Food log instructions

OK, it is time to explain the food log. I made my own log sheet on Microsoft Excel, although it is probably easier to just get one of those diary-type books and write in it each time. Of course, it is important to track calories. But I would often go for 30-day periods when I would track other aspects of food: # fruit and vegetable servings, sodium, fat grams, fat calories, protein, and carbohydrates. When I first started the log I would rotate these, just so I could get a ball-park knowledge of where the heavy hitter are. For instance, bacon is very high in sodium and fat. I know this now because I had to look it all up.
OK, so here is my sheet that I did yesterday (click on it to enlarge). Yesterday's entries are in red.
In the first column I like to put the time. I don't have exact targets for daily calories, but I do like to eat "reasonable" portion sizes and meals. That is where the time is important, so I can see where supersize meals are. It is helpful to eat smaller meals more frequently. This way, over time, your stomach shrinks a bit so that you'll feel full earlier. And maybe you'l forget you are hungry later and not eat as many calories. I believe it also helps digestion that way, too.
OK, so I get up in the morning, take a pee, then stand on the scale and write it down. Yesterday, I was at 194.6#.
So I eat some organic Cherrios. I put a bowl on my food scale and zero the scale. I pour cheerios into the bowl and note how many grams. In this case, it was 60 grams of cheerios. I look on the side of the box and it says serving sizes are 30 grams, and each serving is 120 calories. Therefore, I divided 60 gram portion size by 30 gram serving size, for a result of 2 servings (I do have a calculator in my kitchen dedicated to my food log!). Then I multiply 2 servings times 120 calories per serving, for 240 calories total. I write this in the calories column.
When I can't find the calories correctly on the food label, I look it up online at http://www.nutrition.gov In this case, I found out that each 1 centigram of milk I was using is 61 calories. So I re-zero the scale with my bowl and cheerios and pour in the milk. In this case, it was 354 grams. So I multiply 3.54 centigrams by 61 calories for a total of 216 calories. I write this down in the calories column.
I have 12 ounce glasses I use for orange juice. A serving size is 8 ounces, for 110 calories. So 12 ounces is 1.5 servings (12/8 = 1.5), and I mulpiply 1.5 times 110 for 165 calories. I write 165 in the calories column.
This is my entire breakfast. So I total the calories so far (240 + 216 + 165 = 621) and I write this in the subtotal column. That way later in the day I can get a better feel if I am pigging out or eating reasonably.
I wear a Polar heart rate monitor watch when I go to the gym, so when I exercise I write down what kind of exercise I do, and how many calories expended.
The macaroni and cheese box has 170 grams in the whole box. Serving size is 70 grams. Therefore, when I make a box of macaroni and cheese and eat the whole box, that is 2.42857 servings (170 / 70 = 2.42857). I multiply 2.42857 servings by 310 calories per serving (prepared), for 753 calories. OK, so that is a bit of a big portion, ideally I should eat half the box and then eat something else also in the same meal. But I am not perfect and neither is my diet.
At the end of the day you can see I had 1849 calories eaten, and 793 calories exercised. For a while I was tracking all this in a spreadsheet on my computer but now I only track my weight in the spreadsheet.
I know I make this all sound so easy. It is, kind of, because I don't have a day job anymore and I live by myself so it is easy to weigh food, etc. I also have a calculator, food scale, and laptop (for looking up calories on http://www.nutrition.gov) in the kitchen that is dedicated to this enterprise.