If you keep a food/workout log...

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  • are you "old school paper/pen" or "high tech gadget"?

    Years ago when I first tried losing weight, I was old school paper and pen. Made up my own log sheets as a Word doc, printed them, and kept them in a 3 ring binder. I'd fill in with a pen every day.

    I am fairly techy (but not SUPER techy), so recently I switched to tech logs. I used an app on my phone (with a bar code scanner, so cool) for logging food and another app for tracking workouts. I liked them because they were convenient, plus the food log automatically tracked calories and stuff (no more math for me!).

    BUT I think it's time for me to go back to the old school way. My phone doesn't give me the ability to have it all in a page-in-a-glance format, which I really miss. Also, for some reason, it's easier for me to slack on tracking ("I'll just skip tracking today" type of mentality), whereas on paper I feel more accountable for some reason. Not sure why. (Though as a writer/editor by profession, I still feel more comfortable doing edits on hard copy. Maybe I am just an old school kind of girl.)

    How about you? Paper or electronic log?
  • I log all food and exercise in a journal- been at it for 23 weeks.
  • I do both. I found the food/exercise tracker on my phone MyFitnessPal which links up with my computer so if I want to see past days I can look back and it's also printable. In my gym, I keep an exercise notebook. I track day, weight and what I've done. I also give a summary of why I missed a day or week previous and how I feel at that moment. That way on tough days I can go back and see how I was feeling.
  • I am very old school--blank journal and pen. I write down everything I eat, any exercise for the day at the top, and weight at the top along with anything I should know looking back (ie lots of salt the day before, tired, TOM, etc.)
  • I use myfitnesspal and I made a plain old excel spread sheet to record my exercise in daily.
  • I do a food log on FitDay, but I keep my daily recorded weight in a small calender book at home so I can just see at a glance how my weight is fluctuating on a daily basis. (I don't always like to run-go-hop on the computer to see that.)
  • When I log (which I need to be better at) I use the computer ot my ipod. I am not very good at logging maybe I will give paper a try,
  • For years I was a pen & paper gal. It still always will be easy and convenient. I had shorthand for lots of things, and kept it by my side.

    Since I have a phone that now supports the WW App I simply use that, as well as the website when I'm at my computer.

    They both have their advantages and disadvantages, but currently since I always have my phone with me it's the most convenient.
  • I used to be pen-and-paper. I'd find a pretty journal and fill it up with pages of food entries and Points counts when I did WW.

    Nowadays, it's easier for me to use the computer. I have a copy of FitDay PC since I get irritated at the fitday website. I love all the little tools it includes, like projected weights and graphs and trend lines for nutrients...... It's nifty!
  • I do it on a computer, and if I'm not on my computer, I email it to myself via blackberry. On weekends, for example, I track on my blackberry with a draft email, then send it to myself to input on my computer Monday morning.
  • I'm at a computer all day, so I use spark people. I actually started using it because I was downloading random apps on my iPad and I liked that one the best, which is strange because I like the website probably the least next to the other options. I never got used to using any of them on my phone for some reason, and during that time I used a paper log- but I had to look up so many things anyway that I figured I could just use a computer based one.

    I do keep an excel sheet of weekly weight, though.
  • I do everything in Excel. That's how I started before I knew there were online calorie tracker programs. I tried to switch over once to one of the online ones, but it's really habit at this point to do everything in Excel and I'm most comfortable doing it there, and so I've just continued that way.
  • I log both ways. I have a journal I keep with me at all times in my purse and log whenever possible. I also have electronic logs. I am on weight watchers and I have an app on my phone and iPad. Call me a nerd but I like doing both!
  • I use good old Excel.
  • When I first started, I used pen and paper. I use the Daily Plate mostly now. I have tried phone apps, but that just does not seem to work for me so when I travel, I still carry pen and paper. I did like this Little Black Book.