Thread: diet/meal software trackers

Originally Posted by Moses

I'm wondering if any of you recommend any software to track your calories and meals.

I tried the popular fitday site, but they don't break down your calorie consumption by meals but lump it all together into one.

I use a carb and calorie tapering system so I'm trying to find something that does a macronutrient breakdown by meal with totals and percentages and displays them all at once.

So far, the only one I can find that is close is Fitness Assistant.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Moses

www.nutridiary.com

Simple to use, accurate and it even gives you pretty pie charts... Plus, you can create meals and it gives you the breakdown for each.

Emma, thanks for the link to the site. Very cool!!!

I have a question, if I am trying to loose weight and gain muscle should I be concerned about the amount of calories that I am intaking and stuff like trying to bring sodium levels down?

I showed that I needed 3307 kcal per day. Yesterday for instance it showed that I should have had 684 more kals than I had.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by BOSOX1980

Emma, thanks for the link to the site. Very cool!!!

Welcome

I have a question, if I am trying to loose weight and gain muscle should I be concerned about the amount of calories that I am intaking and stuff like trying to bring sodium levels down?

Calories are always going to to be important... You can not lose weight unless you either burn more calories than you currently eat or eat less calories than currently burn....

But as to how strict you need to be?? Well this is up to you and your goals. For most people just wanting to lose a little weight you do not need to go crazy with counting and can often get by via simply reducing protion sizes and altering the focus of meals (eg: swtich off the starchy and fatty stuff and onto the vege and lean meat)... Others will need a more structured routine and they will have to 'count' something - either portions or 'points' or calories etc etc... If you are cutting for a competition then counting does, and will become very important.

Sodium is not an issue unless you are a few weeks out from a competition or unless you have a known heart or kidney disease...

I showed that I needed 3307 kcal per day. Yesterday for instance it showed that I should have had 684 more kals than I had.

Yeah.... Did you use those calorie calculators on the web?? Because even the ones on that site I linked to are horribly wrong....

So don't listen to them...

How much you need depends on things like your current weight, height and BF%, how active are you, your age, your sex, your genetics and many other things....

Basically you should start eating maintainence and decrease slowly from there.

I am 5'11 178lbs, i am not fat but have some chub in a few areas that I am not used to and I don't like it. I want to get nice and lean and increase my muscle. Below is that I am eating on a normal day.

Meal #1
Whole wheat English muffin w/ fat free cream cheese
5 egg whites (hard boiled)
Cup of coffee with low fat milk and a little sugar

Meal #2
Whole wheat wrap with 4 oz. of turkey meat and fat free cream cheese
Baby carrots raw

Meal #3
8 oz. skinless chicken
Baked sweet potato

Meal #4
8 oz skinless chicken
Broccoli

Meal #5
Tuna with honey mustard and some green onions
On top of a salad

Meal #6 (after workout)
8 oz skinless chicken

Is this condusive to the results that I am trying to get?

I would eat less chicken, try going from 8 oz per meal to 4-5 oz. And then I would add some fruits (since there are none) and maybe more vegetables (you have lots of leafy green stuff but nothing like corn, peas or carrots).

Other than that, I think your diet is pretty good. If you don't loose weight on it, just cut some calories out (easiest way is to cut down the chicken portion sizes)

The one I use is this: (taken from BFFM)

Katch-McArdle formula (BMR based on lean body weight)
The Harris-Benedict equation has separate formulas for men and women because men usually have a higher lean body mass and a larger bodies.
Since the Katch-McArdle formula accounts for LBM, this single formula applies
equally to both men and women and it is the most accurate method of determining your daily calorie needs.

BMR (men and women) = 370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg)

Example:
You are male
You weigh 172 lbs (78 kilos)
Your body fat percentage is 14% (24.1 lbs fat, 147.9 lbs lean)
Your lean mass is 147.9 lbs (67.2 kilos)
Your BMR = 370 + (21.6 X 67.2) = 1821 calories

To determine TDEE from BMR, you simply multiply BMR by the activity factor:

Continuing with the previous example:
Your BMR is 1821
Your activity level is moderately active (you work out 3-4 times per week)
Your activity factor is 1.55
Your TDEE = 1.55 X 1821 = 2822 calories

As you can see, the difference in the TDEE as determined by both formulas is
statistically insignificant (2779 vs. 2822 calories) because the man we used as an example is average in body size and body composition. The primary benefit of factoring LBM into the equation is increased accuracy when your body composition leans to either end of the spectrum (very muscular or very obese). This is yet another reason to monitor your body
fat percentage and not just your body weight.

