First post is a rant please forgive me!

I'd dare to say 95% of issues with logging is from people:
a) estimate what they are eating - Oh I think that's 245g of chicken breast
b) forgetting to log everything - Not logging butter or oil which are very calorie dense and a little goes a long way

Once I got accurate entries in my recently used, I didn't have to search for chicken breast anymore and know I'm using the right one.

It's only when people insist that they are logging with a food scale (aka accurately) that I would recommend looking at their entries used and if that's still correct, going and seeing a doctor.

ummijaaz560 wrote: »

I have been using this App on and off for 6 years. It usually coincides with my trying to lose pregnancy weight.

Anyways, I'm not sure what is the point of trying to log and count calories when the average user can't easily log properly. I know I'll get the"Oh I log fine and am losing steadily". But this cannot be the majority of people's experiences with logging?
The amount of threads asking for help as to why they're not losing weight is astonishingly linked to improper logging.
Why must we cross check and double check entries against the usda food database?
And woe to those whom didn't even know that the usda database is a "thing".

The post on how to log accurately was and is needed because as a new user left to your own devices, you'll ignorantly be logging wrong. I don't know maybe it's just my experiences.
However, I truly believe this system could be easier to use. I wouldn't ever recommend this App to one of my older relatives unless I had time to help them log each meal. No way would they be Internet save enough to properly log on this App.

I think if I were to pay for premium, the system would have to have the usda databases already linked to mfp. Users trying to enter wrong entries wouldn't be able to do so, as mfp would prompt you to match the correct database.

Thus creating an accurate and easy logging experience. I would pay for that.

Six years is a long time to be on MFP @ummijaaz560 .

Logging (I did it on paper when I did it since it was pre MFP) is simply to bring order to our eating so we can reverse our eating disorders. For some if us we may just be clueless as to how many and what kind of calories we are eating. We may be clueless as to WHY we are over eating.

When we get well and listen to our body telling us what to eat and how much to eat then it manages our weight automatically like a well person and most all mammals do.

Is MFP perfect? It does seem to at least be functional to millions. From the forums I learned about macros and how to search for the mixture of carbs, proteins and fats that worked for me. When I did all of my cravings left and my weight drifted into a non obese range and as my health continues to improve then I expect my weight to drift even lower. There can be states of health that has to be resolved before the body may let go of excess fat.

Congratulations on your children and work to learn more over time about how to eat for health and forget about weight loss. With better health comes better weight management almost without effort. It is just a by-produce of us eating in a way that is right for our own bodies. What may be right for me may be very wrong for you. The right mix of carbs, proteins and fats can be very different from one person to another.

Perhaps you can read and find a macro that sounds interesting to try and test it for 90 days then keep doing it, modify it or ditch it for very different macro. I bet over the next two years you will find a way of eating that makes your health happy. Best of success.

It is really not that complicated!

I guess I'm just not sure why you posted this here instead of the Feedback/Suggestions board. It's confusing here on General Diet and Weight Loss Help since it's neither asking for or giving help. I agree that the database could use some work (I miss the asterisks) and I'd like to see some extra recommendations given to new users during the setup phase, but I don't feel that invalidates the whole app for me.

I found the MFP web site really easy to log with. I don't find it as easy to log stuff with the app.

I didn't have a problem, but I am one of those annoying people who fully reads the directions before using tech. Most people don't bother.

My parents had a little trouble, mostly because they'd rather ask me for help instead of look it up for themselves. If I weren't around they'd have been well able to figure it out.

Now, if it were my great-aunt trying to use it it'd be hopeless. She can barely figure out how to call someone with her cell phone, let alone work out how to use an app.

I'm the type of person who firmly believes that the results you get depend on the effort you put into what you're trying to achieve. I have never, ever had to use the USDA database to double check anything. I really do not find logging to be hard to do whatsoever. I'm absolutely with @elphie754 about users getting mad when they underestimate and don't lose.

If I make chicken breast, I will absolutely not search up "chicken breast" in the database and use that in my log. Instead, I use the recipe builder to input the raw weight, in grams, of the chicken I used according to the nutritional facts on the package. Then I add any spices, oil, etc I used as well. I also weigh/measure these. After I'm done cooking my chicken, I weigh the final product and divide that by the amount of portions I want to get out of it and I know that one serving will be that amount in grams. It takes me minimal time to do and I know I'm being as accurate as I possibly can. People who search up "lasagna" in the database when making their own recipe can't expect accuracy, especially if they go for the entry with the lowest calorie count.

If I'm eating out, I will search up food that is similar to what I'm eating if where I'm eating from doesn't have nutritional facts on their website. I will look at multiple entries and see what the average calorie amount is and go with one of the higher ones to account for errors. It hasn't steered me wrong since I started here.

