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What items do you NOT track?

admaarie

As I get into using MFP more and more (over a month) I’ve been kind of finding it tedious tracking things like onions, some veggies, when I’ve just used 3-4 berries etc. Idk how important it is to be superrrr accurate (I’m slowly transitioning to maintenance type of lifestyle). So are there things you all skip out on tracking?
I don’t wanna be super excessive or obsessive with this!

Replies

FireOpalCO

There are things I don't track. But before I get into those, let me be clear that I don't eat all my calories a day, I usually leave 200-400 uneaten. It covers the untracked, any small variations in portions I didn't weigh (restaurant or prepackaged food), or things being off in exercise calories.

1. Salt & Pepper, I'm not watching my salt intake, so I don't log the sprinkling (ditto other spices)
2. Breath mints
3. Single tastes & store samples, if someone says "mmm, this is so good, want a taste" I'm not going to try and log that. It's an infrequent bump in calories. I also don't cruise Costco hoping to fill up on a free lunch, I only try things I might purchase.
4. Vitamins

malibu927

Spices and diet soda. Everything else goes in.

CarvedTones

I record everything with calories but sometimes for really small amounts I do play "same as". Lettuce, tomato and onions on a single burger I record as 2 tomato slices.

okiewoman510

Onions add up fast! I log everything down to vitamins and breath mints.

That said, I eat the same salad for lunch every day and I don’t weigh each ingredient every day. I spot check myself every couple weeks to be sure I’m not having portion creep. I weigh the protein every day since it’s the bulk of the calories.

garystrickland357

I don’t track some condiments and add-ons when I make sandwiches and such. Things like pickled jalapenos, lettuce, a bit of mustard, etc.
Like an above poster though, I almost always have unused calories. I exercise quite a bit and only eat about 1/2 the exercise calories back. I watch the trend on the scale and if weight loss starts slowing, I track calories more meticulouly. Otherwise I’m mindful but not obsessive. I may snitch a grape or a strawberry without worrying about logging - that sort of thing.

yirara

malibu927 wrote: »

Spices and diet soda. Everything else goes in.

I use a lot of spices, and many of them have 15kcal for 5grams. Many spices are just very oily. So I might easily have 100kcal on spices in my food.

I don't log water though.

VUA21

Zero calorie items. If it has calories, I track it, no matter how few calories, they do add up.

Cascadae

I dont track vegetables in general except potatoes

kemoon0915

Mustard, salt, most spices (pepper, mrs. Dash, cinnamon, etc), cooking spray, diet soda and zero calorie sparkling water, sauerkraut and no sugar added pickles... that's all I can think of right now!

malibu927

kemoon0915 wrote: »

Mustard, salt, most spices (pepper, mrs. Dash, cinnamon, etc), cooking spray, diet soda and zero calorie sparkling water, sauerkraut and no sugar added pickles... that's all I can think of right now!

Cooking spray I would be careful with. It says 0 calories per serving, but a serving is usually about a 1/4 of a second spray. If you do a few seconds worth that can add up.

DreaDarling87

The only things I don't log are breath mints and gum. I log everything else, including my vitamins. Turns out my morning vitamins have close to 45 calories in them and that does add up.

dolcezza25

I don't log salt but I do log pretty much everything else, including spices as they can add up. I track vegetables because I want to hit my fiber quota, and I track my vitamins cause they're 35cal a day.

If I have a single bit of something I won't log it if it's too complicated or inconvenient in the moment.

kemoon0915

malibu927 wrote: »

kemoon0915 wrote: »

Mustard, salt, most spices (pepper, mrs. Dash, cinnamon, etc), cooking spray, diet soda and zero calorie sparkling water, sauerkraut and no sugar added pickles... that's all I can think of right now!

Cooking spray I would be careful with. It says 0 calories per serving, but a serving is usually about a 1/4 of a second spray. If you do a few seconds worth that can add up.

I decided a long time ago that if not logging in a few squirts of cooking spray caused me to not lose weight or to gain then the cooking spray obviously wasn't the problem at all-it was the rest of the things I was eating.

CarvedTones

kemoon0915 wrote: »

malibu927 wrote: »

kemoon0915 wrote: »

Mustard, salt, most spices (pepper, mrs. Dash, cinnamon, etc), cooking spray, diet soda and zero calorie sparkling water, sauerkraut and no sugar added pickles... that's all I can think of right now!

