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Food journal important?



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Was wondering in your experience has keeping a journal been helpful. I find it tedious and time consuming. I'm not even doing it anymore. But if I really need to I will

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I log everything on my phone app MyFitnessPal. I have since 6mths before surgery. They have a neat scanner to scan food packaging for all necessary info. It's how I keep track of getting my 60gr of Protein and staying at my allotted calories.

If you start having trouble that will be the first question asked, are you tracking?

Good luck!

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This is a personal preference and some people find it time consuming. I started logging on MFP because I was stalled in my weight loss and was trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. By logging everything it helps me to stay honest with myself and my friends who have supported me these past two years. If you can lose weight successfully without logging than go for it because it is time consuming but for me, I need to log, measure and weigh my food. I think it is a personal preference. Good luck to you.

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Since you asked... I credit my calories counter food tracker phone ap as one of the most important tools I used in my journey second only to my band....

For me it gave me the ability to be in control of what I ate and taught me about calories counts and portion sizes.

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I track everything on myfitnesspal. It is so easy.. and it is motivating actually. I read that people who track lose more weight than people who don't. Of course there are exceptions. I definitely believe that to be true.. because you take accountability for what you are putting in your mouth. So long as you are honest in your tracking.. if you aren't then what's the point. I even track my bad days!!

myfitnesspal is so easy too.. and not to time consuming, it has a very large database for food.. click and done. Good Luck to ya hun! :)

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I would say its very important. As soon as you stop tracking your three meals can become more then what you should eat. Accountability for what you are putting in your mouth is absolutely a need.

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I log everything on my phone app MyFitnessPal. I have since 6mths before surgery. They have a neat scanner to scan food packaging for all necessary info. It's how I keep track of getting my 60gr of Protein and staying at my allotted calories.

If you start having trouble that will be the first question asked' date=' are you tracking?

Good luck![/quote']

I can't find the scanner on my fitness pal. How do you get to it?

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When you go to add a food, pick the meal you are adding it to and it is a little scanner picture on the top right.

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I know some do fine without logging food and calories, but they seem to be the exception not the rule.

I find it to be very important, if not crucial, to my weight loss success. I have tracked every piece of food that's gone into my mouth since my surgery 11 months ago. I use the Lose It! app on my phone. I'm certain I wouldn't have lost even half the amount of weight I have without doing so. It keeps me accountable and helps me to see problems when they occur.

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When you go to add a food' date=' pick the meal you are adding it to and it is a little scanner picture on the top right.[/quote']

I just tried out the scanner. Way cool! Thanks for mentioning it.

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I also use myfitnesspal to log my meals & keep track of my Protein intake.

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    • LeighaTR

      I am new here today... and only two weeks out from my sleeve surgery on the 23rd. I am amazed I have kept my calories down to 467 today so far... that leaves me almost 750 left for dinner and maybe a snack. This is going to be tough for two weeks... but I have to believe I can do it!
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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