I use MFP (and also record points at WW). I do use it to help me plan what I'll eat for the day. Sometimes, I pre-track to see how the day would turn out if I ate X. I also like the historic information so always track after eating.
I've been reading GoKaleo (I've followed her on Facebook for a while) and she does recommend a food journal so I'm going to start one. I use things like myfitnesspal off and on but I think just writing down, without calories, will help me.
I also use MFP. It keeps me accountable and eating at home. When I eat out which isn't often anymore, I feel guilty that I don't know how much I ate (and in turn probably overate my calories and macros).
I write down what I eat on a pad of paper and update MFP twice a day or so. MFP or a food journal keeps me accountable. When I went camping about 2 weeks ago I thought I didn't eat as much but when I came back home and logged in what I ate, I was shocked at how much I ate. So I guess I'm not there yet where I can gauge how much I ate without having to journal. Until then (who knows if it'll ever be) I will use MFP.
Oh and I also use MFP to moderate my carb intake. I don't like eating too much carbs because it makes me feel heavy and gross which in turn doesn't make me want to exercise that day. So I like food journaling for that reason as well.
I use MFP but I am not terribly strict about different brands. I use it more to give me a general idea of how many calories I am eating and how much I burn through exercise.
I find that, for me personally, it forces me to really think about whether I am hungry or just bored or depressed. Like, if I see that I have already consumed roughly 1500 cals and have done just a little exercise, I am more likely to grab a flavored seltzer than a handful of nuts for a snack.
MFP. It knows the calories of everything I've put in so far.
I don't plan meals. I eat when I must and what I want varies, so I can't plan. No way For me to know if I'll want soup or spaghetti or turkey tomorrow.
After trying a few different methods, including tracking online, I ended up settling on mainly using pen and paper to keep a food journal. It's a smallish notebook I can throw in my purse if necessary.
In an additional notebook of the same size, a placed some adhesive post-it tabs denoting different categories of foods. Tucked away in those sections I write down the serving sizes, calories, protein, carb, and fat content of the foods I eat regularly as I come across the info.
It seems to work best for me to take breaks from using the journal every now and then, but I find it helpful.
I also use MFP. I can access it from home or work or on my Kindle.
I don't log every day. When I stick with certain of my common meals, I've already got a pretty good idea of how many calories and carbs they have. It's when I'm eating out, or I eat more than I expect, or my husband cooks for dinner and it isn't an actual "on-plan" meal, that I really use the journal.
I'm another MFP user. I like it because I can find pretty much everything I eat and if it doesn't I can use the bar code detector and it just puts the calories in. I also like that I can track my exercise on it too. I have put my calories in the morning of, especially if I know I will be eating out that week. It helps me with portion control. On days I forget to track I notice I eat a lot more.
