Things to be cautious about when using MFP?

LasVegasOrange

There is no question that MFP is an amazing free tool. But I'm just wondering what you would advise a relative newbee to be cautious about. I have noticed two things already:

1. I have looked at verified foods a few times and not one of the ones I looked at has been completely accurate, so I don't plan to rely on the verified label at all when logging.

2. I think it rounds up sometimes. Like if you know your product has 0.5 g of saturated fat, I think it will round it up to 1 gram even though it lets you enter 0.5 when you are creating the food. It seems like that would be a distinction with a difference, particularly when you are watching macros. But there's no way around that one, right?

Anything else that anyone would advise being cautious about? I have no expectation of perfection in this incredible website. I just want to be an informed user of it.

Thanks!

xox

snickerscharlie

Be cautious about people trying to sell you stuff. Supplements, body wraps, pills, potions. None of them do anything except help you lose weight in your wallet.

There are a bunch of good topics stickied here which contain a wealth of great information
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10260517/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest

Welcome!

queenliz99

Use the recipe builder and get a food scale for accurate calorie counting.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10257474/starting-out-restarting-basics-inside/p1

Chezzie84

It massively over exaggerates calories burn when logging exercise. I tend to halve it and that's the amount I eat back.

kk_inprogress

snickerscharlie wrote: »

Be cautious about people trying to sell you stuff. Supplements, body wraps, pills, potions. None of them do anything except help you lose weight in your wallet.

There are a bunch of good topics stickied here which contain a wealth of great information
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10260517/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest

Welcome!

What she said ^^

Plus, verified entries are crap. You'll learn over time that the best accuracy is to make your own entires. I feel more accomplished when I've cooked a meal and entered it myself. It's not as time consuming as people make it out to be and it solves problem #1. As for #2, the rounding has NEVER affected my goals, it's minimal and non consequential.

ndj1979

cross check all MFP database entries with this website: http://nutritiondata.self.com

and the calorie burned estimate that MFP gives is way overestimated...

also be wary of the woo woo on the forums...

jkal1979

If you use the barcode scanner, make sure to double check those entries as well.

I would suggest reading this to help with finding good entries.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

shadows2424

I'd say be cautious about how much its saying you at burning during exercise. A day of working out do me according to the machines at thebgym says i average a 300 calorie burn, up here its almost 500. If you're the type to eat your exercise calories back this could be causing you to overeat and it could be that you're not doing enough exercise to lose weight. Thats the only problem ive noticed so far.