Tweet, Eat, Post!
Twitter to Food Journal _v3!
Many experts agree keeping a food journal is an easy way to stay accountable on your weight loss journey. I know it was a big part of my success!
Now you can use Twitter to help! Why? Well... it's fast, free, and EASY! Click here or scroll down for an overview and tips on using this simple tool to help keep a food journal. Use it just for you or generate a table to paste in your blog. Either way being conscious of what you eat is helpful for those of us who mindless much. :~)
Want to see it action try my username: RonisFood if I'm food journaling today you'll see what I ate so far! To see twitter page (the source), click here.
Twitter to Food Journal (aka Tweet, Eat, Post) Overview
If you don't know what twitter is click here. In short, you create an account and tell people what you are doing in 140 characters or less. Some of us geeks (admit it, if you have a twitter account you're a geek ;~) "tweet" all day and use it as a way to communicate with friends and family and, in my case, other blog losers. :~)
Ok, so how does it work?
Step 1: Get an Account
Click here to sign up for a Twitter account.
I recommend creating a twitter account just for your food journal and naming it YourNameFood, for example I use RonisFood. This way you can keep them separate if you are already using twitter.
If you already have an account, you can journal with it but are some downfalls. For starters, you may not want all of you followers to know what you are eating. I don't mind, but you may not want to bug them with those types of "tweets"(aka posts). There is also a 20 tweet limit that I can access (for now) so your non-food journal tweets may effect the summary of your food journal summary.
Step 2: Tweet what you Eat!
There are many ways to do this and I'll get into that in a minute but you have to know the format rules. There aren't many, don't worry. :~)
If your twitter name is somethingFood then all you need to do is format your food journal tweets like so...
Whatever you ate today [units]
The script will then simply tally and display your entries and give you a total for the day. Units, by the way, can be anything, points, calories, carbs, whatever you want to track. For example...
Slice of pizza [5]
Before you ask, YES you can give something negative units and it will subtract. For example...
I ran 2 miles [-3]
Is the same as saying I earned 3 activity points.
If you're twitter username does NOT have food in it you're rules are a little different, but again, not complicated. You just need to "mark" your tweets with as food journal tweets like so...
#food Whatever you ate today [units]
Or
#activity What ever you did today [-units]
For example...
#food slice of pizza [5]
#activity 20 minute walk [-1]
I told you, not hard! :~) Now HOW do you tweet? Well there are a number of ways.
- Navigate to twitter.com come, login and and tweet your food posts.
- Use a program like Toro or TweetDeck. They work the same as posting from twitter but some like the convience of having a small program.
- Not near a computer? Access mobile twitter (m.twitter.com) from your phone web browser. (my personal favorite)
- Twitter right from your phone via text!
- If you're real clever! Use TwitPic to not only post what you ate and how many "units" are in it but share a photo of it as well! SO COOL! ;~P
The beauty of using twitter as your food journal tool is the number of ways you can access it. I don't know about you, but I always have my phone so I have no excuse.
Step 3: Check Your Totals
At the end of the day, simple come back here and check out your summary by typing your username and when you want to track from. I realize not everyone tracks from 8AM - 11PM like I do. So I allow you to pick the time you want to track from.
Remember, for now I only have access to your last 20 tweets. So if you tweeted more then that on a given day you will "lose" some entries in your summary table.
Step 4: Post your Food Journal to Your Blog (Optional)
If you have a blog and want to post your food journal table, simply copy and paste the code that is generated under your summary table into the code view of your blog.
Step 5: Share and See What Everyon'e Eating! #tep (Optional)
Here may be the coolest part of all. Well, I think so anyway. :~) Have you guys seen those little hash marks in twitter. For example #gno well that's a way for people to tag or mark their tweets so others can find them using Twitters Search Engine. So if we all start to use our own harsh mark, for example #tep (standing for TweetEatPost) we can keep tabs on each other.
#food slice of pizza (5) #tep
Of course this is completely optional but it may be a nice way to find other Tweet Eat Post users like yourself. Try it now by search for #food or #tep in the search engine.
Please leave any comments, ideas and questions below and if you want, your food journal Twitter name, so I can follow you! :~)
On March 28th, 2009 at 7:13 pm Geri said:
test
On March 31st, 2009 at 2:45 pm Cara said:
Roni, this is GENIUS!!!!
