[vickylee]

I have a pocket pc and would like a program that I can load on that and my computer to keep track of calories. So I thought I would ask here to see what other people are using.

[Goodbye Chubby]

I don't have any specific diet/calorie counting programs, but I just made the basic computer programs I have fit my needs.

I just use Microsoft Excel. I made a chart with a column for each day. In that column, I have spaces where I can list what foods I ate at breakfast, lunch, and dinner times, plus another spot for snacks and beverages throughout the day. At the bottom, I total up the number of calories in my food. I also list the calories I burned at the gym to compare with what I took in.

I also have a Word document where I list my daily (Mon-Fri) weigh-ins and my body mass index. I can look at the trends in my weight fluctuations and compare it to my Excel sheet and see how the quantity and quality of my food have affected my weight.

Granted, I have to do my own math, but that helps me to keep the numbers in my memory. I look up calories online (I think this site has a list of foods and their calories also) and try to monitor my serving sizes.

A pocket PC sounds like it would be pretty useful especially when eating out at a restaurant. I keep a little notebook in my purse that I use to record my calories (the old fashioned way-with a pen) while I'm out. Then I enter them into my computer later.

[EverHopeful]

I loooovvvee FitDay. It is free online at fitday.com, or if you prefer, you can purchase their pc version for just under $20 ... it is wonderful!!

[DeafinlySmart]

I use fitday as well but there are many free online ones. Two I've heard about are calorie king and sparks people.

[mkat321]

I belong to sparks but found the calorie stuff there a little lacking

Staples et. al and wal-mart carry a small PDA for $20 that has a calorie counter programed into it. It's my next 'reward'

[chick_in_the_hat]

I use the free version of Fitday....it ain't perfect...but it's free! I used an Excel spreadsheet previously...IMHO...Fitday is better.

I thought about getting the pay for it version of Fitday - but as I like to be able to log from home PC as well as work PC...the free version is better for that.

[DeafinlySmart]

what pda just for calorie counting? My tmobile sidekick has a program for $5 but it looks crappy.

[mkat321]

Here's the one I am getting:
Sharp OZ-290H Wizard Organizer
http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/st...P2050:CL142288

[DeafinlySmart]

I wonder how good the database on that thing is. I like calorie kings database but I like Fitdays nutrition (vitamin and mineral) report. I like knowing if I'm missing calcium, etc.

[3Beans]

I use Calorie King for Palm OS. I believe they also have a Pocket PC version. I absolutely love it. I've lost 20 pounds so far and I honestly don't think I could have done it with paper and pencil. The database is pretty vast and it's also easy to add your own stuff.

My one caution is to take the daily calories Calorie King recommends based on your personal profile with a BIG grain of salt. I thought the suggested target was way too low for me. But the newer version allows you to edit that yourself.

The key point about palm pilot calorie counters of any kind is that you're ALWAYS accountable. With that in your bag, pocket, whatever, there's no good reason not to log all your eating whether you're home or away.

Good luck!

[KimberlyinMN]

Here's a link to a list of various programs for the Pocket PC handheld:

http://pocketpccentral.net/software/diet.htm

I think the Calorie King verson for the Pocket PC is just the food database, not a program for actually tracking your intake.

Kimberly

[3Beans]

I'm not sure about the Pocket PC version, but the Palm version is a food diary and a database. It also charts progress using various measures.

[Diddles62]

Spark people is what I use to calculate my calories, its free and helps me to stay motivated. Also I have a Calorie counting book.

[KimberlyinMN]

I just switched (yesterday) from BalanceLog to CalorieKing on my computer and PDA. The Healthetech company that had BalanceLog went under a few months ago. I didn't HAVE to switch since the software still worked, however I like the fact that CalorieKing has at least monthly updates to their food database for both the computer and PDA. As far as tracking nutrients, you can track your nutriets as well. Click on Reports and then click the Nutrients button. (Energy Intake, Energy Burned, Energy Net, Fat, Saturated Fat, Cholesterol, Sodium, Protein, Carbohydrates, Fiber, Sugar and Calcium.)

What I like about this program is that is it is very easy to use and syncs nicely with my PDA. The only thing it seems to be missing is that my custom foods and exercises don't sync. Supposedly that's something they are looking at fixing. They sync as far as listing the item in the appropriate diary, but they aren't added to the custom database - so I can't complain too much. If I wanted to purchase an online membership, I could upload my food diaries to share or download menu plans (I don't think I can log food online and download it to the PC, but I could be wrong). Also what I like is that for my PDA, I can have the food database loaded on the memory card to save room. Now THAT is nice. They also have two food databases to choose from for the PDA one is fairly small and the other is 3.5 MB or something like that.

They've really improved the CalorieKing software from when I first demo'd it a few years ago. The PDA version is on sale at palm gear dot com for five dollars off -- that ends today, August 31st. (That kind of helped me decide to lean towards this program.) I downloaded the PC version from the main CalorieKing dot com website and tried it out yesterday and then decided to just buy it for $45. The online membership is another $45 so I don't know if I want to do that. Probably not as I don't NEED to share my food diary online that way... I could just print a report to a PDF file and attach it if anyone wanted to see my diary.

I think I've rambled.

Kimberly

[chick_in_the_hat]

Originally Posted by KimberlyinMN

I think I've rambled.

Not at all! Thanks for being our guinea pig!