If I'm eating a packaged item, a piece of fruit, or a vegetable I will still weigh it. Package weight can vary greatly from actual weight. If I scan a barcode I double check the entry to make sure it matches my package. If it doesn't, I create a new food item myself or search the database for the right version. Some people input protein bars with net carbs instead of the amount listed on the package and it drives me nuts. There is a reason people have an option not to share their created food with the database. I will never use things like "1 banana", "10 grapes", etc. For fruits and veggies, I weigh them in grams and search for them in the database with usda after the name. Example: I search "banana usda" and look at a few of the entries making sure they match up, then I pick one that has grams as a measurement and enter it accordingly.

I'm very thorough and detailed about how I log and, for some, it may seem like a long process but it really takes minimal time to do this. It's exactly why I've been successful with this website.

synacious wrote: »

I'm the type of person who firmly believes that the results you get depend on the effort you put into what you're trying to achieve. I have never, ever had to use the USDA database to double check anything. I really do not find logging to be hard to do whatsoever. I'm absolutely with @elphie754 about users getting mad when they underestimate and don't lose.

If I make chicken breast, I will absolutely not search up "chicken breast" in the database and use that in my log. Instead, I use the recipe builder to input the raw weight, in grams, of the chicken I used according to the nutritional facts on the package. Then I add any spices, oil, etc I used as well. I also weigh/measure these. After I'm done cooking my chicken, I weigh the final product and divide that by the amount of portions I want to get out of it and I know that one serving will be that amount in grams. It takes me minimal time to do and I know I'm being as accurate as I possibly can. People who search up "lasagna" in the database when making their own recipe can't expect accuracy, especially if they go for the entry with the lowest calorie count.

If I'm eating out, I will search up food that is similar to what I'm eating if where I'm eating from doesn't have nutritional facts on their website. I will look at multiple entries and see what the average calorie amount is and go with one of the higher ones to account for errors. It hasn't steered me wrong since I started here.

If I'm eating a packaged item, a piece of fruit, or a vegetable I will still weigh it. Package weight can vary greatly from actual weight. If I scan a barcode I double check the entry to make sure it matches my package. If it doesn't, I create a new food item myself or search the database for the right version. Some people input protein bars with net carbs instead of the amount listed on the package and it drives me nuts. There is a reason people have an option not to share their created food with the database. I will never use things like "1 banana", "10 grapes", etc. For fruits and veggies, I weigh them in grams and search for them in the database with usda after the name. Example: I search "banana usda" and look at a few of the entries making sure they match up, then I pick one that has grams as a measurement and enter it accordingly.

I'm very thorough and detailed about how I log and, for some, it may seem like a long process but it really takes minimal time to do this. It's exactly why I've been successful with this website.

Yep. I am just as devoted to my logging and that's why I had no trouble losing those infamous last few pounds that people can never seem to lose. People can lie to themselves and their diaries all they want, but the body will not be fooled.

It's not hard to actually do the logging. You enter a food you ate, find a match and click OK. I guess if you had to say there was a hard part, for me it would've been when I realized that you can't always go by the database entries, so you have to actually verify what you're entering is accurate. This means going by the labels on your food and looking up the calorie counts on the USDA website, and making sure they match up with what is in the database or taking that information and creating your own entry.

But it's really not that complicated and I'm not really sure what could be changed unless they just deleted the existing database and hired a team to do nothing but add verified USDA entries of things (which I think they might actually do because there are verified entries in there.) But that still wouldn't cover everything every one eats, nor would it cover recipes or uncommon foods. The work comes in where you have to be the one to make sure you're using the entries accurately. The app can't do everything for you, it's only a tool. It's really nothing more than an easier form of a notebook and pen, but has a few extra features like macro counts and things. It can't make sure what you are entering is correct, you have to do that, so yes, I think you are asking it to do more than it can.

As far as the homemade entries, yeah, I agree that those are crap because what you make and what someone else makes are probably not even close. I wish folks wouldn't make "homemade" recipes public or if there's even a way to stop that from happening. (I don't check the little box to make it public when I make one) If it says homemade on the entry, don't use it unless you are the one that put it in there.

I don't personally have a problem logging, but I see an awful lot of posts from people who do. And who is going to lie and say that the first time you try to enter a new food, it's not a royal pain in the *kitten* trying to find an accurate entry among the twenty-five wildly different listings for "banana"? If you're a new user, that's basically all you're going to be doing until you've built up your own database of trusted entries and don't have to venture into the culinary Trump rally that is the main database.

I agree with the OP - paid accounts should come with the ability to screen out all search results that aren't verified against the USDA database. Even free accounts should make sharing a food entry opt-in, not opt-out. Or at least, for God's sake, move the verified entries to the top of the search results. Other (free!) logging apps do it, I know it's not impossible.