Calorie Counters

dioltas

Just wondering how many people on here count their calories and what you use and why. I've used Fitday on on off when trying to cut down. I found the breakdown of protein/carbs etc fairly handy.

crotalus667

I use a pen and one of those business ledger ‘s we used to use in school

I use sparkpeople.
There is much more to the website, community involvement, motivational programmes, Inspirational stories, Fitness videos, Health news, recipes.
The tracker is very simple to use, you can through database of not only common foods, but things added by other users.
So I very rarely have to input details from packages.
The thing I love about it is the graphs it gives me og my nutrient intake. I track alot of vitamens and minerals. I can click into a good days intake on the graph and see where I got a nutrient that I usually lack.

Ok so I might be a little obsessed. But It has definitely improved my diet for the better.

floggg

I used to be a "in the head guy" but was started Starting Strength a few weeks ago, and wanted to up the cals but keep carbs low. I banged a few days diet into fitday to get a sense of what i was eating, and ratios etc. Don't plan to use it religioulsy, but its good to have a sense of what you are eating daily without having to carry a pen and paper around with you daily. Personally i don't think that anything which involves that much attention to detail in terms of diet would be worth it for me personally.

I'm trying to diet and get in shape to make my life better, not living my life for the sake of making my deit and fitness better.

j@utis

I use the one I 'created' myself using a MS Access (what a supertool!). The benefits are that it does only what I want and the way I want, it's offline and it doesn't have other 'handy' features that other calorie calculators offer (usually anoying useless stuff) and etc.
And it looks something like this:


It keeps changing if I come up with some new ideas

hooplah

I use Fitday. I started using it just to get an idea of the nutritional value of what I was eating, and after that shocked me I've been using it to count calories!

I think its been really helpful in helping me assess what a portion of something should be if I want to get in / stay in shape, it also helps me keep my protein levels up to a decent level. (I'm vegetarian and it can be easy enough to eat **** all protein if you don't make an effort)

I'm still getting used to this fitness lark, still want to lose some fat and increase muscle. Using fitday s handy for now but I'd like to think I can get to the stage where a look in the mirror coupled with how loose or tight clothes are should be enough of a guide. I don't have kids but if I did I don't think I'd like them to see a parent weighing or acting obsessive about food.

hooplah

Hey j@utis that looks great! I like the way you can look at meals in isolation and the way you have foods grouped - were you able to import a lot of that data from something or did you have to copy and paste lots of stuff in?

I have a few problems with fitday but since I have inputted a bunch of cusom foods I'd be put off changing to something else.

Khannie

cals.txt

That excel spreadsheet looks very impressive.

dioltas

Ya i found fitday handy as wel for making sure I was eating enough protein. The sparkpeople thing sounds good the way you can use other peoples custom foods, can't check it or the excel out at the mo though as I'm browsing from my phone!

MagicMarker

What excel sheet? Am I missing something?

Personally, I keep track in my head, roughly speaking I know how much I'm getting, so long as my numbers keep going down I'm happy enough with that.

j@utis

hooplah wrote: »

Hey j@utis that looks great! I like the way you can look at meals in isolation and the way you have foods grouped - were you able to import a lot of that data from something or did you have to copy and paste lots of stuff in?

I have a few problems with fitday but since I have inputted a bunch of cusom foods I'd be put off changing to something else.

You can copy-paste into my database if your data is in the same format/layout (FID doesn't mean anything/it's autonumber):


All stuff I eat fits into ~300records divided into groups for quicker/easier find (also MS Access does lookup itself by the first letter = the key you hit on the keyboard). I had some work to do to put initial food list in, but now I need to enter only 1-2 new items to the list every say two weeks (there's a separate form to do this), so all I do is double click on the food item I've eaten or planning to eat, enter amount in grams, ok, and it's there on the bottom list on my day's menu and all meal/day totals are there in front of you. It also generates couple of reports, so you can review your past records. As I said earlier, it's fast and it does only the things I want it to do (and it won't ask you for registration key after a month's use either! ps I had few 'accidents' like this before after downloading some cal. counting software of the net).

EileenG

I've got a really cool little gadget called a Robi Nutrition Assistant. It comes preloaded with about 800 foods, and with space to add another 200 or so of your own. The great thing is that it is tiny and fast. You can switch it on and put in your food before you are finished chewing it. If you are inclined to nibble on the go, this is brilliant, as you can put in all the bits and pieces before you forget them.

I keep a journal as well, but I rely on the Robi to do my sums.

Bog Butter

I did use fitday.com but I just read the nutritional details on the food labels now and count it up in my head. When I compare the label to what fitday says there is often a big discrepancy. I count my calories in order to make sure I have a calorie deficit diet because I want to lose weight.

I still use the fitday to chart my weight loss progress.

Bog Butter

I'm planning a one off 3/4 day drinking binge in a couple of weeks so I might post my weight loss chart after it to show you the effects of the drink on my weight.

crotalus667

EileenG wrote: »

I've got a really cool little gadget called a Robi Nutrition Assistant. It comes preloaded with about 800 foods, and with space to add another 200 or so of your own. The great thing is that it is tiny and fast. You can switch it on and put in your food before you are finished chewing it. If you are inclined to nibble on the go, this is brilliant, as you can put in all the bits and pieces before you forget them.

I keep a journal as well, but I rely on the Robi to do my sums.

Hmmm sounds cool ,where did you get it ?? and how much did it cost ??

EileenG

crotalus667 wrote: »

Hmmm sounds cool ,where did you get it ?? and how much did it cost ??

They've got a website, (google Robi Nutrition Assistant). Wasn't expensive, 25 euro or thereabouts I think, includng postage. Mine is about five years old now, still going strong.

crotalus667

EileenG wrote: »

They've got a website, (google Robi Nutrition Assistant). Wasn't expensive, 25 euro or thereabouts I think, includng postage. Mine is about five years old now, still going strong.

Thanks , at 25 euro's for 5+ years it sounds like a bargin

PeakOutput

so i joined fit day after reading this thread and am already seeing interesting trends regarding my diet or lack thereof iv also found a problem with it already and that is it wont let me enter a weight goal heavier than my current weight god damn it

PeakOutput

PeakOutput wrote: »

so i joined fit day after reading this thread and am already seeing interesting trends regarding my diet or lack thereof iv also found a problem with it already and that is it wont let me enter a weight goal heavier than my current weight god damn it

Sparkpeople lets you do that.
But it also lets you enter your calorie goals independantly. Try that.

CathyMoran

I have been counting carbs since I was 10 and diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, it does not take a great stretch to count glycemic index and calories too though I would have to insure that I actually eat enough, I weigh myself reguarly too to insure that I am not loosing weight.

dioltas

Moonbaby wrote: »

Sparkpeople lets you do that.
But it also lets you enter your calorie goals independantly. Try that.

Just signed up for sparkpeople there, going to give it a go for a while. Hopefully it'll have more of a selection than fitday, although I did have a good few custom foods entered in fitday when I used to use it. They have a mobile version of the site that you can access from your phone, so that sounds handy. I like the way you can set your protein / carb / fat goals alright.

dioltas wrote:

can't check it or the excel out at the mo though as I'm browsing from my phone!

Thought it was an excel file you had at first j@utis, couldn't see the pics. That looks impressive.