Do you ever start tracking and then...

lizfiz50

... you have just one homemade cookie or any baked item, then your tracking goes into chaos because you can't pin-point the calories?

stryder2807

happens all the time to me.

shannonmwinn

Guuuuhh, yes!! It's so frustrating - my brain just goes into 'all or nothing' mode

acogg

You have to do the best you can. Log as best you can and then move on. Your calorie burn and your calorie intake is not precise, they are estimates. Only your body will reflect perfectly what you have eaten and burned.

lizfiz50

My supervisors brought snacks for our meetings and I ate those aweful things... I feel like I won't lose weight after this even though I've stayed within my calorie allocation.

MB_Positif

If you stayed within your calories you will lose weight.

losingwhatican

So frustrating! Sometimes I try to find an existing entry that would be close enough, like substituting one brand of delivery pizza for another if one doesn't post their nutrition info. But, what's important is that you stayed within your limit, and it's only one day!

vwbug86

Yeah I have that problem sometimes. I just count as best I can and make a not in my entry for the day. We eat at my boyfriend's parent's house like twice a month and I just go with the flow.

_jayciemarie_

I used to love eating out and now I dread it. Sure-most places have calories so you can track it, but no two dinners are the same. Ever since I bought my food scale I am anal about measuring almost everything.

calibriintx

No

briannadunn

Ugh, yes..I get off track often..It is awful.

Willbenchforcupcakes

I try not to sweat the small stuff. My favorite pizza place doesn't have nutrition information available, so I just make do with the next best thing. If I log the same thing the same way, I can adjust accordingly based on my results. Works for me.

lizfiz50

Guuuuhh, yes!! It's so frustrating - my brain just goes into 'all or nothing' mode

OMG seriously!!!! It's part of the reason I've given up soooo much!

lizfiz50

So frustrating! Sometimes I try to find an existing entry that would be close enough, like substituting one brand of delivery pizza for another if one doesn't post their nutrition info. But, what's important is that you stayed within your limit, and it's only one day!

I'll try to remember that!!!

bajoyba

If you stayed within your calories you will lose weight.

Yeah, this.
It can be frustrating not to know exactly how many calories you're eating, but sometimes life just happens that way. In cases like that, I just try to find an item in the database that I think is close to what I'm eating and log it that way. It's not perfect, but an imperfect day here and there won't affect your overall progress or success. Don't stress it, especially if you're pretty sure you're at or near your calorie goal.

pseudomuffin

If I've made it or I can find the recipe online I'll use a recipe nutritional analysis engine (I think MFP has a built in one, too!) and see if I can get as close as possible, that usually works pretty well

rgugs13

It is one of the reasons all my calorie counting is estimation. I estimate on the high side for calories and on the low side for calorie burn, and it seemed to workout last month. Goal was to lose 1 pound a week and I lost 4 pounds, even over Thanksgiving, when I went really over. Even if you lose track a little, it is better to have an estimate than just eat willy nilly. You can do it!

briana12077

I just estimate high and use the best guesses i can from whats in the database. If i do go over, I don't get too upset because I estimated high and if I don't then yay.