John Hung
02-18-2003, 04:15 PM
Being a weightlifter, I have always relied on doing more at the gym to compensate for over-eating. However, this logic is flawed because weightlifting does not burn as many calories as does cardiovascular exercise such as running or aerobic exercises. Consequently, over the past couple of years I have steadily gained weight. It finally dawned on me that I should use my Pocket PC to help me reverse the weight gaining trend. There are several diet programs available for the Pocket PC, and after sampling each of them, I decided to use Pocket Diet Tracker exclusively. Not being an expert on dieting, I have one simple goal: to lose weight in a given amount of time. <br /><br /><img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/johnh_Feb20_pdt_0.jpg border=”0”><br /><br /><!><br /><br /><i>Pocket Diet Tracker is not the easiest program to use, but it's very feature rich and has helped me to accomplish my goal. The program has a very detailed set of instructions which explain all the features. There is also a very comprehensive nutritional database, available in .csv file format that you can import into the program, which has most of the food products you eat on a daily basis. You can also add your own food into the database if you can't find it.</i><br /><br /><b><span>Features</span></b><br />When you start the program, you are first asked to enter some personal information, shown in Figure 1. By entering a target weight and weekly weight loss, the program calculates a target date. You just have to be realistic about how many pounds you can lose in a week. You can also create additional personal profiles if the program is going to be used by other people.<br /><br /><img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/johnh_Feb20_pdt_1.jpg border=”0”><br /><i>Figure 1: Profile Settings</i><br /><br />If you prefer measurements in the metric system, you can use Tools/Option to change it.<br /><br /><img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/johnh_Feb20_pdt_2.jpg border=”0”><br /><i>Figure 2: Options</i><br /><br />I imported the included nutritional database and over the course of my experiment, I have also added many food items not found in the database. On the Web site, they also have other user-created nutritional databases (<a href="http://www.pocketdiettracker.com/free_databases.htm">http://www.pocketdiettracker.com/free_databases.htm</a>) from known fast food chain that you can import into the program. In Figure 3, you can see other options to manage the dataset and backing up your data.<br /><br /><img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/johnh_Feb20_pdt_3.jpg border=”0”> <br /><i>Figure 3: Tools tab</i><br /><br />In the View tab you have the choice to go to Nutrient Diary, Reports, Graphs and Weight Tracker. Nutrient Diary will be the screen that you use most of the time to enter and track your daily food intake. The screen is divided into two sections: the top section, which shows several daily cumulative intakes like calories, protein, fat, carbohydrate, and alcohol. The upper right section of the screen has fields for entering daily body measurements. You can customize which fields you wish to enter in Tools/Options menu.<br /><br />The bottom section of the screen contains the list of food items you have eaten throughout the course of the day. Adding new food items is easy. You simply need to click on the banana/clock symbol to go to the nutritional database.<br /><br /><img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/johnh_Feb20_pdt_4.jpg border=”0”><br /><i>Figure 4: View Tab</i><br /><br />You can also enter exercise information manually or use MySportTraining (<a href="http://www.mysporttraining.com/mst.htm">http://www.mysporttraining.com/mst.htm</a>) to track the calories you burn during exercise. I have it set up to use information from MySportTraining, which is represented by the white running man in Figure 4. This is a great feature since I use MySportTraining to track the exercises and calories I burn during the exercise. For one day, I did various exercises which used 728 calories. You can also enter exercise calories directly into the program if you do not own MySportTraining.<br /><br /><img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/johnh_Feb20_pdt_5.jpg border=”0”><br /><i>Figure 5: Nutrient Database</i><br /><br />In Figure 5, I am accessing the list of food items that I have added myself. I like how the folders are organized in a hierarchical order. By clicking on the food item you want add, you can enter the time and portion of this food item.<br /><br /><img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/johnh_Feb20_pdt_6.jpg border=”0”><br /><i>Figure 6: Adding food to the database</i><br /><br />One other convenient feature is the ability to see a list of recently eaten items. Rather than accessing the database and find the items that you eat daily, you can click on the arrow key next to the banana/clock symbol. Figure 7 shows my most recently eaten food items. I may be on a diet, but I am not skimping on my food variety. :) <br /><br /><img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/johnh_Feb20_pdt_7.jpg border=”0”><br /><i>Figure 7: Most recently eaten items</i><br /><br /><img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/johnh_Feb20_pdt_8.jpg border=”0”><br /><i>Figure 8: Reports</i><br /><br /><img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/johnh_Feb20_pdt_9.jpg border=”0”><br /><i>Figure 9: Graphs</i><br /><br />You can choose up to 2 pieces of information to show in various graphical ways: Line, smooth, or bar. <br /><br /><img src=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/johnh_Feb20_pdt_10.jpg border=”0”><br /><i>Figure 10: Weight Tracker</i><br /><br />The Weight Tracker screen gives you a good visual progress report of your diet. As you can see, I am on track but have been moving at an uneven pace. :oops: <br /><br /><b><span>Where To Buy</span></b><br />Pocket Diet Tracker is attractively priced at $24.95 and can be purchased or <a href="http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=1&jid=BF472177327FAD46E381E68AX12D761B&platformId=2&productType=2&productId=14241">downloaded from Handango</a> (affiliate link). There is a 15-day trial version available.<br /><br /><b><span>Gotchas</span></b><br />I am very pleased with the program in general and do not have any major complaints. The only minor point is the lack of ability to re-organize displayed information columns in Reports.<br /><br /><b><span>Conclusions</span></b><br />Pocket Diet Tracker is one of the best pieces of diet tracking software I have found so far, and the seamless integration with MySportTraining is definitely a plus. Anyone who is serious about losing a few pounds should take a look at this program. The program is also useful in that it gives users a glimpse into what we eat on a daily basis. I am much more aware now of what I am eating although I am still working on making improvements to my food intake. As you can see from Figure 10, my daily weight moves much like a yo-yo. <br /><br />Finally, my personal diet program was a success: I lost 10 pounds in 23 days prior to my Hawaiian vacation. Since the vacation, I have been lax about losing more pounds, but I am back on track to lose another 6 pounds in the next few weeks.