Logging food

srock68 · January 2019

Let me start by saying am frustrated with my weight gain over the past 10 years. I am 50 years old, male, 5'10" and 225lbs. I've been working out for the past 30 years. The last 10 have been rough. I work the graveyard shift and that by itself takes a toll on the body plus bad eating and my age has offset any fitness I have done.

Is it me or does it seem extremely annoying having to enter all the food you eat every day to lose weight? I recently did a macros calculator. From everything I've read this is the one true way to lose weight. How am I supposed to enter macros when my food doesnt come in a box? I get home cooked meals. Am I supposed to weigh my food? I mean if that's the way it is then fine. I want to make sure there isn't an easier way to do this. I appreciate all help and advice. Thank you.

janejellyroll · January 2019

I find entering my food to be less annoying than being overweight was, it's a good trade-off for me.

Macros are not the "one true way" to lose weight, although some people do find it helpful. The key to weight loss is to eat fewer calories than your body is using. Counting calories (and/or macros) is just a tool people use to make sure that is happening. This is a calorie counting website, so most people here are going to generally favor the method.

I cook most of my own meals at home. I use a food scale and the Recipe Builder tool (on this website) to help with logging.

gallicinvasion · January 2019

If you used non-packaged foods and whole foods, there will be reliable entries on the MFP database that use USDA nutrition facts and calorie info for those items. If you weigh your food and measure your liquids when you’re cooking, (impossible to do 100% of the time but definitely do-able 75% of the time), you can easily build recipes in MFP using those reliable entries. Then you divide your meal into equal servings, and the recipe builder will give you your nutrition info and calories for the portion you ate.

The only way to be sure you are in your goal calorie deficit is to log all of your food as accurately as you can reasonably do it. I’ve found it takes some getting used to, but once you make it a habit, it’s very workable. The payoff has been AMAZING for me. I’ve logged everything I’ve rated since May 2018, and I’ve lost 74 lbs. If this is the result, I’m honestly planning to log in some form forever 😂

gallicinvasion · January 2019

If you friend people with open diaries on this site, you can view their food logs and get a sense of how other people accomplish their logging. I would recommend that, to help you get your head around logging in general.

srock68 · January 2019

Thank you for your responses. It's greatly appreciated!

kami3006 · January 2019

It's annoying for a lot of people. But, it does get much, much easier and faster the longer you do it. Once you use a food it's there in your list; likewise with recipes. I cook 98% of all my food as well so it's taken time to build up my recipe list but I rarely have to add anything new now. I do still weigh all of my portions so there's still some "work" to it but at this point it takes up about five minutes per day and is a habit I don't have to give much thought to.

Best wishes!

Edited because I hate typing on my phone and my fingers don't cooperate.

Carvendive · January 2019

I weigh and measure everything that isn't a packaged standard. Prior to this website I use to have to log everything in a spiral binder and had to look up all the calories manually. That was a pain, so for me this is a no brainier.
Hopefully you find a sweet spot where it works for you. Best wishes!

Panini911 · January 2019

many things in life are annoying. while some people do well not weighing all their food, that hasn't ever worked for me.

once you get used to it it's pretty fast. getting into it takes time and learning things. i don't find weighing food takes time at all. and i go back to many of the same foods so it's quick to get it back up to add on my phone.

Logging food

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