How accurate is your logging

MACnificence

Hey

So just wondering how accurately do ye log yer food ?
Like if ye get a chocolate bar and the calories are based on 40g do ye weigh it to make sure and if its over/under adjust accordingly

I pretty much weigh everything tomatoes , cucumber you name it i weigh it
Sometimes my boyfriend thinks I'm OTT esp as I have been known to weigh my lettuce

I do find myself hiding the scales from family when I weighing my veg though because they would think I'm insane they already give me a hard time for not eating things they ask me to eat regardless if its healthy or not

I have refused coffee at my brothers house because I wouldn't be able to measure the milk ?
Is this OTT ?

How accurate is your logging ?

Stage14

I measure everything pretty exactly at home. When I'm out, I just estimate as best I can. Since no calorie
Number is actually exact anyway, it isn't worth missing out on life just because I can't weigh or measure something.

ETA: and yes, I think that skipping coffee over 10 calories worth of milk is over the top.

TheFangsKittie

Not accurate at all. In fact I follow a plan where I don't have to weigh anything (well, a massive list of free foods that pretty much covers everything I eat - Slimming World)... and I'm down 15lbs. My partners mum followed the same plan and lost three stone, she has used the same method since reaching target and has been there for a year. I think people worry too much - I still log because - well I have no idea why really, I just like doing it. But I guestimate all my foods. An apple is an apple, 30 cals here or there won't make much difference..I take the weight of meats from the packet and if there are two steaks in the pack I just halve the weight, one will always be bigger than the other - but I give the big one to my fella and I have the smaller one.

I think you just have to do what works for you. What works for one may not work for another. I naturally eat quite low amounts, but if you're someone who has a large appetite and may overeat - then weighing makes sense for you.

Good luck.. :flowerforyou:

ETA - I used to just eat whatever I wanted in whatever amount I wanted, hence I got fat, and drank a bottle of wine most nights. Figured I should just add that in as otherwise you may wonder how someone who "naturally eats low amounts" ended up fat and on here in the first place, lol. I just used to eat crap basically.

RoyBeck

I eyeballed a lot when I logged everyday and lost 55lb in 5 months. I don't own scales nor do I intend to.

Try both and see what works for YOU.

Necron33

Everything that goes into my mouth has to pass on the scale first, unless it's a product which has its' weight stamped on it. (Cakes/Chips/Chocolate)

gigglesinthesun

I weigh everything down to the cucumber. I eat a lot of vegetables (up to 4lbs) a day and maybe 5 portions of fruit as well, so for me that adds up.

to the person saying 30 cals here or there doesn't matter, I'd like to point out that the banana by length this morning was supposed to be 89 cals, whereas by weight it turned out to be 134 cals (must have been a fat banana), that's a difference of 45 cals for just 1 banana. If every meal (3 a day) is underestimated by about a 100 cals (because honestly I don't just eat 1 banana for breakfast and if I underestimate that then who knows what the rest of the food will be like) and maybe each snack (2 a day) by about 50 cals, those 400 missed calories would turn my 200 calorie deficit into a 200 calorie surplus.

That said I wouldn't refuse coffee or biscuits or cake at a get together where I don't know what is in it. I would just guess as best as I can and not worry about it

MACnificence

So say If you had a slice of bread and on the package it says x calories for 35g , would you then weigh the bread and if it was 40g adjust the calories accordingly ?

tehboxingkitteh

I'm curious how successful you've been. That seems a bit obsessive.

No, I don't own a food scale. But if I have a pound of beef and use it to make 4 burgers that I eat throughout the next two weeks (I freeze a lot of food), I figure the calories even out. I do use measuring spoons/cups for everything else. And I've never stopped myself from eating something because I would go 10, or 100 calories over one day, and sometimes I give myself a break and eat out or don't log. I didn't gain this weight overnight, and I'll lose it at a healthy pace, both physically and mentally.

RoyBeck

Breads a bad example because it gives you per slice but yes there is a certain amount of dividing/multiplying etc involved when reading packaging.

WalkingAlong

Not accurate at all. I do think people get over-the-top with it. Even if you log the perfect, exact weight of the perfect item from the perfect database, it's still just an estimate based on the one strawberry the one lab burned for the caloric value.

