What online calorie counting service do you like?

[Nella]

I use Fitday. It was the first one I found. I have checked out some of the other ones, but since I already have a lot of custom foods in there, I hate to switch. One thing I have noticed about Fitday is sometimes their calorie counts are not accurate. There were some veggies that they had really high, but when I cross referenced with other sites, the other sites were lower on calories (and consistent on several different ones). SO I check everything twice, which is a PITA, but better than me having to reenter all my custom foods.

Also Fitwatch is a part of Fitday I believe and they have a free recipe analyzer.

[TJFitnessDiva]

I bounce between sparkpeople and the dailyplate I like both but if I had to choose it would be the dailyplate. The only thing I don't like is that if you track exercise calories it'll add it to your daily limit.

[Sonata]

I really enjoy FitDay. A lot of their nutritional information for foods is WRONG, though, so I have made a lot of custom food entries. That's alright by me, because I tend to eat the same things throughout the week, heh. I am boring.

[caryesings]

I use mypyramidtracker.gov.

I personally didn't know that the reason the "new" US food pyramid looks so stupid is it was intended to be used with this program, with the pyramid customizing to your specific age, sex, and activity level. You and each of your kids can have your own profile and you earn smiley faces for getting the recommended servings of food groups. I used it for over a year for that purpose alone.

When I decided to lose weight, I started delving deeper into it and started logging my exercise as well and tracking energy balance.

Anyone who decides to try this based on what I've written here, feel free to PM me if you have questions on how I use it. If I hadn't been forced to use it initially for a Nutrition class I was taking I may not have fussed with it, but has turned out to be a very powerful tool for me.

[cassieroll]

Originally Posted by caryesings

I use mypyramidtracker.gov.

I personally didn't know that the reason the "new" US food pyramid looks so stupid is it was intended to be used with this program, with the pyramid customizing to your specific age, sex, and activity level. You and each of your kids can have your own profile and you earn smiley faces for getting the recommended servings of food groups. I used it for over a year for that purpose alone.

When I decided to lose weight, I started delving deeper into it and started logging my exercise as well and tracking energy balance.

Anyone who decides to try this based on what I've written here, feel free to PM me if you have questions on how I use it. If I hadn't been forced to use it initially for a Nutrition class I was taking I may not have fussed with it, but has turned out to be a very powerful tool for me.

Ooh I love that site. I also learned about it during a nutrition class!

[CJZee]

My trainer said he liked CalorieKing (one time fee of $45 and they update the foods all the time). I have been using it for about 9 months and like it although I've never tried anything else. The software exists on your computer and you're advised when to download updates. There are no ads or anything like that. There are tons of foods on it.

I also have a GoWear Fit, and they just added a better calorie-tracking component to it, but I haven't tried it. I'm used to CalorieKing so it's easier for me to stick with it.

[Bright Angel]

I use DietPower,
which is an offline software food journaling program.
You can find it through Google.
There is a 2 week free trial, then a small purchase price.
If you buy it though, be sure to buy the disk and not just the download.
I've logged all my food in it every day since September 20, 2004.
This helped me lose from 190 down to 115,
AND, has helped me keep it off for the past 4 years.

[sgregg]

I also use thedailyplate.com (livestrong.com). I like it. I used it before it moved to livestrong and I still love it.

[retiredone]

I use fitday and have not had any problems finding most foods I eat. I also have a bank of custom foods that I've entered and can track my food intake fairly accurate.

It your vegetable count is higher than you'd expect it's probably because it's been cooked with fat. When looking for cooked carrots for instance I always type in "carrots, fat not added" which gives me a fat free calorie count.

[mkendrick]

I use the Menu Planner on MyPyramid.gov. It's completely free.

Probably not as in-depth as the paid-for programs, but it has done wonders for me. It's set up like a bar graph with each food group being a separate bar. You then enter foods that you'll eat for the day or week and the sizes of your portions and they show up on the bar graph. It also keeps track of calories. It provides a lot of food and brand choices and is also flexible with how you prepare the food (if you enter mixed salad greens, you have the option of entering what type of dressing you had with it for example).

It has helped me completely turn around my eating habits. Knowing exactly what I'll be eating for the day goes a long way in keeping me from cheating.

[lorilove]

I am a long time user of DietPower which I love - best software in my opinion and excellent customer support. But does not focus on the on-line community.

I am also a long time member of CalorieKing (before it was a paid membership). I love the size of the community, very supportive and lots of long time members with proven results.

I have a Sparkpeople membership but the site is too big an too much turnover for me.

I also belong to fatsecret but never got into that site.

[kkazz123]

I use calorie king but have never paid anything to use it...I am in australia tho so maybe we arent charged as the url is slightly different. That said like someone else mentioned i dont like how if you input your exercise it increases your daily calorie allowance. The other thing i like about it is it has most of (if not all) the aussie brand foods

kazz =]

[19Deltawifey]

Sparkpeople is the best I've found. I have used others like mypyramid, fitday, and I think there is one other one.

Sparkpeople is awesome because even if I can't find a certain food I can import it from someone elses custom foods. HOpefully that makes sense it saves me time from having to enter in the nutrition info from the food label. I would suggest trying out all of them and seeing which one you like better. Good Luck

[Chele615]

I use www.myfitnesspal.com. I really like it because it has a lot of my local supermarket brand already listed.

[ibcnuldu]

When I counted calories I used sparkpeople.com with good success