Tips on pre-logging?

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megbugs
megbugs Posts: 107 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello -
I haven't mastered the skill of pre-logging and would like to get advice from those who have success. I keep reading that people pre-log the night before or days in advance but I'm not sure how they do it... It's not until I make the food that I bring the scale out and measure the ingredients (be it lunchmeat on a sandwich, or vegetables in a salad, or specific ingredients in a recipe). How does one pre-log their meals before they start weighing everything? I'd like to add that I love to cook and even if I use a recipe with nutritional information, sometimes I don't get exactly the weight of the meat they call for or add more chicken broth while cooking because it's not the right consistency....so there are deviations to every recipe I use. Would love any advice and keep up the great work everyone :smile:
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Replies

  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    i only prelog for that day. and i go back and fine tune measurements when i prepare it.

    but, ive been doing it a year now and am pretty good at guesstimating the weights of stuff, so its usually pretty close, and gives me a good idea of what my day will look like.

    i dont worry about minuscule recipe changes like adding a dash more chicken broth (now adding things like more butter or oil i DO add back in). for me, i make it up in other places since i rarely eat all i dish up and log, anyways. i also dont eat back exercise calories - so i know i have a lot of wiggle room - but thats ME - some people need to be much more precise.
  • ForeverSunshine09
    ForeverSunshine09 Posts: 966 Member
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    I prelog weeks in advance. I put a standard weight for my ingredients and change it once I make it. Usually doesn't change too drastically.
  • Dreysander
    Dreysander Posts: 294 Member
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    I will ballpark prelog a lot of things. Like I'll say "150g apple" then go back and correct it when I weigh it on the day of. It gives me a round about idea of what I can eat that day.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    I pre-log with an estimated weight and then edit it the next day when I actually weigh it. I have found the longer I've logged, the more accurate my estimates tend to be. If I do wind up being significantly off, I will reduce or increase my serving size of something else to keep my calories in the same ballpark for the day.
  • oocdc2
    oocdc2 Posts: 1,361 Member
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    I tend eat and log until lunch, and then pre-plan for the remainder of the day.
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
    edited January 2016
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    ForeverSunshine09 wrote: »
    I prelog weeks in advance. I put a standard weight for my ingredients and change it once I make it. Usually doesn't change too drastically.

    ^^^^^This is awesome!!!! :p@ForeverSunshine09

    I know it's something I should try or at least a week out again. I used to do a week out and it's so much simpler to just be able to know what to buy, log and not have to think about it every single day.

    Girl! You got me motivated again to pre-log a couple days and then more as I get back into the pre-logging.


  • bellaa_x0
    bellaa_x0 Posts: 1,062 Member
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    i pre-log (and pack) everything the night before except for dinner which i figure out later on
  • ukaryote
    ukaryote Posts: 874 Member
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    "How does one pre-log their meals before they start weighing everything?"
    When I pre-logged, I had a tendency to follow that plan instead of eating spontaneously. The planning was useful.

    It is an estimate even with weighing. I think I am doing well if my best estimate after eating is within 20 percent of actual calorie uptake ( given age, ability to metabolize each item, and so on).

    One MD on the telly stated "It is impossible to count calories." Of course we can, the accuracy is in question. If we are losing, that is accurate enough.
  • ASN2615
    ASN2615 Posts: 50 Member
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    bellaa_x0 wrote: »
    i pre-log (and pack) everything the night before except for dinner which i figure out later on

    I do the same. I prelog the night before for my breakfast, lunch and snacks at work and will log my dinner the day of....
  • megbugs
    megbugs Posts: 107 Member
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    Thanks, I appreciate all of your comments. I'm going to start today and hope for the same success :smiley:
  • TermagantRex
    TermagantRex Posts: 2 Member
    edited January 2016
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    I've found that pre-logging is pretty effective if you actually pre-prep the food itself in advance. I make several days' worth of breakfasts & lunches in advance during the work week, measuring/weighing the quantities. That way I'm just pulling a bunch of tupperware containers out of the fridge for breakfast & lunch. Weighing everything every meal takes too darned long, and I always, always underestimate if I eyeball quantities, lol.

    I also spend some time on Sunday choosing dinner recipes for the week (I really love cooking too, om nom), and then enter the dinner recipes into MFP so that I can see how it would fit with the rest of the day. That means I can make adjustments to the recipe if it's out of whack. ("The cheese adds how many calories?? Dagnabbit.")

    Personally, I've found that pre-logging is my most reliable route to weight loss. Every time I get bored and stop, I gain weight. (Curse you, cheese, you delicious temptress.) Hitting 1200 calories is just a pain if I haven't gamed it out in advance, and I always, always underestimate if I eyeball quantities.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I just prelog an average portion and adjust as I go. Typically I end up adjusting dinner to meet my calories (bit less veggies or a lower calorie kind than I planned, skip the rice, etc). Tomorrow I'm making shepherd's pie and I will have to adjust the recipe but I still logged my old recipe to give me an idea... I'll just replace that entry once I've modified it.

    After a while you know how much you usually put in your sandwiches or what portion of meat is satisfying to you and it's easier to get a closer estimate. And I'm pretty good now at cutting a 100g portion of chicken or steak too.

