Tracking food for the day, but with no named meals

smrybacki
smrybacki Posts: 78 Member
in Getting Started
I am wondering if this is possible? What I mean is this; just having one meal called "Today" and everything I eat or drink for the day just goes there. I mean in my mind, it all comes out the same at the end of a given day if you are macro focused.

Are there any pitfalls to this? Any potential benefits beyond simplification?

I am going to go with IIFYM if that matters.

Answers

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,832 Member
    Sure, it's possible. You can customize your meals, max 6 (but 1 should be possible too) and change the names.

    I personally don't want to do that because it can be useful to check macros per meal: for example checking protein spread throughout the day and whether it impacts hunger, checking carb intake per meal and how it may impact exercise performance.
  • NotGvnUp_EJ
    NotGvnUp_EJ Posts: 65 Member
    Yes you can do what you want with your diary entries. I actually do this from time to time myself( entering everything under one category for the day).Then some days I break it down, just depends on how I'm feeling.
  • Corina1143
    Corina1143 Posts: 3,627 Member
    edited December 2023
    I agree, you totally can do that.

    Pro. Easy

    Con. If you ever should need that info.....
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,216 Member
    There's no technical reason not to do it, if that works for you.

    I wouldn't do it myself, because it doesn't seem like less work to me (subjective) and I did find some beneficial information when I was getting started. That benefit was from reviewing my diary and considering what might've been different on days when I was more/less hungry, more/less energetic, and that sort of thing.

    Timing of meals/snacks, the nutritional mix of them, or even specific food choices sometimes had an effect on appetite, energy, etc. My mind blurs within a few days about what I ate and when. Having the meals separate at least gave me a general idea of what happened on those past day.

    That may not apply to you, but I'm sure you have some intuition about that.

    I'd say, why not try the "all in one meal" thing for a week or two, and assess how well it's working for you?

    Best wishes!
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,486 Member
    I lost all my weight logging exactly like that, one long list (a different site that closed). That was in 2009, and 30lbs lost.

    I joined MFP in the autumn of 2010 and continued with mainly just a list but occasionally breaking down to meals or eating timing when switching exercise routines or times.

    If you think you prefer to log as a list try it for a month or so. If you find breaking your list into meals may work better just give the other 5 sections a title that works for you.

    Experiment, find what works for you. Just don't miss entering sips and nibbles, or weighing everything that passes your lips.

    Cheers, h.
    PS. Still maintaining the loss though no longer log.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,452 Member
    edited December 2023
    Do be aware, if you decide to rename categories later, you may lose some or all of your data that was in the renamed fields.

    At least, that’s what happened last time I tried.

    Fortunately I chose wisely the first time and can live with it. 😇

    I have
    breakfast
    Lunch
    Dinner
    Afternoon snacks
    Evening snacks
    Chai (for my daily chai(s) or occasional late day coffee)

    I wish I had “morning snack” because I eat one once in a while if I have a heavy morning workout schedule planned.

    I like having a lot of categories because I can see at a glance where I’m low on calories or protein, or am too heavy somewhere.

    You do what works for you, though. We’re all different.
  • AmunahSki
    AmunahSki Posts: 210 Member
    I usually only eat once a day - never really been into breakfast or lunch - but I might occasionally eat these meals ‘socially’ so I keep the labels anyway.

    I like to log my breakfast coffee and daily vitamins as ‘Breakfast’, then my meal as ‘Dinner’: I am separately tracking ‘Alcohol’ as I am interested in my consumption as a % of my intake.

    The point is, set it up how you want it to work for you - more data in, more data out.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,943 Member
    springlering62 wrote: »
    Do be aware, if you decide to rename categories later, you may lose some or all of your data that was in the renamed fields.

    At least, that’s what happened last time I tried.

    Good one! TO could create an entry called OMAD or whatever they like, and (if possible) move it to the first position and then keep the other categories for maybe some time in the future.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,092 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    springlering62 wrote: »
    Do be aware, if you decide to rename categories later, you may lose some or all of your data that was in the renamed fields.

    At least, that’s what happened last time I tried.

    Good one! TO could create an entry called OMAD or whatever they like, and (if possible) move it to the first position and then keep the other categories for maybe some time in the future.

    When I changed what I called my meals, all historical info in slot 1, no matter what I had called it, was renamed with the current (new) name for slot 1, and so on. For each slot the renaming of any slot was retroactive.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,255 Member
    I have six different names.

    There was a bug on here that decided to put my meals back to the default settings. Some of my logged foods weren't there anymore. Well, they were in the background, but I couldn't see them because there were fewer categories. I went into settings and put my custom meals back, and like magic all the "invisible" foods were still there.

    I have weird names for my "meals."
    • Coffee time
    • Daytime Foods
    • Good Evening
    • How the Hell to Categorize
    • Intentionally Left Blank
    • Mine goes to Eleven

    These names don't mean much to anyone except me.

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