I’m a total Twitter addict and so this is right up my alley. This is such an ingenious use of Twitter.
I’ve already set up a new Twitter account and I’m using it on my blog.
GENIUS!!!
On April 1st, 2009 at 12:49 am Laura Brandon said:
Is the chart supposed to come out pink on our blogs? Because mine isn’t.
On April 1st, 2009 at 8:05 am roni said:
Great question! No it will be styled the way your theme or template has defined tables. For example if you paste it into a BlogToLose blog it looks like this… http://www.blogtolose.com/profiles/blogs/day-8i-ate-and-ate
(well that’s the other generator but same point)
If you want it to look like mine I can give you the CSS to paste in your css file.
On April 3rd, 2009 at 7:40 pm Betty Adams said:
Roni, I am new at Twitter, but I do have an account. I would love to twitter my food diary. I am thinking I only have to copy and paste the above XHTML code. Well I shall soon see. Thanks for your blog, I love it.
Betty
On April 8th, 2009 at 11:52 am koko said:
Hey Roni!
I’ve been reading your blog for months now and like to watch AskRonis when I do my dishes at night :)
Anyway, this wole Twitter thing is absolut genius! My screen name up there is ShhhFood. I missed the #-tag today, my first day, but will be posting it by dinnertime!
Thanks for the crazygood idea!
On April 19th, 2009 at 7:13 pm Betty Adams said:
Roni, I signed up for twitter, and I have been posting my food journal. I think I have been doing it wrong. I never seem to be able to copy and paste the table directly to my blog.( in fact I never get a table) I have to go to your page each time and add everything individually. What do you think I am doing wrong. Thanks, Betty
On April 19th, 2009 at 7:21 pm roni said:
Hi Betty! I should be able to help. What is your twitter username?
On April 20th, 2009 at 7:46 pm Betty Adams said:
Roni, It worked, thanks so much. BTW, I love your site, I made the pinto bean soup this weekend it was very good.
Betty
On May 25th, 2009 at 1:13 pm Julie said:
Roni, I would LOVE your css to paste into my blog to make my chart look nice like yours ;) I have a blogger blog I am not sure if that will make a difference?
On May 27th, 2009 at 10:15 pm roni said:
Nope.. it would make a difference. Do you know where to put the css?
Try to copy and paste this…
table{border-spacing:1px;border:1px solid #c0e2f3;margin:5px 0 10px 0;}
td, th{padding:4px;}
th{text-align:center;background-color:#d4effd;color:#666666;border:0;}
tr{background-color:#e6f3f9;text-align:left;border-bottom:1px solid #c0e2f3;}
On May 31st, 2009 at 4:32 pm Katali said:
Hey Roni! Have been reading your blog(s) for a while now and finally decided I’d delurk and also give this a try. I do not understand twitter at all, but I do understand that it will let me track consistantly, so I am giving it a shot! Particularly since it’s become clear recently that my track-book method is no longer working.
Just a random question/suggestion: I use tables on my blog for all sorts of random “I-hate-HTML-lets-just-bloody-do-it-this-way” moments. Is it possible to include a specific css class/style ‘tag’ for the table/tr in your generator? For people who don’t use HTML, it’d just revert to a normal table (right? My HTML skills are a little patchy), but for people like me, I could write those specific classes into my CSS to make it all pretty. Does that make sense?
Also, thanks so much for posting…well, everything. You’re a daily read for me and I find it so motivating. You’ve also inspired me to start cooking and to play when I cook, which is wonderful! Thanks again for this,
Katali.
On June 1st, 2009 at 10:15 pm roni said:
Katali - GREAT idea! Of course I understand. For a quick fix I just added “foodjournal” as the class for the table. Hope that helps!!
On June 4th, 2009 at 1:40 am Jan Lowry said:
Great idea Roni. Congrats on a fantastic job. Good luck in your new job also.
Thanks for all your good ideas.
Jan
On June 23rd, 2009 at 2:17 pm Robin said:
Just started to use twitter for my food journal today! I am sooo excited to not have to be carrying around my ‘form’ that I made to track my week. Thank you sooo much Roni! Brilliant, I say, Brilliant!
On June 29th, 2009 at 3:35 pm Jim said:
have you seen ?
On June 29th, 2009 at 3:37 pm Jim said:
have you seen tweetwhatyoueat ?