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Follow Our 5-Step Guide to Getting Started

Save time with a few handy tips!

Like anything, it's easy when you know how! So to help you get started, we've put together a few simple tips. Rather than reading everything at once, you might want to aim for 'a -step-a-day'.

With anything new, you need to get up to speed, so we have listed below a few essential tips to help you get the most from the website from the start. You may wish to work through all the steps in one go, but if you want to take things a little slower, then why not use the first week to discover a few new features a day'?

STEP 1

• Adding food to your diary

This is done using the 'Add Food' panel on the left side of page, not by typing into the page. Our food database contains information for over 30,000 products and there are 3 different ways of looking for a food:

• 'Text' search - type in a short description and press 'Go'
• 'Department' search - look up the relevant food category
• 'Barcode' search - type in the last 4 numbers of a product barcode

If you can't find what you're looking for using one method, then try another. Clicking on the small information icon will give you more tips on searching for foods.

• Increase quantities from your food diary

Had another two cups of tea and want to increase the number from the one you've already entered in your food diary? Just click on the serving size and a pop up will appear with plus and minus symbols. Increase the number of servings as required and click on the tick to add to your diary.

• Speeding up adding food

We tend to be creatures of habit, and there will be a number of foods that you eat on a regular basis. Keep these to hand by saving them in 'My Favourites'. Clicking on the heart icon at that appears in the food diary will do this for you. Examples of foods you might want to add to your Favourites are breakfast cereals, tea and coffee, snacks etc.

• Changing start day

Start any day of the week by going to the 'Settings' page (under My Food Diary tab) and clicking on the drop down.

• Tracking your success

Use the 'My Progress' page. This records your starting weight. Ensure that you weigh yourself each week on the same day, at the same time and on the same scales for the most accurate result. You should also add your body measurements too, as even if the scales don't move one week, your weight loss may show itself in inch loss.

STEP 2

• Plan for easier days

If you know you have a night out coming up, you can prepare in advance by opting for a an easier target that day (providing that your daily target is higher than 1,400). Go to the 'Settings' page and click the day you'd like an easier target. This will re-distribute your daily calories for the week and allow you a few more to play with on that day.

Members sometimes ask if they can carry forward uneaten calories. The answer is yes, you can carry over calories, and it is better to do it this way round than spending them first and trying to compensate by eating fewer in the following days. However, as ever we don't recommend that you go below 1,200 calories a day.

• Learn to use Manual Add

This is handy if you want to add a product that you can't find in the food database. The 'Manually Added Food' option is found in the 'Add Food' panel. Just enter the calorie and fat content as taken from the packaging of your product, and it will be stored in your own personal food database.

• Decide how you want to view your diary

If you do a lot of exercise, you may wish to see the benefits of burning those extra calories by viewing your food and exercise diaries combined. To change the view, go to the 'Settings' page and click on the option to see the combined view. Press 'Apply changes' and when you return to your food diary, the targets have been added together.

• Change the food entry time

Food is entered to your diary in real time, but if you wanted to add it against a particular meal occasion, just click on the time and a pop up will offer you various meal occasions. At the bottom of the list is the option to 'Add my own time' if you wish.

STEP 3

• Track your 5-a-day

Your food diary will keep an automatic total of everything entered into your food diary that contributes towards your 5-a-day target. Remember variety is the key to making it count! Also 5-a-day is a minimum target, so aim to beat it, not just reach it.

• Record your feelings

Food is closely linked with our emotions and starting to understand this relationship is an important part of taking control of your diet. So use 'My Notes' to record how you are feeling each day. By identifying the triggers that maybe caused you to over-eat, you can start to deal with these emotions in ways other than food.

• Use the Pedometer Calculator

Wear a good quality pedometer and aim for 10,000 steps a day. You can record this by entering the number of steps from your pedometer into the calculator in the 'Add Exercise' panel. Please note! It assumes that most people, unless very sedentary, take at least 2,500 steps a day, therefore it excludes this number and only starts counting steps taken above this. For example, if you entered 7,500 steps in total, what you see in your exercise dairy is '5,000 extra' i.e. 7,500 - 2,500 expected.

STEP 4

• Check out the exercise database

Just as important as your food diary is your exercise diary. Remember any extra activity helps - it doesn't have to be a trip to the gym. To make it really count, it needs to be exercise that is over and above what you would normally do, i.e. more than what your body is used to.

The figures used on the website are averages and give a good guideline of calorie burned, but to get an accurate measurement, we recommend that you enter the figures recorded by your gym equipment. Or buy a heart rate monitor watch (e.g. Polar brand) as this will record how many calories your body burns up.

• Keep an eye on our Week View

The great thing about the food diary approach is its flexibility. While it's important to stay on track daily, it's the overall week that counts - so keep an eye on your Week View (under My Food Diary tab). If you slip up one day and go over your calorie allowance, you can still get back on track by making a few adjustments over the next few days and making sure that you've stayed within your weekly total.

• Analysise your diet

The reason the food diary tracks your fat intake is because of all the food groups, fat provides the most concentrated source of calories at 9 calories per gram - twice as many as protein or carbs! So it makes sense that eating less fat has a bigger impact in reducing the overall number of calories in your diet.

'My Summary' (under My Food Diary tab) will rank in order the highest calorie and fat foods you've eaten in the last 14 days. It also ranks those with the lowest calorie and fat content. Armed with this knowledge, you can start to switch the highest fat and calorie foods you've been eating for lower calorie and fat alternatives.

STEP 5

• Use Food Swap and save calories

If you add a food to your diary and a small FS icon appears, it means that FoodSwap is available for that item. The FoodSwap tool searches our database of 30,000 products to find something similar that is lower in calories or fat. Finding a good substitute means you can still eat what you like and save calories too. Reducing calories across foods you eat regularly can help you stick to your daily target painlessly.

• Build up your own calorie counter personal recipe book

Home cooked meals have the huge benefit of you controlling what goes into them. Now you can find out the calorie count per serving of your favourite recipes and meals using 'My Meals/Recipes'. It requires you to invest some time entering the ingredients, but once you've done so, all your recipes will be stored for you online. And it doesn't have to be a 'meal' as such, anything you eat that requires a combination of ingredients e.g. a sandwich, can be entered and calorie counted in this way. The good thing it that you only do it once.

• Check out the Members' Forums

When you decided that you wanted to lose weight, you started a journey that will have its highs and lows. Being able to share both with likeminded people is the thing that will keep you going. That's why the Members' Forums are so important. You'll find great support, encouragement and inspiration from your fellow members, and you even have the option to find a 'Diet Buddy ' - someone with goals similar to yours to stay in regular contact with. Even if you've never used a Forum before, we strongly recommend that you go and introduce yourself - you're sure to receive a warm welcome!