Hi all,

We've had a lot of requests for a diet planner/log, so we're going to make one. In fact, we're going to really make one, and it's going to hopefully be the best one out there!!!

We hope to have this ready to go live within the next two weeks, and if you have any requests or ideas as to what we could throw in the mixing pot, please post them here.

We're not going to compromise the simplicity of the current interface - the planner/log will be totally optional, but will integrate completely with the system.

Thanks again for all your support and brilliant ideas - keep 'em coming!

Maxwell

This site kicks so much ass, I can't even begin to tell you. Well, maybe I can, but we'll save that for the next geekfit podcast. ;)

To make a diet log really useful, I have been thinking that it could be split in three parts:

1) Single foods: One apple, one glass of milk, a beer etc. Also make it possible to add your own special food, especially if you often eat something not on the list.

2) Common meals: Like a a) pasta with meatsauce, a glass of wine and a salad, or b) any meal available on fast food restaurants, like McDonalds meals etc. This list could be a community list, where Traineo members adds stuff that get reviewed by Traineo staff before entering the list.

3) My meals: Where I can put the stuff I normally eat from list 1. Like if I eat almost the same for breakfast every day, I could make a list of it there. Example: Two slices of bread, cheese on one of them, strawberry jam on the other, a bowl of cereal, a glass of milk, a glass of juice, an apple (not my breakfast, just an example). I compose my typical meals here, and put them in a list. That makes it very easy to input what I have eaten one a day.

Meal planners are great and with a repository of ready made recipes that users can add to, and as Oyvind mentioned "single foods", this would be an excellent addition to the service.

One thing that should not be too difficult to add to a meal planner would be a shopping list generator. Each recipe contains the foods required, why not allow them to be compiled into a list - in addition to being able to select individual items from the (USDA?) food database - and exported or printed?

And because I personally find the calorie meter a bit cumbersome to use - the user cannot enter more of less than the range allows (unless I'm just blind, which could be the case) the meal planner interface could handle all of this for us.

Having switched from www.Sparkpeople.com to www.Traineo.com I have a few inputs.

1. User Added Foods - Allowing people to enter in their own data for foods they eat is awesome. Allowing peer review of that information would be even better. Sometimes people don't follow the naming convention or are lazy about entering all the nutritional information. Allow us the community to police that would be very good.

2. A lot of us are habitual - I for example eat 3 packets of instant oatmeal every morning. (Yes I know it is not nearly as good as raw cooked, but give me a break I am not a morning person). So being able to enter that quickly would be a boon.

3. Less is More - I love the clean simple lines of Traineo. I would be happy with just a food tracker and not be confronted with nutritional information (i.e. I am not getting enough vitamin B, etc.). This would simplify the front end and reduce back end maintenance.

4. Short Journal Feature - Being able to write a note about how the day went would be beneficial for noting eating trends. Doesn't have to be public. Maybe a Mentor/Mentored view only.

Over all I am very enthusiastic about Traineo. I actually have started spending more time here than my normal daily reading (www.digg.com) places and see that as a good thing.

Maxwell keep up the good work, your are appreciated.

Hey all,

All excellent suggestions, we're definitely going to incorporate 'habitual/set meals' that can be user defined, custom foods, the entire USDA database (that thing is HUGE), and the ability to schedule future meals on patterns.

We're planning on keeping the simplicity going strong - we're toying with interface designs that will be eminently usable on any number of levels, from very basic 'I ate the following things today in no particular order' to 'I had 722mg of sodium at breakfast, 230g of protein for lunch, and I'd like to schedule the next three weeks of food and please give me a shopping list'.

Now - all of this may not come at once, as there's a considerable amount that'll need to be put into it, but we'll try to get the fundamental functionality going as soon as possible.

Keep the ideas coming - we've probably missed any number of important factors, that we can't come up with without your inspiration!

The calorie meter is going to undergo a slight revamp - we're still tweaking the calorie ranges it offers (Sorry about that, we made some assumptions, they were wrong), and we're going to add a custom value input - both of those will be done in the next 24-36 hours.

Thanks,

Maxwell

First, great site Maxwell. I was also a sparkpeople user, and had done pretty well on it. I love the ease-of-use yours though. The biggest thing I can think of is to have admin (who I assume are actual nutritionists.?) critique or edit the user-added food items. That's all, great site!

Maxwell, I've used a couple of food intake bits of software that use the USDA database and found them quite frustrating due to the odd measuring system it uses.

Maybe it's because I'm non-US but the concept of eating a 'cup' of apple, rather than just a single apple, is a very odd one!

Also, given there seems to be quite a fw European users here, I'm sure we'd appreciate the ability to log food in metric measurements :)

I think it's great that you're planning on offering choices of how each user can log his or her food intake.

I don't see this as being a problem since this site is very metric friendly. I think Max and the guys have tried to accommodate all sorts of measuring values to allow you to pick your unit of measure.

Yes us dumb US people and our cup of this and teaspoon of that I have never heard of a cup of apple but I'd imagine they just diced up an apple and put it into a measuring cup (1 US cup = 236.588238 ml)

I love you.

Hi All,

Just a quick heads up - obviously we're a bit behind schedule on this, but it is nearing completion. We're taking our time, as we want it to be as perfect as possible - no half measures!

We've got a few great new features we'll be rolling out over the coming days, so keep watching the skies!

Maxwell

Eric - we love you too.

Hi

I've used a few sites in the past and so far traineo just lacks the 'addiction index'. There's not much that makes me log compulsively throughout the day.

I think a simple blog interface (with a calendar) like peertrainer combined with comments will be great. Peertrainer groups are great, but just normal comments used by most blogs are fine. If you can add RSS to the blog... well, let me just say that traineo will be open at ALL times wherever I happen to be breathing...

