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Atkins Food Journal vs FatSecret Food Journal
It's been almost a month now since I signed up with Atkins.com and I love the community, support, and information there on that site. I've read many times from several of the senior community members about FatSecret.com and I finally bit the bullet yesterday and signed up. Now the comparison begins.
Any new site takes time to learn their system and to upload your information. The Atkins site is bright and shiny and appears more up-to-date. FatSecret is more simple in its design initially but after logging in every single thing I ate yesterday and every single activity I did during the day, the report information is much more detailed and helpful, I think. I did finally break down and buy a food scale so I am now weighing my food with much more accuracy than before. Entering ounces works better for me than cups because, let's face it.... just how much lettuce can we cram into a cup anyway? Also, there's a big difference in weighing meats rather than thinking of them in cup size and the scale is spot-on for doing it correctly. The scale I bought was nothing fancy -- just the one that my Wal-Mart grocery store had on their shelf (paid around $25, I think).
So my question is, who is right? I entered identical information in both food journals on both sites. The final tally for yesterday only varied by a small amount but when we're watching numbers like we do on Atkins, each number is important. Here's my breakdown:
ATKINS.COM
Net Carbs - 23.4
Total Carbs - 32.2
Protein - 108.8
Calories - 1688.4
Pie Chart info: 63% Fat, 26% Protein, 11% Carbs
FATSECRET.COM
Net Carbs - 22.03
Total Carbs - 55.73
Protein - 109.9
Calories - 1779
Pie Cart info: 64% Fat, 24% Protein, 12% Carbs, PLUS:
Fiber - 33.7
Fat - 126.36
89% RDI (recommended daily intake of calories)
So here's the difference:
Net Carbs: Atkins +1
Total Carbs: FatSecret +23.53
Protein: FatSecret +1.1
Calories: FatSecret +90.6
Who is right? Who is more accurate? Should I do both and go by their average?? Sheesh!
One thing I do like about FatSecret.com is the exercise information. Basically there's 24 hours in a day and they divvy it up between basic activities and exercise and calculate how many calories you're burning for the whole entire day. Of course we all know that if you burn more calories than you consume, you'll lose and for us carb-challenged folks specifically keeping those carbs down plus limiting the calories = weight loss. It's good to see that there's an actual number of calories burned generated so you can keep your caloric intake and burn in check.
I also like the fact that you can add multiple foods at one time without having to save in between each item. Plus there's the 'set default exercise' feature that I like, too, because you can modify it daily rather than entering X hours of sleep plus X hours of driving and X hours of standing and X minutes of exercise, and so on. Another cool feature of the exercise journal is that when you log a particular exercise, the program calculates how many calories you would burn for a person of your specific weight. Genius!
The jury is still out and for now I will log my information into both sites and take an average, I guess. It stinks because that's double the work for me, but until I have a clearer answer, that's what I'm going to do. If you use FatSecret.com or Atkins.com, what do you like about it? Please let me know!
~SkellyShelly
Diet Calendar Entries for 12 June 2013:
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1366 kcal
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Fat: 92.14g | Prot: 93.36g | Carb: 39.22g.
Breakfast: Yellow Sweet Peppers, Onions, Maglio Mild Italian Sausage, Spinach, Colby Jack Cheese, Scrambled Egg (Whole, Cooked). Lunch: Mayonnaise, Boiled Egg, Tuna in Water (Canned), Feta Cheese, Avocados, Cucumber (with Peel), Tomatoes, Lettuce. Dinner: Cooked Broccoli (Fat Not Added in Cooking), Mayonnaise, Market Pantry Monterey Jack Cheese. Snacks/Other: Atkins Endulge Nutty Fudge Brownie Bar. more...
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4668 kcal
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Activities & Exercise:
Resting - 1 hour and 30 minutes, Sleeping - 6 hours and 30 minutes, Standing - 2 hours and 30 minutes, Shopping - 1 hour, Calisthenics (light, e.g. home exercise) - 1 hour, Walking (brisk) - 4/mph - 2 hours and 30 minutes, Desk Work - 8 hours, Driving - 1 hour. more...
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