How honest are you with MFP food tracking?
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I used to feel bad and not log the ice cream and cheesecake. I would just not log my exercise if I had exercised that day and called it even but I realize now it's just like I tell my kids....If you don't want to own up to it then don't do it. Now I log everything, including condiments. How? I use ketchup, mustard and mayo packets...already pre-measured!
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p10 -
darkchocthunda wrote: »itsmemaringle wrote: »I log everything! My diary is open to friends. I'm tracking because I want to lose weight and tracking takes the guessing out of the equation.... For me Stop tracking = Stop losing and really may as well not bother at all.
This, there's no point in doing this if you're not accurate. You won't lose the weight either.
Well that's not quite true.
If you eat less than you burn, you will lose weight.
I don't log ' dishonestly' ie I don't deliberately omit anything I eat - but I don't log accurately. I practice very lazy logging - every slice of bread is the same, every mandarine is a medium one, I estimate on meals out etc.
But I did lose my desired weight doing this.
I do agree that if one is not losing weight as intended, tightening up logging is one of the first steps.
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I'm very careful with my logging, but that's mostly because my husband and I are doing this together, and he often uses what I've logged as the basis for his log. I do all of the shopping, cooking, and meal planning, so it's much easier for him to look at my log and copy, say, the ingredients for the salad I made for dinner to his log.
I've worked in restaurants and prep kitchens for a lot of my life so I can pretty much eyeball 2.5 oz of cooked mahi-mahi and two cups of spinach, but he can't, and his logged '2.5 oz' serving of fish will end up being a consumed 6.8 oz serving if I don't weigh everything I cook and record how much we ate.0 -
When I'm on a mission to lose weight ... I'm very honest. I lost 26 kg in 2015 that way.
I log right down to the 5 grams of margarine I put on my bread this evening.
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Trying hard to be as accurate as possible to figure out what works the best and how much flex I can enjoy. Little slippage related to exercise logging because I really don't want to buy a fitbit. I am a control freak enough and would be over the top with a fit bit or something like it. I am trying to be a little loose with the control freakish ness. lol.0
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I log honestly. The diary is for helping me not to impress anyone.
I want to be able to look at it and see what I did and what works best for lifelong eating habits. Realistically, I am going to eat cake some days. If I only log carrots and not the cake that isn't going to help me learn to eat cake in appropriate amounts.0 -
I log for all the reasons others have said...AND because I have memory loss, and some evenings I actually can't remember what I had for breakfast.0
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a_little_less_lauren wrote: »I'm honest. I can pretend all I want, though, it won't fool the scale
Spot on!0 -
If I wasn't as accurate as I can be I wouldn't be able to review my six days calorie total to see if I can have a scrummy treat [not cheat] on the seventh day.0
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Elvirka_xoxo wrote: »I realized something. If I eat something bad, I try to hide it by not inputting the information to MFP. But who am I kidding, calories from that chocolate cake is not gonna disappear just because I didn't track it.
So I'm curious. How many people on here do the same thing or put their best days without being honest with themselves and being in a state of denial? I know I do that. Although I did just put down Boston Creme Donut into my Meal#2 so here goes all of my sugar for the day!
I so know how you feel!!! If I don't log it, I didn't eat it... But, I always do. I recently ate a big pile of potato chips - I'm in maintenance and so seriously thought about skipping logging because of the chips. But I logged honestly and moved on. I worked out a little longer the next day and also realize that maybe buttery popcorn would be a lower calorie, high volume snack another time.
This is is a really good issue to think about. I truly believe that those who succeed with long term weight loss/fitness are honest with themselves and log food and exercise properly. Those who ignore "little" things and assume that a little cheating can't hurt really do themselves a disservice in the long run. It certainly is fine to splurge or go over calories, or to skip a workout, but we have to do so mindfully and note it. Otherwise, progress is a bigger challenge and we are more likely to stall/get frustrated.0 -
Everything- to the best of my ability.0
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runningforthetrain wrote: »Everything- to the best of my ability.
This, for me, too. I am 100% honest in my food logging, which translates to 80-90% accuracy. For example, I ate at a buffet yesterday. Took pictures of my plated food (bonus, food porn, lol), and logged it once at home to the best of my ability. Not purposefully overestimated, and not underestimated to "protect" my feelings or ego.
For me, it's a balance of accuracy, practicality, ability, and flexibility. But always 100% honest. Leaving personal feedback in the Food Notes section to explain estimations helps me, too.0 -
I log everything to the best of my ability, realistically everyone has binge days. I log it too so that I remember that I'm human and deserve to 'TREAT YO SELF' everyone now and then. I have an overall goal but realize that I'm not on a timeframe and want the goal to be realized so I still track it.0
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Brutally honest. And use a food scale when at home to keep my visual estimates honest for when I'm out.williams969 wrote: »runningforthetrain wrote: »Everything- to the best of my ability.
