Start by selecting the ‘Add new product’ link to open your regional add product window. The ‘Add food’ window will also start automatically if the search has been unable to find any matches for a product

Brand (1)

Enter the brand name. The Perfect Diet Tracker will automatically suggest brand names, or you can add a new name.

Product description (2)

Enter a description for the product. The brand will automatically be added to the end of the description later so you do not need to enter the brand again into the description.

We recommend you enter the description in the same format as the foods already in the database to keep things consistent and easy to find in the alphabetical search listings. This format is the food product type first, then a comma, then the details, for example ‘Soup, Tomato, Packet’.

Serving size (3)

Enter the product serving size from the nutrition label.

If you are entering details for a ‘per item’ product and do not know the weight (for example 1 burger = 400 calories) you would enter ’1 burger’ in the first box, ’400′ in the second box, and then check the calories tickbox.

Typical values (4)

Simply complete the nutritional information from the label.

Add the product (5)

Finally, to add the product to the database click the ‘Add product’ button.

The software will do a quick check to ensure the data is valid using a series of mathematical computations on the data, and then add the product to the database.

The diary can be broken down into four key areas.

(1) The main diary, this is where your food and exercise will be listed.
(2) The top search box, the primary method of adding food and exercise to the diary.
(3) The progress box, this box will let you know how you are getting on
(4) The side menu block, this menu lets you update your weight and view results.
(5) The speed buttons at the bottom of the diary offer quick links to commonly used functions

The main diary section lists the products you have added to your diary.

The current diary date (1) is shown to the top left, anything you search for and add will be added to the current diary. The arrows before the date (5) can be used to change the diary date so you can add products for different dates.

In the top right of the diary you can see how many calories or kilo joules you have left (2). This is explained in more detail later in the help document.

Meal names are used to break your diary into sections. Clicking the blue arrow (3) will show or hide (collapse) the items in each meal name. When a meal is collapsed a summary of the calories used is added to the meal title line. To quickly change a products meal selection simply drag it into another meal or right click on the item and select the new meal name.

The +/- buttons (4) can be used to quickly increase and decrease the quantities of the product you have in the diary.

Right clicking the main diary box (or in the Mac version ctrl-click) provides a quick way to change a products meal title, to copy entries to another user on the same computer or to access the edit functions. Double clicking on an entry will automatically open the products edit screen.

The main search box (1) lets you search for food and exercise. The box will automatically clear the ‘What would you like to add to your diary?’ text when you start typing. Simply enter the product name you would like to add and either press your return key or click on the search button (3) to start your search.

The ‘Favorites’ / ‘Favourites’ button (2) will bring up a new window where you can quickly select from a list of food products you have added in the past.

At the bottom of the diary window you will see the progress box.

This is subdivided into three sub sections.

Section 1 lets you know how you are using your calories or kilo joules and how many you have left.
Section 2 gives you a breakdown of your nutritional profile.
Section 3 shows your target nutritional profile.

If you would like to change the target nutritional profile click the small spanner icon (4). To hide the progress box, click on the arrow icon (5).

If you would like to view progress in grams click on any of the totals. Click the totals again to swap back to percentages.

Tip: If you have added exercise to the diary the ‘remaining’ total will be adjusted to allow for your exercise credits. If you would like to see how many calories would have been left without the exercise credit simply hover your mouse pointer over the green ‘remaining’ box.

The side menu gives you access to the tools you will use to monitor your overall progress.

(1) Update results

Update your weight and any other measurements you would like to track.

(2) View results

Access the reporting section of the Perfect Diet Tracker to view your results and view progress graphs.

(3) Adjust targets

You can change your target weight, weight loss and activity level using this option.

(4) Edit profile

Make adjustments to your user profile, change your country (useful when on vacation or holiday abroad), change what is displayed in the diary window.

(5) Add to diary

The ‘Add to diary button will bring up a search box so you can add new food or exercise to the diary.

If you are using version 3.2.2 or later and have more than one user setup this button will read ‘Switch user’ instead of ‘Add to diary’ to help you quickly switch between different users on your system. You can use the ‘Add’ button directly below the diary or the search box in the top right corner of the window to add new products.

(6) Log out

Log this user out and return to the login screen.

The speed buttons give you quick access to commonly used functions.

Add

The add buttons can be used to gain full access the search food and add exercise windows.

Groups

The group button lets you group items together so they can be added quickly in the future. For example, you may have a common breakfast menu, perhaps a cereal, milk and sugar. You can select these items in the diary, then click on the group icon to group them together. The group will then appear in the favorites (you can also access this using ctrl or command and G on the keyboard). When you add the group all the items in the group will be added to the diary.

Edit

The edit buttons are useful to duplicate, edit or delete items in the diary. For example you may want to duplicate an entry, then drag and drop it into another meal and finally use the +/- icons to quickly alter the quantity.

Notes

The notes button with show the ‘day notes’ window. The notes window lets you add notes for each day.

To the bottom right of the window you will see a calendar. When you first start the Perfect Diet Tracker this will show the current date.

If you select a different date, the diary will be updated to show food and exercise items for your selected date.

The text shows how many calories you have left. This box will turn red if you exceed your calorie allowance!

In addition at the very bottom of the application window you will see a bar, this bar fills up as you consume your calorie allowance, and like the text above turns red if you exceed your calorie allowance.

You should aim to consume all your calories each day. If you are a little under or a little over do not worry.

You should not starve yourself in an attempt to lose weight faster, if you are falling short of the recommended calorie intake you may find your metabolism slows down, making it harder to lose weight.

