SO SO SO FRUSTRATED w/food tracking OMGosh!!!!!

Posts: 505
2/20/13 9:04 P

I agree with Nausikaa!

Find what works for you! If you like where you are tracking your food now then stick with that. Getting frustrated and stressed over something isn't going to help, and may turn you off completely from the program. Use the portions of Spark that you find helpful, and know you will stick with. Continue tracking your food with what's working for you! There are days when I seriously feel as if I'm tracking my life away.

Edited by: HAPPLYEVERAFTER at: 2/20/2013 (21:05)

current weight: 135.0

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Posts: 300
2/20/13 12:52 P

Food tracking is definitely one of the hardest things to adjust to when you start on SP. It helps to remember that even if you don't get it perfectly right, it's still better than not tracking at all. Using the "copy" function helps if you're eating the same meals, and definitely use "favorites" for the stuff you eat all the time. At first it'll be a pain in the neck, but you'll get used to it. And gosh darn it, it works!

current weight: 165.0

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Posts: 4,789
2/18/13 7:24 A

I'm an active SP member but I don't track food here. There are other places that work better for me. I started tracking food in 2007 on my computer (offline) and I have continued with that. There's no way I'd ever switch to SP or any other online tracker, I have hundreds of recipes in my offline software and it would be crazy to switch. Plus, I can use mine without being online which is a huge plus for me. My point is: DO WHAT WORKS for you. It doesn't matter what other people are doing -- what matters it that it is sustainable over a long period of time for YOU. Find what works and keep doing it!

Posts: 138
2/16/13 10:20 A

It gets MUCH easier over time. I've been on here for a few years and now most of what I've done is captured in other days. Do you know of the "copy" function??
Go back to previous days and you can copy entire meals into the next day or future days. Works great for morning/lunch routines or leftovers!!!

Continue to ask for help if you need it. There is a lot of support at SP
:)

Michelle

current weight: 128.0

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SparkPoints: (800)
Fitness Minutes: (118)
Posts: 30
2/16/13 9:30 A

Once again :-) everyone is very correct!!!! Thank you for helping me with my overwhelming frustration and helping me to see that if I have to add things manually, I will not have to do it forever!!!! Thank you again :-)

current weight: 230.0

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190

SparkPoints: (800)
Fitness Minutes: (118)
Posts: 30
2/16/13 9:27 A

Kris your SO right!!!!!! Re:need vs want!!! I hear ya loud & clear!!

current weight: 230.0

233 222.25 211.5 200.75

190

SparkPoints: (2,067)
Fitness Minutes: (1,325)
Posts: 144
2/16/13 7:52 A

We work in kjs here in Australia, so I have to change everything to calories as well. It can be frustrating but then I learned to just add everything I commonly eat to the favourites list. Even things like 'light lunch 1000kj' or dinner meal 2000kj, then I just add the appropriate calories to the calorie list. I don't worry about breaking down the nutrients - it still tracks the calories for me then.

current weight: 218.0

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SparkPoints: (114,526)
Fitness Minutes: (180,875)
Posts: 17,591
2/16/13 6:43 A

KCS2013,

Don't worry. There is no need to stress out. If you find it easier to use the food diary on that other website, that's okay ! You don't have to use the Spark nutrition tracker. There are plenty of members who don't use the SP tracker. As I've mentioned before, Spark People, Weight Watchers, ediets, etc... these are all tools you could use to help you lose weight.

So, if you'd like to use the food tracker on another website, no problem ! If you prefer the forums here, post or blog here. Take what YOU need from each website. You're going to find that there is no one website that does everything for everybody. So, if you need to mix and match features, that really is okay.

Also, if you find tracking online difficult, then consider just writing down your choices in a notebook. People did lose weight long before computers became a part of a typical household.

I know things seem overwhelming right now, but everything will work out.

Posts: 848
2/16/13 12:15 A

I am a busy person and I manually enter nearly everything. Try being vegan. You think SP has local, organic, sustainable companies on their trackers? Not a chance!

However, I know if I don't track everything, I will not lose weight. Period. If I want to lose the weight, I have to put in the time. It gets easier as you settle into a routine. Once most of the foods you eat are entered, all you have to do is call them up on your favorites menu.

Edited by: LILLIPUTIANNA at: 2/16/2013 (00:16)

current weight: 128.0

153 144.75 136.5 128.25

120

SparkPoints: (87,879)
Fitness Minutes: (29,015)
Posts: 17,688
2/15/13 11:43 P

I live in NZ where very little of what we have is in SP's Nutrition Tracker (apart from some fresh fruit/veges and nuts.) As a result we have to enter most of ours manually. Once it is in our favourites it is there for good. When you get something that you have entered yourself, make sure that you save it to favourites. After a while it only takes a few minutes to enter a full day's worth, and if you go back through my tracker a few days, you will see that there are TONS of foods entered!!

You say you "do NOT want to take all the time" - sometimes we have to learn to replace "want' with "NEED" - as far as our health is concerned, when we are overweight, we NEED to learn to take the time - no-one else is going to do it!

Kris

current weight: 151.0

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SparkPoints: (800)
Fitness Minutes: (118)
Posts: 30
2/15/13 10:31 P

OK... I am new here...... trying REALLY HARD but struggling to adopt the Spark life and all that is offered here! I am enjoying most aspects... except for the one that is SO VERY important for most.... to lose weight and get healthy and that is the DANG food tracking.

I can NOT stand how you search one 'simple' item and 4 dozen options pop up. Then chain restaurants are not showing up at all, UNLESS it is again... dozens of varies entries from others. I am finding it such a HUGE time consuming pain in the butt I don't want to even bother trying to log food!!! OMGosh!!!!!!!!!

I do NOT want to take all the time to keep checking out companies websites for most of what I eat and drink. Just do NOT have time to do that.... it is maddening.

Again... My Fitness Pal food database is WAY WAY better!!!!! BUT don't want to track food in 2 different places. Trying to figure out if it would work to track food on MFP and everything else on SP.

Just don't know and it is honestly stressing me out!

current weight: 230.0

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