Hello Ozb,
I'm curious to try calorie tracking. (More for curiosity than anything else). From, what I've looked into and heard from others MyFitnessPal seems to be the pretty popular and reasonable.
Also Easy Diet Diary seems to be australian and has good reviews. (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.com.xyris.e…)
Was wondering anyone uses/recommends other apps.
Thanks
Gimli
edit: Added a poll. You can submit suggestions
Cronometer is what i use without issue. If i remember correctly Myfatness Pal couldn't add food in grams (years ago when i tried it). Cronometer could- which is useful if using a scale for everything. If you're counting, use a scale don't guess.
Also weigh yourself at the same time every day or week in the morning, preferably after you poo and or pee. Your weight can fluctuate +1-2kg after food and water which will skew your results and make you wonder why your weight changes so much.
It's best to weigh yourself once a week on the same day, your weight can fluctuate from day to day which can sap some people's enthusiasm.
I use Easy Diet Diary. Has most Aussie products in it, you can add stuff it doesn't have. No frills. Doesn't presume gym or exercise regimen
My fitness pal, it's free.
MyFitnessPal and LifeSum are pretty good
Adding option
Lifesum
Cronometer
Easy Diet Diary
Curious how does one calculate the amount of calories in home made meals?
unless you weigh ingredients I guess it would be a rough estimate?
In the Easy Diet Diary, you have options. For example:
Potato or Mashed Potato
If Mashed - did you have it plain, with butter, margarine, milk and butter, milk and margarine?
Were the potatoes peeled or unpeeled?
How much? Cup? 1/2 cup?
Once you get the hang of it, I find it becomes second nature. If, like me, you tend to eat the same stuff, you can go back into you recents and hit add again. Great for things like coffee etc.
I tried some of those sites, but found that not all products were up-to-date, so the calories didn't always match what the packet said. So I started keeping an Excel spreadsheet of the foods that I eat and their calories, and recipes with calorie breakdowns. I plan my fortnightly menu in the same spreadsheet. I still weigh almost everything, as my "eyeballing" tends to be way off!! It sounds like a lot of work, but I'm a spreadsheet girl, and find it fun coming up with each day's calorie allowance. ;)
Spread sheet is probably a great long term option.
Did you find the apps over or underestimated calories?
Both, actually. Could be due to changing recipes and not being updated? The spreadsheet is great, but I still need to check food packaging every now and then to make sure my list is current. Things like fruit, veg, ric, flour, etc, never really change.
I was wondering if it was a a country thing. Because some of the apps are US based?
@gimli: Could be, since some products are made both here and overseas. They look identical, but have different ingredients (corn syrup in the States, for example).
Can't vouch for it myself, but if you're interested in not getting your personal data harvested I'd suggest a more FLOSS option :)
I just use Samsung Health (which came with my phone).
Sometimes the portion sizes it defaults to are wrong or the calorie counts seem a little out… but you can actually add your own and if you have whole meals that you have frequently, you can put them in too.
If you want to add any details of exercise you've done there's space for that and it will track your steps (roughly).
I use it as a good "rough" guide and managed to drop around 20kg with it.
You can set your calorie goal and it will give you a weekly summary.
MyFitnessPal is an old school app - really popular. Use to be completely free but now some features are hidden behind paywall.
You don’t need any of those features though - it works perfectly fine without it.