Eating out? It's pretty easy to underestimate your intake!

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rainbowbow
rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
in Health and Weight Loss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE2lna5Wxuo

Found this video pretty darn interesting and wanted to share. We all know that calorie counting is a guessing game and we do our best to be as accurate as possible. With packaged products they can have a 20% margin of error (both positive and negative) according to the FDA. With restaurants usually exceeding this. :(

What are your thoughts?
«1

Replies

  • Abbie918
    Abbie918 Posts: 120 Member
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    You can only do as well as you can. I try to be as accurate as possible, but when eating out, I pretty much assume I'm going to be way over on calories. To compensate, I lengthen any workouts on that day and drink lots of water, but in the end, I enjoy it and move on.
  • ReaderGirl3
    ReaderGirl3 Posts: 868 Member
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    I eat out all the time and just go by what the restaurant's nutritional info says, I've never had any issues with things being way off.
  • meganmoore112
    meganmoore112 Posts: 174 Member
    edited April 2016
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    That was really interesting! I don't eat out much and part of the reason is because it's so hard to stick to my calorie goal because you don't really know how much you're getting. I agree though that what is the point of asking restaurants to put calories if no one ever makes sure that it's accurate?

    I suppose people still might make lower calorie choices. I know I always defer to the lower calorie items when they are listed, though I understand that they might not be accurate.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    Interesting. It would have been cool if he'd tested the same stuff over a whole week to see how much the same item might vary from day to day or location to location.
    I only eat out one meal a week and it didn't stop me losing weight at the rate I wanted. I choose things without cheese or a lot of condiments though and drink water or unsweetened tea so there aren't so many things that can change based on someone being more generous one day than the next.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    ReaderGirl3 wrote: »
    I eat out all the time and just go by what the restaurant's nutritional info says, I've never had any issues with things being way off.

    I eat out at least three times a week, and I'm still losing.
  • xpanda70
    xpanda70 Posts: 20 Member
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    I'm having a veggie burger and salad right now. Even if the condiment quantities are off, it's only mustard, tomato and onion. And the salad might vary, too, but it's salad. :)
  • blues4miles
    blues4miles Posts: 1,481 Member
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    I eat out (fast food) a LOT. Like probably 4-5 meals a week minimum, sometimes 7-8 probably.

    Yes I am still losing weight, but about a month ago I noticed my math wasn't adding up. First thing I addressed was making sure my exercise calories were accurate. I started to use some online formulas that were a LOT less generous than MFP or even my HRM stated.

    Secondly, I decided to start adding all my fast food items as 1.1 or 1.2 for exactly this reason. I know a lot of "1 serving" on food I prepare is not really 1 serving (like two pieces of bread or one English muffin can vary a lot, especially something like 1 egg) and was weighing all those things to get them to be accurate. Sometimes if the restaurant includes grams I'll weigh the food and estimate how much over/under it is (usually over).

    And just want to say, basically, my math started working again. The amount I expected to lose was the amount I WAS losing. Obviously I changed two things at once, but I agree. 1 big mac might not be 1 big mac, I always put in 1.1 or 1.2 to be safe.
  • CrabNebula
    CrabNebula Posts: 1,119 Member
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    Well, we can only do what we can do. We all don't have access to bomb calorimeters to figure out whether the label on any item is correct or not.

    The margin of error though doesn't seem to make any huge difference as far as losing weight goes, ime.
  • kandeye
    kandeye Posts: 216 Member
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    I don't eat out a lot but when I go to restaurants I usually only eat half and take the leftovers home. I weigh the leftovers and put that down as my meal. I usually eat at hole-in-the-wall places so even then I have to guess of a comparable place to log my food. I'm not too concerned since it's once in a while anyway.
  • jandsstevenson887
    jandsstevenson887 Posts: 296 Member
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    I'm in a remote area where I can't make my own food and I have no access to using a food scale so I've been estimating. I'm basically "eating out" every single meal. I've still lost almost exactly a 1lb/week and that's what MFP is set to. I think it is great to be precise but it hasn't seemed to affect me much.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
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    The worst experience I have eating out is from Subway. Sometimes I get a veggie delight salad and they pretty much double everything because OH Em Gee Veggies Have No Calories and I don't want to stand there and tell them to quit adding so much crap because I have special dietary needs. I hate those sort of people when I worked on the other side of the counter.

    The margin of error is why I weigh my take-out food. I can handle being called crazy, obsessive, and told I have disordered eating because of it.
  • Quinn_Baker
    Quinn_Baker Posts: 292 Member
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    We can only do the best we can.
    I'm still losing weight with what I'm tracking, so it must be at least close.