I lost 50 lbs once on a WW plan where all you logged/counted was food that wasn't produce or lean protein. I logged very little and lost that weight in a really short time. So for me I know that plant life (excl. nuts and seeds) and lean protein are not items I really need to worry about or do much limiting of.

ccburn5

I would say pretty darn close! I am obsessive about getting each and every food accounted for (albeit Thanksgiving and days like that) but on every other day, including cheat days, I do my best to log everything as accurately as possible. I do not however weigh food but I do measure ingredients when I can (cup, 1/2 cup, etc.).

luckydays27

When I cook, I weigh and measure and enter the recipe here. Then I eat the serving size of that recipe. I weigh and measure most of the foods I eat but not the vegetables. Those are so low in calories that I will just guess at how much I ate.

I do not guess on fruit though as that is more cals than most veggies.

As for processed food, I enter what the nutrition panel says and dont really weigh the food when its in an original individual package. If I am eating a can of tuna fish, I eat the can, enter the can cals and move on. To weigh the fish to determine if it really is 5 oz would seem a bit obsessive to me. If its pasta or other foods where I want to eat one serving from an 8 serving container, I will weigh the single serving out and cook that.

When I go out to eat, I do my best to be as accurate as possible. I make guesses but seeing as how I consistently lose weight week after week, I am thinking I am a pretty good guesser when it comes to my food.

GoMizzou99

I include everything from egg-whites to bourbon. McDonald's to organic foods. When unsure, I use a "Best Guess" meal and give it my best guess.

Moral of the story (for me): You must stop lying (by omission) to your diary if you want to get help from your diary and the most from this site.

callas444

Why do 'diets' fail? They are not sustainable long term. This is how I feel about obsessive weighing and measuring. It's important especially in the beginning when you are learning what portions look like. Now, (6 months later), I estimate my portion and sometimes weigh it after I eyeball it. This is helping me to trust my eyes in my estimated measuring.

That being said, if sometime in my journey, my weight loss stalls, I will certainly be hauling the scale out and making sure my eyes are not deceiving me in my portions. Accurate logging is important, as is portion control. But it needs to be something that can be managed for a lifetime. Not a diet, a total life change.

TheFangsKittie

I weigh everything down to the cucumber. I eat a lot of vegetables (up to 4lbs) a day and maybe 5 portions of fruit as well, so for me that adds up.

to the person saying 30 cals here or there doesn't matter, I'd like to point out that the banana by length this morning was supposed to be 89 cals, whereas by weight it turned out to be 134 cals (must have been a fat banana), that's a difference of 45 cals for just 1 banana. If every meal (3 a day) is underestimated by about a 100 cals (because honestly I don't just eat 1 banana for breakfast and if I underestimate that then who knows what the rest of the food will be like) and maybe each snack (2 a day) by about 50 cals, those 400 missed calories would turn my 200 calorie deficit into a 200 calorie surplus.

That said I wouldn't refuse coffee or biscuits or cake at a get together where I don't know what is in it. I would just guess as best as I can and not worry about it

I can totally understand what you said about the calorie surplus if you are following a calorie deficit plan, that you would worry about this - which is why I am grateful I don't have to give it any thought as I'm on a plan where I don't have to weigh and measure stressing about a banana being bigger than x would drive me utterly bonkers. To me, a banana is a banana - and I just nom it!!

MACnificence

I will admit I probably am one of the over the top people , its funny I'm worse now that I have lost the weight than when I was losing weight

My family have started to make comments more and more as they notice I won't sample any of their food anymore or eat anything at their houses, my brother says I'm weird about my food
My sister in law commented the last day will I even eat the Christmas dinner , to be honest I did feel abit embarrassed when she said it

LaLa482

Hey

So just wondering how accurately do ye log yer food ?
Like if ye get a chocolate bar and the calories are based on 40g do ye weigh it to make sure and if its over/under adjust accordingly

I pretty much weigh everything tomatoes , cucumber you name it i weigh it
Sometimes my boyfriend thinks I'm OTT esp as I have been known to weigh my lettuce

I do find myself hiding the scales from family when I weighing my veg though because they would think I'm insane they already give me a hard time for not eating things they ask me to eat regardless if its healthy or not

I have refused coffee at my brothers house because I wouldn't be able to measure the milk ?
Is this OTT ?

How accurate is your logging ?

Ehhh... I live by the 90/10 rule and keep it moving.

I'm more like your boyfriend and my spouse is like you. He's nuts and weighs everything! Bottom line we've both lost about 40lbs since changing our habits.

I do my best to weigh 90-95% of my home prepared foods accurately (especially high cal items like peanuts, nut butters, proteins - chicken, powders etc), but I'm not going to weigh out the 236.59g of spinach as the margin of error in a cup of spinach will only equate to a calorie or two. If I am in the situation where I cannot figure out how much milk my brother is going to put in my coffee, I still accept the coffee graciously and log double of what I think he put in. :drinker: Better safe than sorry.

