keeping track of meals. planner? apps?

[GZA]

I was wondering what everyone else uses to remind them of meal/supplement times as well as workouts. A physical (paper) scheduler? Or are your meal times just intuitive for most of you guys? I was looking into getting some Android apps for this but I was wondering if that will be any better than the normal monthly planner that's already on my phone, what have you guys found to work the best for you?

[Swelbow]

For the iPhone I use 2 apps.

Lose It! - Great for tracking my meals and nutrients. Also extremely easy to use. Perfect for me
And
Alarmed - I use this to set my wake up alarms for different days and to set a timer / reminder that goes off every 2 hours during the day beeping and anouncing "EAT NOW!!"

The two apps work really well together. For me anyway.

Good luck in your search

[Windex]

I just type out my diet on notepad. After a few days I know exactly what to eat at what times - never felt the need for an app or planner but that's just me. I might remember it better though because I spend about an hour calculating all my macros and tweaking it around to fit my busy schedule.

[SexySweetheart]

I made a spread sheet to track weight /bmi /inches and it graghs automaticly for a visual.... printed my routine and posted on fridge/in car/ in my planner and set cell alarms to remind me to eat...eating same stuff daily so theres no need to figure out p/c/s/c/f (macros) each meal&day. idealy I want it to be all around me untill everything becomes so routine that I do it all automaticly w/o alarms&scheduals

[GZA]

So far I've settled on some app called jefit... supposedly I can put all my custom workout programs in there and track my progress (weights and reps etc) and graph out that and my measurements etc... (kind of reminds me of fitday but I stopped tryign to use that when I noticed I couldn't put a weight goal that was higher than I am now because it says it's designed for loosing weight... jefit is designed for weight training specifically..
and for my meals (which is the hardest thing for me to keep up to task because it takes up your whole life not just an hour a day or whatever) There is a to do list I can check off with alarms called... ultimate to do list... (what sold me on this was that it had nagging alarms that repeat at custom intervals if you dont happen to check off that you did it) it seems like a pretty comprehensive program for like executives or whatever from the first look after downloading, has a lot of options I probably will never use (but I guess too many options is better than not enough) and I just got jefit because from the reviews it seemed like the most established, well known work out program app for android... both of these programs are syncable with your pc

Honestly I don't know if these will be good though until I start using them day to day... they were my best guesses after researching for what might work for me... I do like the idea of surrounding myself with reminders everywhere so I probably will get a planner as well so I can physically mark this stuff off as well.. but really it's so much easier to carry my phone with me everywhere I go.. the planner however will be faster to write stuff in and flip through but it has no alarms (obviously)... I don't know what I will find works best for me... it's just a matter of me using it all and seeing what I stick to easiest... (I'm still researching physical planners to see if I can find any layouts that work best for my needs.. (actually just came from a few office/stationary type stores.. I'm undecided what will be the best fit) I might just end up laying one out custom for my needs and photocopying it for each day and making my own planner if I can't find something suitable... I'll keep you posted on the planner and how these apps are working for me...

[gbrice75]

Wrote it all out initially. Eventually it just becomes second nature. I barely even have to weigh stuff anymore (meats are a different story)!

[Windex]

Wrote it all out initially. Eventually it just becomes second nature. I barely even have to weigh stuff anymore (meats are a different story)!

Speaking of which, what do you classify as a cup of vegetables ?

[gbrice75]

Speaking of which, what do you classify as a cup of vegetables ?

Literally filling the volume of 1 cup. I assume that's what you're asking... such as opposed to weighing 8oz?

