Under reporting in your food diary

caprica

i was watching this show on diets last night and they were talking about under reporting your food calories. They gave this woman who complained her diet was not working doubly labelled water DLW. DLW is a marker used by a lab to track your actual food intake. She also recorded her food intake in a diary. After a month her diary said she averaged 1500 calories a day. The lab said she ate 50% more.

I googled around and under reporting is very common. Most of us under report by around 35% +\- 20%.

This floored me when I saw it because there have been some weeks when I just don't loose and it probably is because I am under reporting.

How do people here deal with under reporting? Do you over estimate your portions or do something else?

als0317

I wonder if underreporting is due to not knowing portion sizes. I don't use a food weight, perhaps that is the problem?

debbiepringle

I weighed everything that goes in my mouth and then when I entered in food diary, I make sure the calories are exactly what is on the package. Lot of work, but well worth the time.

1QueenB

I report exactly what I eat, good, bad or indifferent. I am responsible for every morse I put into my mouth and I want to stay accountable! And I don't hide behind making my diary private, it is open to all of my MFP friends.

pinksocks73

I found that I forget things. I was only journaling at the end of the day on here, now I carry a little pad of paper around and write EVERYTHING down so I don't foget.

kt2007

I dont use a scale for my food either but I do measure by cups and other amounts. I try to use it as much as I can. The wife hates it cause I dirty so many dishes when I do it but I been trying to clean them after I use them now. Also I know I drink Crystal light that has like 10cals per a drink and use it almost in all my water so I miss by 25 cals a pack and thats by 3 or 4 a day so thats 100 or more plus lil things like gum and things that I eat. I bet I under report by 150 to 300 cals a day I bet but I always do my best to report everything I eat.

red01angel

It's also all too easy to forget to log the little tastes and bites we tend to take while cooking....

They can really add up.

I try to weigh and measure all of the food i eat, but life and reality do sometimes interfere, and the best you can do is estimate...in which case I intentionally over estimate what i put in my mouth.

matina29

When I am home I weigh everything on a digital food scale. When I am out I overestimate and I use MFP on my Android. I worry about that all the time since I am a compulsive overeater and I can very easily be in denial. I guess the only way I will truely know is my weight loss which is steady so far

ksimmons19

I'm sure I under report a lot right now but it's pretty much within ballpark- plus I don't eat ALL my calories every day because I know there's probably a little more than what I put on there anyway even if I thought I was meticulous. I was looking at my crystal light tea drink I didn't know it was 5 cals! there's even calories in gum, plus I don't track my coffee and cream...and i'm sure i take a few bites of things here and there or an extra chip when I forgot what number I was on.... It's impossible to be 100% accurate all of the time esp when not eating portioned foods that were store bought, and not weighing every single morsel.

UpToAnyCool

When in doubt, I try to over report!! I'd rather have a guesstimate logged than nothing - it's not like I didn't eat something just b/c it's not logged! :laugh:

Pril2000

I really try to only eat things that are exact portions. Either single servings things or I measure everything. I know that portion size is an area where a lot of people are lacking the knowledge to make good choices. I still have trouble figuring out how much is a Tablespoon, etc. Only after months do I really know what a 1/4 cup looks like. Lol.

I think it's easy to eat out and not pay attention to portions. No one is perfect and looks can be deceiving.

Jourdan_Rystrom

I try to over-report too if in doubt.

Otherwise, I use a food scale. I used to eat double the edamame because I thought that a "1/2 cup" of shelled edamame counted for a big handful, because its just the edamame you eat, right - not the shells?
When I got my food scale and weighed it out gram-wise, I found I was eating way too much.

Definitely over-report when you can, otherwise get your facts straight with portion sizes and/or use a food scale!

NatalieWinning

I wonder if underreporting is due to not knowing portion sizes. I don't use a food weight, perhaps that is the problem?

I bet that's why!

WonderNoodle

you have to learn to eat accurate portions OR count it if you eat a larger portion than is on the nutrition label. in the beginning i weighed food to be sure my "ounces" were accurate. i'd guesstimate first, then weigh and am pretty spot-on these days. i think people that aren't in tune with "actual" portions and what's on their plate may have problems with journals being accurate.

now, as one girl said, if you wait to journal late in the day, you're bound to forget a bite or FOUR. a pad of paper in your purse is a great idea. at work, i open an email to myself at home in the morning, log all my food in it throughout the day and email it to myself before i go home.

