How do you track EVERYTHING??

AgidGirl

I've been doing really well weighing and tracking my meals, snacks, etc but, I realized last night that I'm not tracking EVERYTHING. My hubby got a milkshake and I had 2 sips and my kids were eating pretzels and I ate 2. I grabbed my phone to track this and I could not for the life figure out how to accurately track these...do I assume the sips of milkshake were an ounce and the two pretzels were half an ounce? Am I just overthinking this?

vismal

There are two ways to handle this. One is to not take small bites of things that are difficult to track. If you are hungry, eat, otherwise don't. The other way is to leave X amount of calories uneaten each day. Deciding what number X should be depends on how much of this snacking you do. Obviously method 1 is more accurate but both can work.

KateTii

Honestly, if it was a once-off and you are otherwise logging right, losing weight at your desired rate, then it's not the end of the world.

When I meal prep I am constantly tasting the meals to make sure I don't end up with a months worth of underseasoned crap food.

The problem with tastes and nibbles comes when they become frequent enough (or an entire cookie becomes a nibble) that they start throwing off your progress.

In your case, I would just brush it off today and be more vigilant next time.

cmriverside

Who takes two sips of a milkshake? Two pretzels?

You're a better woman than I.

I wouldn't try to log that either. It's not going to make any difference in the long run, you're probably eating at a daily deficit of 500 anyway.

Just be aware, is all.

JeromeBarry1

I'd say "eyeball it generously" but that's hard to do with a straw. You're probably close enough to accurate on the milkshake but since pretzels are in a wide variety of sizes and shapes I can't take a guess on that. If the nutrition info label tells you how many pretzels are in an ounce and you know you ate two, you can do a little math and be accurate.

estherdragonbat

I've only been at this for a few months and don't consider myself an expert, so take this with a grain of salt (no need to track the sodium in it!), but I'd say it depends on a couple of things.

1. How much you have to lose. I've got 80 lbs to go before I hit goal. With that much to lose, a couple of sips of milkshake and a couple of (thin!) pretzels aren't a huge deal and the only reason I'd try logging would be to get into the habit. If you've got less than 15-20 lbs to go, you need to be watching more carefully.
2. How many of these '2 sips here, 2 pretzels there' are we talking about? If that was all you had that wasn't tracked, maybe use the 'quick add' function to log 100 calories. The thing to watch out for is where you're absently grazing on a regular basis. Because if it's 2 sips of milkshake, 2 pretzels, a handful of caramel-coated popcorn, the crusts you cut off the kids' sandwiches (not saying you do this, just an example!), the honey you squeezed into your tea without measuring because when you use a spoon, half of it sticks to the bowl anyway... Yeah, that's going to add up and should be logged, even if you aren't sure the calories, just so you're aware.

Awareness and mindful eating are key.

ugofatcat

Ok, 1 sip of a milk shake is about 30 mL or about 1 fluid ounce. If the milk shake was 16 fluid ounces, that would have been 0.125 of a serving. (2 fluid ounces for 2 sips/16 fluid ounces= 0.125)

Weigh the pretzels. I think a serving of pretzels is about 28 grams. If the pretzels weigh 8 grams, that is about 0.28 of a serving. (8 grams/ 28 grams = 0.28

I have weighed individual chips, pretzels, baby carrots, grapes etc if I am taking a bite then divided by the serving. I have brought home treats from pitch-in's and parties just to weight them for accuracy.

Please count the bites! Remember your body keeps an accurate record of what you eat regardless of what you write down. Good for you for recognizing the bites!

ahoy_m8

Sad to say, I forgo the sips and tastes. It was a habit thing. Especially with small kids. I have logged 2 pretzels at some point, I'm sure. For cooking, I do season as I go but taste at the end to correct. Depending on how many tastes, I'll log 2g more than my serving. That's only when I'm trying to be as accurate as possible, though, and that is not all the time.

pinuplove

ahoy_m8 wrote: »

Sad to say, I forgo the sips and tastes. It was a habit thing. Especially with small kids. I have logged 2 pretzels at some point, I'm sure. For cooking, I do season as I go but taste at the end to correct. Depending on how many tastes, I'll log 2g more than my serving. That's only when I'm trying to be as accurate as possible, though, and that is not all the time.

