Curious where others on this board keep their food journals? Do most blog or log it in FitDay? (I thought I read that FitDay got hacked the other day so now I'm afraid to use it).
I know I could easily write it down in a journal at home but for some reason the thought of a website geared toward keeping track seems more appealing.
Any recommendations? I know I need to start but I keep putting it off.
I just use excel spreadsheets - so each month gets its own tab.
On the spreadsheets I keep track of whether I have binged, whether I have done XXX exercises... etc as well as what I've eaten for meals + snacks with a guessed calorie intake at the end w/ a running total for the month at the bottom.
I tried using the journals provided on the internet, but I found using excel is a lot faster and more flexible. Plus I love color-coding everything and it makes me happy to see that I have a lot more green boxes than orange/red. Since I'm not really a 'calorie-counter' and just guess my calories I find Excel quicker, but if you are wanting to accurately count calories it might be easier to use the online ones as they have more information re calorie content.
Do you HAVE to have your facebook connected to your livestrong account? I am trying to register, the website looks very nice but it seems like the only way is to register through facebook. I absolutely do not want my facebook to have ANYTHING to do with my weight loss or journal!!
EDIT: Nevermind! Figured out how to do without facebook!
Last edited by steinanwine; 09-28-2011 at 10:48 PM.
Do you HAVE to have your facebook connected to your livestrong account? I am trying to register, the website looks very nice but it seems like the only way is to register through facebook. I absolutely do not want my facebook to have ANYTHING to do with my weight loss or journal!!
EDIT: Nevermind! Figured out how to do without facebook!
I use it without facebook as well for the same reason you state. I cannot blame you for that either.
I figured it out and I have to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for recommending LiveStrong! (In fact thank you to ALL for your advice and recommendations)!
I am not sure if the other journals are like LiveStrong but I am totally blown away that you can type in a brand name!!!!! That makes tracking SO much easier I almost feel like crying its so amazing!! I shop at Aldi a lot and thought - no way will they have their random brands like Millville or Happy Farms BUT THEY TOTALLY DO! I compared the nutrition facts on all the stuff I entered and almost all of it matched perfectly. There were only a few foodstuffs that differed in some way and only by a very little - small enough margin of error that I can live with. This is amazing! I can already see that today for my weight and height I have gone over the recommended sodium! I figured that was happening Wow. I'm so excited about this - they make it so easy to use - I have never seen WHAT I am consuming presented so clearly before me!!
Yayyy, Happy Dance - one more awesome resource to help me on my weight loss journey! I am seriously so excited about LiveStrong's "My Plate" !! THANKS!
Last edited by steinanwine; 09-28-2011 at 11:27 PM.
I learned about Livestrong a few months ago. I was watching a vlog on Youtube done by a man in the UK who was dieting. He lost over 100 pounds and he showed a screenshot of his food journal in his vlog one time and I asked him what food journal that was. He told me Livestrong.
I also love that you can type in brand names and measurements of foods in different amounts. I also love that I can track my water and my sodium and sugars. I will never go back to Fitday and I wish I had of known about Livestrong back in 1999 when I first started dieting. Then maybe I could have looked back in my food journals and wonder where and why I faltered and fell off the wagon after 10 months of being so good.....but I ramble.
A table in Word. I keep it really simple. I don't track so much as plan for the day. I even erase what I ate after the day is done to make room for tomorrow.
I like mine offline because when the internet goes down, I still have it.
To get calorie counts, I just Google it. Like, "calories in mango, peeled." Works like a charm. Or I go to USDA nutritional sites.
Last edited by LiannaKole; 09-28-2011 at 11:46 PM.
I cannot say enough about myfittnesspal. It has been the BEST FOR me. I cook a lot of stuff from scratch so I don't have nice little labels with information laid out for me. MFP has a food database that members contribute and verify. I was shocked to find they had nutritional content on flour I bought in a little shop in Truckee, CA. This site saves me SO much time by having almost every ingredient I've used already in their database.
I use myfitnesspal.com, too. Like you, I buy a lot of aldi stuff and do scratch cooking, so I love that it has the more obscure brands. In fact, there has never been anything I've eaten that I haven't been able to find-- the specific brand, even.
I use the recipe function for stuff I make more often, so it saves time. If I had an iphone, I would be downloading the app. My friend says it's even easier using the app.
I would imagine both websites are similar. I used to use sparkpeople, and that worked well, too. I haven't tried livestrong. I also like journaling online. My particular diet is not a calorie counting one, but I like to see the breakdown nutrient-wise of what I'm eating nonetheless, and once I shift into maintenance and add some foods back in (I'm doing a low-carb variation), I will be calorie counting, so it's probably good to get in the habit anyhow.
I use Fitday when I track (on my current plan, I just have to eat foods from a list of specific foods and don't need to track). I've used Fitday on and off for so many years that it's got just about all the foods I eat now set up, including most of the homemade food I cook regularly so it would be a big pain to have to convert to another system. And when I started using it all those years ago, it was pretty much the only game in town! lol!
Where Do You Food Journal?