    Honestly though I don't prelog that much... I did it this week (only the protein) because I bought 5 packages of stuff on Saturday and had to plan according to the use-by dates, and it was easier to plan my meals if I logged it early. Otherwise my mood might change or something else might seem more appealing or I'm just starving at 4.30pm and don't have time to make anything fancy, so it's actually pretty rare that I stick to what I had planned (unless I have to, like this week, if I don't want stuff to go bad).
  • NealNH
    NealNH Posts: 106 Member
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    My wife and I are both on the weight loss journey which is a big help. We also both get up early and put in fairly long days at work.
    What we do is cook large batches of what we like on the weekends, portion them out and freeze them.
    Sunday we move the lunches for that week to the fridge. Breakfast (also at work) is usually something like citrus salad or a breakfast sandwich (Kellogg has some that are only 170 calories) or the like. So Sunday afternoon we can pre-log a weeks worth of breakfast and lunch. Dinner is usually a protein and salad so most times we can plan that ahead as well.
    We find that knowing the calories of all those portions makes it easy to plan.
  • megbugs
    megbugs Posts: 107 Member
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    TermagantRex wrote: »
    I've found that pre-logging is pretty effective if you actually pre-prep the food itself in advance. I make several days' worth of breakfasts & lunches in advance during the work week, measuring/weighing the quantities. That way I'm just pulling a bunch of tupperware containers out of the fridge for breakfast & lunch. Weighing everything every meal takes too darned long, and I always, always underestimate if I eyeball quantities, lol.

    I also spend some time on Sunday choosing dinner recipes for the week (I really love thinking about food, om nom), and then enter the dinner recipes into MFP so that I can see how it would fit with the rest of the day. That means I can make adjustments to the recipe if it's out of whack. ("The cheese adds how many calories?? Dagnabbit.")

    Personally, I've found that pre-logging is my most reliable route to weight loss. Every time I get lazy and stop, I gain weight. (Curse you, cheese, you delicious temptress.)

    Great tips! Yes it is time consuming to measure/weigh, prepare, and enter every meal throughout the day. Might be best to chop all the ingredients (say strawberries) at once and put them in little baggies with the weight listed on them, or prepare 5 small salads for the week instead of once a day..... I definitely need to noodle this new hobby of mine :)
  • Moriarek
    Moriarek Posts: 14 Member
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    There are many great dishes (or at least semi-prepared), which you can cook in advance and freeze. The trick is to always store them already in portions for one meal - this way it's easy to pre-log in advance. I always have in my freezer a few cups of home-made tomato sauce and (weighed, formed and packed separetly) burgers, etc. so I can easily plan my food for next day without worry how many grams/calories it will be.
  • megbugs
    megbugs Posts: 107 Member
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    NealNH wrote: »
    My wife and I are both on the weight loss journey which is a big help. We also both get up early and put in fairly long days at work.
    What we do is cook large batches of what we like on the weekends, portion them out and freeze them.
    Sunday we move the lunches for that week to the fridge. Breakfast (also at work) is usually something like citrus salad or a breakfast sandwich (Kellogg has some that are only 170 calories) or the like. So Sunday afternoon we can pre-log a weeks worth of breakfast and lunch. Dinner is usually a protein and salad so most times we can plan that ahead as well.
    We find that knowing the calories of all those portions makes it easy to plan.

    Wonderful, I wish you both lots of success! It's great to be working as a team :smile:
  • starbuckaddict
    starbuckaddict Posts: 38 Member
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    Sometimes I prelog what I think I'll want to eat the next day. But then I usually erase it all the next day because my taste magically changes over night *shrugs*
  • Aetheldreda
    Aetheldreda Posts: 241 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I pre-log with an estimated weight and then edit it the next day when I actually weigh it. I have found the longer I've logged, the more accurate my estimates tend to be. If I do wind up being significantly off, I will reduce or increase my serving size of something else to keep my calories in the same ballpark for the day.

    This^^ and I sometimes log several days in advance, depending on what foods I have in the house or intend to purchase on my next shopping trip.
    I tend to eat the same breakfast every day at the moment which makes it very easy to pre-log.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    I log the for my day in advance in the morning usually. I have dinners planned for the whole month and I mostly eat food from home so the choices are norrowed down. I log in order of dinner, lunch, breakfast and finally snacks. I know that I usually eat a certain number of calories at each meal and feel satisfied. I try to make sure I get enough protein.
    I use reasonable portion sizes when I pre-log. I look at my diary when I get my food and eat the amount I logged.
    If I consume a different amount than pre-logged for some reason, I alter the log to reflect what I actually consumed. That might mean changing other items to stay the right calorie count or something.
    If it is a recipe I'm going to use more than once I put the correct recipe in the recipe builder. Since my meals are planned I buy enough ingredients, follow my recipe every time and weigh/measure ingredients so it doesn't vary that much.
  • erinc5
    erinc5 Posts: 329 Member
    edited January 2016
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    megbugs wrote: »
    Hello -
    I'd like to add that I love to cook and even if I use a recipe with nutritional information, sometimes I don't get exactly the weight of the meat they call for or add more chicken broth while cooking because it's not the right consistency....so there are deviations to every recipe I use. Would love any advice and keep up the great work everyone :smile:

    What I do is I "prelog" the version that is already in the database. You can do this for any recipe already in the database, or "quick add" the calories that the recipe you have estimates. Skinnytaste, cooking light, etc.. have a lot of recipes already in the database. Then, I actually use the custom recipe builder each and every time I cook (I always use different amounts of things, make substitutions, etc..). Once you have the base recipe for one you use a lot, it doesn't take more than 3 or 4 minutes to adjust. Then, I replace my prelogged estimate with my actual recipe amount.

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