DIETMINDER Personal Food & Fitness Journal - Track Meals & Workouts Daily - Perfect for Weight Loss & Healthy Lifestyle Goals

I began tracking with Dietminder as part of my New Year’s resolution. It’s easy to track calories in meals, snacks, beverages as well as weight. I use it along with MyFitnessPal app. I like the hand written version to enter food and drink then get calories and macros from MyFitnessPal. Still using after seven months and just purchased a new Dietminder for the rest of the year.The first thing I would like to add, which doesn't specifically pertain to this journal but to diet and fitness journals in general is that they work. And they work well as long as your honest.Having struggled with my weight for the past 15 years I have tried so many diets so many workouts and so many different drugs, journalling along with a consistent workouts are the only things that I have had full success with.About 7 years ago I lost 70lbs from a size 22 to a size 2 it took me about 2 years, but by tracking with a journal I was able to take responsibility for what I was putting in my body. I was able to teach my self how to eat healthy without starving myself and working out and not hurting myself .Unfortunately about two years ago I injured my knee while hiking and eventually had to have surgery to fix it.Even though I continued my healthy eating habits I was limited in my physical movements and started to gain the weight back. I'm one of those people who must workout regularly to maintain their weight. Once the Doctor gave me the OK I was back to working out but with limited use of my knee I gained some of the weight that I originally lost back so from a size 2 to a size 10. I still consider my weight loss a success and having learned from my journalling and continue to make progress getting back to my ideal weight.Now for the reasons that I love this journal (and I also keep with me a calorie book for quick reference also the internet is an awesome way to find the nutritional information for most products) .First having a portable book with your goals as a reminder really helps with making the right decisions. Personally I eat 2 of my 3 meals away from home and having a journal keeps me on track. Having the personal goal as a remainder keeps me honest, and focused.I Love the Before and after photo spot my photo is obviously not flattering but I also have a photo of when I was at my peak weight and having that visual helps tremendously. Added is 3 pages to start your goals again this helps if you fall off track.The Daily Journal itself is simple and is made to be adaptable with any of the weight loss programs. Made simple to tracking Calories, Fat Grams, Garbs, Fiber and protein. It has two blank categories and plenty of space for each meal including snacks. I also like the time category, this has helped me balance out my eating time's insuring that their spread out; for example I had not realized that my meal times, all 3 were within 6 hours of each other so I started to spread them out father apart slowly this helped me not be so hungry when I got home and less likely to indulge in quick snacks before bed.The tracker also has glasses of water check at the top to keeps track as you go, Plus there is a Vitamins area and physical activity section that includes calories burned with time and intensity. Finally at the very bottom is a chart to help gauge the % of goals that were met. I hope this was helpful, and I encourage anyone that is loosing weight, maintaining weight, working on fitness goals or just tracking for heath reasons to give journalling a try. I has worked for me.I am one of THOSE people.......half an hour after I eat, I usually have no real memory what I have consumed. Pitiful!The only way to manage my food intake is to keep a running written account, throughout the day, of what I eat........ drat it all.I am always on the lookout for little food journals that are small enough to carry around in my admittedly enormous tote bag, light enough not to weigh me down too much., and yet complete enough to provide some prompts to help me note things like fat content, nutrition content and the like. [The best of these food journals in the past have also included decent calorie guide sections for common basic foods, to help sort some of this out on the run, but I have not seen this of late.]This Dietminder provides useful prompts about time of day food was consumed, amount consumed, detailed calorie/fat/nutrition record-keeping, meal and snack subtotals throughout the day, as well as space to note other things about the day that affect food intake, and so on. (Isn't it just the pits to have to write every damned thing down......even when eating SO LITTLE FOOD! Gah - getting older is dreadful!)Anyway.......because I just can't be bothered (on a daily basis) to note much in the way of details regarding fat content, various nutrition content, calorie load, fat load, sugar load and the like, a lot of the space in this food journal is sadly wasted for me. If you like to (or have to) keep a much stricter intake record, this is most definitely the record-keeper for you. [I am just proud of myself if I get the food itself listed with calorie totals. I am a work in progress!] What this little journal does do is keep me mindful that whatever I eat will have to be recorded and dealt with........which is a help. The spiral binding is also handy, as I don't have to battle with a cover while I am scribbling down my entries wherever I wind up eating.....which is sometimes on my lap!This is indeed easy to use, and does offer a quick picture of what goes on in my diet efforts week by week. For myself, while it is handy to be able to eat something, then go to my food information reference book, look every little thing up, record it all, and so have an easy-to-review overall diet picture of say, a day or a week, I just cannot get into all of the bother involved