Cooking spray I would be careful with. It says 0 calories per serving, but a serving is usually about a 1/4 of a second spray. If you do a few seconds worth that can add up.

I decided a long time ago that if not logging in a few squirts of cooking spray caused me to not lose weight or to gain then the cooking spray obviously wasn't the problem at all-it was the rest of the things I was eating.

I usually log it just to keep from getting on the slippery slope of not logging. But as mentioned earlier, I will sometimes fudge upwards on one thing to account for another when it is a small number of calories. I still consider that logging everything.

You are right; it wasn't a small amount adding up that caused my gains over the years and I lost weight pretty consistently. Right now I am still trending down slowly while in maintenance. I think it is a combination of overestimating things I don't measure exactly and being too conservative on my base and burn. But I am not going to try to counteract that by getting sloppy with logging.

FL_Hiker

I do a rough logging of my food, I don't use scales or weigh anything but I am very good about knowing what a normal portion looks like. Also if I take a bite of something I won't log it either, not really enough to worry about. I hate being obsessive about food... really takes the fun and enjoyment out of life for me. I am very active too so I'm okay with eating over occasionally. Down 23 lbs and only 1 to go!

I stopped taking my thyroid meds for a while (hypothyroid) and over ate, I know exactly where I went wrong to begin with.

fraukazi

I don't log leafy greens, spices or 0cal drinks like diet coke (which I have around once a week)

TrishSeren

Diet soda, spices, salt and pepper and cooking oil. I probably should log cooking oil but I don't use it much, I use it very little when I do use it and I'm still losing without logging it.

paperpudding

Diet soda, water, spices, cooking oil ( I use tiny bit) margarine ( again, I use tiny bit) lettuce, onion, small pieces of other veg - like one slice of tomato, couple of strawberries

Also do lots of lazy logging - every banana, etc is same size, I guestimate things as similar to previous things etc.

Have never been a follower of Logging must be accurate to the nth degree - IMO it just has to be accurate enough.

Since my weight stays within about 1 kg of my desired maitenance target, it is accurate enough for me.

lynn_glenmont

The only thing I absolutely never log is water.

I frequently don't log diet soda, black coffee, black tea, spices, herbs, vinegar, mustard, and pickles. Occasionally I don't log salsa, ketchup, and other non-fat-based condiments (e.g., hot sauce, steak sauce, barbecue sauce, soy sauce) if I'm using them in small amounts. I don't use condiments that much, so it's not like it's happening every every day, much less multiple times a day.

For small amounts of veggies, especially the ones that are mostly water and fiber (leafy greens, cucumbers, brassicas, etc.), I sometimes just do a rough estimate, or, as a couple of other people have mentioned, add more of one kind to account for small amounts of others when I'm eating several different kinds as toppings on a sandwich or one of those tiny mixed veggie sides you sometimes get in a restaurant.

Other than that, I pretty much weigh and log everything when I eat or prep at home, and estimate and log as best I can when eating out.

Deviette

okiewoman510 wrote: »

That said, I eat the same salad for lunch every day and I don’t weigh each ingredient every day. I spot check myself every couple weeks to be sure I’m not having portion creep. I weigh the protein every day since it’s the bulk of the calories.

I do this too, my base salad varies a little in ingredients, but not enough to actually make much of a difference to the calorie count.

I don't log:
- Condiments (I just don't eat that much of them, if I have a lot, then I will log)
- Cooking spray
- Low cal drinks under 10kcal a can
- Dried spices
- Herbs
I have also only recently started logging work tea & coffee, and alcohol.

I figure I've been losing at a rate I'm happy with without logging those right now. And I know that if I need to I can always tighten up my logging, but right now it's not too much of an issue

callsitlikeiseeit

depends on the day but in general ill do a quick add of 20 cals for lettuce and tomato on sandwiches. for salads i weigh it all out.

dont ever or rarely weigh/log:
spices
zero calorie drinks
water

thats really about it, at least that i can think of at this early hour lol

Biggster69

Don’t log the milk in my coffee, 50 cals less or more a day didn’t make much difference in losing weight.

Machka9

Salt
Tea
Coffee
Diet Pop
Water