Pre-track entire day

megan119721
megan119721 Posts: 3 Member
edited December 25 in Getting Started
Does anyone else pre track their entire day before eating? Yesterday after breakfast I tracked my dinner, and that gave me an exact amount that I could use for my lunch and snacks. Today I woke up and tracked all of my meals and snacks before I ate anything and now I just will add the timestamp when I actually eat it. If something changes I can always delete it. Just curious if anyone else does this, I feel like it’s going to help me a lot.

Replies

  • Jackie9003
    Jackie9003 Posts: 1,123 Member
    Yes I do that, I always try to leave about 100cals spare too so I can have a random snack without having to worry about it.
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    I track ahead, and then edit as needed. Very helpful in knowing what calories I have to 'work with' and also to see if I need to work on any particular area. Like today my protein was a little low, and I had calories for it, so I had a protein shake.
  • debrakgoogins
    debrakgoogins Posts: 2,033 Member
    I do this often, sometimes even tracking a few days ahead. It helps me balance my macros. I adjust my daily menu to get as close to my macros as I can for training purposes.
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,223 Member
    Pre-logging is a huge part of my strategy and something I attribute alot of my success to. My routine is to pre-log in bed before falling asleep and often helps prompt the "what do you want to have for dinner tomorrow?" conversation with my wife. Most other meals, I'm very consistent with what/how much I eat, especially during the week but I can adjust accordingly depending on what the dinner plan is to make everything balance out.
  • imgwendolyn2015
    imgwendolyn2015 Posts: 347 Member
    I have been trying to do that as much as I can. I think it really helps me.
  • BirdLady720
    BirdLady720 Posts: 7 Member
    I pre-track every day each morning. It is a not so secret tip. LOL. I just didn't know how wide spread it is used.
  • emmies_123
    emmies_123 Posts: 513 Member
    debrakgoogins wrote: »
    I do this often, sometimes even tracking a few days ahead. It helps me balance my macros. I adjust my daily menu to get as close to my macros as I can for training purposes.

    Same reasoning for me. I usually have spare calories left over, but I have to be very careful if I want to hit all macros and stay under calorie. Pre-logging is easy enough for me as I usually have the same thing for meals for a week at a time, and I'm disciplined in measuring to the logged amount (If I log 3oz chicken for lunch, i weigh out 3 oz)
  • Carp614
    Carp614 Posts: 191 Member
    Looks like I'm the weird one. I never do this.
  • Oneka5
    Oneka5 Posts: 106 Member
    Yeah usually i eat the same thing for lunch and dinner each week but I make sure to track every night for the next day just to see where I am because I do switch up my breakfast meal; sometimes I may have only a bit left from my lunch and dinner meal prep. Snacks change up. I just don't want to go over calories or my macros before the day is over; so this helps avoid that.
  • emmies_123
    emmies_123 Posts: 513 Member
    Carp614 wrote: »
    Looks like I'm the weird one. I never do this.

    Not weird. I used to not do it before i got serious on macros. I eat light enough that I could log as i went and not have to worry about going over. Just got harder the more I started tracking =)

    Also helps me to make sure i don't sneak snacks. If i know i'm borderline on calories or macro I find it easier to avoid that little bite of chocolate, or handful of chips.
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
    I'm a pre-logger as well. I give myself some flexibility with evening snacks, which I enjoy, so I make sure I've got space in my budget for them.

    Dinner is usually my biggest uncertainty, so I actually log dinner one day in advance. That is, I log yesterday's dinner for today, and today's dinner for tomorrow. I haven't heard of anyone else doing this, but I like it.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,888 Member
    I only prelog when I'm sure of what I'll be eating AND how much. Which is only when I have leftovers that I will eat alone (not shared with boyfriend) or a ready-made meal.

    Nothing else is prelogged since nothing is sure beforehand.

    Breakfast : one day I'll have banana with my yogurt, another day blueberries, or a mix. The banana might be bigger or smaller. I might need to finish off one type of fruit because it's going rotten. I might eat a certain type of yogurt for a few weeks and then switch to a different brand. Etc.

    Home-cooked meals are never identical so I'll just log the entire recipe before eating, to determine how big my portion can be. Or, when I'm sure the dish isn't too calorific, I'll even log after eating. I have a few favorite 'recipes' but quantities and proportions will vary.

    Bread meals vary since the type of bread varies, the quantity of bread varies too (different shapes of loaves gives different sized slices) and toppings vary depending on mood, appetite, availability,...

    Snacks are variable too, especially the evening snacks, which are made to fit the calories I have left after dinner.

    I don't know how people prelog. I couldn't stand the routine necessary to prelog food, my foods varies from day to day and week to week. (only my breakfast could be standardized, if I wanted to)
    Which doesn't mean I don't do a meal plan, I do plan my meals for 4-5 days at a time (in particular the home-cooked dinners) but never precisely enough to know the number of calories beforehand.
  • Xiaolongbao
    Xiaolongbao Posts: 854 Member
    I have my own little ritual.

    In the morning I log all the food I WANT to eat that day. Only things that are within the realm of possibility (ie things I actually have) but whatever I feel like. Then I see what the calories come out to (usually a few hundred in the red). For some reason it makes me happy to see that even if I ate EVERYTHING it wouldn’t do an uncountable amount of damage.

    Then as I progress through the day I adjust as necessary (which often means totally changing).

    I make no concerted effort to eat less than I logged. If it’s logged I’m allowed to eat it. That makes me feel less deprived. But often I do make choices that allow me to get down closer to my target. I rarely get under (and since MFP only gives me 1200 a day I’m ok with being over).
  • asthesoapturns
    asthesoapturns Posts: 313 Member
    I prelog the night before. At bed time I input breakfast, lunch, dinner and the snacks I know I will eat. There's always a few hundred calories to spare so I have wiggle room to add a luxury, or to eat a little more at dinner, etc. Having the wiggle room makes me feel less restricted. If a really unexpected luxury comes up, and I want to indulge I can generally shift the protein at dinner and voila, another hundred cal or so to spend. I eat between 1350-1450 now losing a pound or so a week as I creep closer to goal. It's definitely been working for me.
  • sakurablossoms82
    sakurablossoms82 Posts: 62 Member
    edited July 2020
    I usually do preplan a few things a day or 2 ahead and I sometimes do include my work outs before I do them as well. I do this so I can see if I have room left for something else I might want to eat. And sometimes I move things around too. I don't think logging as I eat works for me because I have a feeling I might either overeat or eat to little because I want to be sure I don't overeat.

    And so far I have been guessing the amounts I'm eating and if I really don't know what an 80 grams portion of something looks like I will check it with a kitchen scale. Like today I had nuggets, the package said a portion was 80 grams and it turned out to be 4 nuggets. There where 12 in the package so 3 portions in total. I'm not going to recheck if my next portion really is 80 grams but just have 4.
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