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JOURNAL TOOL - NUTRITION TAB

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DESCRIPTION:

Use the journal "Nutrition" tab to track and record daily meals, supplements and nutrients. You only need to fill in the fields you want to track. The more information you enter, the more analysis you can do later with other tools.

Every major diet and nutrition product on the market, including Weightmania, uses (or is based on) a food database created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This database has over 50 nutrients per food. At a cost of nearly $2000.00 USD per food to develop, it is more accurate than information on most food labels. Some products advertise larger databases, but since most people eat the same 20 to 30 foods every month (year-round), and there are millions of foods on the market, a few hundred or even a few thousand additional foods usually makes no difference. Along with popular brand names, our database contains thousands of general foods. If you can't find an exact match, it's designed so you can usually find something close. For example, you might find "low fat yogurt with fruit" along with several serving sizes, rather than a specific yogurt brand. You can also add an unlimited number of new foods, or lookup foods and add their nutrients together. In other words when you can't find a particular food, you can add it as a custom food. Or you can lookup each basic ingredient, then sum the nutrients in one click. Once added, you never have to enter the details of a food twice. Weightmania makes it extremely easy to find and enter foods. The food database search is faster than any competing product. Also by creating a favorites list or predefined meals, you can record all the foods and nutrients you eat daily in a few seconds.

Track exactly what you eat, including total calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat, sugar, sodium, cholesterol and fiber. You can also track water, serving sizes, food groups and points (for diet plans that use them). Use the input wizard to automatically enter foods and nutrients, or drag and drop them from your favorites list. The input wizard searches every available database including a built-in 30,000 food database. As food is entered, totals are automatically calculated at the bottom and the chart on the right is updated. Use the color-coded calendar on the left to navigate and visualize the days you recorded data. The chart on the right makes it easy to visualize progress.

The table at the bottom shows totals for each nutrient. It also shows calories burned by exercise, calories burned by BMR (your basal metabolic rate), and total calories burned for the day. BMR is the number of calories your body burns at rest. To include this in the summary, edit your profile and enter it on the fitness tab. If you don't know this value, it can be calculated using the BMR calcuator under the main "Tools" menu. To increase viewable space in this table, adjust the divider (the separator that divides the top half of the window from the bottom half) up or down with the mouse.

Recording meals is potentially very time consuming. In addition to copy and paste, the input wizard, and a favorites list, we also created a special tool to create predefined meals (programs). It lets you enter one or more rows in a meal table and save them under a specific name. Later, you can insert an entire meal table (or group of rows) in a single mouse click! For more information, see "Creating Predefined Meals (Programs)" in the help table of contents. Since most people eat the same foods each month, this can also be used for planning. For personal trainers, dieticians and nutritionists, it can be used to create meal plans for clients.

Table columns can be resized and re-arranged in any order. To move any column, simply drag its header to the new location and drop it. Resize the width of any column by slowly moving the mouse pointer over the left or right edge of the header. When the cursor changes to a horizontal arrow, you can adjust the column width. Weightmania will remember these changes in the future. However, they only affect the currently selected user profile. Use the right mouse button popup menu to restore the table to its default layout. The table layout has no effect on the input wizard, cut and paste, or drag and drop.

The journal "Nutrition" tab can be cut, copied and pasted to any day in the journal. The meal table itself can also be copied into other applications such as Excel. Any drop-down menu can be modified using the buttons at the bottom. Right-click directly on the meal table to view a popup menu with special options.

Meal Input Wizard

When searching for foods with the input wizard, enter full or partial words separated by blank spaces. Do not use quotes, commas or punctuation. The order of search terms is irrelevant. Usually the first three or four letters of each word is enough. This means you can type "app" to find all foods containing "apple". Use more words to narrow the search results. For example, "apple" will generate more matches than a search for "apple raw skin". When searching for fruits, vegetables and whole foods, we recommend adding the word, "raw" to narrow the results. For example use "raw app" to quickly find apples. Searches are interactive. As you type, a list of matches will appear in the "match list" below. Matches are sorted in alphabetical order.

