How to track peptides: what to log and why
A log is only as useful as its least careful entry. This guide covers what to record for each dose, how to keep entries consistent, and how to note the things that are easy to lose: a missed dose, a change of product, a change to your schedule. It works in a notebook, a spreadsheet or an app.
It's about keeping a record. It doesn't say what to take, how much or when; those questions are for your prescriber or a licensed clinician.
Why keep a log at all
- Memory blurs quickly. A week later, "Tuesday or Wednesday?" is hard to answer. An entry made on the day isn't.
- Several compounds multiply the confusion. Each one has its own name, amount, route and timing. A log keeps them apart.
- Your prescriber works from facts. Dates, amounts and what you noticed, written down, are easier to discuss than a recollection.
What to record for each dose
- Date and time. When you took it, written the same way every time.
- Name. The product or compound exactly as its label or prescription names it. If it contains more than one compound, use the name on the label.
- Amount and unit. What you actually took, in the unit on your label or prescription. Write the unit out every time: mg and mcg differ by a factor of 1,000.
- Route. How you took it, for example an injection under the skin, by mouth or as a nasal spray.
- Injection site. For injections only: the area you used, in the same words each time.
- Product details. The lot or batch number and the date you opened it, if your product has them.
- How you felt. Optional: a rating on the same scale every day, and a few words if anything stood out.
A filled-in entry might read:
Monday, 7:40 a.m. [Name, as on the label]. [The amount you took, with its unit]. [Route]. Site: [area, if injected]. Lot: [number]. Felt: [your rating], [a few words, if anything stood out].
Not sure which unit is which? mg, mcg, mL and IU explains what each one measures and why they aren't interchangeable.
Keep it consistent
Use one place. A log split between a notebook, a notes app and a calendar is three partial logs.
Use the same words every time. The same name for each product and the same names for injection sites, so entries can be compared.
Write it when it happens. Log each dose as you take it, or at a set time each day, rather than catching up at the end of the week.
Keep a record of your schedule, too
Alongside the doses, note the schedule your prescriber gave you: when you started, and every change with its date. When you look back, you can then tell a planned change from a missed dose.
Missed and late doses
Record what actually happened. If you didn't take a dose, write that down rather than leaving a gap, because a gap could mean either "not taken" or "not written down". If you took it late, log the time you actually took it. Don't fill in doses from memory as if you'd logged them at the time: mark them as filled in later. What to do about a missed dose is a question for your prescriber; a log only records it.
Changes of product
When you start a new product, note the date and its name and lot number, even if the compound is the same. If something changes, the log shows when. Keeping records when you switch medicines covers this in more detail.
Paper, spreadsheet or app
- Paper: the printable logs are blank sheets with these columns, with no example amounts.
- A spreadsheet: one row per dose and one column per field above. Keep the file private, since it's a health record.
- An app: it fills in the date and time, reminds you, and keeps every entry in the same format.
Review it, and bring it to appointments
Look back over your log every week or two: check the gaps and the units, and fill in what you missed while you still remember. Before an appointment, prepare what to bring, and export your records if you keep them in an app.
Tracking peptides in Peptimes
Peptimes is a private iPhone tracker, coming soon to the App Store. When you log a dose it records the amount you enter, the route, the injection site for injected doses, and how you feel, and you can add notes such as a lot number. Peptimes never suggests an amount. A blend you created is logged as one dose. If you didn't take a dose, you can mark it as not taken, which is kept apart from a dose with no record yet.
Started before you found Peptimes? Set your start date up to 6 months back and confirm the doses you've already taken, all at once if you like. They're saved at their scheduled time and labelled that way, with no site, so they stay distinct from doses you logged as you took them. Your records can be exported as CSV or JSON. The peptide tracker page has the rest.
Sources
- Food and Drug Administration, "Create and Keep a Medication List for Your Health", checked 25 Oct 2026: what a medication list contains (name, strength, instructions) and keeping it current.
Coming soon to the App Store
See the peptide tracker