Hi everyone,

I'd be interested if you have tried out any diet software programs?
Since I don't want to spend much money before I know the program is worth it, I've been testing some freeware programs.
A week ago I started using Diet Buddy which I really like. It is free and offers a 16 week diet and fitness plan. I am not really an expert on that topic, so I don't know if that plan is worth following. But it looks good to me. What do you think, should I stick with that program?
And if not, which other software programs out there are worth trying?

What are you looking for in a diet software program?

There some great websites that track your calories, weight, various intakes like sodium, carbs, fat, protein, fiber, etc.

I use CalorieKing (a one-time $40 purchase) to track my calories/fiber/sodium/all my vitals, basically, and the calories I burn through exercise. It's not really much different than the services offered by SparkPeople and TheDailyPlate, but for some reason I like it better (partially because I don't have to be online to use it, but also because it works very quickly and I like to be able to look through it at any time.) I really love the program and would have a hard time dieting without it -- there's a 7-day free trial, if you want to look at it.

If you have a palm , Calorie king has a program for that also.

I bought one of those Your Weight Coach Nintendo things. I was programming it and the little stick figure was so cute until I provided my weight. The dang thing's little stomach poofed out! I swear. Butthead. LOL

I have tried a few different software and online tracking things, and CalorieKing software works by far the best for me. However, the best choice for you would depend on what you are looking for. Here is what I like about CalorieKing software:
* The software is much faster and easier to use than the on-line version
* It has the best and most extensive food database (most national brand items and restaurant foods). It also has several different options for measuring. (i.e. it's easy to say I ate a package of something as opposed to a "serving")
* The food database gets updated regularly and the updates are free once you've purchased the software ($40, I think).
* As with most programs, you can add your own foods and exercises.
* It's quick and simple to use. It also has a clean look, which I like.
* You can (if you're into this) export all your data to a .csv file and do whatever you want with it. Like do stuff in excel or whatever.

I've also used fitday software, and the main thing I don't like about it is that the food database isn't as extensive as CalorieKing's. So if I use it, I have to enter a lot more custom foods. Also, it's not quite as quick and easy to use as CalorieKing. However, the fitday software does have a lot more reports and things you can run.

I also used dietpower software, and the food database isn't that great and it's not as user-friendly. The neat feature is that it used your calories and your weight information to (over time) estimate your metabolism and it would automatically adjust your calorie targets so that you would reach your goal weight at your goal date. This is a very nifty feature, I think. However, I did the same calculations myself with an excel spreadsheet.

Hope that helps.

hey thanks for the good info!

i started with just counting total number of calories in excel. then i added a tab for protein. and then fiber. then it got confusing. i didnt have a "database" so i had to remember stuff for each food or look it up everytime.

that's when the bodybugg came along. so after my database was build up..it was very easy to use and it showed everything including carbs, fat, fiber, sodium etc. my subscription ran out yesterday so i am trying to decide if i should renew to use it.

i tried fitday but one thing annoys me. when i enter in a custom food i get the option of picking the unit of measure..like serving, gram etc.

so say i picked serving and entered data as 1 serving = 200 amount of calories. assuming i was talking about peanut butter, that would be 32g.

i go into enter it as a food in my log and i can't pick grams! i can only use serving. well what if i didnt do a full serving and only ate 24 grams. now i gotta go divide 24/32 and put in 0.75 servings.

in the bodybugg software i can switch between servings vs. unit of measure easily.