I agree with this. I'm much more mindful now and no longer do the whole sip or nibble here and there. It's just a pain and not worth it. I do limited tasting when I'm cooking, of course, and just log a bit extra to account for it.

courtneyfabulous

I log everything- yes log the sips, log the 2 pretzels. I have been doing this 6 months and the only time I've not logged is special occasion dinners where there's like a buffet and I don't want to bother so for those I just save up between 500 to 800 calories and just eat fairly reasonably and don't track. Or if I'm on vacation I don't track either do I get a full mental break. But otherwise log everything you consume.

annacole94

I'll generally jut hit "quick add" and tack on a few calories. I have enough experience to ballpark a couple sips of milkshake vs. a couple pretzels. If you do force yourself to log those bits, it's also incentive to skip them because it's not worth the effort of logging it.

theflatpick

If I take a few bites here and there, I'll go add 50 calories (or whatever is appropriate) just to make me feel better.

cerise_noir

I personally use "quick add" and guess generously. I have weighed things like 2 chips and the like, just to get an idea. Knowing the serving portions weight and appearance can help with better estimates. A typical straw can hold between .3-.5ml of liquid, but shake straws are usually larger in diameter..

Even if I did have a large deficit, I would track BLTs to set up the good habit for later when the deficit is tiny. No need to get used to it later.

inertiastrength

I guess. If I'm not sure I overlog it to be safe. I'm sure the stress of worrying about if you logged it correctly is worse than any discrepancy in your calories tbh.

nrbutton

If I can't measure it, I don't eat/drink it

fitoverfortymom

I take the approach of if I can't measure it, I don't drink/eat it also.

StaciMarie1974

It depends...

Are you losing weight at a rate you are comfortable with? If so, then keep doing what you're doing, even if that means taking occasional bites and sips that you don't track.

If your weight loss rate is not working for you, then is this a regular thing? Eating your kids food, eating/drinking your husband's drink? If so then this is something you can take control over. By stopping the behavior or finding a way to account for it. Your choice.

annacole94

Do you "if I can't measure it, I don't eat it" people ever travel? Eat out?

I just got back from a business conference. Meals were buffet. I eyeballed everything, and feel like needing a food scale to eat a conference lunch would have been... problematic. I went by general rules that made sense to me, like making sure my plate was half vegetables and choosing the items that were not swimming in cream sauce.

tabletop_joe

Log it generously once just so you know what you're adding to your daily calories.

Abstain from bites/sips if you find you're doing it often. That's a bad habit that should be kicked as part of your life-long lifestyle change.

If it's just something you do like once a week or whatever, let it slide. No reason to get ultra neurotic about every single calorie--this is a life-long change that will be unpleasant and probably unsustainable if it prevents you from living well and in the moment.

My two cents.

fitoverfortymom

annacole94 wrote: »

Do you "if I can't measure it, I don't eat it" people ever travel? Eat out?

I just got back from a business conference. Meals were buffet. I eyeballed everything, and feel like needing a food scale to eat a conference lunch would have been... problematic. I went by general rules that made sense to me, like making sure my plate was half vegetables and choosing the items that were not swimming in cream sauce.

I'm rarely in situations where that is the case, so I can stick by it rather truthfully. I do go out to eat and I use the restaurant guidelines (for me, that's as close to weighing as one can come in that situation). If the restaurant doesn't have posted nutrition information I will either not eat there and choose someplace that does, or if there is no alternative, log a close approximation from another restaurant with information. This happens about 1% of the time, so it's just not a big deal.