The workout interface is great. Calorie intake is also great. Some sites offer just logging (peertrainer), some others offer calorie intake calculators. These tend to be a bit more cumbersome, but there were some sites which did it pretty well: Ajax interface which allows you to look up food if it is not instantly found. For e.g, I can enter 'allbran', 'milk', 'honey'. Then the system picks up honey and milk immediately but not allbran. So it displays the following:

food portion calorie add as fav
-------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
milk (dropdown box with read only,
1cup, 1/2 cup etc) javascript automatically
updates

allbran lookup
(link)

When I click on the 'lookup' link, it displays a list of similar items. I can click on one of them, then enter.

Nice thing is, even if the list doesn't have what I want (for e.g, local 'steamed veggie'), if I know the calorie of the food I can select a similar food and choose a serving size which gives me the closest calorie intake. I had steamed veggies which was 1020kjs. It is not there, but I could select 'vegetable salad' and choose 2.5 servings which gave me 1200kjs.

Added note:
If you have a blog interface as well as RSS feeds, all members could have a 'subscription page' of their friends or other members they are interested in? It is like a motivator but better! You know that your readers will be reading your entries! Also, more comments = more motivation.

Hi

I'm not a big calorie counter so being able to log foods without having to add the calorie count would be great. That said, I used the Weight Watchers (UK) site a few years ago and their daily food log system is really good and easy to use, although for obvious reasons their focus is points rather than calories.

On the other hand I'm a BIG comfort eater so adding a 'food and feelings' element so I could monitor whether I go off the rails in a certain mood - or just bring that to front of mind before I reach for the sweets - would be great.

The developments sound great - can't wait

I also use calorie-count.com. I like being able to count calories, and it also gives me an analysis of my diet (a letter grade). They have a huge database of food, and you can also put in your own items. They also have a recipe calculator, and estimates of allowance based on desired weightloss and goal date.

Having everything I need on one site would be awesome.

Having said that, I also know someone who uses this site, but bases his diet on the weight watchers point system. Without having to be in cahoots with weight watchers, having a way to input points data might be helpful for people using that system.

Hi All -

Wow, lots of suggestions - all certainly 'food for thought'. I'm not sure about the legal implications of implementing a weight watchers points system (pretty certain they've got it quite tightly wrapped up) but calorie counting is certainly going to be part of the diet planner.

Hanna - are you aware that there's a comments section at the bottom of your member page? Many people are using this as a blog/log, as well as using it for their motivator messages - we're going to expand on the functionality of it a bit in the near future, which should bring a bit more interest and interactivity to it.

With regards a subscription page - I'd agree that it's a good idea, but a certain other site recently released a similar feature (which I, incidentally, love), and they got a massive amount of backlash for it, so it'd have to be something we carefully weigh up.

Thanks!

Maxwell

Hi Maxwell and Traineo,

I'm a new member and I love the idea of a food log. At this point, my only suggestion is encorporating a more diverse database for calorie counting. As an expat in Hong Kong, my diet is a multi-cultural blend of foods and the USDA database lacks a lot of the items found in my daily diet. I've found that the calorie-count.com database is much more ethnic food friendly.

I understand that ethnic foods aren't really a priority as most of your users are American and it's difficult to accomodate so many cuisines but I hope that as it grows, Traineo will adopt a more diverse food items.

Thanks,
Andrea

I'm really psyched about this!

This is going to be a great new feature. I don't really have the patience to count calories every day, so having a system like this will be just amazing. During the week, I typically eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day, so having a way to set preferences and scheduled meals will be great.

I like the new logging features, Max and Chris. Will have to play with them a bit! Changing the button icon and title to "Weight" on the user home page was also a good call. Much more intuitive.

I do think that BMI ought to be an exception to the standard logging features. Since BMI can be estimated with a formula based on height and weight, one ought to have the option of having Traineo calculate and track it right on the weight loss page or, optionally, using the logging feature to track it more accurately.

Ron

Hey guys--
Check out Calorie King's software/ database. I'm constantly amazed at how much they have in there and it helps me blance the fat/ carbs/ protein in my diet as well as tracking fiber.

--Brandon

I am trying to manage fibromyalgia, and more exercise and eating better are part of my management plan. Exercise hurts, so I joined traineo.com because I need motivation to keep with exercise, for the benefit of less weight, less depression, and less long-term pain.

So -- for what I am doing -- the new logging feature is *great*! I can log everything I am tracking in the same place -- exercise, diet, pain level, clarity, and depression (umm, I mean happiness).

Anyone else out there dealing with fibromyalgia?

Kris - http://www.traineo.com/13_386_0.html - 'Fitness Geek' is also dealing with fibromyalgia.

Thanks

Maxwell

@ Oyvind Solstad - I love the "my meals" idea!

I would like to be able to track how many times I go out to eat and where. Or when I go out to eat and where. Being able to sync that with a map interface would be amazing, but perhaps over the top.

Maxwell,

Any updates on this? I just signed up yesterday - I'll be working out with my Wii - this looks like a great place to get started. As many others have mentioned, it'd be useful to be able to track our daily food intake in a more detailed fashion....

Keep up the great work!

Hi Ryan,

This project is currently ongoing, however is slightly on ice at the moment, as we're working on a few new things, which we feel should precede this.

Cheers,

Maxwell

Can you provide some more detail on the status (why it's on ice, best guess on a timeline). What are the other things that have come to the front of the line ahead of something with such a demand? This site looks absolutely AMAZING, but really does need a diet/food log of some sort to make this a one stop shop and the only place a user needs to visit while striving to a goal.

Thanks so much for all the hard work and keep it up!

I was wondering if there is any progress on this feature at all? I think that it would make this a one-stop shop.