in doing this on a daily basis. Too depressing!I am glad that I found this journal, as I do like it, but I really don't need quite all of the detailed food diary entry options. I quite like that the creator of this has several other similar journals for exercise, well-being and the like. If I wasn't so damned busy preparing my gluten-free (I am a celiac and colitis sufferer), low glycemic index, low carb, low sugar, dairy-free morsels of tasteless food, I would probably be more inclined to keep a more detailed record of what I ate. It is handy to have all of this on hand, I do admit, for those rare days when I need to or (gasp) actually want to keep a really close eye on my food intake.Best foodie wishes to all!I have tried other journals notebooks etc. But this one has enough room that I can keep track of the things that are listed in there, as well as other things that are important to me. For example I track my blood sugar. Also my blood pressure. So as I’m keeping track of food I can see which foods affect my blood sugar, and use that as a guide for control. It is simply the best journal that I have ever ever used!Bought for my boyfriend as it's one of the few gender neutral diaries. He isn't very knowledgeable about nutrition, and using this has made him break down exactly what he's eating and actually understand where he's been going wrong. Unlike a lot of diaries, it gives a generous number of rows to each meal, so it encourages you to break things down and get a true figure, rather than just estimating.The spaces for personal measurements and weight-loss photos are also a really good idea and something many diaries lacked when I was looking to buy one for him and myself. It makes the book feel like a project book, which I think is psychologically helpful.My boyfriend is losing weight and I think this diary is playing its part. I will buy one for myself as the budget one I got myself is less comprehensive. The only downside to this one is that it isn't really handbag friendly, and is more like a book than the alternative which I bought for myself.This journal is brilliant. Lightweight and spiral bound, it looks lovely too. It starts with a couple of pages on how best to use the journal, then a personal goals page with a space for photos if you want. Then the food diary pages start. Each day on a double page, it has spaces for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack, with plenty of space for each, I've never run out of space. For each item there are columns for calories, fat grams, carbs, fibre and protein and two spare ones for your own. Personally I only use the calories column. You then total it all up and there is a totals section for each of these. There are also check boxes for how many glasses of water you have consumed, and for vitamins/supplements. There is a small section (four lines) for physical activity, how long for, the intensity and the calories burned which is also very useful. And finally there is a small notes section (which I sometimes use for additional exercise if I've run out) and a bar to color in (from 0% - 100%) to how you feel you have achieved todays goals.I really love it, it is perfect as a food diary with every section you could want.If you use it properly too, I have also found it to be a good weight loss tool and lost around 7 pounds. All you have to do is be completely honest in the book - make sure you are the only one who ever sees it and it really will help you see what you eat and how you can cut down, and before long you'll be avoiding foods because you want the satisfaction of a big fat ZERO in the snacks section! :D It's great as you can look back at days when you have lost weight and compare them to when you have gained weight etc, which is really helpful to just see where you are going right/wrong. For example, I've learned that I CAN eat a small amount of chocolate each day and still lose weight and be well within my personal calorie/fat limits and that there's really no need to starve myself!Definitely recommend :DI love the Dietminder. It's a great tool to use to jot down everything you eat during the day. You just have to be truthful!There are 2 pages per day, where you list what you had for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as snacks. Under each section, for a meal, is a total field so it's really easy to keep a tally. It as handy little boxes for the amount of calories, fat, carbs for each item of food. There is a little spare section to do calculations in as well as a section for any excercise you have done.I think busyteacher2's review sets out how the dietminder is broken up more. But you get the gist, be truthful and you can't go wrong.I managed to loose 2 stone, without going to any classes. My friend wanted to try this method too, so this is why I'm buying another copy.Really logical book. I slightly regretted my purchase at first thinking 'I could of just bought a note book' but im really pleased with it now that it has arrived. It has a handy section that you can add into at the back with common foods in it. Its a little american in its approach to food choices eg. Mac n' Cheese? but its a really handy little book. Everything you could want to record you can. Theres enough room for recording all the food you have eaten and its good to have the 'do the maths' section so you dont have to scribble everywhere. Just really good. The graph space at the back is good so you can record your progress.Don't just buy a notebook... this really does keep you on track!!For people who like the numbers this is ideal. Columns for all macronutrients and places for notes. Charts and graphs tp fill in, even a way to follow multiple plans or cycles. Only slight niggle is that I would prefer blank A-Z for food at the back rather than the "helpful" US foods and meats entered as I am a UK vegetarian and really USE that section so I have to put stickers over when I run out of spaces!