Logging accuracy, consistency, and you're probably eating more than you think.

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  • chelsearutene
    chelsearutene Posts: 3 Member
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    Interesting to hit my goal I'll use this cheers
  • NyxPhrixus
    NyxPhrixus Posts: 17 Member
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    This is great information! I've been weighing my food recently, but haven't seen a change yet. Sticking to it and trying to burn 3000 kcals a week hopefully will restart my body.
  • Bshmerlie
    Bshmerlie Posts: 1,026 Member
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    I only weigh those high calorie items like nuts, beans, and meats. I buy strawberries in the one pound containers and I eat half of them one day and the other half the next. Vegetables I kind of eye ball based on a cup size. I don't eat back exercise calories. I do try to limit my carbs to less than 30 per day and keep my calories around 1200. So far it's been working. But I don't want to get too obsessed with weighing things because them I'll feel like I'm on a diet and stop. :)
  • DoreenaV1975
    DoreenaV1975 Posts: 567 Member
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    jmauerhan wrote: »
    SideSteel wrote: »
    snarlingcoyote wrote: »
    Most people I know, even those that are trying to lose weight, eat out several times a week. Husband and I only eat out 2 or 3 times a week, and that's very, very low for where I live. Most people eat a lot of fast food (which we rarely eat), but that's eating out. For example, Subway. . .I've known people who eat Subway several times a week while trying to lose weight, and the amount of dressing Subway says is on their salads and subs is quite a bit less than what is on a typical sub or salad (at least around here).

    Ok. Well for people who do eat out frequently they'll certainly need to be aware of the possible additional calories they may be consuming and they should make an effort to adjust for that.

    I don't disagree that it can become problematic for people who eat out frequently.

    This discussion is interesting though, I'd be interested what's "average" in terms of frequency. Were I to guess, I would think 2-3 times/week is fairly normal.

    2-3 times a week counting all fast food, take out, restaurants (fast food and take out is JUST as hard to properly count as sitting in the place) and ALL meals? If you're only counting people who are actively trying to lose weight maybe. If you're looking at everyone then no way.

    Unless you're married to my husband who hates going out to eat...
    We go out to eat, including FF, maybe once a month.
    And it has nothing to do w/ weight loss.
    I love going out to eat but I don't go out w/out my hubby so I don't do it.
    I may have the occasional FF run w/ the kids, but that is probably once every 4 months (if I had to pick a duration, because it definitely doesn't happen every 4 months)...
    So anyway, it's possible but yes, it's not the norm.
  • phoenixfromthemidnightflame
    phoenixfromthemidnightflame Posts: 4 Member
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    I'm new at this, but what I've been doing to try and make sure that I don't go over my calories is staying under on what I track and not using those extras that pop up when I do my light exercise. That way if by chance I have miscalculated something; because it's not always easy to know exactly how much something is (like meat weight in ounces), I have a little wiggle room to stay on track. 1900 calories didn't sound like a whole lot to work with when I started, but by being more aware of what I'm eating and cutting back on the things I should not have been eating quite so much of I'm already seeing results.
  • pwh300
    pwh300 Posts: 99 Member
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    I just ordered a scale to make it easier rather then trying to judge. I try to judge high but I'm sure somethings I just don't do right.
  • jrkolkin
    jrkolkin Posts: 2 Member
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    bwogilvie wrote: »
    SideSteel wrote: »
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12396160

    The dietitians underreported their energy intake obtained from the food records by an average of 223 +/- 116 kcal/day, which was not different from their energy expenditure. Participants in the control group, as hypothesized, significantly underreported their energy intake (429 +/- 142 kcal/day, P < .05).

    Amen to this. In my first few weeks on MFP I was missing about 200 calories a day, between overestimating exercise and underestimating food. I had a 750 calorie deficit set, so I was still losing weight at a reasonable rate, but it did open my eyes to how easy it was to make a mistake. That now serves me in good stead, as I approach my goal weight and have a much smaller daily deficit planned.

