How are you handling the time consuming nature of tracking your calories...?

I have stopped inputting them here on this site... and resorted to a little notebook that I keep on my kitchen counter. I do weekly input my weight, and use the tools to adjust my goals. I just found writing it down, and then inputting it took too much time... I did not have. I plan my meals daily... as I pack my lunch/dinner every day. I try to use lean cuisines, and other prepackaged things to help simply matters [while watching for sodium] ... but it still takes me about 45 minutes [i still use a food scale and measuring cups/spoons] ... to plan, make, pack and log what I eat everyday...

any suggestions?

I eat a LOT of the same things and so all of those things are tagged for me. I try to tag them in the lowest amount I eat them in, and then only eat them in multiples of that portion (lol). Like I will eat 1 oz of pecans, however sometimes I only want half an ounce. So my tagged item is for half an ounce, and whenever I want more I will just add it twice.

Some of my breakfasts are tagged together, so I can do it with one click-- 1 cup skim milk, 1 packet of protein powder to mix in. Or 1.5 cups of skim milk and 3/4 cup raisin bran.

When I eat foods that aren't necessarily in the log, honestly I just estimate. Try to find the closet thing to it and guess the right amount as close as possible.

I go on CC several times a day, so often I will log my breakfast and lunch at lunchtime, and then my afternoon snacks whenever I have them, and then I log my dinner and after dinner snack before bed. This is just because I have to use my computer a lot anyway.

I don't know what your access to a computer is.  Most of the time I'm at my desk anyway, so it's pretty easy to pop stuff in.  It also depends on what you're eating, I'd suppose.  Most of my planned lunches are salads with veggies, protein, and italian dressing.  Dinner is usually the most time consuming, but I keep a notepad while I'm making and write down everything I put into it.

Then again, I'm on the computer a lot - lately after dinner has been me fussing on the computer trying to learn Flash animation, so if I'm there anyway, there's no extra work in putting in my data.

I live in Canada so we don't have a lot of the products listed in CC's database. I ended up making my own "commonly eaten foods" spreadsheet, using info from CC (for things like fruit, veg, meat, etc) so the list was personalized for me. After a while, I made a "common meals" sheet that adds up each food item in a meal that I eat often (like stirfry, oatmeal, etc) so I didn't have to log in each item separately each time. Putting these two spreadsheets together took some time but now it's a great reference!

As for the time consuming task of actually preparing the food, I make slow cooked meals on weekends only, when I have more time. I usually make enough to have lunch or dinner the following week day. When I pack a lunch, I usually end up bringing similar items in rotation so I don't have to spend time making complicated things. I usually put them together while I make my dinner (so Tuesday's lunch is packed on Monday night).

For my food log, I log everything I brought for the day when I get to work (takes 5 mins or so) in another spreadsheet I built myself. It automatically adds all my cals and protein grams. then I only have to write out my dinner portion when I get home and type it in my sheet when I get to work the following day.

It takes time but after a while, you get used to it and can do it really quickly! It's easier to log everything at once than doing each item as you eat it, so planning your meals ahead of time is key.

Some people plan their menus in advance and input them.  I think it would be great if I could do that!  It would give your incentive not to deviate from your meal plan as you would have to delete and change your menu with every deviation.

I just tag everything that I eat often and then all I have to do is go the the tagged items.  I do much the same as feanor except I found that if you put 1 cup of skim milk on your tag and you only have 1/4 cup in your morning coffee you can change the amount on your tage\ from 1 cup to .25 cup and it will change the calorie total for you without permenantly changing your tag.  I hope that made sense....

at first i found it really time consuming and frustrating counting everything, constantly going back to the computer to check calorie values and whatnot. however i created a list in word that has the core value for every food i can think of, so that all i have to do is either multiply or divide said value by the weight of the item to get my calorie total. does that make sense? like lets say 100g of apple is 50 calories, that means the core number would be 2, so if i weigh a larger apple and it weighs 150 cals, i divide by 2 and thats how many calories the apple is worth. that sounds really confusing...but if you understand, it's really the best way ive found, it only takes me like 5 minutes to do my rituals now.

Since I work on a computer all day it is no big deal but more difficult on the weekend.

I pretty much keep my breakfast meals consistent so that's easy to log.  The rest I keep note and add on when I have time to get on this site.  As I am a student (again), exams are now and after the next week, I'll have lots of free time.  I am SO in need of summer right now :)

~h~

yes, tag items, AND it gets easier. don't worry! just do the best you can. if writing it down works for you, that's fine :D

i like logging everything i eat & try to get an A on the analysis.

I really like the tag features. I eat most of the same foods for Breakfast and Lunch so 90% of those foods are tagged. All I have to do is go find them and it takes me about 2 minutes to log.  I log my calories through out the day because I am a SAHM.  I also have a note book I keep calories in for when I don't have my computer around this way I can keep a running total through out the day. 

 

Dinner is something very different though. I have tried to tag all of the meat and veggies I eat on a regular basis but when I am in the kitchen creating whatever from the top of my head. (I rarely use a cook book or recipe for most of my creations) I have to calculate the calorie content that can be a pain sometimes..but well worth the 8 pounds I have managed to lose in the past month. 

 

here are some thoughts about how to make it fast and foolproof--

1.dont eat anything that does not have calories printed on it.

2.avoid eating out at places that don't disclose this info.

3. keep a stack of 3 x 5 inch cards around the house, car, purse. use one card per day and just record the info off the package instead of searching on line.  use the site to just enter the totals at the end of the meal or day.

4. avoid being like me--obsessing about entering data all day AND writing it down too!

It gets less time-consuming the longer you do it, because most people will repeat meals and ingredients after a few weeks.  One thing that saves time is drinking diet drinks, because they are 0 calories.  One less thing to enter! 

I don't let the calorie counting take a lot of time.  Either it is a food where I can find out the calories (either from the package or looking it up on this site) or a food where I will have to estimate (such as when I eat at a buffet restaurant).  In that case, I will just say, ok I will estimate that I ate 1500, and not put much time into it, but make it high enough to be reasonable.  Be honest to yourself about the serving sizes you actually eat and keep track of everything.