same food lots of calorie choices

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boopsiegrl
boopsiegrl Posts: 105 Member
in Getting Started
when I look for calories in a food I get so many different calories differences How do I know which to use.

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  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Look on the packaging of the food
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    ^ Or the USDA database for whole foods
  • mohamedahmed07
    mohamedahmed07 Posts: 161 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    ^ Or the USDA database for whole foods

    USA is so accurate, that's why they've got 34% obesity rate xD
  • mohamedahmed07
    mohamedahmed07 Posts: 161 Member
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    boopsiegrl wrote: »
    when I look for calories in a food I get so many different calories differences How do I know which to use.

    Look here, if you buy something from a brand, for example Richbake you type the brand's name and the food's name, that's the most ACCURATE.

    if you get it without any modifies on the food. like just straight from the store. then it is GENERIC

    but most crappy uncommon or unknown sweets or foods do not have accurate measurements or nutrition facts at all
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,874 Member
    edited May 2017
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    OP, this thread is a very useful guide that takes you step-by-step through choosing the best entries and some common pitfalls to avoid in the MFP database.
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1
  • mohamedahmed07
    mohamedahmed07 Posts: 161 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    mohamedahmed07 wrote: »
    malibu927 wrote: »
    mohamedahmed07 wrote: »
    malibu927 wrote: »
    ^ Or the USDA database for whole foods

    USA is so accurate, that's why they've got 34% obesity rate xD

    The United States Department of Agriculture, a branch of the government, controls this database.

    And the rate of obesity is because people eat too much, period.

    Well, it's about quality of the food not quanity

    No its not.

    Right.

    Also, what's wrong with the quality of the foods in the USDA database.

    Is an egg or carrot or broccoli or blueberries or almonds not of good quality because from the US?

    Is the information about them not accurate, because the US has an obesity problem?

    My oh my, so many errors in logic.

    Nope, just misunderstanding ^^ I just tried to say, a small misscalculation of 10-50 calories even 100 calories is not that big much of impact, I meant focus on the big main methods and consistency and you'll reach your goals faster than arguing if the 100g of potato I ate had 77 calories or 87

    No need for hate, we're all here to make our goals come true, so goodluck everyone, continue this thread :)
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    mohamedahmed07 wrote: »
    Meh, I didn't say you can't lose weight on a high carb diet, some people are just carb sensitive and can't do so, suddenly you are all expert nutrition coaches that disagrees, you guys haven't reached 10% bodyfat or hit a hard plateau. because if you did, cutting even further with high carbs is absolutely impossible for majority of people.

    about the USDA data base, well I didn't check it out so I don't know, you can be right in this but so far myfitnesspal has been accurate with everything I search about.

    MFP uses the USDA database for whole food entries because it is the most researched and accurate so of course your searched entries will be accurate.
  • mohamedahmed07
    mohamedahmed07 Posts: 161 Member
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    earlnabby wrote: »
    mohamedahmed07 wrote: »
    Meh, I didn't say you can't lose weight on a high carb diet, some people are just carb sensitive and can't do so, suddenly you are all expert nutrition coaches that disagrees, you guys haven't reached 10% bodyfat or hit a hard plateau. because if you did, cutting even further with high carbs is absolutely impossible for majority of people.

    about the USDA data base, well I didn't check it out so I don't know, you can be right in this but so far myfitnesspal has been accurate with everything I search about.

    MFP uses the USDA database for whole food entries because it is the most researched and accurate so of course your searched entries will be accurate.

    ok.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,979 Member
    edited May 2017
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    OP, this advice is based on the web version of MFP. I don't generally use the app to log food, so my apologies if if doesn't match exactly if you're using the app.

    1) If you are eating a branded/packaged food, hopefully it has a nutrition label (if not, try a web search to see if the company publishes its nutrition information online). When you type in your search term, you should include the brand name and anything else in the name that specifies the particular product since many manufacturers sell multiple variations on similar products.

