Okay, so I have a question that is probably asked a lot in this forum, but I HAD to ask again so please bare with me .

How do you track? A lot of people say that they use tracking tools online like Sparkpeople, the Daily Plate etc.. which is what I plan on doing too, but what do you do before you can get online? Do you keep a little pad a paper to jot stuff down? Do you have an official food diary that you carry everywhere with you? Or do you plan your food before you eat it? This is the kind of advice I've been looking for, I've tried little notepads, but I tend to lose them. I'm curious to how a lot of you do it! .

Hmm... I had another question, but I guess I'll just ask it at another time.

I enter the foods I am gonna have for the day at sparkpeople.com at the beginning of my day.

I use the Daily Plate...it's more user friendly to me than any other one I have found. I usually plan before I go anywhere that I know I won't have immediate access to nutritional facts. and then I just kind of keep track in my head until I can get to a computer to log what I ate. I have a pretty good memory, so I don't worry about writing it down! I tried pads too, but I kept losing them and I found it tedious.

Hmm.. I like the idea of adding what i'm going to eat before i eat it to hold myself accountable. and then just leave some space if i'm unsure where i'm going to be.

and i remember my question! What would you have done differently in the beginning, of your weight loss journey?

I use a BodyMedia Fit (formally gowearfit) similar to a Bodybugg. It has its own food loging program. When I am "on the road" I have an app on my phone called lose it or sometimes I just use the notes section if I can't find a food or need to look something up.

I am NOT good about planning out the day ahead. but I do track everyday!

Another vote for Dailyplate. I plug it in early and if I have to I can easily alter to fit.

As for what I would do different...? I'd start earlier.

Or never get heavy to begin with. Har har.

I'm not logging food right now, but when I was, I would open up an email in the morning at work and log what I ate throughout the day. I'd then email it to myself at home and then log it all into My Plate at livestrong.com.

Hi congratulations on your weight loss! I use different sources to track my calories...fitday, dailyplate, sparkpeople ect. I bought a pretty pink glittery small binder to keep up with my weight, daily diet, measurements and journal. I can't tell you how many times I look back at the weight loss section. I date the weigh ins. So during times it seems as if I have stalled real bad I can see a pattern that the weight loss will start back again. Some weeks I may lose 2lbs. some weeks 1 lb. some weeks 0. But I can see that it is continuing to go down.
As for your question about what I would do different...Just realize how special and awesome it is to lose a pound. I have a 16 oz. bottle of lotion I keep on my computer desk to remind me that even one pound is huge! I will reach my goal one pound at a time!

I use notepad on my computer and keep a running tally of my what I've eaten and I also use notepad to keep a running record of my daily totals. I don't know why but it's just easiest for me. I try to plan my meals out and will also keep a total on the calculator on my phone if I am out and about. If I am away from home and don't know the calorie counts for something I will write it all down and google the calories when I get home to see what different sites say for a calories count and then use the average of those sites. I know this way isn't for everyone but it works for me.

I have in the past used a little 59 cent notebook from the grocery store. (You know the kind that fits in your pocket.) The important thing is to track what you've eaten and keep the calorie count so you know how many calories you can eat and lose weight.

Hello Beautiful Days!

I like livestrong.com/myplate and also caloriecount.com. On an ideal day, I plan my food in advance and enter it in advance. This is the best way for me to stay on plan. If I don't plan my food in advance, I tend to wander around my kitchen thinking, what should I eat? what should I eat? That's never good! Planning snacks is particularly important for me.

Can't think of anything I wish I'd done differently...

I use fatsecret.com and the integrated calorie counter app on my droid! It makes it super easy because I always have my phone with me.

I track as I eat. I like the flexibility. I preplan much of my day mentally but I'm not bound to it.

On the weekend, I plan all my meals for the upcoming week using sparkpeople.com. Doing this, I know what to buy at the market, I know what foods to get out of the freezer at night to defrost for the next day, and it helps to prevent those "I'm starving what should I eat bad choice" moments. It also helps me to keep the mindset that Food Is Fuel. Food X may sound delicious, but I know that what my body really needs at that moment is what is on my plan.

I urge you to plan out your foods ahead of time. In advance. Know where each and every bite, lick, taste, crumb and sip is coming from ahead of time. Much easier to stay on plan when you've got one. Than you don't have to start thinking should I eat this or should I eat that. No. You should eat the healthy, tasty, foods that you decided in advance. Have it all prepared and good to go.

Another rule - don't put it in your mouth till it's written down. don't put it in your mouth till it's written down. Don't put it in your mouth till it's written down first - not after the fact, but first.

Set yourself up for success!! Plan, plan and than plan some more. Prepare, prepare, prepare. Write, write, write.

As for your question - I'm pretty pleased with the path that my journey has taken, right from the get go. The definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result - so this time I did things differently - and got different results. The results I was looking for. You can't expect extraordinary results without taking extraordinary measures.

The only thing that I think I would have changed, and it's not at all about my food choices and what not - I would have taken my measurements. I am darn curious to know how many yards of me I lost. I didn't take them till half way through.

do you have an iphone? try lose it, it's a tracking app that doesn't require you to be on the internet. I think it's a great idea to plan your food intake in advance, but give yourself some wiggle room: life will get in the way and it's best to come at it with an open mind versus freak out because you are not following the 'plan.'

One thing I'd do differently is that I'd learn how much a serving of each food is and I'd spend a couple of days trying to figure out how many calories are in each thing. That helps me plan more easily and I can scrap my plan and change it and still stay within my limit. It's what I do know.

An other thing is that I would take it slower. I wouldn't try to change the way I ate so drastically and feel like a failure when I couldn't eat things that I avoided like the plague until that day.