Boogage

I weigh and log everything I can and if I can't weigh it then I have a good guess. I have takeaways and go out to eat and I try to log that too. I don't refuse something I'd like because I can't be accurate about whats in it.
I find logging more important than ever now as I struggle to eat enough and need to keep my intake in check otherwise I'll never get nice muscles.

lynn_glenmont

At home I weigh pretty much everything, or measure by volume for liquids. I wouldn't weigh a candy bar if I was eating the whole thing, or really any packaged food of which I was eating the whole amount (e.g., a frozen individual pizza or frozen veggie side). I do weigh sliced bread, because I have found wild variations in slices from what the package label says a slice will weigh. Also, I try to pay attention to what all these weighed amounts look like, to help me with my estimating away from home.

I do eat at other people's homes and I eat at all kinds of restaurants, food trucks, etc., including places that don't provide any nutritional information, and I just do my best to estimate amounts and guess how much fat was added, etc. I've been doing that since I started, and I'm happy with my results.

I do think refusing a cup of coffee because you can't measure the milk is excessive. This should be a process that helps you make good decisions, not one that makes your life more difficult. (I had two ounces of 2% milk in my coffee this morning at home, for 37 calories -- if I hadn't been able to measure it, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been off by more than a half ounce in my guess -- that's a tablespoon, and a tablespoon of milk makes a big difference in the color my coffee turns, even if I couldn't see how much I was pouring or taste a difference. If you have milk in your coffee at home, why wouldn't you assume you were using the same amount when you prepare it somewhere else - adjusting if it's a different percentage fat in whatever you were using.)

MACnificence

I actually don't normally drink coffee at all , actually I have never measured out milk for a coffee and I don't drink milk so I have no idea of calorie amount in milk nor measurements
This is part reason why I refused the coffee , I only ever drink hot drinks coming into winter months when it starts getting very cold so now the cold has been creeping in I have more tempted to start drinking a few coffees here and there

drshona

I don't even log the milk for my tea - and there's a fair amount of it. I'm losing weight despite this, so I'm not going to worry about it till that changes.

As for sliced bread - yes, there's a huge variation. I just ate 2 slices of toast which came from the same loaf beside each other and they were completely different sizes. I just assume it all works out in the end though - one day I'll have the fat slice and another the skinny one. I did weigh the page I put on the toast though as it's more calorie dense plus I'm less able to guess the quantity.

lynn_glenmont

I actually don't normally drink coffee at all , actually I have never measured out milk for a coffee and I don't drink milk so I have no idea of calorie amount in milk nor measurements
This is part reason why I refused the coffee , I only ever drink hot drinks coming into winter months when it starts getting very cold so now the cold has been creeping in I have more tempted to start drinking a few coffees here and there

Well, you said in your OP that you refused the coffee because you couldn't measure the milk. If you really refused it because you don't normally drink coffee and didn't want it, that's a totally different thing. Do you drink milk, so you know how many calories are in a cup? You say you measure everything, so presumably you know what a half cup or quarter cup of milk looks like, and how long it takes to pour that amount. It seems like you could see that were getting a quarter cup of milk or less (probably less - the two ounces I mentioned is a lot for a single cup of coffee - mine was in a mug, and it was very strong coffee, so I was intentionally adding extra milk). I mean, heck, you could see how much the level of the coffee moved in the cup when you add the milk, and mentally compare that to a measuring cup.

So, yeah, if you wanted the coffee, it seems excessive to worry about not being to exactly measure the amount of milk you were using. Have the coffee, take your best guess about the milk, and move on.

lynn_glenmont

I just ate 2 slices of toast which came from the same loaf beside each other and they were completely different sizes. I just assume it all works out in the end though - one day I'll have the fat slice and another the skinny one. I did weigh the page I put on the toast though as it's more calorie dense plus I'm less able to guess the quantity.

What's page (on the toast)? (Honestly, not trying to be a smart aleck. If this a typo that should be obvious too me, I'm just not seeing it.)

MACnificence

Ya I don't normally drink coffee only in the colder months so I wouldn be used to adding milk to coffee , but I actually did want the coffee because it was so god damn cold
I don't drink milk so I'm not used to weighing milk so I really have no idea what a certain amount of milk looks like
I generally don't drink any drinks that have calories

But ya moral of the story is I specifically refused the coffee because I wouldn't know how many calories was in d milk
I know that makes me sound abit crazy but that's why I posted this thread I'm curious to see how accurate everyone else is about weighing things

igotabulletproofheart

Not very. I set my calories to 1000 because I tend to snack a lot between my last meal and bed.

