How do you log?

I mainly pre-log before the meal - I sit down with my coffee and 'choose' what I'll have for breakfast and lunch. Then when hubby gets home from work we grab a quick snack and do our workout, then we get caught up on our logging, and then whatever what we have left for the day is planned for our supper (usually 800-1300). We have a weekly meal plan, so we already know what food we'll be eating, but if we have extra calories we'll give ourselves a little more meat, or rice, or something

I didn't choose this routine, it's just what has worked for me so far. On days my logging is all over the place, I feel less in control of my choices and more likely to go over.

I pre-log, usually the night before after I press the complete button on that day. Things change as I go along, of course, and I approach it with flexibility.

I think of it like a budget, and knowing the whole picture helps me make decisions based on what I really want to spend my "money" on. When I look at the day as a whole, I can shave off some of that cheese in my lunch pizza, knowing I'd rather have an extra ounce of steak for supper or whatever.

Thanks for share!


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Since I can't pre-log before work (I work in a kitchen - lots of tasting and having to eat new recipes etc. so you never know for each day)
I tend to only pre-log dinner. I have a little breakfast, then see what I take in at work, and then see how much calories I have left over for dinner at home, and then plan dinner accordingly.

I prelog for the next day generally, sometimes I do a couple of days in advance. Then on the day if I'm craving something different I just make my adjustments for the day

I pre-log 99% of the time the night before. Since I'm living keto and need my macros to be on point every day I find this is the easiest for me.

I prelog my breakfast and lunch at the beggining of the week because I have both at work and I have the same thing everyday. Then, while I'm on the computer at work I decide and log dinner, that way if anything changes I know if I have calories to spare. Weekends are slightly different as things are less structured but I still try to plan ahead.

So I've taken a bit of a hiatus from my food diary and i'm ready to come at it in a different way. I think it's time i pre log for the next day. In my past attempts to log as i go i'd end up so nervous about going over that by the time dinner came around i'd have over 800 cals left and would end up going on a binge.

So how do you like to log? Any tips to stay successful? Make it less tedious?

Sometimes, when I am sitting in front of the TV the night before...
I will just fill in my diary for the next day.....
Then no thinking on it....

Prep my food the night before, pack it and have it ready to go.

I think i'm the crazy one here, but I log almost a week before. On Thursday evening, I choose what meals I want to cook for the following week. On Friday, after work, I do groceries JUST for the meals I said I would prepare. I take a few hours on Sunday, cook all the meals (usually 4-5 breakfasts, 2 servings of a meal with fish, 2x4 servings of two other meals...which makes for 14-15 meals, mon-fri), and then slot them for the week until friday evening. Keeps my on track and if something happens that I don't eat a particular meal, I just push the meal to the next one and have something for the weekend.

My husband calls me "cute" because last night he told me about a place he was taking me to dinner on Friday night, and I already went through their menu and logged what I was going to have, including dessert. Like Max, I tend to do pre-evening prep when making the kid lunches for school the next day so I know what is available and what to "avoid" if I'm feeling weak self-control wise

I have gotten into the habit of eating roughly the same number of calories for each meal, each day.

For example...I don't really snack, so that's out. I find a small breakfast totally satisfying, so most of my breakfasts through the week are roughly 200 cal. Lunch is usually around 500 because if I eat a 350-400 cal lunch I feel cranky and super hungry by the time I get off work. This leaves me around 700 for dinner, so I have a higher calorie meal or a treat/dessert along with my meal.

For me this works out really well and has made it pretty easy.

When I have something special going on, like a dinner out, I still have 200 breakfast and maybe scale back to 400 at lunch...leaves me with 800-ish calories, a bit more if I fit in a long walk or an hour of serious cleaning.

On weekends I get in enough exercise that I am comfortable eating back some or many of those calories and don't really have to worry much about it. I still log everything though!!