    When the search returns show up, look for ones that have serving sizes and calories-per-serving that match your package nutrition label (on the web version of MFP, you can see the serving size and calories per serving in the list of entries returned by the search, without having to open each entry's more detailed nutrition info). When you find one that matches for serving size and calories per serving, select it (select, not log), then click on the button that says nutrition info, and compare that to what's on your package label. When you find a match, that's the one you log.

    If you don't eat everything in the package the first time you log it, but eat more within a few days, you should be able to find it in your "recent foods" the next time you want to log it. For items with a long shelf life even after opened (e.g., condiments I don't use that often), or that I might freeze after opening and finish weeks or months later, they may have disappeared from "recent foods" the next time you want to log them. In that situation, rather than try to find the match in the database again, often I'll click on "complete report" at the very bottom of the diary page, change the report dates to cover the last time I think I logged the food, search for it, make a note of a date when I logged it (preferably in a meal with only a few other logged items), then go back to my diary, go to that date, and copy the meal to today (or tomorrow, if I'm pre-logging). If you do this, you'll have to delete the other items from the meal that you copied, since MFP doesn't let you copy the individual foods in this way.

    Be aware that even for a product with the same name, there will be entries that don't match your package label because the manufacturer has changed the recipe and label over time, or the person who entered it is in a different country where the product is manufactured according to a different recipe, or the person who entered it in the database just didn't do so accurately. Some people will just enter the calories and leave everything else blank.

    2) If you are eating non-branded/non-packaged food, like fresh produce, eggs, basic cuts of meat, and some basic dairy products, you can compare the database entries to the USDA database. Hopefully you're weighing your food and can just compare the entries for 100 grams of the food. That's where I would start in trying to narrow the entries -- check the nutrition info for ones where the serving size and calories per serving match the USDA database.

    When I'm in a hurry for some reason and don't want to take the time for comparisons, I'll look for an entry that offers multiple serving size options (e.g., for a veggie, if it has 100 g, one cup chopped, and a whole vegetable with linear dimensions, that's a pretty strong indication that MFP staff copied it from the USDA database, as users can't create entries that have serving sizes measured by weight, volume, and by-the-piece all in one). I'll also look for entries that include values for potassium and "odd" values (not all rounded to the nearest 5% or 10%) for vitamins A and C and iron and calcium. In my experience, those are good indications that they came from the USDA database.

    3) If you are logging foods prepared by someone else or a restaurant that doesn't provide nutritional information (check online, especially for chains), you basically have two choices: Pick an entry that seems like a good match (there are some USDA entries for various sweets, cocktails, and baked goods "prepared from recipe" as well as for restaurant foods that are based on averages, e.g., "Restaurant, Mexican, cheese enchilada" or "Restaurant, Chinese, shrimp and vegetables" or you can look for an entry from a chain you're familiar with that you think is similar) and log that. In the alternative, you can deconstruct the meal and log, e.g., 6 oz. flank steak, 120 g. asparagus, 120 g dried pasta, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp butter, etc.). Obviously this is easier if your meal is fairly simply, if you're an experienced cook who can tell how the dish was made, and/or if you have been logging for a while and have developed some skill in estimating serving sizes.

    Over time, you'll build up lists of recent foods, frequent foods, "my foods" (entries you created or edited), and "my meals" (meals you created and saved) that will make logging faster. You'll also likely get better at looking at the nutrition info for a food and making the judgment of whether it seems reasonable -- only 1 g of fat in a four ounce serving of mac and cheese? That can't be right! -- for those times when you don't want to do or can't find info to do the comparison. I tend to be more likely to log something without comparing the nutrition info if it's an entry I don't expect to use again -- e.g., I'm logging food I ate from a buffet or pot luck. It's just one meal, and I just want to get some kind of reasonable estimate down that will indicate to me what kind of food I ate when I go back to look later.

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