How do you keep track of your daily calcium intake?

Since you've been working with the app for 3-4 months, you probably have a good idea of how much calcium is contained in the foods you eat so the app may no longer be necessary (unless you have certain nutritional concerns). When I asked my endocrinologist about my calcium intake, she spoke in terms of servings of dairy per day. I also learned that it's best to get your calcium through food rather than supplements (although I do supplement with New Chapter bone strength since the dose of calcium is modest). You might want to keep in mind that processed food in general is not healthy and by avoiding such as well as checking the sodium content on food labels until you learn what to avoid, you will probably keep your sodium within a healthy range.

ChatGPT is an easy way to track all of your nutrition. Log in what you ate during the day and ask it to calculate protein, minerals, calories and anything else you might want to know.

I'm with @tillymack: if you can avoid torturing yourself, then do it! Unless your nutritional needs are so stringent that you have to track everything, you probably have a good idea of what to eat and what not to eat. Maybe try building a habit of fat-free* milk/yogurt/kefir at certain times of day so that you have regular amounts of calcium that you can count on as your base. Remember that one goal is to get enough calcium, not to get as much as you can, but another important goal is to stay sane. Good luck and good cheer!

*I say fat-free because in my case I did almost exactly what you did with sodium, but with cholesterol. After my osteoporosis diagnosis I went overboard on cheese and ended up high cholesterol for the first time in my life, but it was corrected when I switched to skim milk based dairy.

I agree with Janism to build a habit of fat free dairy every day. I eat nonfat Greek yogurt at breakfast which gives me calcium and protein at the same time. Milk with coffee and tea. I have kefir or a soy milk smoothie mid-day. I take a calcium supplement with dinner. I also try to have a glass of mineral water every few days which contains calcium and silica and some other minerals.

I don't think it needs to be micromanaged so exactly that you are stressed out over it. If you're getting some dairy plus taking a supplement, then you're probably fine. Personally I don't believe it makes a huge difference if you get only 1000 mg one day and 1400 mg the next day.

Calcium is only one part of the osteoporosis picture.

My rheumatologist goes by my blood calcium result. I've been normal all along with this, and she says, "whatever you're doing, keep doing".

@janism
I did the same thing with the cheese! Then cholesterol went up. Not enough they recommended meds, but enough for me to take notice. You can’t win. LOL

I created a spreadsheet for all the food I eat. Some of the foods were not in the Cronometer. So I made my own. It calculates protein, vit D, K, and magnesium, and calories. I have a place that I add my supplements if needed. If I fall short on calcium for the day I will have a SEEN calcium chew. (They are all food) https://www.seennutrition.com/products/calcium-chew-complete.

Monitoring food intake becomes exhausting and stressful. I eat normally; IBS sufferer so I am super vigilant about reading labels. Cook my own foods about 80% of the time; including homemade broths, granolas, high protein muffins, dressings for salad, any sauces/marinades, etc. Was told by the gastro to avoid dairy (lactose problematic sometimes for IBS); told by the endo to up the dairy. Who knows! Supplement wise endo said to take 1200 calcium supplementation (2 600mg per day) did not discuss about supplement amounts if you get some or all of that calcium from food. Another doctor said 1200 is too much. I think we have to follow your bloodwork and try our best to eat a diet that will benefit our osteoporosis, without having to count exactly how much protein, calcium, etc. we "need" to take.

Regarding daily calcium intake alone: I keep it simple by tarketing 400 mg per each of my three meals.

Breakfast - Typically, 400 mg from Almomd milk on my cereal or oatmeal.

Lunch - Typlically, 400 mg from cheese and/or a glass of almond milk (partial, if one slice of cheese) .

Dinner - If no substantial calcium food source, I take my 400 mg Calciul Citrate caplet with dinner (along with 2,000 IU of Vit-D3 and 100 mcg of Vit-K2 to direct the calcium away from my arteries and to my bones).

Again, I mentally target 400 mg of calcium per meal (knowing it's OK to reach 600 mg during one meal, before your body elininates the rest). If ice cream treat/high cheese Italian meal for dinner/etc, I skip the 400 mg calcium caplet., as I will reach the 400 mg without it. Easy peas!!

I found a nutrition calculator in my “app store” (iPhone) that was developed by the Canadian government, I think. It’s called “Osteoporosis Canada”. You can enter the foods/serving size you eat throughout the day and it will calculate the nutritional value for you. The database doesn’t have everything (no Mexican food-I live in the Southwest), but you sort of mentally add on what it might not have. It also doesn’t retain your information from one meal to the next for the day. As someone else mentioned, once you have a general idea what various foods contain (I read labels a lot), you may not need the app as much. I certainly don’t use it everyday.

@maryandnans I also like the SEEN calcium chews and take one every morning.