When to add foods to MFP?

jlcbooth
jlcbooth Posts: 35 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
How/when do you most of you add your foods - as you eat them or first thing in the morning? I've been doing it first thing for months ... it helps me plan what I will eat, since I can see how it fits in my calories / macros, and I can also see how exercise effects it. However, I recently synced with FitBit, and I am noticing that if I forget to track or delay tracking my food until later in the day, I get the exercise benefit ... I know that I am eating the same amount of calories and doing the same amount of exercise no matter what, and my body is getting the same benefits regardless of what MFP tells me ... however, I was just curious to see if there was a recommended way to tracking your foods and if it's better to let FitBit tell MFP how many calories you've burned, or if it's better for me to tell MFP what I plan on doing and how many calories I believe I will burn (based on previous experience using a heart rate monitor while doing the same exercise).

Thanks!

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    I log the night before. It doesn't interfere with my exercise adjustments showing up from Fitbit to MFP -- yes, I start the day in the red, but as I move around during the day I get to green.
  • jlcbooth
    jlcbooth Posts: 35 Member
    So you allow fitbit to factor in your calories gained from exercise and do not put your own in at all via MFP? Do you have a fitbit that tracks HR? I just have the zip so any calories tracked are an estimate based on height/weight/gender/steps taken.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    jlcbooth wrote: »
    So you allow fitbit to factor in your calories gained from exercise and do not put your own in at all via MFP? Do you have a fitbit that tracks HR? I just have the zip so any calories tracked are an estimate based on height/weight/gender/steps taken.

    I don't enter any exercise into MFP -- I let the Fitbit handle all that. I do have a Charge HR, but my understanding is that your Zip will still track all step-based activities.
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
    First thing in the morning. Then at the end of the day I look over everything and add something I may have missed.
  • puffbrat
    puffbrat Posts: 2,806 Member
    During the work week, I add everything first thing in the morning. Then I make adjustments throughout the day if I need to add/delete/change something. During the weekend, I just log as I go or sometimes don't log until the next day.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    I add it either right before I eat it or after. I can't plan ahead as I never know what I will want to eat in several hours. Dinner especially. At home we always decide the last minute. I keep to the same calorie ratios though so I always know I have 600-700cals left for dinner and after dinner.
  • Meganthedogmom
    Meganthedogmom Posts: 1,639 Member
    Weekdays I usually log it that morning or the night before. Weekends are less planned so kind of as I go.
  • abatonfan
    abatonfan Posts: 1,120 Member
    edited March 2016
    It depends. I log my breakfasts, lunches, and afternoon snacks for the week on Sunday/Monday (I eat the same 2 breakfast options 95% of the time, and I meal prep my lunches and snacks on Sunday), dinner whenever I know what I plan on making (may be three nights before or as I'm cooking it), and my bedtime snack based off my calorie and macro goals (any extra calories I receive from Fitbit often go to a large bedtime snack). Once meal time comes around, all I then need to do is update the portion sizes and take my insulin based off the total carbs I'm consuming (MFP makes it less likely that I'll make an error in carb counting)
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    I pre-log my food every day before breakfast usually.
  • Morglez
    Morglez Posts: 46 Member
    gebeziseva wrote: »
    I can't plan ahead as I never know what I will want to eat in several hours.

    I am the same way. My "food mood" as I like to call it, changes by the hour. I track whatever I eat right as I am fixing it. If I don't do it then, I am likely to forget to track it. The only time I pre-track is if I am fixing a packed lunch that I will be taking to class the next day.
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