Meal Logging and Macros Tracking

Rainmatter Health
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What are your thoughts on meal logging? It has helped me a lot to manage CICO during my weight loss.
If you ever used meal logging tools, why did you stop using?
If you still use, what is the biggest friction for you right now?

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In the past, my friends and I attempted it. While it can be beneficial if executed properly, I personally experienced a few challenges while attempting to keep up with it.
1)Finding the time to log every meal consistently.
2)Sometimes we forget to log a meal, which affects the accuracy of the data.
3)Struggle with entering custom recipes or foods that are not readily available in the database.
4)Keeping track of portion sizes, especially when eating out or in social settings.

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Every once in a while, on a Monday morning, I start using Myfitnesspal and then drop off by Monday evening. :slight_smile: The effort involved in weighing and figuring out the different ingredients is too much, at least for me. I am guessing it is the same for most people.

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My best diet and weight loss happened when I weighed my meals and not when logging meals. Weighing meals is way more accurate, in my opinion. But it’s a pain :slight_smile:

Logging in meals, however, gives you a sense of accountability and imbibes discipline in sticking to the prescribed diet/macro tracking.

Here is what I used to do (measuring technique, not logging)-

  1. Measure uncooked food, and ensure it’s within my meal plan. For example - 75 gms of raw rice, 300 grams of veggies, 100 ml of curd, 20 ml of cooking oil etc. A simple kitchen weight scale will help you do this.

  2. It is important to weigh raw vs cooked food for accuracy. You will never get accurate macro tracking for cooked food. For example, 200 gms of biryani - who knows what goes into that in terms of oil and ghee :slight_smile:

  3. Use the weighed ingredients at your disposal and cook your meals. I usually would make a khichdi out of this (single pot) and split that across lunch and dinner.

  4. Cooking too was with minimum ingredients to ensure accuracy.

Once the raw ingredients are weighed, the final macro count will roughly remain the same post-cooking, and you don’t have to worry about logging in meals.

I did this diligently and lost about 10kgs. But then, I realized that it is not a sustainable practice. The thought of weighing my food every day and eating the same food somehow got to the philosophical side of me :slight_smile:

I also wanted to ensure I developed a sustainable and intuitive way of eating, so I ditched my weighing scale and stuck to eyeballing to count my macros.

Needless to say, the lost 10kgs found its way back.

So if you cant weigh your food, then logging is the 2nd best alternative.

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If you’re a beginner, you should log your meals. It’s like learning abcs. Once you learn them well, forming sentences comes naturally to you, you don’t need to remember abcs. It happens intuitively. However it takes time and experience.

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My brain likes simple structures to keep life easy. I just like to look at what’s on my plate.

  1. Is at least one half of my plate full of veggies - colourful, multiple and fibrous?
  2. Do I have at least one quarter of my plate full of protein? Plant or animal, doesn’t matter but variety is important.
  3. Do I have almost the remaining quarter covered in good fat?
  4. Whatever place is left over - practically none - that’s what I allow for my carbs. But, I like it complex, gluten free and never the same thing twice in a week.

I’m not much of a snacker so when I do it’s basically just one of three things:

  1. One fruit in a day (seasonal and whole)
  2. A bowl of mixed nuts - I like salted for taste
  3. A protein - maybe a couple of boiled eggs or my amino acid blend

And I’m always drinking water. All through the day.

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Hi, i reckon logging of meals is super important specially when you are trying to lose weight and body fat tbh. I still do it, on an excel sheet :slight_smile:
For me IF and a repetitive diet has always worked. This way the logging becomes easy too :slight_smile: I personally find it really hard to consume the 2 liters of water, but recently i have been able to clock it really well, all thanks to black tea :wink: worked wonders for me, keeps you full for some weird reason as well. As we manufacture healthy chocolates and cookies, a cheat meal is never an issue :slight_smile:

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have you ever tried logging meals with photos before?

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interesting. why excel sheet though and not my fitness pal or healthify me?

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Measuring the food and logging them is no doubt one of the best ways to track macros which eventually builds the discipline towards the calorie and timing goals.
However after the initial few days/weeks and especially during the travel/social events, the process usually goes for a toss. Other challenge is to control the hunger pangs. Some days the body manages hunger well and other days it just craves for more food/different type of food.
Everyone has their own process that works for them. For me, intuitive way of picking up food on my plate i.e. starting from protein, veggies, lentils, carbs helped me stay on track. Prolonged fasting 36-48 hrs once every 2/3 weeks improved my hunger pangs.