Food Diary Issues!

[Sneaks]

Newbie here looking to do a food diary (I'm pretty positive I'm not getting enough protein). However, although I feel like this should be a decently simple task, I'm having issues with it...

Mostly, I'm awful at estimating portion sizes. (3oz of chicken? 2 cups of spinach leaves?) Is this something you eventually get better at?

Also, I'm having trouble finding an online food diary/calorie counter to help me - Steve recommends DailyBurn, but when I signed up I couldn't actually even find the calorie counter under the nutrition section! Any recommendations?

Thanks!

[Fryinbox]

Perhaps you could invest in a kitchen scale? Amazon.com seems to have some good quality food scales for around $20. This, of course, is assuming that you're doing your cooking at home instead of eating out. Restaurants are tough to determine the nutritional value on the spot, but I know that some restaurants have nutritional facts on their website.

Hopefully I've helped a little.

[Waldo]

Myfitnesspal.

Do you have a smartphone? Myfitnesspal has a great iphone app, there is a really good android one as well, I forget the name.

You do get better at estimating portion size. Some people use a scale at least with the tough stuff. Other things you can do....

Look at labels, let the math they did for you work for you. If something's serving size is 1/4 cup, there are 5 servings in a package and you are eating half the package, you are eating 5/8's of a cup.

Frozen chicken breasts are tough though since they tend to be so varied in size in a multipound pack. A good rule of thumb is:

3 oz = tiny

6 oz = normal size, smaller end

9 oz = normal size, bigger end

12 oz = giant

A quarter pound hamburger (1/4 lb = 4 oz) is a meat size that most people should be familiar with (smaller than your standard bar burger, which are closer to 6 oz usually). It is a good estimating placeholder. How many 1/4 lb hamburgers would this piece of meat make?

[morethanjustamom]

I like My Fitness Pal, and many of us are one there as friends, so we can cheer one another on.

[Hammlin]

I'm going to second the food scale idea- sooooo helpful. I use Sparkpeople to track my food. Good luck to you!

[Tiara]

I don't really keep a diary, but I plan out what I'm going to eat for the whole week, this makes it easier to do groceries and its less of a headache during the week to figure out what I'm going to eat.

On sunday's or whenever I have time, I sit down and plan out my meals for the week Monday-Saturday, from breakfast to mid-morning snack, then lunch, mid-afternoon snack and finally supper. I don't really worry or think about portion sizes, after grocery shopping I usually split up my meat into individual portions in freezer bags or tin foil to make it easier when I'm ready to cook it. Planning out my meals is a huge help for me to keep track of what I'm eating without becoming obsessive with calorie counting and worrying at every meal about whether or not I've gotten enough calories or protein.

Hope this helps!!

[Fryinbox]

I don't really keep a diary, but I plan out what I'm going to eat for the whole week, this makes it easier to do groceries and its less of a headache during the week to figure out what I'm going to eat.

On sunday's or whenever I have time, I sit down and plan out my meals for the week Monday-Saturday, from breakfast to mid-morning snack, then lunch, mid-afternoon snack and finally supper. I don't really worry or think about portion sizes, after grocery shopping I usually split up my meat into individual portions in freezer bags or tin foil to make it easier when I'm ready to cook it. Planning out my meals is a huge help for me to keep track of what I'm eating without becoming obsessive with calorie counting and worrying at every meal about whether or not I've gotten enough calories or protein.

Hope this helps!!

This as well. Once I get my own place this is my plan. Spend Sunday preparing meals for the rest of the week so you don't have to stress about counting calories.

[mark76]

if you are doing paleo, even at 90% and opting for lean meats and say a max of 1 tbls of oil per serving(dressing) and keeping nuts out (diet) you really shouldnt need to count anything..

except ponds coming of you:smug:

all the best

[scuddle]

For online tracking, I really like Sparkpeople. I like that when I cook my own food, I can put the recipe in there (or search users' recipes to see if they've made the same thing) and have all of the nutritional information available to me!

[So Late So Soon]

GET A FOOD SCALE! I can't tell you how much this helped me figure out portion sizes. Sometimes i would be eating what I thought was 4 ounces of something and it was actually 5 or 6. And i use loseit.com to track my food consumption, it is a really easy site to use and I think they have iphone apps that you can use if you have one.

[katscratch]

I like Calorie Counter by Fatsecret best. Online or app (or sync both) -- I use the barcode scanner all the time, and so far there hasn't been a food not in the database.

I've also seen recommendations for simple food scales for $5 at Walmart.

[LessJos]

I also am on MyFitnessPal. Kitchen scale is crucial!!!

I plan dinners for the following week on Friday, go shopping for it on the weekend and the work my calories around it. Usually enter a rough schedule of my day the previous evening and leave some room for "surprises". It needs some planning and discipline but it is totally worth it. You will get used to it quickly. And if you are anything like me, you will have a list of your favorite meals (which you can also set up on MFP to use over and over again) and it will be quick and easy.

[Hammlin]

All of you on myfitnesspal, make me feel like I should abandon spark...

[eco2pia]

I have been on spark for YEARS. the bells and whistles of others can't compare to the number of recipes carefully entered over the years and the drop down favorites menu that lets me just check the foods I eat daily.

[Sneaks]

My Fitness Pal has been working pretty well for me, but good to now a ton of people like Sparkpeople as well. And it looks like a food scale may be in my future... especially if I can find a cheap one at Target! Thanks again, all!

[Luthorcrow]

You will find a better one for less on Amazon. You can get one for right around $20 that will fit the bill. Make sure to get one that can do .1 of grams because that is more accurate than one that does just ounces. Once you have used one long enough you will be able to eye ball portions when you are at restaurants or do not have access to your scale.

The only downside to MFP is that there is a ton of inaccurate food data. Make sure to look at the details, fact check on a trusted site and then save your regular foods so you know which ones are correct. I try to correct the junk data I see but there is still a ton of it. The plus is you can always add a food that is not in the data base. Crowd sourcing has it's pain points like anything else.

[jswbach]

Yes, there are a bunch of us on My Fitness Pal. If you want to join us, the link to the thread where we list our usernames is here.