Diet Tracking Apps

[rolando]

This weekend, I tried a couple of diet tracking applications. I tried Diet & Excersise Assistant and CalorieKing.

Both have their good and bad points. But, neither one makes it easy to find the food you just ate. I think I like CalorieKing better, I just don't like the way you select the foods. Sometimes, when you're about to select "hashbrowns," for example, it's almost impossible to tell which "hashbrown" you're selecting (is it McDonald's, homemade, etc.). It's frustrating, but I think I can get used to it.

Are there any other good apps along the lines of either of these? I will probably by CalorieKing, but wan't to see what other options I have.

On another note... What's with the lame "demo" versions of fitness apps? CalorieKing only gives 7 days trial. D&E Assistant gives you all the time in the world, but only one food in each category per day. So, you can't even see how it works for even one day!

I sort of understand the seven days, seeing a lot of people might give up the diet soon after a week (and then not buy the software), but the D&E Assistant demo is terrible.

Rolando

[pixelpainter]

I have both and prefer Colorie King as well. Not just because it's somewhat easier to use but the database is outstanding. Plus, If you have specific foods you eat regularly, you can creat "meals" or save them to a user defined database.

[mikeo]

Check out RMRDiet (www.rmrsoft.com (http://www.rmrsoft.com)).  Their conduit is not as good, but the diet and exercise sections are very good, along with the daily targets displays.

[ERobin]

If you are interested in just finding the calories of food items and not using the diary option, I found an app on the USDA website that's FREE.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/srch/search.htm

[rolando]

I tried rmrdiet, but didn't like that there were no specific food items from restaurants included. You had to make all sorts of assumptions and guesses about your taco or burrito choices.

Rolando

[*YellowRose*]

Not sure this will be what you're looking for, but the info may help somebody else...;)

You can find databases HERE (http://akasha.freeshell.org/ww/pilot/wwfc.html) that works with THIS (http://www.magma.ca/~roo/list/list.html) program.  You'll probably want the databases with the nutritional info. 

These databases also work with WWCalc, which is a freeware program that is not 'publicly' available. (Weight Watchers is having a hissy about it. I think they're idiots, but that's IMHO...)

Good luck!   (You know, if you do choose to use the list version, you could easily track your calorie or other nutrient intake in HandyShopper...)

[kidfixer]

Rose, you are absolutely right. WWcalc is a program that can actually help you lose weight bigtime - I lost 26lbs with it (I will not include before & after bathing suit pictures). The system developed by weight watchers actually seems to work. Quite a few gastroenterologists and bariatric physicians are using it with their patients. You will get results if you follow it.

I wonder if there exists a "safe harbor" of sorts to allow all those interested in it to download it. I have a copy, but I fear I might get in trouble if I share it. Some really persistent types might be able to find one or both versions of the same application on the net.

 

[voltz]

I tried Body for Life Assistant, Diet & Exercise and BalanceLog. Of the three I liked Balance Log...haven't tried CalorieKing but maybe I will. After a few days of using all three, I deleted LA and D&E, because they seemed limited and hard to use. BL has some shortcomings (like you can add foods to the database, but you can't permanently add exercises to the database...strange) but all in all it's easy to use. I want to quickly add food that I just ate to the log, and this one does it fast. Balance Log has a desktop companion app, but I've not tried it yet. A trial version of BL came with my NZ90.

[*YellowRose*]

Originally posted by kidfixer
I wonder if there exists a "safe harbor" of sorts to allow all those interested in it to download it. I have a copy, but I fear I might get in trouble if I share it. Some really persistent types might be able to find one or both versions of the same application on the net.   Well, as I mentioned before, I think 'W_W' is being ridiculous.  It's not like they've released a program and it's competition or something...  I agree with you, it's a shame.   I've seen versions on a few usenet groups, and know of a couple of websites where it's available for download.  (It's up to 3.0.6 now)  Your weight loss is awesome!!!!  I'm sure you feel better.... :D  Congrats!

[lancelot]

get WWcalc here http://pub121.ezboard.com/fdottisweightlosszonefrm116

go to the message thread "post all WWcalc requests here"

[kidfixer]

OK, I posted at ezboard, now I have to wait. Thanks for the tip.

[MWKeiki]

I thing BalanceLog (palm and desktop) is outstanding but also very pricey compared to most palm apps.

If you want to weigh in on a product being developed (Diet Pro), talk to the developler of the Living Cookbook: http://www.livingcookbook.com

(go to the "support" area, and check out the forums)

Livingcookbook is a desktop recipe/menu program that also does nutritional analyses.

One of the limitations of many diet tracking apps (including BalanceLog) is that you must manually enter nutritional information for many "custom foods" or those of your favorite recipes. You can guestimate, or use a recipe program like LivingCookbook, to do a nutritional analysis, then enter the results.

