poachedsalmon
Cathlete
My food journal is in an Excel spreadsheet. I track calories and sodium intake (heart disease runs in my family, so I have a certain sodium target) and it's easy to add everything up.
Avoiding too much lower body work in order to shrink legs?
- Thread starter Candiceena
- Start date
I've tried journaling my food in the past and it really never worked for me. It was good at first to put me in the mindset to be conscientious of what I put in my mouth, but I got too caught up in every little nutrient and if I didnt know what the counts were exactly I felt frustrated, it simply just stressed me out. I am doing Weight Watchers now which I actually find very easy to count points and it helps keep my portion sizes in check with an end point value for the day not to go over. It's no magic bullet since to stay in my point range I really have to eat alot of veggies, fruits and lean proteins or I'll go over, things I know already but the points keep my portion sizes and splurges in check with little fuss.
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Candiceena
Cathlete
Hi Stacy,
I have tried journaling in the past w/ My Fitness Pal and also The Daily Plate before it became Livestrong. I had very little success. I think it was because I was so focused, like you, on getting all the calorie and nutrient ratios and amounts down perfectly that I got frustrated.
At the suggestion of some others on this thread, I decided to take it up again. Originally I thought if there was an easy way of blogging it, it would be nice, but then I realized that in the past, using technology to track food intake had failed me. I decided to use a notebook.
I am happy to say that I have tracked for over three whole days, straight, which is something I have never accomplished before (pathetic, I know). Hand writing everything seems to be working great for me. Also, I am not tracking any nutrients or calories right now. I'm considering, in a couple of weeks, of creating some sort of system of
/ :| / faces and then shooting for a goal of like, 80% (smiley) faces... I mean, I know if something is (good) :| (ok/not great but not awful) and (bad, like sweets, refined carbs, etc).
I definitely like the idea of WW and have toyed around w/ using their system, but IDK if it is right for me. I feel like counting the points would be similar to counting the calories, as in, I would feel frustration over contradictory information (if something said Food A was 3 points but something else said it was 2 points and something else said it was 4 points, which point should I pick)? But kudos to you for finding something that works great Do you actually subscribe to the service? OR do you follow it for free using the different calculators and stuff on blogs online?
I have tried journaling in the past w/ My Fitness Pal and also The Daily Plate before it became Livestrong. I had very little success. I think it was because I was so focused, like you, on getting all the calorie and nutrient ratios and amounts down perfectly that I got frustrated.
At the suggestion of some others on this thread, I decided to take it up again. Originally I thought if there was an easy way of blogging it, it would be nice, but then I realized that in the past, using technology to track food intake had failed me. I decided to use a notebook.
I am happy to say that I have tracked for over three whole days, straight, which is something I have never accomplished before (pathetic, I know). Hand writing everything seems to be working great for me. Also, I am not tracking any nutrients or calories right now. I'm considering, in a couple of weeks, of creating some sort of system of
/ :| / faces and then shooting for a goal of like, 80% (smiley) faces... I mean, I know if something is (good) :| (ok/not great but not awful) and (bad, like sweets, refined carbs, etc). I definitely like the idea of WW and have toyed around w/ using their system, but IDK if it is right for me. I feel like counting the points would be similar to counting the calories, as in, I would feel frustration over contradictory information (if something said Food A was 3 points but something else said it was 2 points and something else said it was 4 points, which point should I pick)? But kudos to you for finding something that works great
Do you actually subscribe to the service? OR do you follow it for free using the different calculators and stuff on blogs online?Actually there are no discrepancies/contradictions in points. I follow the PointsPlus system. I joined 2 years ago when they had a 3 month free trial and I quit my subscription after the 3 months. During that 3 months I did use their online trackers, bought the PointsPlus calculator and the Restaurant eating guide that has point values. I came to determine after the 3 months, that I didnt need the online tracker. All I really needed was the calculator and the books, and honestly you can just get by with the calculator as long as what you're eating has a nutrition label or one you can find online. There is a website (non-WW site) where you can plug in your stats and get your Daily Points for the PointsPlus system. Regardless of the nubmer of Daily Points, everyone gets 49 "splurge" points (aka Weekly Points) for the week to use anyway you want,but they dont carry over into the next week. I usually eat within my points during the week and use my splurge points for 1-2 weekend meals. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.