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Next Monday I'm going to start a food journal. I'm trying to lose weight and I am on my last week of a dietfood delivery service. It's been great because all my food shows up on my doorstep each morning and I don't have to keep track of what I eat. But I can't live like this forever so I must start an old fashioned journal.

Any suggestions for a helpful calorie counter? I'd love to see a calorie counter that gives calories based on weight (i.e., one ounce of chicken breast = x calories) rather than one piece of chicken = 120 calories.

I'm excited to cook for myself again. I've already whipped up a huge grocery list of things I can make for myself again.

I kept a food journal for over two years, filling two notebooks with random recipes and memories. I loved it especially for the holidays like Thanksgiving, as it was easy for me to look back and see what worked, what didn't, what I said I would try the next year, etc. And the books were small enough to carry around with me for jotting down random notes. I fell out of the habit, though, and decided to start a food blog instead. I figure if I think someone's reading, there's more incentive for me to stay on top of posting.

I'm keeping a food journal right now as well as listing what I eat (in slightly less detail) on a blog. It's really helped me refrain from overeating. I also link to any new recipes, and turns out that many of them are from this site...who knew? ; )

Caw261- I think www.fitday.com is a great calorie counter. You can enter things by weight, amount, size, etc... Also they provide a nutritional breakdown as well as a chart telling you what percentage of fat/carbs/protien you ate.

I keep a different kind of food journal. I keep a journal of all the dishes a cook in a week with notes on how they turned out. At the end of the year it is nice to look back and see what recipes you made frequently, which ones really worked, what you made at some dinner party 4 months ago...etc...

Keeping a food journal was an integral part of my losing 20 pounds 2 years ago. It forces you to be conscious of what youre eating. That way at the end of the day when you really want a late night snack you can go back to your list and see that you really don't need that snack. Or better yet, that you were so good one day you can treat yourself with ice cream or some other indulgent treat. Also, be SURE to keep perfect track of all your liquids! Fruit juices and soda can really jack up your daily caloric intake.

When I diet I keep a food journal and it is a great tool. The rest of the time I'm gaining though so it would just get in the way. ; )

http://danamccauley.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/my-wii-fit-is-a-mean-girl/

I like the idea of keeping a food journal around what I cook and recipes I try rather than the calories I've consumed. Maybe I'll give it a try, but the disiplin required for that sort of thing usually deserts me.

This is so weird, but... I have that same blue pen!
I have kept a food diary from time to time, but I usually just keep a mental list in my head.

We had to keep a food journal for our son when he was around 16 months of age because he was underweight. It was horrible -- trying to track little bites of this and little bites of that is very difficult, and it was painful to see how little he actually ate... Fortunately, we only had to do it for 4 days.

(Turns out that his appetite was suppressed due to low iron levels because *I* was anemic -- a fact not diagnosed until a year later!!)

I have been! I use this awesome free app for my iPhone called Lose It. I can easily keep track of all the food I eat. It's super simple to input recipes too (but I often have to do tsp to cup conversions for sugar!), and keep track of things I cook. I've used it DILIGENTLY every day in 2009 except the Super Bowl. Keeping track of what I eat keeps me honest, but it also helps me not feel guilty about one cookie. I just make up for it in my calories elsewhere & in exercise. I've lost 8lbs since the new year!

Oh, and I keep track of recipes I cook on my food blog! Only the ones I like get posted!

I've tried keeping a food journal, but it always felt a little bit obsessive. I know that people do find them helpful for weight loss.

every year around this time, I attempt to do the same thing. I do it on self.com's self challenge. There's a great online meal log that's pretty easy to use. check it out!

Like heather77, keeping a food journal made me super-obsessive. I started weighing every bite of food to calculate the calories and it probably worsened my relationship with food. Me and food, we've got a casual relationship now and I'm enjoying it much more.

I use www.nutrimirror.com . It's got alot of food choices, great nutritional info and you can put in your own recipes and know the nutritional content. And yes, you can choose portion sizes for anything you eat. It will be a big help to you as you transition from someone making your food for you and making the choices yourself. Also, put everything on your grocery list in your 'Favorites' folder and then put in any recipes that you like to make. You'll know how nutritious your recipes are and can make ingredient adjustments if you need. Plus its a free site!

I also use the Lose It app for iPhone. It was free, so I was somewhat skeptical. However, I find it even easier to use and more convenient than Weight Watchers online. I highly recommend it. I am sometimes bad about tracking on the weekends, but it is helpful to see everything you are eating and think twice about it.

I use TheDailyPlate.com religiously. I've been super-serious about it since September, and I've lost about 6 pounds. Recording your food really makes you consider what you are eating and what the healthiest choices are. I'm obsessed!

i love fitday. when i was using it i was feeling so great, exercising more, etc.

I use myfooddiary.com. My husband uses spark.com (or maybe sparkpeople.com). I'm able to put in what I eat and how much I exercise and it has been great for loosing weight and maintaining a weight loss. It also helps me less obsessive about food. When I'm trying to loose weight I tend to go overboard and eat too little. I also like that it tells me what % of my calories come from saturated fat, sugar... so I can make adjustments.

Wow, those iPhone apps sound sweet.
I have used the good old fashioned Weight Watchers tracker/journal, both online and on paper, for over 5 years to keep off 30 pounds. Does that make me a nerd on the internets? I use that to keep track of what I am eating, which helps me monitor my weight and makes me more aware of portion size and how I feel when I eat certain foods. Might sound anal, but I am so far from that...it's silly.
I also have a kitchen journal to keep track of how recipes turn out and jot down notes while cooking.

I hope I'm not commenting too late in the game, but Livestrong.com features The Daily Plate, and it's a great tracking system. You can even enter recipes and it tabulates the calories, fat, etc. The database of foods is pretty big, and as long as you're not too caught up on finding the exact item, you can usually find something close. I've used this site since last August, and it made me very aware of what and how much I eat. Also, if you need exercise motivation, it's all in one handy place.
I also keep a journal of dinner party menus. I tape in photos and recipes. It's like a cooking scrapbook.

The best food tracker I've ever used is Sparkpeople.com. Even for me, living in Spain (with different food choices around), it worked great.

Yes, I'm using the Lose It! app on my iPhone. Works like a charm, portable and comprehensive, plus it accounts for exercise.

I'm with Michelle and Heather on this one. At the advice of a nutritionist, I tried this, but it was a DISASTER. I can't eat enough food when I'm tracking it, no matter what the tracking mechanism is. Despite spending half the day fighting off hunger pangs and dizzy spells, I still end up beating myself up. Fortunately, my nutritionist was a good one, and we agreed that in my case, this is a very very bad idea.

I guess these can work for some people, but for me it totally divorced me from my usually helpful and healthy internal cues and led to some very unhealthy patterns.

I keep a very informal food journal in my regular planner. I plan our menus out a week in advance, so I write what I am going to cook for dinner (and lunch, if applicable) each day. Usually I stick to it, but if I do make changes, I note them. It's fun to go back through every few months and remember which recipes were great and which ones were "learning experiences."

I use fatsecret.com. You can keep track of what you eat, your weight, and your exercise. It also has recipes and a journal if you want to jot things down like your measurements, your goals, or your feelings that day (which might cause you to eat more or less).

I've discovered that when I'm on a diet what works best for me is to keep a journal of all the things I eat and how many calories I consume. I discovered that I was easily eating the double the calories I'm supposed to eat on a daily basis; but once I began to use the diary I would eat less calories without dieting.