NUTRITION TAB FIELDS & BUTTONS:

Calories	Specifies the total calories consumed for the current journal day. This field is calculated automatically using data from the meal table above. If the corresponding meal table column is empty, you can enter a value directly in this field.
Protein	Specifies the total protein consumed for the current journal day. This field is calculated automatically using data from the meal table above. If the corresponding meal table column is empty, you can enter a value directly in this field.
Carbs.	Specifies the total carbohydrates consumed for the current journal day. This field is calculated automatically using data from the meal table above. If the corresponding meal table column is empty, you can enter a value directly in this field.
Fat	Specifies the total fat consumed for the current journal day. This field is calculated automatically using data from the meal table above. If the corresponding meal table column is empty, you can enter a value directly in this field.
Sugar	Specifies the total sugar consumed for the current journal day. This field is calculated automatically using data from the meal table above. If the corresponding meal table column is empty, you can enter a value directly in this field.
Sodium	Specifies the total sodium consumed for the current journal day. This field is calculated automatically using data from the meal table above. If the corresponding meal table column is empty, you can enter a value directly in this field.
Cholest.	Specifies the total cholesterol consumed for the current journal day. This field is calculated automatically using data from the meal table above. If the corresponding meal table column is empty, you can enter a value directly in this field.
Fiber	Specifies the total fiber consumed for the current journal day. This field is calculated automatically using data from the meal table above. If the corresponding meal table column is empty, you can enter a value directly in this field.
Points	Specifies the total number of food points used, for diet and meal plans that use them. This field is calculated automatically using data from the meal table above. If the corresponding meal table column is empty, you can enter a value directly in this field.
Water	Specifies total water consumed in cups or glasses. Regardless of the label, you can track other values too, such as the number of liters or gallons.
Meal-Table	Use this table to record every meal and snack you ate during the day. The first column ("#"), is used to represent the meal number and cannot be edited. Column two ("Type") represents the type of meal. When you select this column, a drop-down list will appear. Use the "Add M. Types" button at the bottom to edit this list. Column three ("Time") represents the time you ate each food. For best results, time should be entered in the form, "HH:MM", where the first box represents hours and the second minutes. In the food column, enter a short description of the food, drink, or snack. The next column specifies the number of servings. You can enter a whole number or fraction. The remaining columns are used to store the serving size, points (for diet plans that use them), food category (food group), and the amount of each nutrient in grams, milligrams, or ounces. Click on the "Add Categories" button to edit the food categories. Nutrient values will be multiplied by the number of servings specified for the given row. If a units field is left blank, it is assumed to be grams. When the journal is saved, each column will be totaled and the results will be displayed in the boxes below. Totals are always shown in grams.
Favorites Tab	This tab appears on the right side of the meal table and contains an alphabetized list of the foods you eat. Each name represents an entire row in the meal table. The list is created automatically and updated every time you save. By dragging and dropping foods onto the meal table, you record all of your meals in seconds. Drag and drop one or multiple foods at the same time. Since most people eat the same 20 to 30 foods year-round, you can use this tool to record meals every day.
Chart Tab	This tab appears on the right side of the meal table. Use it as a quick reference to gauge protein, fat and carbohydrates consumed for up to 30 days. Anytime you modify a table row, change total values at the bottom, or save the journal, it will automatically update. Use the arrows at the bottom to view other charts. Seven different charts can be selected, including a summary of the current day, a 7, 14 and 30 day average, and specific charts for protein, carbohydrates, and fat. There is also an option to view data by weight (in grams) or total calories. By default, all charts are based on weight. If you select "Cals." (calories) all charts will be based on calories. In this case, 1 gram of fat equals 9 calories, 1 gram of protein equals 4 calories, and 1 gram of carbohydrates equals 4 calories.
Add M. Types	Lets you edit the list of meal types available on the menu that appears in the "Type" table column.
Add Categories	Lets you edit the list of food categories available on the menu that appears in the "Category" table column
Input Wizard	Displays a tool to help you input or modify one row in the meal table. Enter food information manually or search for it in three databases. For more information, see the Meal Table Input Wizard help section.