Has Anyone Tried This???????
 

So starting yesterday, in the am I decided to go into fitday (I haven't counted calories in a long time, and never done it consistently enough to know calories of things off my head) and put in the food I planned to eat for the entire day. I tried to include the healthy clean foods I want to be eating, and stuff I had on hand so I knew I could definately eat it that day. Well I pretty well stuck right to it! DH did bring home a cookie from work, we split it in half, I took three bites and threw the rest of my half away, and I recorded it. Made a few other changes at the end of the day to account for differences from the planned menu. But for the most part I stuck right to it, and had a great calorie count. I did the same this morning, and am quite excited for this new idea. Wondering if any others have pre-planned their meals, and whether it was a success of not? It is alot of time to take up in the am, and on busier days than the last few I wonder how well I can do this. My hope is maybe I get a few weeks in, and then I'll be able to figure out a daily plan without spending so much time logging things all in the morning. Would LOVE feedback about this kind of thing.

I plan all my meals minus dinner out in advanced (unless its my night to cook at home).. but typically my husband doesn't like what I cook, so I don't cook. (go figure).

I plan at least breakfast, snacks, and lunches out though and always allow myself enough wiggle room to consume whatever concoction my dear sweet husband has decided to put on my plate that night.

I still do it every morning. It's simple because I eat the same foods almost all the time, so everything is right there in my Recent Foods list. It takes about three minutes and my day is done. And it's easy to go back and adjust for changes that come up. For me, it's essential to have the framework for the day so I can be sure that all the food I planned is prepped and ready. :)

I plan all my meals out too except dinner which I just generally have an idea of. It is easy to go over your calories, points, etc if you don't plan ahead.

Thanks for comments! I do think that perhaps planning breakfast and lunch will be more doable everyday long term. It did surprise me how quickly I go to my calorie goal. And it was eye opening to have to adjust food I had already eneterd to ensure I was on plan.
nelie- "you can't out exercise poor eating habits" - I love that! It's like the story of my life. I used to do the whole "well I can have another piece of pzza, I'll just run and extra two miles tomorrow" You know how often that happened?

That is a nice strategy. :)

I plan all meals and snacks ahead of time. Takes my less than 5 minutes, I am not rigid about it and make alterations when needed , just remembering to stay with the same amount of calories.

I plan my food a few days in advance, including dinner. My boyfriend and I cook at home mostly so I usually know what we are planning for the next upcoming days. It makes it so much easier to stick to things! When I don't count it seems like I go either way over or eat way too little(out of fear! ha).

I also plan out everything until dinner. Use Lose It app on my ipod touch.

The day of or day before I go to the grocery store I plan out my dinners for the week. My lunches are usually left over dinner so that essentially is planned too. I have the same handful of breakfasts everyday so there isn't much thinking there either. So the morning of I plan my entire day out based off my dinner and lunch. So if my dinner and/or lunch are higher in cals one day then I have a lower cal breakfast and snacks. If they are lower cal then I have a higher cal breakfast and snacks. This has helped me tremendously, but I'm an obsessive planner and control freak so it's really kinda thereaputic. I plan on doing this for the rest of my life and it has become just the way I do things. I love it!

I need to have all you ladies talent at doing this so quickly! I do think it makes sense to do it in some fashion forever. I wont want to log in and count it all forever, but then again if I get it down to five mins then I'll be good for that too! You have inspired me to stick with it. "Failing to plan is planning to fail" I remind myself of this all the time :)

Yep, me too, plan all my meals and eat similar things each day so I don't have to think too much about it. I also find it fun to come up with new, low cal dinner ideas and love to cook :)

Hello...in the past I had my most success when I would plan out my week of meals. I was in Weight Watchers at the time and I used the selections plan (old school now) but I still remember how excited I was for my special Friday meal of a hamburger, coke and baked fries. I haven't heard of fitday so not sure what it is but seems to be a calorie tracker of some sort. I should look into it. :)

I'm just starting but I've found this got easy FAST. Like some other people have said, you eat similar things so you learn the calories by heart and it makes it a lot easier to plan. This works especially well for me on weekdays when everything is more structured.

Now I just need to work something out for the weekends...

P.S. - I debated posting about this, because it is another weight loss community site, but decided it might be helpful because it does serve a different function. It's called PEERtrainer and it is a community where you can keep a daily food log. Essentially you form a group and they keep an eye on your log and you on theirs (ideally --you do need to fish around for a good group of people that will stick to this with you). I find it gives me the extra incentive to eat the right things, and to keep up the log - it's cyclical.

