Database accuracy: something to think about

littleburgy

Hey everyone.

Just thought I'd point something out that you may already know but I experienced first hand. If you hit plateau or are struggling, remember to double check the accuracy of whatever it is you might find on the database that you might be using. No matter how much you weigh or measure, you still might not be getting the right values if the item on the database isn't accurate. It helps if others have confirmed it. Make a point of correcting things that are wrong.

Today I cooked a frozen meal from Ikea. I couldn't find the nutrition information on the packaging (I'm in the EU so there's several print languages on it, just didn't see it anywhere.) and quickly entered what I found from the database to give myself an idea of how many calories or what size of serving was appropriate. I was in a bit of a hurry to get dinner going, you know how that is. Weighed my amount on my scale, had dinner and later on went back, did some more web searches from databases elsewhere to compare from, and discovered the entry was completely wrong and I had actually eaten a good 300 more calories than what I had previously thought. I was pretty irritated about this, though a number of calories doesn't ruin one day, it could screw things up if you're doing it all the time. I just chalk it up as lesson learned and just thought I'd throw that out there as one of those things to think about, especially if you are struggling or have hit a plateau.

Have a good week!