Counting Calories - fitness pal?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone used Fitness Pal to track their calories? How tedious is this?

I have never counted calories like that. I have always used portion control and tried to make the best choices I can. I have a tendency to be OCD and I could see tracking my calories becoming another OCD thing for me. I'm also wondering how sustainable tracking everything would be.

[Anonymous]

I have done this off and on to lose weight. It can be very tedious if you are rigorous about it, especially if you mostly cook at home and eat fresh foods. This is because for every dish you have to add up the calories in all the ingredients individually and then weigh your portion to figure out how many calories you are eating. If you use a recipe from a fairly popular source, sometimes someone on the app will already have put it in. And even for a basic snack, like an apple or piece of cheese or something, you should still be weighing it if you want to truly know how many calories you're eating.

Or you can just kind of make educated guesses about how many calories are in things, but that's obviously not going to be as accurate if you're really trying to fine-tune things.

If you mostly eat take-out/packaged foods it's a little easier because the items will mostly already be in the app. Also, it gets easier over time if you repeat dishes a lot.

[Anonymous]

Someone on this board recommended the lose it app, and I like it much better than my fitness pal

[Anonymous]

I use the fitbit app, but used fitday in the past, I think. We do eat mostly at home, so this requires some work, yes. But you can enter your own recipes. It isn't perfect, but it works.

Yes, tracking calories can get to be a little obsessive, but it is actually really good for a little while to remind yourself of the consequences of eating that handful of nuts rather than that handful of baby carrots, and help you make choices that allows you to lose weight.

[Anonymous]

I do it in my head, and I generalize so I'm not obsessing or getting bored with it.

1200-1500 calories per day

roughly 300-400 breakfast

allow myself up to 600 for lunch

then 300-500 for dinner

[Anonymous]

I use my fitness pal. It's easy and, although tedious, it only takes 5 minutes a day. Input your planned food the morning and then add or subtract if anything changes.

[Anonymous]

I have used My Fitness Pal and now I use Lose It. They are basically the same--I use the free versions. I lost 20 pounds last year on Weight Watchers and now I calorie count 3-4 days a week to help me stay on track and accountable. I don't do it every day because 1) that's no way to live 2) I also get OCD about it. I hope to eventually stop needing to calorie count at some point. but I'm not there yet.

[Anonymous]

What is your goal OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do it in my head, and I generalize so I'm not obsessing or getting bored with it.

1200-1500 calories per day

roughly 300-400 breakfast

allow myself up to 600 for lunch

then 300-500 for dinner

that doesn't not work for most people!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do it in my head, and I generalize so I'm not obsessing or getting bored with it.

1200-1500 calories per day

roughly 300-400 breakfast

allow myself up to 600 for lunch

then 300-500 for dinner

that doesn't not work for most people!

So .... it DOES work for most people?
Confused about what does or doesn't work for most people, tbh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have done this off and on to lose weight. It can be very tedious if you are rigorous about it, especially if you mostly cook at home and eat fresh foods. This is because for every dish you have to add up the calories in all the ingredients individually and then weigh your portion to figure out how many calories you are eating. If you use a recipe from a fairly popular source, sometimes someone on the app will already have put it in. And even for a basic snack, like an apple or piece of cheese or something, you should still be weighing it if you want to truly know how many calories you're eating.

Or you can just kind of make educated guesses about how many calories are in things, but that's obviously not going to be as accurate if you're really trying to fine-tune things.

If you mostly eat take-out/packaged foods it's a little easier because the items will mostly already be in the app. Also, it gets easier over time if you repeat dishes a lot.

I am using Lose It! And agree that it can be so tedious, because I do mostly home-cooked meals. I have ended up ditching the program because it is tedious but this time I am being a little more forgiving with myself and inputting general names and categories, which is easier. I might be over or under my calorie goal by doing this, but at least I am on track and not over burdened with getting things right down to the calorie.

[Anonymous]

I used to but like another poster stated, it became too tedious when I wasn’t eating something that came packaged. I’ve since switched to just using measuring cups..1/2 cup veggies, 1/4 cup starch and I don’t measure/weigh my meat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do it in my head, and I generalize so I'm not obsessing or getting bored with it.

1200-1500 calories per day

roughly 300-400 breakfast

allow myself up to 600 for lunch

then 300-500 for dinner

that doesn't not work for most people!

Why not? Because they are inattentive? Stupid? It's pretty easy and not time consuming.

[Anonymous]

I like the Lose It app

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have done this off and on to lose weight. It can be very tedious if you are rigorous about it, especially if you mostly cook at home and eat fresh foods. This is because for every dish you have to add up the calories in all the ingredients individually and then weigh your portion to figure out how many calories you are eating. If you use a recipe from a fairly popular source, sometimes someone on the app will already have put it in. And even for a basic snack, like an apple or piece of cheese or something, you should still be weighing it if you want to truly know how many calories you're eating.

Or you can just kind of make educated guesses about how many calories are in things, but that's obviously not going to be as accurate if you're really trying to fine-tune things.

If you mostly eat take-out/packaged foods it's a little easier because the items will mostly already be in the app. Also, it gets easier over time if you repeat dishes a lot.

I am using Lose It! And agree that it can be so tedious, because I do mostly home-cooked meals. I have ended up ditching the program because it is tedious but this time I am being a little more forgiving with myself and inputting general names and categories, which is easier. I might be over or under my calorie goal by doing this, but at least I am on track and not over burdened with getting things right down to the calorie.

When I cook at home, I added that meal as a recipe and use it for the next time I cook that meal. For example, I have a pasta dish I like to cook so I added all the ingredients. If I eat half of it ( and my husband eats the other half), I can log it for .5 the meal.