Prelogging?

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taylorjgriffiths289
taylorjgriffiths289 Posts: 15 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've heard a few people on here talking about prelogging what they plan to eat and then just trying to stick to that?
Can someone who does this offer their experiences so I can get an idea for how it works for them?
Thanks :)
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Replies

  • NicoleLawrence98
    NicoleLawrence98 Posts: 53 Member
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    Iv'e just started doing that, its so good! You put in what your going to eat for the next day and then you have controll\ of what your eating that day and how much calories your going to have so its way easier to stay under your limit :)
  • LULU4178
    LULU4178 Posts: 69 Member
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    Sometimes I type in what I am thinking about having for dinner or a snack to see what it will do to my totals. If the totals go over, then I skip it.

    I have been doing MFP for a month now and was very surprised to learn how many calories I was eating per day. It helps me with portion control.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    i pre log first thing in the morning, or sometimes the night before. i usually have 1 of 2 things for breakfast and make my salad for lunch the night before so i can input it all once its made. and we usually know what we're having for tea the night before... then i just add my snacks in as i go along, and once i have worked out an extra snack for supper if i have the cals.
  • Flookbird
    Flookbird Posts: 81 Member
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    I pretty much always do that. It's a habit I've learned from doing Weight Watchers. It helps me to know that if I'm offered something at work, for example, whether I can have it or not. Or whether I have something planned later in the day that I can cut out to make room for something else. I think it's a really great habit to get into.
  • cherrilovee
    cherrilovee Posts: 194 Member
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    I tried doing that a few times, but sometimes I end up skipping the meals and eating something else out of the blue. It doesn't really work for me, but it might work for you!
  • logg1e
    logg1e Posts: 1,208 Member
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    I have never considered a different way of doing it!

    It's really important to me to know that I won't run out of calories by the end of the day, that I won't need to go without chocolate and that I won't finish the day with too big a deficit.
  • mistressmozart
    mistressmozart Posts: 44 Member
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    I always pre log my exercise that way it forces me to do it!
  • logg1e
    logg1e Posts: 1,208 Member
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    I always pre log my exercise that way it forces me to do it!

    Heh, you're a braver woman than I!
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    I only log food here, but if I prelog it's usually not the entire day's worth of food, and I might only do it a few times a week. and then the next day I might change most of what I logged anyways: different amounts (I measure by weight, so any prelogging I do is an estimate as to how many grams I'd likely want to eat based on my previous eating habits), different foods entirely.

    Usually I'll pre-log breakfast because I almost always eat the same things. I have a breakfast meal set up that's about 2/3rds of my calories for breakfast, and then I'll add more until I read my calories for that meal, adding things I feel I'd like to eat or adding things in to help me reach my protein goals more evenly during the day. If I have any left-overs I will likely pre-log those into my lunch and/or dinner, because I know that that's what I'm most likely going to eat the next day anyways.

    I also sometimes prelog calorie-dense foods that I know I want to eat; so junk food. That way I know that if I want to eat one of my donuts, I'll have however many remaining grams of protein, fat, and carbs to work with. I also often prelog my protein powder for workout days.

