Does Anyone...

EDesq

Keep a few calories at the end of the day to account for the possible discrepancies that may be in serving sizes or calories for foods...? I have begun to do that, I will keep about 50 back per day.

grasp

Not really. I try to view my dailies with a weekly overall perspective.

kmreynolds11

No, I don't save calories.... BUT I do find myself over-estimating some of the amounts of food I'm logging. For example, if I know I added "about" a half Tbsp honey to my tea, I might still add it to my diary as 3/4 or 1 Tbsp. Whenever entering food I find myself rounding up the majority of the time for items I measure out. I feel this helps account for the discrepencies or hidden calories I might have missed.

That said... This whole MFP diary thing is really only an estimate anyway. None of us have any exact way of finding our calories. Do what makes sense to you! People who cheat their diaries are only cheating their own goals.

erisfreenici

Yeah, and even sometimes I inflate the serving size that I log just a bit on any food that I'm not sure about. If I weigh it or measure it myself, then I feel more confident in the calorie count. I think my biggest fear is underestimating what I eat and overestimating calorie burn. This is why I bought a heart rate monitor and a food scale. Also, I love gadgets

susanswan

I see your approach and the two comments above as two different ways to achieve the same thing. The results are/or maybe the same but a different philosophy for each one.

I have heard from SO MANY that we DO need to eat our exercise calories, so I am trying hard to edge my way up there! I definitely want to eat more food, but am fearful (old school thinking). Sometimes I fully intend to eat the food I have added and sometimes I forget. I think it is helpful to not look at it as a daily or hourly thing, but an "over time" thing. Over time is what matters. Over time you are mostly eating the calories you should although sometimes you may be over or under for the day. Same with exercise. Stick with your best estimates and make them consistent for each type of exercise that you do. Like someone already said, who knows what we really eat calorie wise or burn calorie wise. We just give it our best guess and stay with that guess all the way down the line. And it is SO true that "cheating" is really cheating yourself. Just be honest with yourself about what you do.

To eat all of your calories or to not eat all of your calories: if you took a poll, you'd see winners and losers on each side! I was curious about being post menopausal. I found experts on the internet who said you burn fewer calories and those who said there was no difference! Some people say that body fat to muscle ratio is what matters and who knows what that is unless you go through a whole process every 10 pounds or so?

I'm off track now! Try to eat your calories and be honest with that and exercise and see what happens! Good luck to you!