Filling Out Food Diary BEFORE Eating: Do You Think it Will H

This is my strategy, too. It also helps me balance food groups (veg, dairy, protein, etc)

I usually do a week in advance. Over the weekend, I prepare for the next week, then I make small adjustments as needed, through the week. It makes things much easier for me.

I plan my food out first thing in the morning. It has helped me to stay on track. I know what to grab from the cabinet or fridge if something comes up and I have to leave around snack or meal time. It is definitely nice when you are a stay at home mom and your day goes from 0 to 60 in no time flat!

I usually do a week in advance. Over the weekend, I prepare for the next week, then I make small adjustments as needed, through the week. It makes things much easier for me.

me too:bigsmile:

I usually do a week in advance. Over the weekend, I prepare for the next week, then I make small adjustments as needed, through the week. It makes things much easier for me.

I always do this. I usually plan my dinners for the week (either I do that or no one eats at my house) and I enter all of the dinners for the week on MFP. This helps me plan how to alot calories for the rest of my meals and snacks.

definitely helps! I always log before I cook so that I know what portion sizes to give myself. I wouldn't say I plan my whole day but I definitely log my meals before I even start to cook them. I also try to complete my food diary after I have eaten dinner to stop me from snacking the night away.

I did it for about the first year I logged my food. After getting the actual calories under control, I had to figure out how to increase my protein, decrease my fat and keep my sugar and sodium to reasonable levels. So it took months longer of experimentation and trial and error to figure out what works and what messes me up. I don't log my food in advance anymore because I eat the same breakfast, lunch and snacks, so only my dinner is variable and as long as I make it myself, it always falls into the 4-500 range.

This is the only thing that works for me! I always try to plan my food at least a day in advance. I get my breakfast ready and pack my lunch with snacks. Sometimes dinner is up in the air but at least that way I know what I have to work with. Then I still calculate dinner before making/eating it to make sure it works into my calories.

I do...it's helps if I know what I'm going to be eating and keeps me on track...you don't even know....I follow it better that way and don't go over as much...

I think that is a great idea but I rarely do it.

I am horrible at meal planning. Something to work on.

It is a GREAT practice to get into, this will let you plan your day, and adjust if you see you are going to be over some place.

I'm new here and decided to fill out my food diary before I start eating every day. I figure it will help me not over-eat (something I tend to do) by sticking to a menu. Does anybody else do this? I just have a problem with telling myself I'm not going to eat much, then by the end of the day realize I ate way too many calories because I took too big of portions or ate that extra snack.

I do this! Check out my diary. It is full through Monday the 21st.

I make my plans and play with it until the numbers are acceptable to me. Then I make my grocery list from those plans so I don't buy anything I don't need. Then I have ONLY what's on the list. I started doing that when I was 191 pounds, and I am now 138 pounds. When I was NOT doing it, I wasn't seeing much results because I would eat something without thinking about it, or I would buy something I didn't need. Now I can just play with the numbers and see what's going in my body, and it works great for me.

Starting next week on Monday, I changed my macro levels to be 40% carbs, 35% protein, and 25% fat which is what a very knowledgeable person who is a personal trainer and exercise physiologist as well as dietitian suggested to me. So there's a lot more red in the macros this week than next week since they are technically different goals, lol. But I think this suggestion will work well for me and it was easy to plan my meals around it. It's MUCH easier, in fact, to plan my meals ahead of time for my percentages because I always make mistakes and switch things around. When you don't plan ahead, you can't just eat it, purge it, and eat something else. :flowerforyou:

I definitely do this on a weekly basis which helps me stay focused on my goals. I love the fact that I can see what I'm planning to eat ahead of time so that I can create my grocery list and allows me to modify if necessary. I try to stick to the rule that if it's not in my diary for the day I can't eat it. Once the foods that I've planned for the day has been eaten I can't eat anything else unless I work for it via working out or I have the extra calories to spare. This strategy really motivates me to watch my sodium intake as well as my fat, protein, carbs and fiber by seeing what's in my food before I eat it leading to healthier choices. GREAT POST:flowerforyou:

I plan a day or two out. also search for food for going out before hand. If I know what healthy choices I can make ahead of time I'm less likely to make a mistake on something that "sounds" healthy. Some meals I know are good choices so I don't plan ahead but I usually do especially with new recipes and restaurants. Sometimes I plan my desert before my dinner if I really want it and them adjust my dinner accordingly having less meat or carbs and more veggies or less dressings and sauces.