Adding drinks to the daily food log

Cajunman13
Cajunman13 Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all. I'm new to the site and trying to figure things out. 2 questions then... 1) Are coffee and diet green tea considered water for recording purposes? If not, how do I add non-water drinks?

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    They are. And you can log any drinks the same as you do food.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    Coffee goes in the food diary as coffee. Even black coffee has potassium. Tea goes in the food diary as tea. For both, include the candy treatment you add to it. Milk goes in the food diary as milk.

    On the water tally, I add coffee, tea, water, ice, but not milk. If I were an alcohol consumer, I'd account for the water component of the drink in my water tally, and log the booze in the food diary.
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
    I log anything I drink except water as food. Coffee, tea, juices, alcoholic beverages, etc.
  • TerranandKaylynsmommy
    TerranandKaylynsmommy Posts: 321 Member
    ☝️☝️☝️ This
  • Meelisv
    Meelisv Posts: 235 Member
    edited March 2018
    I never log tea or water, if I would drink black coffee, I wouldn't log that either. But since I only drink some sort of coffee that includes lot of milk, I certainly log that
  • mscoutable
    mscoutable Posts: 30 Member
    I generally don't log black coffee or tea. I only log it if I start adding things to it (ex. creamer, honey, etc)
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    Soda, Tea, coffee, etc

    Are 99.99% water. So yes, they count.

    But, regarding hydration, unless you're supplementing B, a pale straw color is what you're aiming at. Clear, is slightly overhydrated, and yellow is dehydrated, Grey, brown, black, red. Those are bad.
  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
    edited March 2018
    I don’t track zero calorie drinks here, although I do keep half an eye on my daily caffeine intake. If you wanted to track water (which I consider unnecessary, but usually harmless) it certainly wouldn’t hurt if you wanted to track zero calorie beverages as water - the dehydrating effects of caffeinated drinks has been wildly overstated, which the health benefits of still water have been largely overstated. The only beverage that has a net dehydrating effect is alcohol and most people get plenty of liquid without making an effort to chug still water.
  • Iwantahealthierme30
    Iwantahealthierme30 Posts: 293 Member
    I only count water as water and log everything else I drink like I would food.
  • pamfin
    pamfin Posts: 169 Member
    I made a category for drinks and log everything that I drink there (with the exception of water which I never remember to log anyway.) Although it's only a tiny number, filter coffee and some fruit/herb teas still have a few calories and I just like to see a complete diary!
  • Cajunman13
    Cajunman13 Posts: 2 Member
    Thank you all for the input. I'm trying to get the hang of this and the diary is certainly helping.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,292 Member
    I most certainly log my coffee and milk because calories and sodium/potassium. Diet coke too for similar reasons and why not. I don't bother to record my total water intake. I've never fainted from lack of hydration and generally my pee color looks ok... http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/Assess+Your+Hydration+Status.pdf
  • pjcallow1
    pjcallow1 Posts: 1 Member
    I log my tea, coffee, fruit juice and other drinks alongside the meal they accompanied (as others have said, these drinks all contain a mix of nutrients other than water). I hadn't thought about creating a category specifically for drinks (i.e. those consumed at other times) - good idea, I'll do that. I'm not clear whether MyFitnessPal makes a water allowance each time I add a drink - I don't think it does, but I'm not completely sure. Currently I'm adding the drink(s) and then adding the corresponding guesstimate(s) for water to its specific category. Does anyone have any more thoughts about this?
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,941 Member
    I’m pretty sure the water log element of MFP is for personal interest and information only. It has no part in any calorie calculation obviously and since there’s no ‘goal’ relating to water consumption built into MFP I don’t think ‘it’ cares a jot!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    I’m pretty sure the water log element of MFP is for personal interest and information only. It has no part in any calorie calculation obviously and since there’s no ‘goal’ relating to water consumption built into MFP I don’t think ‘it’ cares a jot!

    When I first started MFP I did fill this out, but stopped when I realized I consistently drank plenty of fluid every day and that it was not useful for me to use.

    ccdbd2abc92a85246d5849df171df539.png
  • ShaeDetermined
    ShaeDetermined Posts: 1,525 Member
    TonyB0588 wrote: »
    I log anything I drink except water as food. Coffee, tea, juices, alcoholic beverages, etc.

    This.
    And only pure water gets logged as water.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,300 Member
    I dont bother logging water or following my fluid intake - no need for healthy people to do this in normal circumstances.

    I set up a category for drinks and log coffee (about 20 calories per cup for white coffee, no sugar, I have about 4 per day so calories add up) and any other drinks I might have from time to time - juice, milk, alcoholic drinks etc

    ( i dont bother logging diet soda either -which I drink a can or so of per week)
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,541 Member
    pjcallow1 wrote: »
    I log my tea, coffee, fruit juice and other drinks alongside the meal they accompanied (as others have said, these drinks all contain a mix of nutrients other than water). I hadn't thought about creating a category specifically for drinks (i.e. those consumed at other times) - good idea, I'll do that. I'm not clear whether MyFitnessPal makes a water allowance each time I add a drink - I don't think it does, but I'm not completely sure. Currently I'm adding the drink(s) and then adding the corresponding guesstimate(s) for water to its specific category. Does anyone have any more thoughts about this?

    MFP doesn't do anything automatically to up your water count when you log tea or something. (Keep in mind that lots of foods include fluids that hydrate, too: Soups, fruits, more.)

    Personally, I do log water daily, but only because I tend to under-drink (to my detriment) if I don't pay attention). Even so, I only log water as water, sometimes don't log plain tea or other zero-calorie drinks at all. By late in the day, I'm thinking about whether my water total is where I want it to be, and the logged plain water is a memory aid to that. I usually remember the other stuff.

    That's not some kind of directive or gospel; it's just what works for me personally.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    paperpudding wrote: »
    I dont bother logging water or following my fluid intake - no need for healthy people to do this in normal circumstances.

    I set up a category for drinks and log coffee (about 20 calories per cup for white coffee, no sugar, I have about 4 per day so calories add up) and any other drinks I might have from time to time - juice, milk, alcoholic drinks etc

    ( i dont bother logging diet soda either -which I drink a can or so of per week)

    I don't log water either, same reason.

    I log drinks if they have meaningful calories. I've never bothered logging my daily black coffee, and I don't log tea or diet soda when I occasionally have them (I don't add anything to tea either).
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,292 Member
    edited January 2020
    I log drinks that have less than 5 calories... just because!
    I don't log water... because it doesn't have any.
    My pee color seems to indicate that I don't have a (lack of) drinking problem.
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
    I don't log anything I drink unless it has calories, like a cocktail or beer or if I put cream in my coffee.

Categories