How do you record your food?

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lolollama
lolollama Posts: 58
in Food and Nutrition
Do you plan what you're going to eat the day before you eat it or do you just log it as you go?

I have been doing it as I go but finding that I have way too many left over calories at the end of the day!
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Replies

  • kendrafallon
    kendrafallon Posts: 1,030 Member
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    Mostly I plan ahead, so I know if I've got cals to spare or not :smile: if I'm under my goal, is usually due to exercise.
  • snookumss
    snookumss Posts: 1,451 Member
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    I log as I go, sometimes my later meals will be carefully plotted prior to cooking it, but I use MFP to figure out the total calories of my options before I start to cook something to better fit the calorie slot.
  • Hannerling
    Hannerling Posts: 18
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    I have my favorites for breakfast and lunch so I know those in advance. Generally, just snacks and dinner are decided daily but early on in the day.
  • RachelT14
    RachelT14 Posts: 266 Member
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    I plan my evening meals for the week ahead and each day i decide which mela i havent have will be tomorrows dinner and add that. Then if it is quite low cal i have a higher cal breakfast to even the day out. If the evening meal is quite high in cals i have porridge for breakfast, lunch always comes in around the same amount. I did find myself havign to eat 200 cals i didnt want to eat last night though as i was very under
  • bluefox9er
    bluefox9er Posts: 2,917 Member
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    I plan ahead if i can/feel like it...if i change, then I log the changes, and If I'm over...ho-hum :-)
  • engineman312
    engineman312 Posts: 3,450 Member
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    if i'm working, i do everything the night before, just because during the day i may not have computer access, and its easy to stay on target if everything is pre-logged. i also over estimate what i'm going to eat, because i always end up taking at least one or two things off, or have a smaller dinner then i had intended.
  • tavery3700
    tavery3700 Posts: 42 Member
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    I log as I go, because I eat what I want.

    I watch my calories and portion control

    I may be wrong but It works for me.
  • ncwingnut71
    ncwingnut71 Posts: 292 Member
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    I make my breakfast and lunch before I leave the house, so I log those in the morning. If I don't eat something I bought, like a snack or something, I take it back off.

    I usually know early afternoon what I want for dinner, so I will go ahead and log that then, too.
  • tounyae1979
    tounyae1979 Posts: 14
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    I plan my meals days ahead because that way you already know what you're going to eat. You're not just looking around trying to figure out what you're going to eat to meet the calories for that day. Saves time.
  • much2gain
    much2gain Posts: 42
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    I mostly plan ahead because during the work week I eat the same breakfast and usually the same lunch that I made on Sunday nights for the week. It also helps me stay away from the treats that are constantly in the office. If I know I have already input my breakfast and lunch, I'm less likely to slip and have to log in again to add sugary sweets. However you do it, just be honest about it. If you eat it, track it.. right down to the creamer in your coffee, the olive oil you may cook with, etc.
  • southerngirlspa
    southerngirlspa Posts: 34
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    I'm just beginning here but so far I've been logging as I go. If I'm tempted to eat something that I'm pretty sure isn't very good for me I check the calories and fat on here before I go for it so I can see if I have enough for the day or not. If I have a bunch of calories left at the end of the evening I drink a giant glass of skim milk cause I LOVE it.
  • loombeav
    loombeav Posts: 391 Member
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    I log as I go, because I eat what I want.

    I watch my calories and portion control

    I may be wrong but It works for me.
    This. I have an eating plan I follow and for the most part stick to those calorie guidelines, which right now are 400 for breakfast, 600 for lunch and dinner and 200 for snacks (2x a day) I'm in the resting phase of the plan so my intake is a about 500 calories higher then normal.
  • lrd2010
    lrd2010 Posts: 161 Member
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    I only plan ahead if I know there's going to be a big meal in a day. Like if I'm going out to dinner to have drinkies and dessert, I will allocate breakfast and lunch accordingly and make sure that I at least try to make up for it with exercise or cutting back for a few days afterwards.

    Intuitive eating is the goal really. I'm not quite there yet....
  • JulieSD
    JulieSD Posts: 567
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    I log in the morning as I eat breakfast. I find that I usually have about 200-300 cals left over so I know to add more snacks and what exercise I have to look forward to. OR I also like to preplan because i'll think I can have x amount of something, log it and it have a zillion more cals than I thought it would. lol
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
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    I never know what i fancy for dinner until dinnertime, so planning days ahead just isnt possible.

    However, as stated earlier in this thread, if i know it's going to be a biggie (eating out etc), then ill makes some small changes during the day, giving me more leaway when it comes to that dinner.
  • bluegirl10
    bluegirl10 Posts: 695 Member
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    I usually plan it the night before and log mostly everything in the morning... Then again Monday thru Friday my foods don't vary much, so only the weekends are little tougher to log and stay on track.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    I log as I go. I've never been much of a planner. I rarely even have a plan for dinner when I get off work at 5:00. I usually log dinner the next morning when I'm at work so I never know how many calories I've eaten, but I usually come pretty close to the MFP goal.
  • dls06
    dls06 Posts: 6,774 Member
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    The best way is to plan before you shop that way you only have food in the house that won't get you in trouble to begin with.
    Makes planning meals easier.
  • kendernau
    kendernau Posts: 155 Member
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    I am a mix of planned and ad hoc. Breakfast, lunch, and snacks are preplanned during the week, as I prep the night before, so I do not have to do it in the morning when I am getting ready for work. I don't log them until I am at work, but I usually have a pretty good idea where I am in terms of calories.

    On days I bike to work, I pack a little extra (particularly protein), and I have a healthy snack stash in my desk in case I need a little extra to counter a craving.

    Dinner is then based on whatever I have left over in terms of calories when I get home. I'll cook a regular meal for myself and wife, and just change my portion size to match how much I am allowed.

    My problem is the food we have in our house. We have a toddler, who was born SGA (Small for Gestational Age), who is under a nutrition plan that is basically opposite of mine :) He is on a high carb, high fat, calorie dense diet to help him catch up to the norms for his age, so we have a lot of food (and particularly snacks) that I have to "forget" we have to avoid temptation.
  • Rilke
    Rilke Posts: 1,201 Member
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    I eat intuitively, so no planning more than a meal ahead.

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