Is it actually necessary to write down the type of food and the amount that you eat for each meal?

Seems to me, all that would be necessary to keep track of would be, calories, carbs, proteins and your liquid intake. After all isn't that all that matters as long as you are eating healthy foods?

I would appreciate your thoughts.

MFP girl here. I log the good, bad, and ugly. LOL. It makes me stay accountable and no ostrich with my head in the sand here.

I personally log it all and the times bc there may be certain foods contributing to weight gain and/ or bloating. they may have added ingredients im not paying attention too, so i can look back and see for sure if there is a consistency.

I also use MFP (have used it every day since 2 weeks pre op). Some things I have to guestimate my serving (especially when it's recorded by "cups" not grams) but it gives me a pretty good record for each day. If I have a couple of squares of dark chocolate or a teaspoon of peanut butter (after making my daughters toast) etc I make sure to record that too and keep to my current 1000 calorie limit. MFP is also really good for tracking my water intake and pushing me to drink more.

On 8/15/2018 at 9:13 PM, Foxbins said:

Preacher, weren't you concerned about reflux? If you log everything you eat, you can find out what foods aggravate your acid production, whereas if you only log the numbers you'll lose those specifics.

Good idea, thanks!

46 minutes ago, Taoz said:

(especially when it's recorded by "cups" not grams)

Your probably aware but when you click serving size you can click a drop down menu that allows you to change the value. It doesn't always give you the option that you want but gives you some options. I'm constantly using google to convert types of measurements to make it somewhat easier to figure out my amounts.

Baritastic app has a good way of figuring out serving sizes.

Love MyFitnessPal app, too, Paul! After logging in food, it provides the breakdown of carbs, proteins, etc. I also love that you can scan food barcodes to enter the exact food. The app also allows easy to use fluid/water intake and tracks exercise.

Great, convenient app that keeps me honest!!

I actually don’t on a regular basis. Water I keep track of by the vessels I use: the one at work I need to drink two of a day or one plus my tea, then a one of the one at home at night or 2-3 on weekend.

Food wise I do weight/ check in on the logs when I’m adding something new or plateauing but since I eat a lot of the same things I usually do pretty well.

I also weight myself daily and can usually correlate what’s working what’s not. Have I met my exercise goals? Have I been getting my hydration/protein/calories? I tend to be overly honest with myself and if I see gains or no loss for too long I’ll become much more diligent about logging

I use Baritastic too. I just downloaded it a few days ago after starting the full liquid diet. Its been VERY helpful. I love the pie chart it gives you of your carbs/fat/protein intake. And like FitnesssPal you can just scan the barcode on packaging to log it if you want.

Using an app is super easy and the rewards are great.
It’s not like the old days when you had to keep a handwritten food journal.
It takes a minute for each meal/snack.
I don’t even bother with my liquids. I’m a big drinker. I’m hitting that mark and there’s nothing in my water or calorie free beverage I need to long.

I log via Baristatic and in my planner. It helps if I hit a stall and I can go back and look at what needs to be adjusted.

I use Baritastic, I am not a diligent 3x/day tracker unless I am in a stall. I tend to eat similarly from day to day, if I am not traveling. Traveling screws up my eating plans.

I actually detest tracking for the most part but consider it a means to an end and just try to do it and forget about it.

I downloaded the Baritastic app today, I looked at some of the others but I liked this one the best, looks like it's more suited for this type of surgery.

Another vote for My Finess Pal, my,program recommended and I haven't branched out to,others.

I use MFP daily, I've been using it off / on for years. This past year I upgraded to get the added benefits. I try to log everything, I forget sometimes, but especially now after surgery, I find it important to log everything to know if I'm meeting my protein goals especially. Sometimes it seems cumbersome, but the one thing I learned this past year on that start of this new lifestyle is my body definitely reacts differently to some foods. And if not for MFP, I probably wouldn't have caught it.

I think you just have to find the app that works best for you. I also chose MFP because it's compatible with my fitness tracker so logging exercise it pretty much automatic.