Ep. 1 Bonus – Food Logging for Weight Loss

In this week’s episode of “Big Blokes Do Diets,” The Big Bloke With the Beard discussed how he keeps track of what he eats in order to avoid overeating. Food logging for weight loss help keep you accountable for what you eat. Originally, he did this through Weight Watchers, now WW, and presently he uses an app called LoseIt. There are, of course, several other apps that fulfill this purpose and most of them are quite good. Whichever one of these apps you choose, the important thing is being able to keep track of your calories and nutrient content. The only problem is that sometimes the meal you are eating does not show up in the app. This can be a real problem when food logging for weight loss. What can you do then?

Beardo approaches this by looking for an equivalent. For an example, he points to a local restaurant that he enjoys. Being a small mom & pop business, the food obviously will not have exact listings on any of the major tracking apps. To get around this, Beardo will ask himself what restaurant his chosen entree is most like. A chicken parmigiana may come close in size to an offering by Olive Garden, so he will choose that to log in order to get as close a measurement as he can. A breakfast dish may be closer to a chain like Bob Evans or IHOP. Keeping these comparisons in mind can make tracking difficult dishes much easier.

While restaurants can have fairly easy comparisons, sometimes eating at home can be an even bigger challenge. Differences in portion-size or recipe can lead to large differences in calorie and nutrient counts. The easiest way to get around this difficulty is to measure ingredients instead of the dish as a whole. If you are making a meal for multiple people, only count your portion of those ingredients. So, if you make a pound of chicken for three people, add a third of a pound. Do this for any ingredients in the dish.

Of course, this would be even more of a challenge still when eating home-cooking that you did not prepare, such as at a dinner party. The best work around for this is to refer back to the restaurant method. If there’s not a direct equivalent, find something close. For example, a dish with pasta and beef may be hard to find an exact match for, so try something like a chili mac for a rough substitute. Of course, do take proper etiquette into account and do not log your meal in front of your hosts as you engage in conversation or even during the meal. We wouldn’t want to be rude to someone who cooked for us.

Keeping these tips in mind when logging your meals can make keeping track of what you eat much easier and will, in turn, make it easier for you to get a handle on what you are eating. Seeing how much you are eating and realizing how you may be falling off track is an excellent jumping-off point for making necessary adjustments and finding a plan that works for you. Once you’ve found a plan that works for you while still contributing to a healthy lifestyle, it becomes much easier to stick to it. We hope this helps you on your journey to a healthier tomorrow. We post new podcasts and articles each week so check back often for more helpful information.