If CO is all estimates is precision in measuring CO overkill?

AnvilHead

KelGen02 wrote: »

First and foremost I am no expert to this CICO thing... I do not measure out every morsel that I put in my mouth, most of my measurements are "eyeballed" I don't add exercise calories to MFP, I simply let my fitbit do it for me. I do not eat back all of my exercise calories for the very reason that I do eyeball my portions so it leaves me a pretty good cushion for error. Been doing that for 4 months now and have managed to lose 43lbs in 16 weeks. For me, it works, for others I know they need to measure and weigh out everything. I also should probably disclaimer, I went from being a lazy, lazy, did I mention LAZY couch potato to moving my body 6 days a week and eating better so that may have a lot to do with the decline in weight as well. I don't know the science of CICO, I don't really even know if my macros are set to where they are suppose to be? All I do know is I log my foods every day, do my best to stay within my macros given by MFP and exercise. I find that a lot of you MFP users are very well educated on all these things and I am all over here "winging" it so I don't usually respond to these threads in fear of being chastised. But I do have to say that I learn a lot from these thread and appreciate all of the information, even when I am being chastised.. LOL Happy Tuesday!!! That video above... WOW eye opener!

I've eyeballed and winged it for the vast majority of things throughout my weight loss. It was working and I was losing pretty close to what was projected, so it was good enough for me (my calorie allowance, even in a deficit, is 2200/day though, so that gives me more wiggle room than somebody eating 1200-1400 calories). I fully realized, though, that if it quit working, I knew exactly what the first step was that I had to take - bust out the food scale and tighten up on my logging.

Some people do just fine eyeballing and flying by the seat of their pants. If it's working, don't fix it. But when you read the "HELP, I'M NOT LOSING!!!1!!1!" threads, it's obvious in the vast majority of them that lack of accuracy in their tracking/logging is the first thing that needs to be fixed. It's not going to work if you think you're eating 1200 calories a day but are actually eating closer to 1800. Your log doesn't know the difference, but your body certainly does.

AnnPT77

rileysowner wrote: »

lizery wrote: »

If CO predictions are only an estimate (based on age, bodyweight and subjective assessments of activity levels and burns), is absolute precision in measuring CI (like logging to the gram) overkill?

Curious to hear arguments for and against.

Estimate if understood as a guess, would be the wrong way to characterize CO numbers. They are based on extensive research, but due to variations from person to person even those who are the same sex, weight, age, height the numbers are not 100% precise. For some people they will be right on, for others they will be right on, and for others they will be low. In all those cases they will be pretty close though for the vast majority of people. Yes, there will be outliers who are far out of the standard deviation of those numbers; but they are outliers. The majority of people will not be outliers. So overall those CO numbers while not 100% precise, are reasonably close to what is actually burned

As to whether that means striving for precision in CI is overkill. First, realize something, calorie numbers for foods are "estimates" too. Again, not in the sense of wild guesses, but the calories for say a tomato will vary depending on when and where they grew. However, once again, these numbers will be close. Not 100% precise, but close.

Following your reasoning, because they are not 100% precise guessing at portions rather than measuring as precisely as possible should be our approach, but all that does is add another level in imprecision. If you measure your portions as precisely as possible that removes the imprecision that you can remove, give the most accurate numbers you can get in light of the lack of precision in other areas. That doesn't seem like overkill to me. That sounds like a smart way to get numbers as precise as you can in light of the variations that are part of the functioning of biological organisms functioning.

+1 to your comments about CI variability, and the role of precision. I agree with others here that more precise measurement, even if imperfect, is a potential tool for those having trouble meeting their goals. More accurate data can provide useful insight.

And even speaking as someone who does seem to be an outlier (WRT the NEAT/TDEE estimating "calculators"), one can experientially develop a useful working estimate of one's CO. I think of the calculators as providing a data-based, research-based starting point, rather than just starting with a random guess about what to eat.

Back to OP's question, I'd like to pick at that word "overkill" in another sense.

In or out of that scenario, some people find numbers annoying and measuring obsessive. Others (like me) rather enjoy making it into a science-fair project. That's more of a personality variable.

I'm admittedly a data geek. I like data-based decision-making. Calorie estimation/measurement is not the only example. I've recording my weight daily for probably close to 10 years, even while not trying to lose (and I'm not obsessed or anxious about it). I track workouts in terms not only of calorie estimates, but HR (which I used to guide training when I'm actually training in a structured way, but enjoy knowing in other contexts as well).

I track speed & distance for cycling, walking, canoeing and especially rowing. For the latter, it gives me good feedback to help with technique and performance improvement, especially in conjunction with HR data. (Would do so for the others, too, but I'm only serious about rowing.) For a decade or more, to prepare for retirement, I updated a net worth statement once a month, and tracked the monthly history.

But now I'm rambling! Main point: Besides the precision issues, some people enjoy measuring/numbers/precision/data. For them, measuring things may not be overkill, but would be overkill for otherwise-similar folks who don't find it fun or insight-provoking.