Already frustrated with the Nutrition/Diet...

Didn't have any trouble tonight. Am used to it not having the food I want to enter. I go to google and put in "calories for a pint of Haagen dazs" [lol] and I can usually find it on another site. Then I just put it in as a new food and save it to my favorites. Am I sneaky or what?

Is anyone else having a problem entering their food onto the meal tracker tonight? I can't get it to search anything I put in. I don't know what I'm doing wrong!

I used to do fitday.com and they didn't give meal plans so I'm kinda used to doing my own meal plans. I look at sparkpeople's meal plans for new ideas.

Congratulations on your weight loss! You must be very proud! I'm new to sparkpeople and I'm just browsing the message boards.

I only use the meal-plan meals that look good to me. The rest I come up with and track using the nutrition tracker. However, I do think meal plans are very helpful for people who just getting started, because they kind of train on you to use correct portion sizes and ensure that you're getting the right nutrients.

Maybe you could skim through the meal plan options and find a breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack that you DO like and then repeat it through-out the week. You can gradually add more options and experiment as you get more comfortable.

Eating healthy does not have to be expensive...cook big batches of meals you like...and reheat and eat through-out the week. It works for me!

I don't use the meal plans from spark people but I do find that I do much better when I use the trackers.
If you don't like veggies, have you considered juicing to add nutrients to your diet? I just got a fairly inexpensive juicer, and I drink one glass of green juice a day. It's way less expensive than a juice fast (which I think would be too much for me right now anyway) and it tastes pretty good. I feel like it really helps me get a more complete day of nutrition.

"Is there anyone out there who has made this work without using the nutrition tracker?"

Probably, but they are in the minority, as using the nutrition tracker is a very important part!
Tracking is the main way to tell if you are eating the right calories and nutrients.


But... you do not have to follow the meal planner. I do believe that MOST people here do not. We enter our own foods, based on what we like and what is available in the stores.

Thank goodness because I couldn't stick to that if I had to. I want this to work and I was just about to give up and try something else.

Thanks for the post!

most people just use the tracker to track what they eat [ie use the search button and enter in what they plan to have] rather than using the meal plans. and that's especially true if they have certain dietary issues, which it sounds like you do.

First off, I'm serious about wanting to lose weight. I've been planning and trying to become more active for several months with the goal of making this a family affair. But I'm already frustrated with the diet menu part.

I can't eat food with strange textures like cottage cheese. Last time I tried, I threw up. The same thing goes for certain acidic foods like tomatoes, squash (can barely say that without gagging!), and green beans. About the only vegetables that I can tolerate are potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, purple hull peas, pinto beans, kidney beans (for some reason) and broccoli. I can't eat crunchy food like carrot sticks or celery or chewy foods like tougher meat cuts because of TMJ problems. I tried changing the options on the menu, but it took me almost half an hour to adapt 1 day's menus and I still can only tolerate about half of what is on the menu. What point is it if I'm going to be literally starving?

Not to mention the fact that this is going to cost me a fortune (which I definitely don't have) and require me to prepare lunch alongside a full dinner because I have access to only a mini fridge during the day because of my work. I don't think this can work for me.

Is there anyone out there who has made this work without using the nutrition tracker? It would make me feel better if there were others who were able to make it without that feature. Please help!