The only unfortunate thing is that you need to use a separate site to look up the calories of your foods, it's not built in like some other sites. It's not specifically about calories there, so I guess that's probably why (not everyone who logs calorie counts). I'm mostly there for the support and community (Ive searched long and hard and found a great group to work with) so I don't mind too much. I recommend it highly if you're interested in planning and logging your food and exercise. :)

Add me in, I almost always pre-plan my day the day before. If I don't pre-plan I find it so easy to go off track because I am not sure how many calories I am going to be at, so maybe I have room for this or that - but with pre-planning I how what I am eating and how much and if I have room for a treat. Sometimes I do adjust as the day goes on, but I stay pretty close to on track.

I find planning the day before on a full stomach even easier and faster to do, I just go okay I am going to eat this and this and that. Done. No thinking about, hmmm what do I feel like today.

Weekends are the hardest for me (like most of us) - so I like to take some time on Thursdays to go through recipes and pick out dinners for the whole weekend. Then Thursday night I stop and buy what I need. This makes it easy to stay away from eating out. I do try and plan fun "weekend" foods. This weekend for example, pull pork burritos with corn salsa, peanut turkey burgers and beef stroganof (if there isn't too much left overs!)

At the start of every day, I log into sparkpeople.com and plug in my foods for the day. It really does seem to help me stay on track.

I plan too, but in a shorthand fashion. I never had the time or patience to stick with fitday, so I decide ahead of time when and where I'll eat. And I have a general guideline in my head of what I can eat. I guess I'm a portion control gal & I mostly eat veggies and protein. Pretty much I eat the same thing and the same amount every day so I don't worry about calorie counting.

Even though my strategy sounds loose, the plan is strict enough for me and I feel secure when I follow it. A lot of is ingrained in my brain so I don't have to think about it any more.

I love planning in my head every day!

I also use FitDay and pre-plan my days. I adjust my calories up or down depending on my activities for that day, but for the most part the core of my diet is always the same (veggies, fruit, and lean protein). It's a pretty invaluable tool.

I'm surprised so many people pre-plan... My food choices and quantities vary based on how I am feeling, but I have never had much issue logging throughout the day and sticking to my calorie budget.

My situation is unusually stable, however, being at home everyday with small children. We have the same lunches every week and the same breakfast selections, and I make a dinner menu every two weeks. Nothing too adventurous or different that would throw me off, and the occasional meal out is easy enough to log.

In my experience it isn't the preplanning that makes the bigger difference (except in buying groceries and having enough time to cook and clean up each meal) but rather the logging, itself, whenever it is done, that makes ALL the difference in the world in how I lose weight and how conscientious I am of what gows in my mouth.

If I had vision problems I wouldn't assume I could just go without glasses and be okay, the underlying problem is still there without surgical correction. For me, my eating is the same. I have a problem with overeating if I do not have written accountability. In lieu of surgical correction I can't just stop my food logging and expect to be okay - it takes constant, daily vigilence to stay healthy and manage my weight and that is not something I am willing to gamble with.

However we do it, I am just SO thrilled to have so many fellow food logging calorie counters here. The real world tends to think I'm a bit nuts ;)

For the most part I plan everything the night before, and pack my lunches/dinners as well. Because I live on campus at my school I have a hard time trusting their food and nutrition values, I only use my meal plan for stuff like salad and soy milk. Things can always change, but I like having a general plan. That way I don't have to stress out while I'm eating, trying to make sure I'm getting in all of my nutrients and enough protein and what have you.

When I'm home, I plan ahead as well, but there is always some stuff left up in the air. It all depends on who is cooking. I think it comes down to preference in the end. If you like to plan things, and can stick to a plan, then plan ahead. If not, then don't try to force yourself to, it won't work out and will just make calorie counting much more difficult and unpleasant than it has to be.

Sure! If I have to pack my lunch and get something out of the freezer for supper ... I'm already planning. And Meg is right that after a little while fitday becomes much more easy to use. You'll become quick too!

I do and I must say keeping track of what I am eating has given me confidence in knowing this time I will keep working on maintenance.

pre-planning my entire day on Fitday is how I've lost 180 pounds. Planning, sticking to it and then planning for the NEXT day is how I lose weight.