    Very interesting video though!
  • Ohjeezitskim
    Ohjeezitskim Posts: 129 Member
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    Great video.
    I've tried my best not to eat out at all since starting my diet (about 2.5 weeks in) the only thing I have eaten while eating "out" where Chinese chicken and broccoli with white rice (but usually I make it last 2 to 3 servings.) Subway (black forest ham and turkey on whole wheat with light mayo, vinegar, and lettuce. Wish I liked more veggies on my sandwiches but it's just ick to me, haha.) I went out with a friend visiting and the bar had NOTHING healthy on their menu so I just got a small plate of fries and hot sauce, didn't finish. I know I went over on sodium for sure. This video makes me not want to eat out!
  • ReaderGirl3
    ReaderGirl3 Posts: 868 Member
    edited April 2016
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    Ohjeezitskim wrote: »
    Great video.
    I've tried my best not to eat out at all since starting my diet (about 2.5 weeks in) the only thing I have eaten while eating "out" where Chinese chicken and broccoli with white rice (but usually I make it last 2 to 3 servings.) Subway (black forest ham and turkey on whole wheat with light mayo, vinegar, and lettuce. Wish I liked more veggies on my sandwiches but it's just ick to me, haha.) I went out with a friend visiting and the bar had NOTHING healthy on their menu so I just got a small plate of fries and hot sauce, didn't finish. I know I went over on sodium for sure. This video makes me not want to eat out!

    There's nothing wrong with eating out, just make choices that fit within your calorie parameter and you'll be fine. For all the times a serving size is over, there will also be times when the serving size is under (this seems to always be the case with fries grrrr). I lost 50lbs while eating fast food several times a week :)
  • rsclause
    rsclause Posts: 3,103 Member
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    If you are eating things that can easily be measured wrong and calorie dense like fries, mayo, salad topping/dressing than yeah. I say the nutritional info is likely on the lighter side big time. If you play it safe and have chicken breast (no mayo) or a steak with grilled veggies you will likely be dead on or better. This is why its a double whammy when a "cheat meal" out is the loaded big burger and super size fries.
  • slickmickey
    slickmickey Posts: 113 Member
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    When at home, I weigh everything. everything.... it drives my husband crazy. lol. but when i eat out, i can only hope what they are telling me is somewhat accurate. so in the long run i can only hope that i'm under calories (or at least within a few hundred if going over) because i'm still TRYING at that point. it's better than when i was eating whatever i wanted whenever i wanted. starbucks for breakfast, fast food and starbucks again for lunch, and maybe half a pizza+ for dinner? and not care at all about those calories and wonder why i've gained 60 pounds in the past 10 years... at least with tracking, via my scale or their nutritional information, i'm losing so i'll take it!
  • LazSommer
    LazSommer Posts: 1,851 Member
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    That's what she said.
  • brb_2013
    brb_2013 Posts: 1,197 Member
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    blues4miles wrote: »
    I eat out (fast food) a LOT. Like probably 4-5 meals a week minimum, sometimes 7-8 probably.

    Yes I am still losing weight, but about a month ago I noticed my math wasn't adding up. First thing I addressed was making sure my exercise calories were accurate. I started to use some online formulas that were a LOT less generous than MFP or even my HRM stated.

    Secondly, I decided to start adding all my fast food items as 1.1 or 1.2 for exactly this reason. I know a lot of "1 serving" on food I prepare is not really 1 serving (like two pieces of bread or one English muffin can vary a lot, especially something like 1 egg) and was weighing all those things to get them to be accurate. Sometimes if the restaurant includes grams I'll weigh the food and estimate how much over/under it is (usually over).

    And just want to say, basically, my math started working again. The amount I expected to lose was the amount I WAS losing. Obviously I changed two things at once, but I agree. 1 big mac might not be 1 big mac, I always put in 1.1 or 1.2 to be safe.

    I do this with my coffee drinks, I over log it to help protect against potential discrepancies. Usually I log 1.5 though.
  • BuddhaB0y
    BuddhaB0y Posts: 199 Member
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    zyxst wrote: »
    The worst experience I have eating out is from Subway. Sometimes I get a veggie delight salad and they pretty much double everything because OH Em Gee Veggies Have No Calories and I don't want to stand there and tell them to quit adding so much crap because I have special dietary needs. I hate those sort of people when I worked on the other side of the counter.

    The margin of error is why I weigh my take-out food. I can handle being called crazy, obsessive, and told I have disordered eating because of it.


    Ironic that I was eating a veggie delight sub as I read your comment lol. It was yummy!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    I personally had a much easier time losing weight by eating out only sparingly...same for maintenance. I eat out primarily at local establishments that do not have nutritional information available in the first place...I don't particularly care for fast food nor do I really care for institutionalized franchise food...so it's always a true estimation when I go out.

    There have been a couple of added benefits of this...for one, my wife and I really appreciate our nights out and we don't hesitate to just order what we truly want...we've also saved quite a bit of money. Pizza night out with the boys also just seems that much more of a special thing to do.

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