If you find you have gone over the recommended calorie intake don’t panic or starve yourself the next day to make up! Simply start again the next day and consume the recommended calorie intake.

The title bar of the diary window shows the name of the user currently logged in.

The tabs (1)

Along the top of the window you will see tabs, ‘TOP’, ‘AB’, ‘CD’ etc. Selecting the ‘TOP’ tab will list the products you use the most often. As you use the software this feature becomes increasingly useful as the software is effectively getting to know your favorite products.

The ‘AB’, ‘CD’ etc tabs list the food items you have added by their first letter, ‘AB’ lists products starting with A or B.

The ‘Groups’ tab – version 3.1 or earlier

The groups tab in all versions prior to v3.2 contains a list of the groups you have created in the main diary.

Groups can contain two or more items.

For example if you have a recipe you eat on a regular basis you can select a date in the past with no data and add all the ingredients to the diary. You can then select all the ingredients and use the group button to group them. The name you give to this group will then be listed in this tab, so you can simply select it later. All the recipe parts will be added to your current diary.

Groups are very flexible and used correctly can save you time, another example of a common use for the group option would be coffee with milk, or bread with butter.

The ‘Groups’ tab – version 3.2 or later

The groups tab in version 3.2 or later now takes you to the dedicated groups and recipe manager.

The groups and recipe manager lets you create new food groups, add or remove items from the groups, and insert the groups into your diary either as a ‘whole group’ or in partial, or multiple units (for example 1/8th of a pie).

For more information on the new groups and recipie manager click here.

The easiest way to add your favorite items to your diary is to drag them from the top box into the bottom box (the blue box).

You can change tabs to list different foods and simply drag any products you want to add to the current day into the blue box.

You can also double click an item to add it, or select an item and click the ‘Add’ button.

If you want to change the meal title selection for any item in the blue box simply click the arrow next to the meal name, if you add a product to the blue box by mistake you can select it and click the ‘Remove’ button to remove it.

Once you have all the products in the blue box simply click the ‘Add selected products to diary’ button.

The tool buttons can help you make the most of the favorites window.

(1) Add

Adds the currently selected item to the blue box.

(2) New favorite / favourite

The items in your favorites automatically appear when you add products to your diary, however if you want to add a favorite product without adding it to your diary you can use the ‘New favorite’ button.

(3) Remove

The items in your favorites automatically appear when you add products to your diary, if you would like to remove an item you can use the ‘Remove favorite’ button.

(4) Search

The search button will ask you what you are looking for, then search your favorites for the desired item.

(5) Expand and compress

Each item in your diary is automatically added to your favorites. This can result in multiple entries for common products that differ in serving size or the selected meal. When the listings are compressed only a few of the more popular listings for each item are shown so you can add them and change the meal or quantity to suit later. If you click the ‘Expand’ button all listings will be shown.

23 October 2009: Updated due to changes to the ‘group’ functions in version 3.2

Start by selecting the ‘Add new product’ link to open your regional add product window. The ‘Add food’ window will also start automatically if the search has been unable to find any matches for a product

Brand (1)

Enter the brand name. The Perfect Diet Tracker will automatically suggest possible brand names, or you can enter a new name.

Product description (2)

Enter a description for the product. The brand will automatically be added to the end of the description later so you do not need to enter the brand again into the description.

We recommend you enter the description in the same format as the foods already in the database to keep things consistent and easy to find in the alphabetical search listings. This format is the food product type first, then a comma, then the details, for example ‘Soup, Tomato, Packet’.

Typical values (3)

Most product packaging will quote typical values per 100g or ml, so you can simply select grams (for a solid) or milliliters (for a liquid). If you are entering a product such as a fast food item where the information is quoted per item (for example xxx calories per burger) you should select the serving option.

Data fields (4)

The order of these fields may be different depending on the country you have selected, but the information is the same. Enter the information from the product packaging.

Serving size (5)

Enter the suggested serving size, for example ’1 can’ and ’330 ml’. If the serving size is quoted as 1 item is xxx calories, you can select the calories option and the software will calculate the number of grams per serving automatically for you.

Enter the name of the product you want to add in the top right search box in the diary. Click the search icon to perform the search.

Alternatively you can use the ‘Add to diary’ button in the side menu or by pressing Alt-F on your Windows keyboard and cmd-F on a Mac keyboard.

To add an item to your diary select a product (1), then select the quantity (2) and the meal (3) for that product.

You can enter a quantity using standard serving sizes, grams, ounces or kilos. For grams and ounces simply select the option, enter the weight and then click on the ‘Add selected product’ button (7).

For standard serving sizes select the ‘use standard serving sizes’ option. The default serving size will then be shown, you can change this by clicking on the selection box (8). Finally, enter the number of servings and then click on the ‘Add selected product’ button (7).

If you cannot find the product you can modify your search and search again or add the product you want to the main food database (4).

If you would like to see the nutritional information for the selected product click the ‘Show nutritional information’ (5) link.

You can right click in windows, or control click on a mac in the product selection window to change its name.

If you cannot find the product you want to add to the diary, simply click on th ‘Add new product’ link to add it to the database.

Manufacturers occasionally change their serving sizes or alter nutritional information, for example to reduce salt in their product.

If you find a product that is incorrect click the ‘Edit product data’ to update it. If you have internet searching turned on, the software will also notify Byoni anonymously that the product data may be incorrect so they can adjust the database, this ensures the product database is as accurate as possible for all users.