I didn't use the online version much, but I currently use the purchased version. You're not going to find any different foods in the purchased version. Adding custom items is easy, but I found that I had to add a fair number when I started. Or perhaps it was just easier to enter the info from the items I was using so I was sure I get the right data. What I remember as the biggest difference is that you can copy/paste foods, reorganize them. ie. I usually pick my dinner, then my lunch, then fill in the snacks. I can then reorganize them into the order that I eat them. I also believe there are more charting/reporting options in the downloaded versions.
Other than calorieking I can't think of any other sites off the top of my head, but I'm sure others will.
I've used the online version for about 3 years. I never switched to the stand a lone because I like to be able to pull my fitday up at work and make adjustments or remind myself of what is next on the menu.
At first, it was kind of a pain because the food in the system is limited. Now, though, after adding in my own stuff as I plan to eat it, I have a huge data base of food and the process is super simple. And, adding a new custom food only takes about 3 minutes if you have the label.
I totally agree with you on the pie chart! The way it keeps track of the macros is one of my favorite things about the program.
I used to use Sparkpeople, but changed to FitDay because of the cool charts, too. LOL
I am working on getting all my stuff entered and it's a pain, but I had to do that with SP, too.
I thought about buying the full version, but am going to stick with this for now.
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Ginger
"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." ~ John Bingham
Fitday PC is great because it's so much faster to type in your food, tab over to the portion, then move to the next thing. It's got a great interface, very easy to use. You can put in custom food info for things not on the list, and you can do the same for exercise. So for instance, I prefer the activity calculator at caloriesperhour.com, and if I remember, the Fitday PC entry for weight lifting was lacking. So I plugged in my own custom calorie thing and it's always saved.
True, you don't always have the convenience of checking it from work, several times a day, but I usually plan my day out in the morning, and then go back at night and tweak. Did I eat the whole thing? Did I sneak something else? Etc. And because it's so quick, it takes me five minutes to plan out the meals for the day in the morning. It probably takes me at least ten online, even with a fast connection.
I also love to use the Fitday PC to figure out the calories in a recipe I'm making, and then do a little math and save that data as a custom food. It's awesome.
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"Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths." - Lois Wyse
I like sparkpeople because you can enter and save meals and it has the pie chart. I know fitday has other graphs, but I didn't really care about them. I thought fitday was boring. I know it isn't SUPPOSED to really be exciting, but pretty things make me happier.
I'm a big "Daily Plate" fan - I love that I can adjust things all day at work, and at home too... charts are nice, but as long as I have the basic info, that's all I really need. I just like the interface on Daily Plate better than Fitday, but I think I'm in the minority!
I've gotten info from Daily Plate and it was wrong. I found the food label later and there is a big discrepancy, like 100 cals and stuff. Just be aware of what ever you use!
I bought Crosstrainer 6 after much fussing. I love it.
I use the online free version of Fitday. I don't use their info for anything except whole fruits or vegetables. Everything else I input myself from their nutrition labels.
I would use the purchased version of Fitday if they would let me transfer all my customized food from my online Fitday(about 3 years worth)....but they don't, so I won't.
MuscleMom - yeah, I know some people can't enter nutrition info correctly, so DailyPlate can be way off on some things. But for me, since I pretty much know WHAT I'm eating and I've already seen the nutrition info label, I can tell when an entry is way off. I've been tracking calories and macros for so long, I have my regular foods pretty much memorized anyway... I've found bad/weird info on almost any calorie tracker I've ever tried!
I have Crosstrainer too - love it, but I'm taking a break from it for now - using a written workout log for NRL4W, and DailyPlate for calories since I'm not at my home computer all day and I can track online with DailyPlate. I'll probably go back to Crosstrainer after I finish these 6 months... (if I survive )
I used to use Fitday.com--until I realized I eat so many non-standard foods that its difficult to customize and add my own recipes and food. Can I say three words? MY DAILY PLATE! (.COM) I'm a total addict. Its like, the site I log on every morning when I wake up and the last thing I do before going to bed. Its 100% free, has a great community, and oh so customizable. You can check out my food diary in my signature to see what its like. My only complaint about My Daily Plate is that, unlike Fitday, it doesn't recognize alcohol calories. But other than that, I cannot be any happier. Gold members (for a small membership fee) get a bunch of cool features like classifying food by mealtimes and week at a glance view.
Oh, and there's a small learning curve to use The Daily Plate, but its really worth it once you get the hang of it. And the tech guys on the site are updating the site everyday to add new features (like what exercise you would need to do to burn off the calories off a certain food) and fix system glitches (they use to annoy the heck out of me but they have been very prompt about fixing them). Here's my 2 cents
PS - MuscleMom, I realize Daily Plate is off on some food labels too, but the good thing is that there's so many entries on one food that it just takes initial time to pick the right one and then sticking with it after. I always double check on other sites if the macro nutrients seems dubious, and add my own recipes frequently to make sure its as close to accurate as possible. And with things like tracking calories, its sometimes hard to get 100% accuracy (like I know when I slice off a chunk of cheese its probably a lot more than 1 oz, and sometimes I wonder if I use 1 tbsp of oil in a sauce and don't eat all the sauce should I still count that?)
Crosstrainer looks like its got some positive reviews, I would have to look into that!
fitday question?
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