The potential "killer feature" of Diet Pro would be the link/integration with Living Cookbook, so that nutritional information on your favorite recipes would be available without additional data entry.

[LanMan]

I use Vivonic. It's pretty good. I like the food search feature, so that I don't have to hunt through the list to find something that I want to eat. However, I haven't seen an upgrade from Vivonic in over a year, so I don't know what the progs status is.

www.vivonic.com

Another prog that look pretty good is Balancelog by Healthetech:

http://www.healthetech.com/corp/consumer/balancelog.jsp

However, Balancelog is a little on the expensive side, but it appears to be thorough. It's $70 for the Palm/PC software.

[kidfixer]

I just got hold of the latest version of WWCalc3.0.6 (vaporware)! I really wish WW would negotiate with developer...

[lancelot]

Originally posted by kidfixer
I just got hold of the latest version of WWCalc3.0.6 (vaporware)! I really wish WW would negotiate with developer...

but then you'd have to pay for it.

[Visigoth]

I currently use Diet & Exercise Assistant 4 (http://www.keyoe.com/) . With it I have dropped about 16 pounds over the last month. While most of that is just me sticking to my workouts and eating less it is a nice way to track it. I bought the desktop component as well which makes it real easy to import updated food database items, which they do update. Overall I like the program and at ~30 for the app and desktop program it is not bad. I wish they would add a "meal" ability so I do not have to add individual ingredients. Also their calorie calculator seems quite off as compared to what my exercise machine reports.

I did use DietLog for a bit and really liked its food database. But now that is it BalanceLog (http://www.healthetech.com/corp/consumer/balancelog.jsp) it is a bit more than I would like to spend. I have not tried the new version so I don't know if they kept the food database design like it was in DietLog.

Edit: Girl Scout cookies just came in and I ordered a bunch before I got serious about lossing weight. I used to go though a box of them at a time, but now I just can't.... I'm in hell.....

[lancelot]

kidfixer.....did you download the food database and restaurant database too?

[Nate1749]

BalanceLog is the best for me, just get the palmos side and I think it was $20. Well worth it if you think of how much money you spend on junk food, excercise equipment, or gym fees.

The WW system I would agree also works great if you follow it. Although, what diet doesn't? If you ask me it's kind of common sense, eat less, exercise more; what a concept.

What helped me most lose weight was when I read in Men's Health that dieting was 80% and exercise was only 20%. I would run over 35 miles a week and saw very minimal progress. What would happen is I would run 5 miles and then after reward myself with something like a granola bar and a lite sorbet bar; well that gained back half of what I just burned so....

I started excersing less (never rewarding myself because I wasn't working that hard), and just eating healther and that worked best for me. Everyone's different though, just keep trying different stuff until you find your niche. Good Luck!

-Nate

[LanMan]

Originally posted by Nate1749
BalanceLog is the best for me, just get the palmos side and I think it was $20. Well worth it if you think of how much money you spend on junk food, excercise equipment, or gym fees.
-Nate

From Balancelog's site:

"BalanceLog for Windows® and Palm OS: $69
BalanceLog for Windows®: $59
BalanceLog for Palm OS: $49

Current Users: Upgrade to BalanceLog 2.0 for $9.95!"

[Nate1749]

good lord! well use the 30 day trial and if you lose weight then register it (or if you don't need to lose that much just uninstall and reinstall it).

I've tried quite a few and this one is definitly the best though; IMO.

-Nate

[Nate1749]

visigoth: It's probably because your exercise equipment is assuming you weigh a certain amount (check the manual - normally it's pretty high). If the palm program is taking variables into count when calculating (weight, etc), it's probably more accurate than the exercise machine which doesn't know anything about you personally, and may have a little bias to report a high amount of calories being burned. However, if your equipment is using heart/pulse rate and you had to enter in information about yourself at the beginning of the workout, then I'd say this figure is more accurate.

-Nate

[jwittman]

My vote is for RMRDiet. The only drawback to the program is the way the food database is organized (and it's a bit limited), but the developer plans to make it better in the next release. I've tried several programs and found that RMRDiet is the best. And, it's only $20!

[xMRG]

In have used Eat Watch, a freeware application, that does not count calories but instead charts and computes your daily intake of calories. What this means is you get to see what actually gets by your lips. Using the graph you can view your trend and adjust your eating to suit your particular body (we are not all the same).

Actually, this application was written to accompany a book called The Hackers Diet, free and available on the web. Don't let the name fool you serious book about weight control written by John Walker, the founder of Autodesk (of AutoCad fame). This book looks at weight loss from an engineering perspective and is a very interesting book. You do not need to read the book to use the application but it is worth reading.

