Do you overestimate or underestimate your calories?

i_love_vinegar

When you enter in your food into your Food Diary on here, do you believe you put an accurate number, or over/under estimate?

I purposely overestimate, since I am too lazy to measure out what I eat. :laugh:

And you?

Atlantique

I'm very accurate because I weigh almost everything, and what I don't weigh (liquids) I measure.

hush7hush

I over estimate.
And then I under estimate calories burned.
Basically to cover the general margin of error.

noexcuses1218

I over estimate.
And then I under estimate calories burned.
Basically to cover the general margin of error.

what she does.

brvanover

I over estimate.
And then I under estimate calories burned.
Basically to cover the general margin of error.

This is what I do too!

BabyDuchess

Mine's as accurate as I can get it. :flowerforyou:

maryd4love

I over estimate.
And then I under estimate calories burned.
Basically to cover the general margin of error.

That is what I do as well.

absolament

I try to keep mine fairly accurate.

newtswifey07

I over estimate.
And then I under estimate calories burned.
Basically to cover the general margin of error.

That is what I do as well.

Ditto!

fireyes

I try to keep it accurate, but I think I might underestimate how much I eat on accident, but not by much. I also underestimate how much I exercise, so it's all good. :]

Balishdear

I over estimate.
And then I under estimate calories burned.
Basically to cover the general margin of error.

^ This

lingading

I over estimate.
And then I under estimate calories burned.
Basically to cover the general margin of error.

what she does.

Samesies.

JLH3188

I think I tend to underestimate my calories more often than not. It would be easier to weigh/measure everything, but I just don't have the time with my job and everything.

kklindsey

wow, I am surprised that so many of you don't weigh and measure. I weigh, measure and read the label for everything I eat unless I am away from home at a party where I can't easily look it up. My best friend once told me after seeing me get out a teaspoon for butter "no wonder you weigh less than me" lol. for me it is too easy to be off by 100's of calories and I know myself and I would say it looked like less than it was, subconciously.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

dad106

I underestimate I feel, but I don't eat back my exercise calories so there is an extra buffer built in for stuff like that. On days that i don't exercise, I still underestimate but leave at least a 200 calorie gap to cover that.

i also have an HRM that gives a pretty accurate calorie burn.

hush7hush

Also with that, I do measure things, but I don't have a food scale, so I approximate.
But for example, my wheat thins box says a serving is X-grams, or 16 crackers. I will only eat 15 crackers, then log it as the serving, just to be sure.

kitinboots

I over estimate.
And then I under estimate calories burned.
Basically to cover the general margin of error.

This. Because I don't measure my food or trust my own judgement, and because I read about MFP calorie burned estimates being exaggerated. When I get home, get a HRM and my own kitchen back I will be more accurate.

exercisechic927

I underestimate I feel, but I don't eat back my exercise calories so there is an extra buffer built in for stuff like that. On days that i don't exercise, I still underestimate but leave at least a 200 calorie gap to cover that.

i also have an HRM that gives a pretty accurate calorie burn.

That is exactly what I do.....

bcattoes

I don't measure but I try to do my best to be accurate by eyeballing and reading labels. Same with exercise.

jbucci1186

if i don't have it exactly measured, i definitely over estimate... would rather be under and say i'm over than the opposite!

sunrise84

I'm very accurate because I weigh almost everything, and what I don't weigh (liquids) I measure.

This is what I do. I keep my scale in the cabinet with the plates and bowls right above the counter by the sink, so I have NO EXCUSE not to grab it.

bmw4deb

I get as close as possible

kiwi_tobi

I'm very accurate because I weigh almost everything, and what I don't weigh (liquids) I measure.

Same here! That way I can look over my days and see how i felt and what I was eating. what worked and waht didn't! I also have a HRM so that measuers how many cals i burned when working out.

bellinachuchina

I over estimate.
And then I under estimate calories burned.
Basically to cover the general margin of error.

This. Worked for me

withchaco

I weigh/ measure everything, and I still overestimate just a tad (think rounding up) for calories eaten. For calories burned, I go by my HRM number and either use the exact number or round down.

RainyDayKelli

I weigh and measure every single thing that goes into my mouth. Although, I do underestimate calories burned when I exercise. Just in case.

vinlop

I honestly have no clue if I'm over or under what I put down, but I just feel that logging my food (regardless if it is accurate) every day just works for me. When I right it down, I am so much more conscious of eating healthier and in better proportions. I have had a very steady weight loss over the past month, and I feel great!

keengkong

I try to measure as many things as possible. However, practicality demands estimating many things. (I'm not going to measure two tablespoonds peanut butter every time I make a peanuyt butter & jelly sandwich.) When I estimate, I try to be accurate. I don't need to make my estimates on the high side.

significance

I weigh and measure what I can, but if I'm not sure, I try to over-estimate. If I have a slice of banana bread at a cafe, I tend to pick the highest-calorie banana bread in the MFP database to log, for instance. I do this to counter my natural tendency to want to minimise what I've eaten and to counter MFP probably over-estimating my exercise calories (I just accept the values it gives). I also aim for a little less than the target net calories that MFP recommends, for the same reason.

lollie1285

I measure every little thing I eat. Today, I ate a handful of grapes without counting them and got so mad at myself for it. I don't eat back my exercise calories for now only because I'm not quite sure how much I burn and I don't want to overestimate. I should be getting a new HRM soon, so that should take care of that issue and I can hopefully start eating more.