    What is a daily deficit plan?
  • jrkolkin
    jrkolkin Posts: 2 Member
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    What is a daily deficit plan?
  • thegrimmycrew
    thegrimmycrew Posts: 46 Member
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    Ive always been wary of this so I try to bump up the quantity a bit to guarrantee it. Also try n have an overall balanfed day of carbs, starches, fiber, protein, and minerals. Doesnt always happen though.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    jrkolkin wrote: »
    What is a daily deficit plan?

    I think that they are just referring to the size of the deficit that they are aiming for.
  • BroscienceTheory
    BroscienceTheory Posts: 24 Member
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    It doesn't help Food Corporations mark food so weirdly by not showing the total servings in a total of an item. But I learned to make my own food instead of eating junk.
  • JakeBrownVB
    JakeBrownVB Posts: 399 Member
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    great
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    justinkwright wrote: »
    It doesn't help Food Corporations mark food so weirdly by not showing the total servings in a total of an item. But I learned to make my own food instead of eating junk.

    They show the number of servings in packaged foods. Also, just because something is made by a corporation, does not make it junk.
  • GRITSandSLUTSandWINOS
    GRITSandSLUTSandWINOS Posts: 2,573 Member
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    I measure or weigh everything that goes into my mouth (even a piece of peppermint candy gets posted). That is about a tsp. of pure sugar (with a mint flavor).
  • Nerdycurls
    Nerdycurls Posts: 143 Member
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    I weight everything and even if I follow the serving size from the package where it's exact (like the pieces of a chocolate bar), I still weigh it just in case.

    The problem I find here isn't weighing and logging the food. It's the inaccurate data in the database! I wish there was a way to get accurate data without paying anything.
  • lukos05
    lukos05 Posts: 39 Member
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    I am pretty new to MFP and haven't invested in a food scale yet. I have noticed a mild plateau and I am in agreement that it is probably because I am just using measuring cups and counts for my logging. It may have been addressed already elsewhere, but does anyone have any recommendations for food scales? There are a couple $10 ones at my local Publix, but I'd rather have a scale known to be reliable so I don't have to make multiple purchases down the road because I bought cheap-os. Thanks for the help!
  • lukos05
    lukos05 Posts: 39 Member
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    HappyCampr1 wrote: »
    I use this Ozeri scale and I love it. http://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-Professional-Digital-Kitchen-Tempered/dp/B003MSZBSI/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1433452587&sr=8-4&keywords=Ozeri

    A lot of people use one of the cheaper Ozeri scales and love those. I've never used a different one, so I can't compare. But, the Ozeri name is a pretty popular choice.

    That is actually in my top 2 choices based on Amazon reviews! :) Always good to have a little validation from others on the journey. Thanks!

  • juliebowman4
    juliebowman4 Posts: 784 Member
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    Kalikel wrote: »
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    Good point, especially these above. People often think they can look at someone's diary and tell how well they're logging based on the units of measure and such, but a reader has no way of knowing what they didn't log, which is probably a bigger source of error than using a cup measurement vs. a scale.

    I just hate to say people think that using a food scale automatically means good logging, and that not using one automatically means bad.
    You also can't assume that because an entry in someone's diary lists the measurement in cups that the person doesn't weigh their food. I use many entries from the database that are accurate (i.e., match the package label), but the person who created them used the volume measurement rather than the weight measurement when both are given on the package, e.g., 1/2 cup (113 g) for cottage cheese. I can weigh my cottage cheese and divide by the grams in a serving size to determine how much I'm serving myself, and still use that entry, and it doesn't mean I'm being inaccurate.
    I used to do that. Pain in the rear! Grams into ounces, ounces into the serving size. Ugh.

    If you manually enter the cottage cheese into "My Foods" with the grams, not only can you enter grams, but the option for One Gram will magically appear, so then you can just enter the 89 or whatever it is. And it will always be in My Foods. :)

    I mention this only because I found it so helpful and not to criticize you!
    Thank you!
    I'll be making use of this feature from now on.

    I'm not always the most diligent with weighing my foods. I sometimes accept what the label identifies as calories/serving even though it has been proven wrong.
    I also guesstimate the cream in my morning coffee
  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
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    Bumping for Friday

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