To what length have you gone to count calories?

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  • BruinsGal_91
    BruinsGal_91 Posts: 1,400 Member
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    Chef_Barbell wrote: »
    Fishing packaging out of the trash bin because I forgot to scan it or log it. :laugh:

    **waves to my fellow dumpster divers**
  • mamadon
    mamadon Posts: 1,422 Member
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    Yet another dumpster diver here! I don't know if this really counts but on Sunday I plan on bringing my bottle of Bolthouse Farms salad dressing to the restaurant with me.
  • rightoncommander
    rightoncommander Posts: 114 Member
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    OK, I think we've all fished packaging out of the bin to scan it. But I don't go to great lengths to measure restaurant food, meals my wife made before I got home etc. After all, even if I get the ingredients exactly right, I don't know what it weighs. I'm usually pretty good at estimating these things, if the scales are any judge. Which they are.

    Actually, I've been a pretty lazy logger for the last few weeks, and it has done my weight loss no harm. I don't expect that streak to last, though. I'll get strict when I stall again.
  • kimmicklus
    kimmicklus Posts: 3 Member
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    I use to be fanatic about counting calories. Until I realized I was I was actually depleting my body of nutrients in favor of low calorie foods. I now use a container system and I eat incredibly nutrient dense foods now. I am losing and toning and haven't felt this energized in years. Even going through menopause. Friends call me the Energizer Bunny. I haven't been really sick since I started giving my body the proper nutrition either. It is about quality not quantity.
  • rightoncommander
    rightoncommander Posts: 114 Member
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    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »
    It works because you are eating less calories than you are burning.

    Leaving aside the perplexing question of why anyone would be on MyFitnessPal who doesn't count calories,
    different strategies for losing weight are successful for different people. Not all of them include logging calories, though of course all of them do produce a sustainable calorie deficit.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,017 Member
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    Chef_Barbell wrote: »
    Fishing packaging out of the trash bin because I forgot to scan it or log it. :laugh:

    I've done that many times.

    One time my mother in law sent some cake home with my son. I had the recipe for it, but it was made in an extra large cake pan so I called her and asked her how many pieces she cut the cake into. It was when I first started calorie counting and I think she thought I was a little crazy. But I was able to enter it into the recipe builder and know when I eat that cake I have a pretty reasonable estimate for the calories.
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
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    I've weighed cake at work. I've walked around with a purse full of food wrappers when my phone died and couldn't scan things. Also took items off of store shelves, walked around until I got a signal to scan it, and walked around with multiple items to find the lower calorie bargain. Grocery shopping is an ordeal. Many a security guard is convinced I'm casing their stores. :D
  • leajas1
    leajas1 Posts: 823 Member
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    Chef_Barbell wrote: »
    Fishing packaging out of the trash bin because I forgot to scan it or log it. :laugh:

    I've taken food out of the trash to eat it. I didn't log that food.

    I'm known to bring my own food over to a friend's house for a gathering. I'll also bring some food into restaurants (for example, if I know I"m going to have chili, I'll bring my own weighed out Greek yogurt to put on top). I don't think any of that is too crazy, though.
  • murph155
    murph155 Posts: 116 Member
    edited February 2017
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    I've used the postage scale at work to weigh my food, either because I forgot to do it when I packed my lunch, or it's something I bought out. And since there's no tare function on a postage scale (!), I've also weighed the paper plate or bowl I'm using first so I know how much to subtract for it.

    Oh, and dumpster dived! :D
  • cross2bear
    cross2bear Posts: 1,106 Member
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    Oh gosh its good to know I am not the only one who fishes packaging out of the trash to check the bar code, or that uses the postage meter at work to weigh fruit if I forgot to do so at home! Humans are such adaptable creatures!!

  • vnb_208
    vnb_208 Posts: 1,359 Member
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    I work in a hospital and sometimes go to the cafe. I purchased these firey hot chicken strips (most things at the cafe have a nutrition label) this didnt, So i called the supervisor in the cafe to get the manufacturer info. Called the manufacturer to get the cal for the 3 chicken strips that i consumed :D
  • FatPorkyChop
    FatPorkyChop Posts: 83 Member
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    rightoncommander wrote: »
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »
    It works because you are eating less calories than you are burning.

    Leaving aside the perplexing question of why anyone would be on MyFitnessPal who doesn't count calories,


    > I enjoy the community and the blog, calorie counting is not the only feature of the app.
  • Chunkahlunkah
    Chunkahlunkah Posts: 373 Member
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    That's a really sweet memory with your grandmother,
    OP. :) I could see the emotional connection, in a way, making it feel more important to get it right with this.

    As far as how far I go...not very lol. I'm a relatively laid back tracker, I guess. I think the furthest I've gone is creating an entry for a food item that wasn't already there or was logged inaccurately. I consider my meticulous weeks when I actually use my food scale rather than estimate!

    If my results significantly differed from what I logged, I would aim for more precision. But I haven't come across that problem yet.

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