Logging food

[Collinsswift]

Do people use the fitbit app to log the amount of food they eat, and if so is it worth it? It sounds good in theory, but I find it very encumbersome. 

[Lesliew1]

I usually plan meals using the fitbit; log breakfast and log what I plan to eat for the day.  It keeps me on track and, of course, can update if I change or add food.  I find it helpful.

[JohnRi]

I log every calorie I eat.  I used the log to plan every meal I eat, regardless if it's at home or out to eat.

When I first started logging, I discovered, what I thought I was eating was wrong.  I was eating about 600 more calories a day, than I was guessing. 

Maintaining a log is the only way to control and limit how many calories you eat each day.

I've lost 64 lbs, and it's largerly from the log I maintain every day.

[Jciam]

I tried to do the food logging on the app but I found it to be quite annoying as well.  Don't get me wrong, I understand that logging food is the best way to help with weight loss and leading a healthier lifestyle but for me personally it doesn't work.  I just focus on what I'm eating and how full I feel after.  

[Lesliew1]

I suspected that the calorie counts were low, because I'm not losing
much weight on 845 calories per day. I'm aiming for one pound a week.
How are you estimating calories? Thanks!

[JohnRi]

845 is way too low. 1200-1300 is the minimum calories a woman should eat.

My wife was eating one meal a day around 800 calories. She gained weight.

We got her a Fitbit and found out she was doing 15000-20000 steps a day. Yet she was getting heavier.

She increased her diet to 1500-1800 a day and has now lost 30 lbs.

When you eat too little your body holds on to fat and burns your muscle. Your body considers that you are in a famine and that you need to keep the fat.

I'm not surprised you are not losing. If you are trying to maintain a 500 calorie deficit and you can't eat at least 1200 calories each day you need to exercise more to make your goal.

[firefighter17]

I use it as " that little voice" that keeps me somewhat honest about how much I consume each day. Most days I'm a bit under. 

[bhoylegend]

I log food religiously now.

It has prompted me to check the correct calorie counts on everything I eat. Where possible. Quite often what is on the drop down is wrong but you have the option to edit the values. This was quite annoying for a short period of time as I had been under recording but in the end I was still under the limits.

I'm starting to see some progress on the weight loss.

[Stinkyfish97]

I was very strict at the beginning when I got my fitbit. I will say this, I used it to log every food at the beginning and this helped me understand portion sizes. Before anything went in my mouth I entered it into the fitbit. I would measure out my food at first to, put it in the palm of my hand to get an image of what each servings size meant. That how I found it useful. Later on as I gained a better understanding of portion size I did not use it as much. 

I still use it to log food every once in a while just to see where I am at. My diet is pretty consistent as far as what I eat. While I have variety in my diet I think I have learned discipline when it comes to what I eat and how much of it I eat. While I am not perfect I still am much better than where I previously was.

Now am refining what I eat further. I do not track calories as much as I am concerned more with sodium and carbs, especially carbs in the sugar form. My goal is to be under 1800mg of sodium a day and I am still working on a number for the sugars. This is where my trouble is, I love fruit and without it my diet would be pretty bland. I need to work on my fruit serving sizes. I like to bring fruit to work and end up eating it all for breakfast. I need to work on spacing out my fruits 1 for each meal instead of all in 1 meal. 

[Ukase]

I do not use any apps except Google maps. 

I use my desktop computer to log my calories through Fitbit's site. I cannot fathom how anyone can stand using a phone's tiny screen for anything. But, that's just me. 

I work behind a computer all day, so, I suppose I'm more used to using a computer than most. 

Logging your food certainly isn't necessarily a prerequisite to a successful "diet", but it can be very helpful in knowing how much more you should eat if you're trying to lose or gain. 

Fitbit's logging page - it takes a little time at first to "create meals" and "create foods" - but once you do, it takes very little time. I use it several times a day. 

[Mirrabook]

I hope this is the right place to post am new to all this, 

I want to log my foods, but I went to add todays starting with a fresh manderine and it put up  a message that I had to add this to my food log and provide nutritional information. 

I would have thought that fresh foods would be already listed but I cant find anything and have no idea how to make sure my calorie intake begins to get under control. 

Advice please.

[A_Lurker]

@Mirrabook - try mandarins (cuties).  That's how the fresh ones show up when I go to log.  I think it's because mandarins are more often canned.  In Canada I see clementines more than mandarins.

[Nannymag65]

Hi there can u explain as in new how the hell you log what you eat ????

[A_Lurker]

@Nannymag65 - I've read your post twice but I'm not quite sure what you're asking.  You can log your food multiple ways.  Whatever works the best depends on the person.

