website/app in the way that you find most comfortable can take a little trial and error but using it in the way that works best for you is well worth the time and effort.
  • tryclyn
    tryclyn Posts: 2,414 Member
    Time blocks work better for me.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I just log it wherever...it doesn't really matter. You could log breakfast for dinner or lunch for a snack...you could just call it food...more food...even more food...last food of the day. It doesn't matter. Your total intake is what matters.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
    It doesn't really matter as long as you log everything you ate that day. Just do whatever is easiest for you. When I was a shiftworker, I logged according to meal because it was easier to look up my list in "Recent Foods." Breakfast was sometimes the last meal instead of the first. Now I work regular hours and just log it as it chronologically happens.
  • Fiveling
    Fiveling Posts: 44 Member
    So I've logged by time for a couple of days, and I've found that if I forget to log throughout the day, when it comes to having time to log, I forget when I ate stuff. Considering I switched to using a time-based system partly out of curiosity at to when I eat the most, this is a touch annoying. But I guess it's a good memory exercise.
  • _Terrapin_
    _Terrapin_ Posts: 4,301 Member
    I just go by time and let the chips fall where they do.

    same...but I avoid letting chips fall...no need to waste those suckers.

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