Obsessed with Counting Calories

AnvilHead

neiltillbrook wrote: »

...For example: If I can't find the nutritional information for something, a majority of the time I won't eat it...

...Said me never.

neiltillbrook wrote: »

...What do people do when you can't find the information on something, do you put it down and walk away, or do you just accept it's not going to be 100% right all the time and just enjoy it - even though the difference could be 10-100 calories difference in some cases.

I guesstimate it, call it good, and enjoy every bite of it.

I'm certainly not that fast and loose with it all the time, but on the occasions we go out to eat or go to a party or something where nutritional information is all going to be a loose guesstimate, I don't sweat it. Throughout my weight loss I eyeballed a lot of things and went off the information on food packages (which are allowed up to a 20% error by law) - if we're eating at home I usually use a food scale on calorie-dense items where a little error can make a big difference, or things that are hard to visually estimate, but even that wasn't an "all the time" thing. I'm down over 70 pounds and in maintenance since September of last year, so I guess I can say it worked for me.

callsitlikeiseeit

AnvilHead wrote: »

neiltillbrook wrote: »

...For example: If I can't find the nutritional information for something, a majority of the time I won't eat it...

...Said me never.

neiltillbrook wrote: »

...What do people do when you can't find the information on something, do you put it down and walk away, or do you just accept it's not going to be 100% right all the time and just enjoy it - even though the difference could be 10-100 calories difference in some cases.

I guesstimate it, call it good, and enjoy every bite of it.

I'm certainly not that fast and loose with it all the time, but on the occasions we go out to eat or go to a party or something where nutritional information is all going to be a loose guesstimate, I don't sweat it. Throughout my weight loss I eyeballed a lot of things and went off the information on food packages (which are allowed up to a 20% error by law) - if we're eating at home I usually use a food scale on calorie-dense items where a little error can make a big difference, or things that are hard to visually estimate, but even that wasn't an "all the time" thing. I'm down over 70 pounds and in maintenance since September of last year, so I guess I can say it worked for me.

i do the same thing. but i also think thats only effective (at least in my case) when youve actually weighed and logged your food for a considerable time period, and KNOW what youre looking at. i dont advise someone new to it to do it that way

AnvilHead

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

AnvilHead wrote: »

neiltillbrook wrote: »

...For example: If I can't find the nutritional information for something, a majority of the time I won't eat it...

...Said me never.

neiltillbrook wrote: »

...What do people do when you can't find the information on something, do you put it down and walk away, or do you just accept it's not going to be 100% right all the time and just enjoy it - even though the difference could be 10-100 calories difference in some cases.

I guesstimate it, call it good, and enjoy every bite of it.

I'm certainly not that fast and loose with it all the time, but on the occasions we go out to eat or go to a party or something where nutritional information is all going to be a loose guesstimate, I don't sweat it. Throughout my weight loss I eyeballed a lot of things and went off the information on food packages (which are allowed up to a 20% error by law) - if we're eating at home I usually use a food scale on calorie-dense items where a little error can make a big difference, or things that are hard to visually estimate, but even that wasn't an "all the time" thing. I'm down over 70 pounds and in maintenance since September of last year, so I guess I can say it worked for me.

i do the same thing. but i also think thats only effective (at least in my case) when youve actually weighed and logged your food for a considerable time period, and KNOW what youre looking at. i dont advise someone new to it to do it that way

No, it's not a great idea for newbies. But sometimes people are very resistant to the idea of weighing/logging, and at that point I say try eyeballing and see how it works for you. Then if you're not losing weight, you know why and you know what you need to do.

OP is completely to the other extreme, though.

rikkejohnsenrij

I usually log 3 big mac meals on days where I dont want to do real logging and dont feel inclined to be healthy anyway


it's about 2x my normal daily calories so thats plenty for me unless I eat chips all day...it also reminds me that I was not healthy that day.

Francl27

neiltillbrook wrote: »

@cmriverside Like most people I've tried several diets, but calorie counting is the only thing that's ever really worked for me, too. See, I've never really prepared my own foods that aren't either a ready meal or frozen things that I can throw in the oven. I know that's because they've nutritional information on and at least that way I know what I'm eating is the right information.

You're actually better off making your own meals and using the recipe builder.

Packaged foods and ready meals calories can be up to 30% off on the nutrition label.

AMC110

I'm the same, I don't like to eat something if I don't know the nutritional values as I can't log it accurately. Using an estimation or substitution makes me anxious in case I have underestimated. Counting calories is the only thing that works for me and being sloppy about it will hinder my progress so on the rare days I use estimations I count this as my maintenance day.

staticsplit

As someone who had a severe eating disorder, I'd definitely say working on being more flexible is a good goal. If you under or overestimate on something while you're out, you'll likely at most be off by a couple hundred, which over the course of a week if it's once or twice won't make that big of a difference. Worst case is you lose a tiny bit slower that week or whatever. It's no big deal.

CSARdiver

I bring up the analogy of balancing a checkbook when discussing this.

You would think me insane if you found out that I had no clue how much I had in my financial accounts. Budgeting calories is the same idea although the ramifications associated with eating are slow reacting and take months/years before we are faced with the consequences.

As for accuracy or precision...how much is required? BMR is an estimation as is calorie usage, but the degree of error is marginal when applied to the overall formulae.