 - fitbit app on phone

 - fitbit desktop application (Log from dashboard) <-- this is what I use

 - MyFitnessPal.com - I believe you can link this to your fitbit account

As to how you determine what to log depends on if you're wanting to lose weight or not.  If you are just looking to increase your activity level you may not need to track meals at all.  My personal preference is to weigh and/or measure what I eat.  I'm not saying that I'm 100% compulsive about it, however, I try to be relatively accurate.  For me, weight loss begins in the kitchen.

I do a lot of my measuring on a food scale.  If I can find an old post I made I'll add it here.  It shows how knowing what an actual portion is can be a good first step.  Some people can track for a while, then they can wing it.

[A_Lurker]

This piece of a post I made a while back was more about how people can be increasing their activity, eating healthy, and not seeing any progress.  It was just a small example of how food can be just as important:

Yesterday I came home early, sat in the pool reading for a while (beautiful afternoon and I'm not often home early).  Then I swam some laps for about an hour.  Not strenous laps, and not continously, but when I checked my data later I burned about 320 cals.  I actually did higher than that in the plant just before I left, but that's another story.  So, if I'd done a workout that burned 320 calories I might think that protein shake with a Tb of peanut butter is a healthy end to my workout.  Oops, hang on, I burn 80 calories sleeping, so I really only burned 240 calories.  Oh well, my smoothie was only 224 calories, I'm still okay.  That was 130 for the scoop of protein powder and 94 calories for my 1 Tb of peanut butter.  However, I'm eyeballing my food so that scoop of powder might be 150, and that heaping Tb of peanut butter might actually be 2... omg it was closer to 3 when I weighed it.

Workout - 320, no 240

Smoothie - 224, no 432

Hang on, I'm working out, how come I'm not losing weight?  I'm working out every day and eating well, I don't get it. 

[LennyMat]

I actually use the My Fitness Pal app to log my food but my Blaze is connected to the app and they work together. I love logging because I overeat. Plain and simple. I started logging in March though I had done it many times before. Since March, by keeping a clear diary of what I've taken in and combined with exercise, I've lost 46 pounds with four left to go. Logging keeps you honest. Those people who don't believe in logging likely don't have a weight problem and think their situation can be applied to everyone. I'm a believer!

[ellie_q]

Initially I did not see the point. 

Then I realized the Alta keeps track amount of calories burned and I had nothing to compared i.e calorie intake. 

I invest in a small scale to weight (wt) some foods,depending on what I'm eating. Then convert  that to calories something Fitbit does not have a calorie calculator. It be great if they did. 

Goal is to maintain my weight.

It can be tediuos work. But becomes second nature after a while. 

[LennyMat]

Fitbit will link with My Fitness Pal and I use the app religiously. The
exercise you log with fitbit will be converted to calories burned in my
fitness pal. It works really well for me.

Len

[Paradise555]

I use myfitnesspal. It just seems a lot more easier for me to use due to the fact I find the fitbits tracking for food seems a little over the top to actually use.

[A_Lurker]

@Paradise555 - is that the phone app?  I use the computer version and I find the fitbit one fairly easy to use.  Although I own 2 computers, 2 tablets, and a blackberry, I've been using computers for more than 30 years, I tend to find computer-based programs just easier to use.  I'm actually more of a fan of locally-run programs vs. web-based programs but in this case they are both web-based.  I don't actually use MFP.  I have an old copy of fitday, which I sometimes use for batch cooking (ie a recipe builder) as I'm used to it.  I'll add everything as I go into a single serving under the recipe name, then at the end create a new entry and add 'divided' or 'serving' to it and drop in that original.  It can be limited on its database but sometimes that's a plus.  It doesn't have a huge amount of processed foods (it does have some) but for cooking I find it still the superior choice.  It has:

blueberries, raw

blueberries, frozen, unsweetened

blueberries, frozen, sweetened

I likely wouldn't trust the frozen, sweetened as that could be too generic.  However, it makes it simple to put things together.  I find it great for single item cooking (ie. little to no processed ingredients).  For most items you can pull by measurement (tsp, tbsp, cup) or weight (g, oz).  Both the online loggers include brand names for the same items, with slightly different numbers.  The simple blueberries, raw though match on an oz measurement.

Hmmm... I'm way too detailed about some of this stuff.  I made an orzo salad last week and did the same.  I weighed and measured the ingredients then zeroed on the container and weighed the result.  1123 grams was the total, so I call 180g a serving when measuring it.  I did this in Fitday.  I added it as a custom into Fitbit with 180g in the title.  On the last day if it's under I don't worry about it, if it's over by more than just a few grams I might adjust the portion size.

The longer you do it, I think the the easier it becomes.