When do you track?
 

I've been having a hard time tracking consistently. I'm quite busy with ten hour days these days, but I have been trying to track at night to prepare for the next day. This worked last week, but when I work late, I'm too tired. I guess having unreliable shifts isn't helping me. I really need to make a conscious effort.

I was wondering when you track? Is it the night before to plan for your next day, or is it at the time you eat or just before/after? What has made tracking easier for you ?

I have gotten use to track my food and exercise when I eat or do the exercise. Otherwise I know I will forget later.

I plan some things ahead of time, but what has helped most for me was having my phone with me at all times. Then, I just use the WW app to track just before I bite into my meals/snacks.

I try to do it right after I eat, or I send myself an email with what I've eaten if I can't get online...my computer doesn't have the latest something or other so I can't do it at my office-don't have admin rights.

Or I keep a small notebook in my purse and I'll jot down what I've eaten and track it all in the evening.

During the week I do it at breakfast, since I know what I'll be eating. Since I usually eat the same thing during the week, sometimes I track days in advance.

On the weekend, when my meals are more unpredictable, I tend to track before I eat. I still plan a bit, like today I know what I'm having for dinner and I just had breakfast, so I can plan my lunch around whatever points are left for the day.

Tracking after I eat is too dangerous for me, especially on the weekends 'cause I'll end up eating something I think is okay but will end up blowing more points than I anticipated it to be.

Daily, either in the moment, or a little after.

I used to keep a chart on my work computer as a word document, basically adding in what I ate for breakfast, lunch and any snack. The next morning, I would add in the previous night's dinner. Of course, that was just tracking meals, and I would add what diabetes med I took with the meal, and I made a note of glucose readings also.

Even if you don't have access to the points information right away, writing down the food keeps you on top of it, and you can add the points in later, for instance, print it and take it home for the night.

Currently, I'm tracking online, and I do it a few times a day when I can. It isn't hard to remember at 3 o'clock what I ate at noon... :)

I don't have an app phone; if I did, I would definitely use that.

It isn't so much the tracking/writing, its calculating the points...so you know what you have left to use.

Make it a priority. You have pen/paper at least.

I don't know what the onliners get, but if you go to meetings you get a blue points tracker book so at least some of the information is right there.

I usually track when I eat. If not at home I use my phone app. At home, I track online. Before I eat, I will usually go and look at my tracker (if I don't remember it) so I know how many points I've eaten so far. I don't pre-track before I eat because it is easy to do that and then if I eat more than I planned not correct it.

I will go and look up a restaurant before I go there to get an idea of how many points various foods will cost.

I plan for the entire following day, then the following day, I modify what I tracked. I use a draft email on my blackberry when I'm out and about, then I make sure my actual tracking document has the correct info on it when I have a chance to get to it.

Thanks for the responses. It looks like I may need to get a BB or Iphone..lol.

It looks like we all have a way which works for us. I bought the three month tracker, so I shouldn't have anymore excuses. I think I'll need to make more of an effort to keep at it the night before (helps me plan too).

For all of you that said you track online..is that through myfitday or another site?

The Weight Watchers website/ eTools. There's a Food Planner online.

I track at throughout the day when I'm eating. I have an android phone so I use the WW's app. It makes it easier for me, since I'll know how many points I'll have left over.

Mon-Fri I track breakfast and lunch before I leave for work (and snacks throughout the day) that way when I get home from work I know what I have left for dinner and evening snacks and can plan accordingly. Sometimes I will track the night before if I have prepared my lunch the night before but those times seem few and far between. On the weekends I tend to just track as I eat something as its more accessible for me (tracking on my computer) I am following the Momentum plan and have an excel document that I started using. The first 6-8 months of WW I used the 3 month journal and was successful. After a hiatus from tracking and finding it hard to start again I started using an electronic version this time around and it has done the trick for me so far :)

I track as I eat- on my iPhone, my iPad, and my computer. I'm lucky to have so much technology available to me. I can't imagine how I'd manage this without it!

I don't have a system -- it's been interesting to read the good ideas above. I have an iPhone and an iPad, and usually track after dinner. I definitely track each day -- I often forget, at dinnertime, that I had a "small snack" midafternoon. I've found if I track early, then everything will change.