THEN, there are those that aren't honest with themselves whether they just aren't "in it' yet or are letting others' view of their diary and what they MIGHT think determine what gets reported.

when eating out, chinese for example, i just make an effort to guesstimate HIGH on the calories so that if i'm cheating myself, it's for the good, not the bad.

that's my two cents :ohwell:

shreddin_mama

when i first started keeping a diary i was just estimating. but the longer i started doing it the more i started reading labels and keeping track of calories better. i don't track drinks though. unless i do have a pop which is hardly ever. i'm honest with myself even if i'm ashamed of what i ate.

goldspaula

I am probably guilty of over reporting as well! I put what I'm having and then eat half of it and toss the rest. I can't believe that I haven't plateaued yet, I usually do after just a couple of months, but I do journal everything I eat and stay within the goal posts so that is probably a big reason for that.

BoresEasily

I over-report a good deal of the time but then I don't bother counting veggies with very few if any calories per serving or I'll just add 100-200 calories on at the end of the day for the added things I eat. I use cups just so I get used to portion sizes and things. I've considered a scale but I think that's bordering on obsessive-compulsive disorder. I don't feel all that is required to lose weight, I've lost weight just by reducing portions and cutting most of the crap out of my diet and working out a few times a week. I have the opposite problem of over-eating though, when I eat cleanly I have a hell of a time eating even close to maintenance. I've had to up my omelettes from 3-5 eggs, and increase my cereal portions to get even close.

Spinach/Turkey breast/mushrooms/frozen fruits/tomatoes/carrots/cucumbers and things like that just have so few damned calories. The amount you need to consume to get even remotely close to 100 calories is crazy.

shaggy22

I have been a bit concerned about this also! I just ordered an inexpensive digital food scale so that I can measure the food that I prepare. I am hoping that with some time I will develop a much better eye for estimating correct portion sizes!

BoresEasily

If you are going to buy a scale, try one from ebay HK always has the cheapest things for sale. You can pick one up for virtually nothing. If you feel it's completely off the mark then you can spend some money on a brand name one. But price-wise their things are just too good to pass up even just to try.

$7.5 with free shipping. Gotta love HK and gotta love ebay. There's another for .99 +$6 shipping. But the 7.5 has a 1 year warranty.

BoresEasily

They also have a hanging scale for virtually nothing that I'm thinking about getting to weigh my backpack for strength training and or luggage in the future.

MzBug

Why would you? I mean honestly, if you really want to lose weight you know what has to be done. Why cheat yourself? Why cause more stress and anxiety. Just be honest as to what goes in your mouth. Be honest with your exercise. It doesn't take a genius to figure out you have to burn more and eat fewer calories to lose it. Why psych yourself out? Own up to it. We all know that unless YOU want this, it just isn't going to happen. You can't lose weight to make someone else happy. If you mess up on a meal, a day, or a week, just be honest and start over. There are not many things you can get "do overs" on, but weight loss is one of them.

That being said, I log everything I eat. Sometimes I close my diary for the day and have to go back and make adjustments. Sometimes I just am not hungry when it comes time for my night time snack, so the next day I will go back and remove it. Sometimes I end up staying up much later than I thought I would and have an extra snack, but I always go back and adjust. Sometimes my boyfriend and I will stay up late using the Wii Fit Plus, and I go back and adjust my exercise log. If I have a bunch of "unused" calories after the adjustment, good for me. If I went over by a bit, well shame on me, but I know I just have to work a little harder the next day, and start over. It is a day by day cumulative effort, and it is MY effort, so I am not about to sugar coat the truth to myself. If I *f* up, I *f'-ed* up, I own it and move on.

Niveous

I use a food scale to measure at home - it's an invaluable tool for accurately reporting food intakes. I also try to estimate my portion size before I actually measure it; I find that doing this has helped increase my knowledge of what actual portion sizes should look like, and has helped to increase my accuracy when I am in a position where I don't have access to a food scale (such as eating out). And like a previous poster stated - I overestimate if I am uncertain. Regardless though, there will always be some degree of inaccuracy unless you measure and cook all of your meals yourself, and even then it might not be perfectly accurate; you just have to do the best you can.

LoserCruiser

I try to report every single calorie, even if its a bite of one of my kids meals, lol, I will just add one a few calories to something else!

alyssarof2012

I overestimate my calories on purpose to prevent this (when I'm eating something I didn't receive a label with). I write down what I eat, rather than putting it on a site, its more accessible for me when I don't feel like getting to my computer; and I am more honest with myself about it when I write it down.

caprica

thanks guys for your help. It is so often I forget the basics:

- if you eat it - record it ASAP (you will forget later)

- Until you learn portion sizing, take the opportunity to weigh and measure your food (it is worth investing a few bucks in some measuring cups and digital scales)

- Even the little things matter. Don't forget to add the oil you cooked in or that lethal creamy salad dressing

- if you are uncertain about something's calories best to play on the side of caution and either eat something else you know the count for or pick the worst similar example and not the best one (this is especially true for eating out, take out and pretty much anything that comes out of a factory)

- drink more water, eat all your veges, eat more protein, eat less foods with refined flour or sugar and be good to your mother.

cheers, Caprica