[GZA]

yeah, I've heard that before about some people, just having it become second nature.
I think I have a psychological block because even though I can tell what my portions should look like, if it's not exactly measured I feel like I don't really know I'm sticking to my diet perfectly. Most likely any tiny variations up and down dont affect anything (for example I even try to be consistent about the ratio of water to rice etc. I use to keep calorie densities of x weight of rice (or oats) the same... For me it's sort of an all or nothing sort of thing, either I stick to my diet or I'm on the slippery slope to just half assing things (then next thing I know I'm bartering with myself like... ok go ahead and eat out this time with your friends but do a little more cardio to compensate... or maybe I decide.. oh you didn't make your calorie requirements today, take in a little more fats to make up for it with less volume of food having to be eaten (throwing off my macros)... For me, I think it helps me with my will power to know I've been "so percise" all this time and don't want to ruin it. Perhaps if I had more control over this slipery slope thing I do with my will power then I would trust myself to just eye my portions and feel out my meal times and realize I don't need to be so technical about everythign to see good results.

[JAB1]

Yeah same for me, at first I wrote every item of every meal and the macros out on a log, totalling as the day went on. Now I just eat the same stuff and do not have to log at all unless im changing things up to cut/add calories etc. for workouts I just use a notepad so I can refer to previous workouts for progress, etc

[jtuner77]

I use myfitnesspal to keep track of my macros and cals burned

[ANIMAL]

I use myfitnesspal to keep track of my macros and cals burned

+1 very easy to use.

[army_cobra]

yup my fitness pal has helped me so much

[MR-FQ320]

Yep it's myfitnesspal for me as well , dead easy, cool app for iPhone, with barcode scanner and pie chart for daily and weekly macro split.

[GZA]

wow, hey it seems like we have a consensus here, They have it for android as well (I dont have an iphone anymore) So I'll definately get it and see how it works for me

[mwilkinson]

hands down the best app... myfitnesspal

[Vibrantred94gt]

Mynetdiary..... Is what I use

[GZA]

from the looks of things myfitness pal is unbeatable as a calorie counter... scan in foods, or put in custom foods... all macros etc calculated automatically... Personally since I try to shoot for custom meals only, with measured amounts for each meal it's not really a question of how many calories a day I'm eating, I know how many. The only thing this would be useful for is if I missed a meal or ate something I wasn't supposed to but hopefully those things will be the exception not the rule so I would recommend this app as the most useful for most intermediate level dieters but I'm not really sure what use it has for someone who precalculates everything at first anyways...

For my personal needs, I need to be reminded when to eat because I loose track of time sometimes (if I'm out having fun etc.). So my to do list with nagging alarm setup is pretty useful app for me. but maybe that is just my own issue and not the most common problem (I can see the someone who doesn't precalculate all their calorie intake ahead of time making the most use out of myfitness pal.. as it is a good way for the average dieter of knowing if they are overeating or not.

Also, tracking my workout progress is sort of a less needed task that I could do on a simple notebook. But the jefit app makes tracking my workouts and progress something I can do without a notebook (and with progres charts etc... It solves less of a problem for me (as opposed to my alarm setup which helps me stick to my diet... which after all is most important for good results)but jefit is at least something I can use, it has a handy timer for between sets that's easy to use my entire custom workout pages through automatically and I insert how many sets I was able to do of what weight... So I guess for me and only me (I realize everyone has different needs and issues they need the most help with)

Myfitness pal I would rate as low on my scale simply because I dont need to keep track of my calories since I have a set in stone regiment of how and what I am supposed to eat every day as long as I eat each and every meal the calories take care of themselves..

Jefit I would give an average rating as it is a nice workout helper but my notebook worked just fine (except the added benefit of the cool timer and automatic visual charting of your progress)

Ultimate to do list I would give a high rating to although it isn't specifically a workout or diet app.. for my purposes it helps force me to stay on schedule and I think that was the biggest thing I needed help on. compared to the normal alarm setup on my phone the only real difference is that I can have it set up to ring the alarm each and every minute over and over until I get myself to a tupperwear container and eat!!! and for me that's really all I needed

However overall, I'd say, yes for the needs of the average fitness/health minded individual without precalculated meal plans, myfitnesspal is the best for helping you diet or gain weight and basically telling you if you need to eat more or less of the food choices you already make in your daily life.. (now I've only been using these for maybe a week or so so maybe there are some features I haven't discovered yet, but that's my perliminary analysis..