I tried calorie counting through several different websites but never stuck with it until I found LoseIt on my iphone. It is always with me so it is very easy to add things as I eat them.
The iphone / blackberry options sounds great for a lot of people. Since I have ready access to a computer at work and home I really believe that just finding the right tool for a computer will be the best for me.
I'm very much a technology person so an old fashioned journal isn't a good solution for me. I also like the additionally functionality software provides including tracking nutritional information and reporting.
I liked the My Diet application on Facebook because you could add multiple items at once from the most eaten or mostly recently eaten items. But I couldn't find any functionality to "tag" an item. One thing I find frustrating is if I have added something into a tool I want easy access to it again even if I ate it a week ago. I'm also getting bad lag with Facebook Aps.
About.com Calorie Counter has allowed me to tag items for future use which I love, but I'm missing the ability to add multiple items at once. As well I can't edit an item once I've added it. (I absolutely hate that.) Some of the serving sizes aren't very adaptable as well depending on the item. (This doesn't happen often, but enough to annoy.) It also is really lagging through some screens for me.
I realize part of this is likely our internet connection. I'm moving soon so I'm hoping to that will improve at the new place!
So far my perfect program would have:
*Ability to add multiple items or whole meals quickly and easily
*Ability to save and organize food items
*Ability to really customize the quantity size of all items including batches of food
*A robust food database where I don't have to add many items myself
*Customized reporting of calories and nutrition
*Weight Log and Activity Log that interfaces with calorie information
*Ability to share information with a support group (My Diet had this)
*Tools to help calculate and track resting metabolic rate and calorie burn
*Easy access to screens with limited clicking
*Computer access from multiple locations (Work, Home, School)
Renwomin - a few of us mentioned sparkpeople - did you check it out?
You can easily copy meals to other other days. You can create food groupings, that allows you to add multiple foods as once - you do have to create the food ground though. You can add foods to favourites, you can even edit the nutritional information of food already in their database. When you search the food database you are also searching food entered by other members, so there is a very good chance your the food you are eating is on the site already. You can also enter in recipes and save them and then enter the serving into your day. There is a report you can run that is a break down of your day with all your nutritional information, you can set your own nutritional goals and other goals, and have a blog and journal and make your food log public. Your calories adjust depending on how much you say you are going to exercise - so if you enter 5 days a week for 30 min and then your calorie amount changes. If your burn more calories then they think you should it suggest you change your goals because you are not eating enough. The site is full of tools are articles and I use it from different locations all the time - PLUS it has blackberry, iphone and android apps - as well as a mobile site. The clicking of adding food is WAY less then that of calorie count. There is a whole community on sparkpeople with forums and groups and challenges you can join.
I think that pretty much answers everything you asked about. I have tried and have accounts on almost everysite - and I am pretty sure sparkpeople is your best bet.
I made myself a log sheet to track meals, snacks and exercise and keep them in a three ring binder. If I am away from home I jot it down on an index card and put it on the sheet when I get home. After a while I just had a list of foods/calories in my head. Works for me!
I use calorie points (not to be confused with Weight Watchers points), which I learned about on this website. I ordered the small booklet titled Calorie Points for Weight Loss from a dietician's organization back east.
It's a simple conversion of calories into points and makes calorie counting quicker and fun (well, to me anyway).
Sotypical, thank you for confirming that SparkPeople had everything I needed. It does! I started using it yesterday and haven't looked back. This is so much faster than the others I've used.
Sotypical, thank you for confirming that SparkPeople had everything I needed. It does! I started using it yesterday and haven't looked back. This is so much faster than the others I've used.
I use sparkpeople.com and you put in everything from breakfast to snacks. You can pick from the food already there, or you can pick from food other ppl have added or you can add your own with the nutritional values and save it as a favorite to use again.....I really like it......it totals everything up for me from cals, carbs, protein, fiber etc.......and it is free of charge....best part lol....
"I use a small notepad, a pen, and a calculator/algebra."
So do I, quick, cheap, and I can do it anywhere. All I care about tracking is the calories, I mean make good choices most of the time but since I've been doing this for years I know what good choices for me are. All those online things take a lot of time to me.
I use Food Focus, which is a bit like Spark People - I tried Spark People after already starting with Food Focus and found it didn't really do anything I needed to above what I had already, so stuck with FF.