So long as I'm on a deficit, I know I'll be losing something so it's cool.

W8G0

I'm somewhat surprised (and impressed) by people who weigh out all of their food. I don't and have no intention to, but kudos to those who can. My solution to the problem is to err on the side of overestimation of amount if I feel it's ambiguous. (Then again, I also don't log my calories from exercise, so I'm almost guaranteed a daily deficit if I stay under my mark - which I always do)

WalkingAlong

Even those who think they're very accurate are usually overestimating the accuracy of the methods. We use databases of average values for what we burn and what we intake, even if you're using a Fitbit and a Polar and a food scale.

You can drive yourself nuts trying to micromanage it or try to capture the big picture. One milky coffee isn't going to blow your diet. If you think like that, you're going to quit logging altogether sooner or later. Or people will quit inviting you over or wanting to eat with you. You'll avoid parties and restaurants and it's just bad. Been there. You get in that 'black or white' thinking and it's as if one mislogged food is going to make your whole log worthless and your whole weight journey will reverse. I think it's just a control thing. Learn to trust yourself and the process, be as honest as you can without going nutso over details that aren't material, and try to relax.

drshona

I just ate 2 slices of toast which came from the same loaf beside each other and they were completely different sizes. I just assume it all works out in the end though - one day I'll have the fat slice and another the skinny one. I did weigh the page I put on the toast though as it's more calorie dense plus I'm less able to guess the quantity.

What's page (on the toast)? (Honestly, not trying to be a smart aleck. If this a typo that should be obvious too me, I'm just not seeing it.)

Pâté
Autocorrect...it corrected it something else first (can't remember what) but then I missed this!

lynn_glenmont

Ya I don't normally drink coffee only in the colder months so I wouldn be used to adding milk to coffee , but I actually did want the coffee because it was so god damn cold
I don't drink milk so I'm not used to weighing milk so I really have no idea what a certain amount of milk looks like
I generally don't drink any drinks that have calories

But ya moral of the story is I specifically refused the coffee because I wouldn't know how many calories was in d milk
I know that makes me sound abit crazy but that's why I posted this thread I'm curious to see how accurate everyone else is about weighing things

(Honestly trying to be helpful here, so if you're just looking for a mental check rather than ways to deal with the practical problem, just ignore me.)
You could have had the coffee black -- then it would have been even hotter, which would have better met you need for the hot drink.
Or, if you only drink it with milk on those rare occasions that you have it, make an estimate. When it comes to measuring volume, milk isn't some mysterious substance. All liquids measure the same by volume. So, like I said, just eyeball the amount the level of the coffee moves in the cup, and mentally compare that to the volume of a measuring cup.

MACnificence

I don't count on Sundays , I usually have my normal lunch and have a meal out at a restaurant I have done this from the beginning of my journey
I actually am quiet happy not eating at other people's houses like if it was an occasion or something I would make an exception but as far as a normal day goes where I just call to visit and they offer me dinner or something else to eat I'm happy enough refusing
I usually have my meals preplanned and macros accounted for

MACnificence

Ya I don't normally drink coffee only in the colder months so I wouldn be used to adding milk to coffee , but I actually did want the coffee because it was so god damn cold
I don't drink milk so I'm not used to weighing milk so I really have no idea what a certain amount of milk looks like
I generally don't drink any drinks that have calories

But ya moral of the story is I specifically refused the coffee because I wouldn't know how many calories was in d milk
I know that makes me sound abit crazy but that's why I posted this thread I'm curious to see how accurate everyone else is about weighing things

(Honestly trying to be helpful here, so if you're just looking for a mental check rather than ways to deal with the practical problem, just ignore me.)
You could have had the coffee black -- then it would have been even hotter, which would have better met you need for the hot drink.
Or, if you only drink it with milk on those rare occasions that you have it, make an estimate. When it comes to measuring volume, milk isn't some mysterious substance. All liquids measure the same by volume. So, like I said, just eyeball the amount the level of the coffee moves in the cup, and mentally compare that to the volume of a measuring cup.

Ha I think the whole coffee example is becoming a new topic in itself , I get what your saying but what I'm trying to say I generally won't eat/drink anything that I can't somewhat track
In other words I weigh everything

So was just curious does other people weigh everything aswell ? Or do they make exceptions for things relatively low in a calories like lettuce etc ...