    ETA: I change my meal names in settings so that my 4 meals are labeled with their allotted calories. I'm doing 2100 atm (total calories, not net, for fat loss) so each meal gets 525 calories. Breakfast and lunch are always planned to be within or near that amount (I might go over in breakfast and under in lunch, or vice versa), but my 2 dinners are more loose. I might have one huge dinner or I might have a smaller dinner and then 2 more "meals" into the evening. But I find that just writing in the number of calories for each meal makes pre-logging mostly unnecessary because I don't have any issues with "running out" of calories. Sometimes logging freely means having odd combos but I'm lazy so I'd rather odd combos than prelogging every day.
  • mymodernbabylon
    mymodernbabylon Posts: 1,038 Member
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    I pre-log breakfast & dinner every day as I have a plan in place for both. It gives me a good idea of what I can eat for lunch and I can plan if I want to add wine/beer that evening, or if I need to workout a bit extra heavy to get more treats.
  • GatorDeb1
    GatorDeb1 Posts: 245 Member
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    I prelog everything the day before or days before. I make sure I have crabs pre-workout, carbs + protein post-workout, that all workouts are properly fueled, and that I meet my protein and calcium #s. Been doing it for years.
  • lemonsurprise
    lemonsurprise Posts: 255 Member
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    Always. If I don't plan I put cooking off and off and then get so hungry that I want to eat something really quick, and usually high in calories and low in nutrition.
    I plan the days food the evening before. A couple of ingredients will change here and there but it works so well for me.
  • LessHeavyVeggie
    LessHeavyVeggie Posts: 208 Member
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    I don't plan out the whole day, but when I'm working out what to have for dinner, I'll put everything in to check it fits into my allowance and then maybe tweak the meal a bit to make sure it does, or swap things around to add more protein or whatever. - then when I'm preparing it I'll measure out those amounts when weighing stuff out.
  • libbylulily
    libbylulily Posts: 11 Member
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    I prelogged all this week and it enables me to have a plan. I try to leave a couple of hundred calories spare in my plan in case of that chocolate urge.

    Things don't always go to plan - like when I forgot to take something out of the freezer on Saturday and ended up going to the chip shop! But I knew I had the calories I'd planned for dinner and some spare so it wasn't too bad.

    If I don't have a plan, everything is guesswork and I get fed up not knowing what I can and can't eat.

    It helps me plan a good carb/fat/protein balance too.
  • lillilanda
    lillilanda Posts: 27 Member
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    If you don't prelog, how do you know if you have enough calories to eat it?? I usually log after breakfast, sin that's when I'm planning what to cook that evening. I will log what I think I am going to eat. If I know we're having burgers, I'll log the burger. Then I can see how many calories I have for lunch and side dishes. Failure to prelog, for me, generally means going over my calories by a significant amount.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I prelog days in advance. Typically sunday night I log Mon-thurs. I have a pretty standard breakfast in the summer, lunch is leftovers from dinner or something else like today it's an egg salad sandwich, then dinners is based on what I bought at the store.

    It doesn't mean I can't change it but it gives me an idea of where I am pre weekend. It also allows for tweeking for my macros.

    I started doing the early in because I was logging right before the meal or after and I was getting shocked...at the amount in meals and leaving me little to no calories for later.

    I prefer doing it that way as it allows for (as mentioned before) tweeking for macros, and I use the app on the phone to check weekly calories to see where I am and if something pops up I can partake because I know I can adjust based on what the "fun" is. This week I have logged up to Thursday at dinner (still gotta figure that out) and now I can see I have 1500 calories left after hitting goal for the weekend if I need it.
  • kazzsj0urney
    kazzsj0urney Posts: 57
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    I always prelog the night before....otherwise I would not hit my macros as well as I do. If I change my mind about any foods I always update my diary before I eat anything to ensure I still hit my macros :)
  • Zoe_lifts
    Zoe_lifts Posts: 120 Member
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    I pre log everything on sunday evening, for monday up to friday.
    I'm the one who cooks in the house so i think of what i'll be preparing and look up some recipes.
    Breakfast is mostly the same for the entire week so it's easy to log that too. On sunday i made a batch of bagels, i store them in an air tight container and that's my breakfast for the week :)
    I also plan a snack for the evening when i'm in front of the tv, I'll usually have a chocolate bar or something like that.
    If i'm tempted to make other choiches during the day than my planned snacks for the afternoon, then i'll just think about my evening chocolate bar that is waiting for me and it keeps me from making other bad choiches :)
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    I always sit down in the morning and pre-log breakfast, lunch AND exercise (this part makes me work harder when I get to the gym at 5a.m. For me my rule is I log everything BEFORE I eat.
  • handyrunner
    handyrunner Posts: 32,662 Member
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    I ofttimes prelim for the whole week, making slight changes each day. Tends to breakdown on the weekends though. Need more discipline in that regard

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