Logging the Food Diary with this way of eating

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missyyclaire
missyyclaire Posts: 572 Member
Does anyone else find that they're not logging as often now that they've switched to eating Paleo/Primal? For nearly 6 weeks I've barely logged my food, partly because I have this bizaare guilt for eating this way and feel I need to hide it from curious eyes! Silly! Even sillier is that this way of eating has helped me break through an 8 week plateau and yet I feel funny about writing down how I had butter, cream, steak and other goodies, because they are not viewed as a 'normal' diet food....

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  • _Amy_Budd
    _Amy_Budd Posts: 378 Member
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    I still log everything, for 2 reasons:
    1. I like it from a data point of view
    2. (More importantly) I want to keep a very close eye on my macros. 15% carbs, 30% protein and 55% fat works so incredibly well for me, and if I don't watch it, I tend to drift towards more fat and less protein. Not that more fat is necessarily bad (as long as it's healthy fat), but I want to make sure I'm getting enough protein to support my workouts.

    No reason to be ashamed of something healthy! All the comments I get on my food diary are positive, from both my Primal/Paleo MFPeeps and the low-fat crowd. Everyone who gets my updates knows that I eat this way on purpose, and has seen the kind of continued success I've been having.

    Let go of the fear. :)

    Amy
  • monkeydharma
    monkeydharma Posts: 599 Member
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    Once I was sold on the concept, I log with pride and use it as a tool to discuss nutrition with my penpals. Most of them just think I'm one of those 'California nuts', but they can't argue with my success in losing weight.
  • TheGlen
    TheGlen Posts: 242 Member
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    As I continue to move more and more towards the primal diet, I'm finding it's a lot more work to log my food. It's so much easier to log packaged food, or fast food, since the whole meal and nutritional information is in the database. As an example, today for lunch we had pork shoulder roast, carrots, celery, tomatoes, turnip, spices, spinach salad with homemade oil/vinegar/garlic dressing. If I had a big mac, I'd just type "big mac" and it's all there.

    With that in mind, I find I'm mostly just tracking anything bad I eat; and that feels very negative, given that most of the time I'm eating healthy.
  • monkeydharma
    monkeydharma Posts: 599 Member
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    As I continue to move more and more towards the primal diet, I'm finding it's a lot more work to log my food. It's so much easier to log packaged food, or fast food, since the whole meal and nutritional information is in the database. As an example, today for lunch we had pork shoulder roast, carrots, celery, tomatoes, turnip, spices, spinach salad with homemade oil/vinegar/garlic dressing. If I had a big mac, I'd just type "big mac" and it's all there.

    With that in mind, I find I'm mostly just tracking anything bad I eat; and that feels very negative, given that most of the time I'm eating healthy.

    It is a little more work at first, but once you realize that 80% of what you eat is repetitive from week to week, you'll find that they are listed in 'recent items' and are easily added.
  • kkarrolle
    kkarrolle Posts: 120 Member
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    I am better at keeping a written journal, but it is more for planning daily meals. I generally eat fairly similar meals anyway.


    There are a couple of primal/paleo trackers, that I have posted in another thread, that you may be interested in.
  • _Amy_Budd
    _Amy_Budd Posts: 378 Member
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    It is a little more work at first, but once you realize that 80% of what you eat is repetitive from week to week, you'll find that they are listed in 'recent items' and are easily added.

    ^^^This. :)
  • Bernadette_
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    One thing I've found really frustrating with MFP is that if I search for 'Animal fat' (bacon fat, chicken fat, etc), many of the initial results are things like, 'animal crackers - low fat', etc. So there is a lot of junk to weed through before you get to the good stuff.

    I really wish MFP would prioritize real foods before processed foods :(
  • Frankenbarbie01
    Frankenbarbie01 Posts: 432 Member
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    I agree with the processed foods and looking up simple thngs like cinnamon and getting Cinn-A-Bon rolls, LOL crazy!!
    I log all my food and have a bit of a snicker when I go over by 500 cals a day (like yesterday). I like to see the nutritional info and it keeps me focused!
  • Bernadette_
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    Oops, double post!
  • kcalla
    kcalla Posts: 49 Member
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    I've followed Paleo for over a year. (80/20 with weekend "paleo" splurges) for about a year. My splurges are paleo bread type recipes, dark chocolate. Only sugar is fruit. Apples, berries, bananas, grapes, dates/figs... sugar in a plant. Because I'm on maintenance, I stopped logging (and worrying about calories/carbs) right before Christmas. I've not gained any weight back! I can't believe it. I've counted points (for 5 years on WWers) and calories since hitting goal in 2010. It's pretty freeing to me to have gotten this lifestyle down so much that I can just eat! I still portion and weigh. Probably always will.

    DD just made paleo fig bread...smells divine. Little almond butter and a cuppa hot tea! MMMmmmm
  • amycal
    amycal Posts: 646 Member
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    I really wish MFP would prioritize real foods before processed foods :(

    OH I so agree! This would be really helpful!
  • Anathama
    Anathama Posts: 82 Member
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    I was worried about using a site because I thought it would be rigid and try to force me into a "standard diet". One of the things I love about this site is the fact that you can edit your goals to see what % of each, carbs, proteins and fat your eating. I've been logging solid for a week now, after finding the site 2 weeks into my diet.

    I do wish the reports are better. I cut and past the food logs into excel because I want to find out what % of carbs etc, I've eaten that day, and get an average for the week.