Here are the links

Book (WEB and PDF)
http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/

Palm Application, Eat Watch
http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/palm/

Good luck, I lost 40 pounds in 5 months using Eat Watch and The Hackers Diet. I have since lost focus and gained most of that back :(. The book said that might happen. Well, I will use this post as a wake up call and start again.

[Visigoth]

-OT-
Nate: That makes sense, I'll have to check my manual. D&EA does have my height and daily weight. I have a recumbent bike that I do 60m, about 12 miles, with a good deal of resistance (9/10) most of the time and at a decent pace (~11 MPH according to the bike). This gets my heart rate into the 120-130 range, but it does not constantly measure my heart, it has those grip type sensors. Now the bike shows that I burned ~540 calories (it also calculates fat calories, but I can't remember that number) but D&EA calculates 60m of moderate intensity as 860. Now one problem is that I have no idea what D&EA considers moderate intensity. Even so that is a 300+ difference and I have been using the number reported by the bike.

Any thoughts at to which one might be right?

[Nate1749]

well first off level nine out of ten is definitly higher than moderate; moderate would be more like 4, 5 or 6.

You said the bike has the hand sensors (generally those are the $ ones), now the ones at my gym that have hand sensors, first they make u enter in ur age, weight, etc. on the machine for it to accurately calculate calories burned/fat calories burned. If the machine is taking into account your heart rate (check the manual to make sure it's not just displaying it and is actually using it in a formula to calculate calories burned), then I'd take the machines word for it.

About your workout, your resistence level seems high, but your heart rate low for that level of resistence; I assume that's because your pedaling quite slow? Although 11mph seems like a pretty moderate speed. Heart rates are totally per individual, but if your a healthy person (no medical problems, no special circumstances) then as a general rule try to keep your heart rate at 140; just my suggestion though.

About fat calories, you don't need the machine, just divide by nine. A gram of protein, etc. is composed of 4 calories, however, a gram of fat 9; all the machine should be doing it taking however many calories it's said you've burned and dividing them by nine.

Personally though I'd say the 540 is right; I do 10minute miles for an hour jogging and I burn about 6-700 calories. So if your burning more sitting down, well then I'm doing the wrong excercise!

Also, when I was trying to lose weight, I figured why cheat myself, and I always went with the lower number when calculating calories burned (another reason to go with the 540), and estimated high when calculating calories that you've taken in. If your like me and have cheated a million times, I figure why not cheat a little the other way, you know, not only meeting your goal, but meeting it early.

In conclusion, take the bikes word for it, you might want to e-mail D&EA just to see exactly what they were thinking...

-Nate

[Visigoth]

Thanks for the info. Yeah, I figured that 9/10 is pretty intensive. 10/10 feels like you're going up a 45d mountain, very tough. As for my heart rate, those hand sensors might not be reading it that well also I am not the heathiest of persons (my weight) right now so that could factor in. Either way I think it is just for show since the numbers end up being about the same each time no matter how long I keep my hands on the sensors. I have been using the lower figure for the same reason you mentioned, might as well short myself some calories and get a bit ahead.

Sorry for the derailment...

Back on topic, I added a bunch of things to D&EA using the desktop import function. Very nice since I didn't have to add them all in by hand. It helped that with a little format kung-fu I was able to take the information from the web right to a CSV file for importing.

And with all apps, try a bunch out and see which one fits your needs the best.

[bobbd]

Originally posted by jwittman
My vote is for RMRDiet. The only drawback to the program is the way the food database is organized (and it's a bit limited), but the developer plans to make it better in the next release. I've tried several programs and found that RMRDiet is the best. And, it's only $20!
I agree, but don't hold your breath for an update. I e-mailed RMR to ask about it and was told that the author has moved to PocketPC and prefers it. Since it's a hobby for him rather than a career, they doubt that there'll be any more updates.

For what it's worth I just did a fast evaluation of 5 diet programs. I prefer a low-carb diet so seeing that's a must.

eDiet Manager only shows calories and fat so it was out.
Diet&Exercise Assistant is oriented to the USDA food pyramid and didn't show percentages. I did like the food database however.
CalorieKing didn't track exercise and I wasn't crazy about the interface.
BalanceLog had lots of stuff, almost too much. Again I wasn't crazy about the interface and found it quite expensive.

That leaves RMRDiet. The database is fine for standard foods and I can always add foods for the odd fast food. It does pecentages of everything I'm really interested in and tracks exercise. The charts are nice and the interface is easy to use. I wish they would update it with the PPC's enhancements. Ah well.

As I work in the software industry, I know that it's always the bird in the hand. I.e. don't count on futures. I guess RMRDiet is it for me.

Bob