Nutrient Tracker

[Gobias]

Hi All,

I know I am way behind the times on this, but I need some recommendations. I have never tracked my food. I have tried here and there, but since I do not eat pre-packaged items with nutrient listings, I had to look up every single ingredient and it got...tedious.

Keeping in mind I am NOT friendly with technology and technology truly hates me...I need some recommendations of nutrient trackers that are very easy to use. Mainly, I am hoping for the following:

*Lets me put in INGREDIENTS (again, I don't eat prepared items, therefore I really need something that allows me to put in individual ingredients).

*Lets me put in the AMOUNT of ingredients (I keep seeing trackers that have drop down menus of pre-set amounts - i.e. 100g of Chia seeds, 100g of apple, etc. I prefer it to let me input, say, 1 Tbl Chia or 1/4c coconut flour, 30g cashews).

*Lets me put an "OTHER" ingredient - meaning if it doesn't include my ingredient as a choice, I need somewhere to input the nutrients and put it under "other" (or similar) so it takes into account the ingredient. (My farmer's market has a lot of items that are considered unusual and I noticed a lot of the ingredients weren't in some apps I looked at.)

*Save a meal - if I create a meal from all of my ingredients, it would be nice if I can reference that meal again when I eat it at a later date.

*Save a meal, but let me tweak it - if I create a meal from all of my ingredients, it would be nice if I can reference that meal again AND let me tweak an ingredient or two when I eat it at a later date. (i.e. I use almond milk rather than coconut milk - different nutrients).

*The main nutrients I am interested in knowing are Fat, Protein, Sugar, Carbs, Fiber. Other nutrients ok, but those are the main.

*I don't need the program to produce a menu of what I already ate, as I will more than likely just input it all into a notebook after all nutrients are figured - yes, I really am old school - but if it keeps track for me, fine.

Thanks for any input. When I previously tried tracking, I had a notebook, a calculator and Google - and looked up every single ingredient, divided out the correct amounts and did the math myself. Just tedious and I stopped after a few meals.

 

[workout]

Hi Gobias, I use LoseIt.com and I can put in recipes by adding in the ingredients; you can choose which nutrients you want to keep track of; it saves all of your meals so you don't have to re-enter it; it also has a very extensive list of food - the food database is huge. It lists by brand, restaurant or even grocery store. It will calculate every nutrient you want even if it's your own personal recipe - as long as you have the measurements. I downloaded the app to my tablet but you can also sign-up online - It's Free or you can purchase the Premium but I first wanted to be sure that I liked it before purchasing the Premium, I personally didn't feel that the Premium has a huge difference, just a little extra. Honestly, I love it. Again, it is http://www.loseit.com/. Let me know what you think.

 

[gonnabea5]

Have you tried myfitnesspal.com?

 

[complik8td]

As @workout mentioned, I also use LoseIt!, and am very pleased. I've been using Dr. Mercola's Cron-o-Meter tracker for a longer period of time. I feel that both programs are excellent and will provide you with the info you're interested in tracking.

 

[poachedsalmon]

I use Cronometer. Works very well and is easy. It will do all of the things you listed.

 

[lifeisgood]

Myfitnesspal.com lets you enter in ingredients for your own recipes and will save them, I use that all the time as I cook from scratch a lot. I like to find recipes online to use/try and a lot of times you can just enter the webpage link in their food tracker and it will automatically put in the ingredients for you. Then you can go in and adjust/remove things if you change up the recipe to your own liking (which I do frequently because of food allergies).

Cindy

 

[WD]

I like My Net Diary and also My Fitness Pal. My Net Diary even has it where you can take pictures of a label front and back and it will try to fine it to put it in your database if it is not there. It has a lot of features that are very helpful in planning your nutrition and a nice dashboard. You can add in our custom foods, meals, and recipes. I use both programs at the same time though because My Fitness Pal will sync with my Fit Bit Blaze and My Net Diary costs a monthly fee of 3.99 to sync with my Fit Bit. My Net Diary even has little pictures that you can add to identify your foods.