Inputting calories a chore?

No.

Log your meals the night before. It becomes routine and so much easier to manage your day.

I've been on MFP a few weeks and am starting to see how meal prep and repeating the same few things for breakfast and lunch would make things easier. I'm contemplating making two different lunches X3 or x4 on the weekend to cover my lunches through the week. I know lots of other people do this. It would make data input easier as well as solving my daily issue of opening the fridge and thinking, hmm, what should I eat?

Not at all. Sometimes, it even helps me meal plan for the upcoming days! I actually get excited.

Until recently I would have answered no, tracking isn't a chore. However since they went and ruined the multi add feature, then yeah, it kinda is. Maybe not so much a chore but just unnecessarily annoying

More time consuming in the beginning, less when you've got a lot of foods in the Frequent list. Still time consuming, especially home-cooked meals and new foods, but that pales in comparison to the benefits of having a BMI of 22 versus 34 a few years ago.

No, it only takes a very short moment during cutting. Like I cut my veggies and prepare the protein, throw briefly on scale. Log both while preparing them. Only takes a few seconds because most veggies show up in the commonly used list. Then I see how many calories these are. I know pretty much how much oil for cooking. I use standard entries I've created for myself for spices, so there I'm guessing a bit (entries for few and more spices. If it's a lot I weigh and log them separately). So then I know how much calories my meal has. Then I fill up the remaining calories with pasta, rice, couscous, bread, etc. Simples. I guess the whole logging process doesn't even take a minute.

When I cook a stew for several days I put in everything I want to put in and log while doing so. Then I decide whether to divide the meal into 3-5 portions and either keep as is, assuming a certain amount of rice/pasta I'll cook with it ever day. Or add more stuff still. Also just takes about a minute, and i have food for several days.

To start with, yes. But once you have a bunch of regular meals saved, and you are eating the same things fairly consistently, it's pretty quick and easy. I enter my whole day in 2 minutes or less first thing in the morning, as I've always already planned exactly what I'll be eating, down to the snacks. If I eat anything extra - yes, I have to log in again and add it and make any adjustments, but again....2 minutes tops?

I tend to eat the same few things for breakfast and lunch which makes logging those meals in easier. For dinner, I take my tablet into the kitchen with me while I am prepping the meal and enter items as I go along. I am gradually entering my frequently used recipes into the recipe category. I've just been on this app for a few weeks but I find that it doesn't take much time at all. It just takes getting used to doing it.

Courtscan2 wrote: »

To start with, yes. But once you have a bunch of regular meals saved, and you are eating the same things fairly consistently, it's pretty quick and easy. I enter my whole day in 2 minutes or less first thing in the morning, as I've always already planned exactly what I'll be eating, down to the snacks. If I eat anything extra - yes, I have to log in again and add it and make any adjustments, but again....2 minutes tops?

Nope, I still suck at it. I literally have to set a reminder. I'm going to blame ADHD. I will literally pull out my phone to log it, and then end up on Facebook or Instagram.

Yes it's a chore when I'm cooking a meal to have to measure/weigh/track every little ingredient that goes in and then figure up servings etc. Gets easier with time. Creating commonly eaten meals and recipes helps and makes things easier.

I don’t look at it that way…it’s a routine rather than a chore, just like showering or brushing your teeth it’s something I need to do to maintain my health.

As others have said, the more you do it, the easier it gets. You populate the ‘Recents’ list (though I wish that were longer since I eat a huge variety of food so stuff does tend to drop off that list)…you create Recipes and update exact amounts as you go along…it does get easier.

Either way, it’s a choice. Take the few minutes to track your calories or guess and freestyle your intake 🤷‍♀️. For me, as an older, very short, petite female tracking is the easiest (only) way to keep on top of my weight control.

Yes. I am fortunate that I eat the same food many days which probably helps somewhat (I use the Lifesum app). It is a chore, I find myself doing it at the end of the day usually. I'm about 600 days in a row which probably means although it's a chore it's something I consider worth doing.

I’ve always found logging on the computer a chore. It reminds me of being at work. So I log with pen and paper. When in losing mode (I’m maintaining right now) my food diary stays out on the counter next to my food scale. I do use the computer to do research but the recording is done by hand. My logging is just a bunch of crude lists with numbers. Only takes minutes.

Not so much a chore but I do forget sometimes. Now that we can scan, when I pack my lunch for work I will also scan it then too. Just keep at it, if you miss a day or two here and there and can’t add it for one reason or another, don’t sweat it. Just continue the journey.