This, for me, too. I am 100% honest in my food logging, which translates to 80-90% accuracy. For example, I ate at a buffet yesterday. Took pictures of my plated food (bonus, food porn, lol), and logged it once at home to the best of my ability. Not purposefully overestimated, and not underestimated to "protect" my feelings or ego.
I do the same with taking a photo food diary while out. It's also useful for when you wake up the next morning to this and can't quite remember everything you ate and drank.
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What a great thread. I just belatedly logged what I ate yesterday that I had "forgotten " to log at the time. I was being lazy and kind of hoped I would forget that I "forgot". Of course I went significantly over my calorie goal for the day and my weight is up. If I keep this up I may as well give up my desire to lose weight. So back I go to log the three potato chips, spoon of peanut butter and cup of non-fat hot chocolate I snacked on at work.
Seriously, this sneaky behavior got me in trouble in the first place. I may think I fooled my brain but not my butt!0 -
This is the exact reason I used to keep my dairy private. I was more honest with my food when I was the only one seeing it.0
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I'm Abe Lincoln status down to the ketchup. Lol
I even track when I've ate something hella bad because then I can see why I strive to not do that.0 -
The_Enginerd wrote: »Brutally honest. And use a food scale when at home to keep my visual estimates honest for when I'm out.williams969 wrote: »runningforthetrain wrote: »Everything- to the best of my ability.
This, for me, too. I am 100% honest in my food logging, which translates to 80-90% accuracy. For example, I ate at a buffet yesterday. Took pictures of my plated food (bonus, food porn, lol), and logged it once at home to the best of my ability. Not purposefully overestimated, and not underestimated to "protect" my feelings or ego.
I do the same with taking a photo food diary while out. It's also useful for when you wake up the next morning to this and can't quite remember everything you ate and drank.
LMAO!0 -
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The_Enginerd wrote: »Brutally honest. And use a food scale when at home to keep my visual estimates honest for when I'm out.williams969 wrote: »runningforthetrain wrote: »Everything- to the best of my ability.
This, for me, too. I am 100% honest in my food logging, which translates to 80-90% accuracy. For example, I ate at a buffet yesterday. Took pictures of my plated food (bonus, food porn, lol), and logged it once at home to the best of my ability. Not purposefully overestimated, and not underestimated to "protect" my feelings or ego.
I do the same with taking a photo food diary while out. It's also useful for when you wake up the next morning to this and can't quite remember everything you ate and drank.
LOVE it!0 -
I log everything, even on bad days - except on the random days or meals when I give up. If I do that, though, I delete all the entries for that day so that I don't kid myself into thinking I was accurate.0
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I really try to log EVERYTHING that i eat. I find that if i start not logging little things, like a squirt of mustard or a bite of my kids lunch....that i start ommitting bigger items which impacts my weight loss.0
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This is how I do my calorie intake count. That up there is one breakfast. But I divided it into three pictures (just shut up, don't ask why). So if that breakfast was about 1500 calories altogether, then damn it I can divide that into three and believe that I only had 500 calories. Now I know that this explanation makes total sense and you're welcome in advance for the many thanks, but hey, this is what makes me feel good about my damn self -- this is what stops me from cwwwwyyyyyyyying in fwont of my bweaaakfast!
I should be able to enjoy my damn breakfast! King Kong ain't got nothin' on me! Wait, sorry Denzel!
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How many calories does styrofoam have? And it's FINE to divide your breakfast calories in thirds, as long as you log all the thirds!GUARDiAN_GUiLD wrote: »
This is how I do my calorie intake count. That up there is one breakfast. But I divided it into three pictures (just shut up, don't ask why). So if that breakfast was about 1500 calories altogether, then damn it I can divide that into three and believe that I only had 500 calories. Now I know that this explanation makes total sense and you're welcome in advance for the many thanks, but hey, this is what makes me feel good about my damn self -- this is what stops me from cwwwwyyyyyyyying in fwont of my bweaaakfast!
I should be able to enjoy my damn breakfast! King Kong ain't got nothin' on me! Wait, sorry Denzel!
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Who would I be hiding it from? Myself? I could lie to make my diary look pretty, but I still know I ate it. Logging is only going to work if you do it. Not play games by doctoring it up.
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Brutally honest . . . because being honest with myself is where whole reason I lot to begin with.
Sneaking food when others weren't looking and lying to myself about what went into my mouth is a large part of what got me and kept me 50+ for so much of my life. It was not a pleasant thing to learn about myself at all.
I realized that no matter what I told myself or others about what I did or didn't eat, my body knew better and exposed me for the big fat liar I was.0
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