Activity factor
Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. Active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or
2 X day training, marathon, football camp,
contest, etc.

Originally Posted by Emma-Leigh

www.nutridiary.com

Simple to use, accurate and it even gives you pretty pie charts... Plus, you can create meals and it gives you the breakdown for each.

Thanks Emma! Ill try it out for a few weeks and see how it works out!

Someone should make a program that factors in Carb Cycling.. that would be killer!

Originally Posted by NeilPearson

I would eat less chicken, try going from 8 oz per meal to 4-5 oz.

Agreed - 8 oz of chicken is just stupid... (that is about 70g of protein! )

And then I would add some fruits (since there are none)

Agreed... Athough you would have to make sure calorie alterations were made too...

and maybe more vegetables (you have lots of leafy green stuff but nothing like corn, peas or carrots).

Green leafy stuff is good... It is fine to use as a vegetable (spinach, lettuce, kale, asian greens etc etc are all great!).

Corn is not a vegetable.. It is a grain (like oats) and should be treated as such (starchy carb).

Peas are also not a vegetable... They are legumes (like chick-peas) and should also be treated as a starchy carb.

Carrots... Well... These are fine - but they are not your best choice in vegetable. They are a lot higher in sugar and calories than other vegetables and are therefore less of a 'filler' and more of a 'food'.

Originally Posted by BOSOX1980

I am 5'11 178lbs, i am not fat but have some chub in a few areas that I am not used to and I don't like it. I want to get nice and lean and increase my muscle.

In that case the calorie intake of 3300 that was suggested is probably far too high for your goals...

As long as you are not horribly unfit (with a really high BF%) then something closer to 2500 cals would be better to start with (I would agree with the above in that your maintainence is probably something around 2800 cals).

Keep protein higher (not stupidly high - but something around 225-250g), carbs moderate and fats moderate too...

Meal #1
Whole wheat English muffin w/ fat free cream cheese
5 egg whites (hard boiled)
Cup of coffee with low fat milk and a little sugar

Could be better...
Dump the ff cream cheese and use some 1% cottage cheese and 1 tbs PB instead.
Drop the sugar and use skim milk in your coffee (only a small amount).
The muffin could ideally be relaced with a more filling and higher fibre carb.
Some fruit here may also be a good idea.
Some fish oil caps would be good too.

Meal #2
Whole wheat wrap with 4 oz. of turkey meat and fat free cream cheese
Baby carrots raw

Drop the cheese again and add 1-2 tbs of avocado or 0.5-1tbs olive oil.
Turkey is good (make it breast meat).
Add real vegetables.

Meal #3
8 oz. skinless chicken
Baked sweet potato

Decrease chicken to ~4-5 oz
Add vegetables
Add some healthy fats too.

Meal #4
8 oz skinless chicken
Broccoli

Decrease chicken.
Add some healthy fats.

Meal #5
Tuna with honey mustard and some green onions
On top of a salad

This is your pre-workout meal, so have some carbs here (eg: some brown rice +/- some fruit).
Salad is good.
Watch the calories in the honey mustard.

Meal #6 (after workout)
8 oz skinless chicken

I would swap this completely. PWO you want some carbs and some faster digesting protein. A shake would be ideal - something like some whey, a banana, some skim milk...

I got bored and decided to do an old fashioned XLS template as a general guide for my meals.

Most of the nutrition trackers dont show a running tally of meal calories (and its breakdown) and none of the PC based programs seem to have the ability to set a goal limit to calories and change it for carb cycle style programs.

Anyways, I put a quick spreadsheet together to help me set my goals for meals based on a simple carb cycling diet with high and low days.

I'm still new at both carb cycling and at making spreadsheets so forgive me if I have made any grave errors on the sheet but I thought I would post it up for feedback, and see if any of you might find use for it!

It is based on the BFFM carb cycling program and the macronutrient variables can be changed. The spreadsheet is locked so you don't accidentally erase the calculated values but there is no password so feel free to play with it.

The reason I made it, was so I could get a decent projection of a calorie tapered, and carb tapered meal guide based on entering my weight, bf, and macronutrient ratios. The high and low days are based on a 30% deficit, and a 5% deficit and can be changed. Maybe some of you might find a use for it!

Moses
(link to follow)

Here is the link
http://www.juiceproductions.com/fitness/

And yeah Im overweight =P

So to use it, just enter your own bodyweight, bf%, TDEE factor, and you can also manually enter your goal low day cal goals, and high day goals. For the low and high days you can enter your own % of carb/pro/fat, and for the meals, you can also change the tapering amounts. To unlock the sheet, click on Tools, Protection, and unlock it, then you can change anything there you want.