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Software Tools for Nutritional Tracking?

Posted by Cliff on from the does-a-body-good dept.

Deagol asks: "After reading about it several times on Slashdot, I decided to start the Hacker's Diet this month. I've even lost 3lbs so far. I'm looking for software tools to make this thing easier. So far, I've been using Nut to track my calories and see what nutrients I need to balance. Though Nut has been invaluable, it lacks a clean recipe and menu interface (it has them, but it's light on features). I did the usual google/freshmeat/sourceforge search, but turned up very little. gnutrition looks promising, but it's 2 years unmaintained and uses an old version of the USDA database. My requirements are: that it use the current USDA database; have a flexible recipe and menu functions which tracks calories and nutrients; and finally that it runs under Linux (prefer OSS). Multiple-user support and easy of use would be nice, but not required."

3 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. Re:fitday? by maunleon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I second this. I used fitday as well, but only enough so I can learn how to eat. I foudn the food tracking and the protein/carbo/fat breakdown good (I use a 40carb, 30fat, 30 protein diet)

    You will find that after using it for a month or two, you learn to pace yourself and eat corectly. Then, it becomes cumbersome.

    Also note: it doesn't seem to be well managed by the admins. People have said it's next to impossible to get them to reply to any questions or problems, and they don't really add new features. They seem to be in maintenance mode, and some parts of the web site could really use improvement (the custom foods section for example, is limited in length...)

  2. Re:Losing weight fast by rubinson · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You say that you eat twice a day, less than 500 calories per day, and fast once a week? You weigh less than you did in 8th grade?

    Might I gently recommend that you visit your doctor just to make sure that you're not underweight? At least check out your body mass index (NHI BMI Calculator). It sounds like you may be starving yourself or, worse, that you might be at risk for developing an eating disorder. You say that you tend toward extreme behavior so you really need to watch out for the latter, an eating disorder will just wreck your health.

  3. "lbs" by jpkunst · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I've even lost 3lbs so far

    Interesting. Not that I have any idea how much a lb is.

    Strange measurements systems aside, I found that the best way to lose excess weight is

    • Do not eat fat snacks (potato chips, etc.) and sweet stuff (candy) on a regular basis
    • Exercise regularly
    • For the rest, eat normally, i.e., don't torture yourself for a limited time with a special diet to "lose weight fast". The weight will come right back when you stop with the diet. You should change your eating habits permanently.

    I managed (a few years ago) to go from 85 kg to 77 kg and I'm now at about 78 kg: good enough, though I'd like to get back to 77 again.

    JP