The main thing I don't do is take sips of things (like the OP milkshake) or sneak fries of someone's plate or anything like that. I simply have changed my eating habits to not do that any more because I can't accurately log it and those types of habits don't fit into my weight loss goals.

In the buffet situation, I would probably do exactly what you have done and take a picture of my plate before I ate anything to log as accurately as possible with what I know about previous eating experience. That doesn't happen often, if at all in my life though.

infinitynevermore

I mostly use the app, so I will look up serving sizes and divide. But then, I'm eyeballing almost everything else. If there is a way to look up nutrition info, I do, but if not (like that milkshake) I estimate in ounces what it was.

amtyrell

I would guess high but avoid nibbles as much as possible.

jessiferrrb

i don't really log things like that. i may take a sip of a friend's beer to see if i like it and want to order the same but then i just log the beer i drink and forget the sip. but that's a luxury i have because i am satisfied with my rate of loss. when i get closer to goal i'm sure i'll have to adjust to count or forego the small things more frequently.

Lounmoun

I either would not take those nibbles or sips at all or not bother logging them if it was an occasional small thing. I'm not going to log jelly I lick off my finger when making a sandwich.

If you want to log sips of milkshake and you think it was 1 oz then log it that way. Something like 50 calories. You could weigh the shake, take 2 sips, weigh it again and see how much a sip really is for you.
There are pretzel database entries that you can log by weight or by 1 pretzel. Weight is more accurate. Weigh a pretzel and log the weight of 2 of those pretzels. Probably 10 calories for 2 small pretzels.
You could quick add 50-100 calories to cover all your sips and nibbles if it is something you do often.

ahoy_m8

annacole94 wrote: »

Do you "if I can't measure it, I don't eat it" people ever travel? Eat out?

I just got back from a business conference. Meals were buffet. I eyeballed everything, and feel like needing a food scale to eat a conference lunch would have been... problematic. I went by general rules that made sense to me, like making sure my plate was half vegetables and choosing the items that were not swimming in cream sauce.

Yep, travel is tough, no way around it. Estimates are going to be inaccurate. If it's a conference buffet, I size up the choices and pick a couple things I will like eating & can reasonably estimate vs. taking a sample of everything. I go pretty austere on business travel. Vacation travel is a different story. We just returned from spring break with the kids in Italy, and eating & drinking was a big part of the trip. I tried to eat like an Italian (skipped breakfast, one big meal+ one light meal/day), had wine with every meal and tons more pasta, pizza, bread than I normally eat. Didn't bother logging, too difficult when it's so many tiny tastes. On the other hand, I did log on a family trip where we only ate out once/day. So it just depends. But yeah, I give it my best guess and assume it's wrong.

lemurcat12

I might ignore it and just figure it's one of those things, or I might decide to quick add 30 calories or 50 or whatever seems reasonable given what it is.

seska422

I hadn't realized how much of a grazer I am until I started logging. I was eating things mindlessly and those calories can really add up.

I log everything before it goes into my mouth, on paper if I'm not near my phone or computer. Even if it's just a quick add guess, logging gives me a chance to decide if I really want to use those calories to eat that item. If it's too much trouble to log first then I must not want it badly enough.

MrsSeager

I try to chew sugar free gum in between meals to keep me from grazing.

TimothyFish

My attitude is that there is enough margin for error in both food calories and exercise calories to simply ignore some things. That may mean that MFP gets it wrong on how much I'll weigh in five weeks, but I figure I can adjust things based on the bathroom scale.

YalithKBK

nrbutton wrote: »

If I can't measure it, I don't eat/drink it

+1. Also, if I have two sips of a milkshake, let's be honest, I'm going to then go drink an entire milkshake.

ThatLadyFromMN

I'm really bad at this, I sample things often and don't log... sometimes it's not a big deal and sometimes it is. I also need to get better at this so I can accurately understand what is going into my body. I'd say log it, most things have serving sizes, so if you have 2 pretzels and the serving size is 12, then do the math.