Stop lying about nutritional info or supporting the lie

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  • marsellient
    marsellient Posts: 591 Member
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    Like other posters I always double check the info. I have spent a bit of time entering my recipes so I can have an accurate count for myself. At the bottom of the page where you do this, there's an option to share with the database or not. I always choose not to for this very reason. If the name of my recipe shows up in the database how is anyone else supposed to know what's in my frittata or honey mustard salad dressing, for example. Perhaps a little tutorial when people join the site would be helpful?

    That said, if you're careful the database is way better than any other I've seen, easy to use, and it's also easy to adjust the measurements once you find what you're looking for.

    Oh, amd measure, measure, measure! :)
  • Mary1757
    Mary1757 Posts: 13
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    Sometimes the web site is off. I found a place where the info paper at the restaurant had been update 6 months later then the website and several items had gone up in calories.
    I have index cards made up with all the nutrition info on them. One binder for fast food places and one for food eaten at home. That helped me a lot when I started. I do change info that I see is wrong on this site. I use only cups info but put grams also for the people keeping track that way.
  • chattipatty2
    chattipatty2 Posts: 376 Member
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    I ALWAYS go to the website of the restaurant in another tab and compare to the MFP. Thank you for making others aware of this - I've made many corrections and saved to "My Food".

    For raw foods, you want to check the USDA Nutrient Database or nutritiondata.self.com.
    So look up USDA pork chop or chicken or whatever? Because the calorie fluctuations on meat here are incredibly variable!
  • slkehl
    slkehl Posts: 3,801 Member
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    Interesting. I'm new to mfp so I didn't realize anyone could add stuff. I ran into that yesterday. I got a burger from a mom and pop place and was looking for something comparable. I saw the calorie counts for ones from 5 guys and couldn't believe it haha! I knew my burger definitely wasn't that low in calories
  • cressievargo
    cressievargo Posts: 392 Member
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    I always cross-reference items that just don't seem right, or something I've never logged before, especially if I don't have the packaging handy to refer to.

    I also correct the listings when I find errors.

    ETA: My personal peeve about it is when people enter their entire meal. "Ham sandwich with wheat bread mayo and cheese". Really? You couldn't look up each item individually?
  • wackyfunster
    wackyfunster Posts: 944 Member
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    Five Guys isn't even that good... I bet I could make a better tasting burger and fry for less calories. If you think something is too good to be true, look it up on google or the restaurant's website. Change MFP database entries when you discover they aren't correct and move on in life.
    Blasphemy! Five guys is a staple food for my rest days! Hamburger (2 patties) with onion, grilled onion, ketchup, and mustard for 700 calories, with a pretty good fat/protein/carb breakdown (for a buger)... how can you go wrong?!

    Agree with OP though, went to La Madeleine yesterday and had to correct the 'confirmed' entries for EVERYTHING I ate their, as they were ~30-40% less than what the website nutrition said they should be. That "600" calorie meal? 1200 calories.
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,280 Member
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    I always cross-reference items that just don't seem right, or something I've never logged before, especially if I don't have the packaging handy to refer to.

    I also correct the listings when I find errors.

    ETA: My personal peeve about it is when people enter their entire meal. "Ham sandwich with wheat bread mayo and cheese". Really? You couldn't look up each item individually?

    If someone eats the sandwich the same way, then I don't blame them for putting it in as a recipe. I have done that for a couple of items. Now, should they be sharing that into the database? That is questionable. I do not do so as it is for MY personal use.

    Honestly, I have not had that much of an issue with it. If something is wrong, I use another one. I once ran across an entry for a large egg at 140 calories. Either that is one huge egg or they did something horrible to the poor thing! I just laughed and found a correct entry.
  • KeriA
    KeriA Posts: 3,275 Member
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    What would help is if you could see what the calories attributed to the item before you added it instead of afterwards. Then you could choose the closest to what you are trying to log. I agree many aren't lying just accepting when they use something. However if I add something into the data base I make sure I am using good information. However I don't add that much since we have alot of duplication as it is. Sometimes there is a duplicate set for misspelled items.
  • KareninCanada
    KareninCanada Posts: 808 Member
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    What would help is if you could see what the calories attributed to the item before you added it instead of afterwards. Then you could choose the closest to what you are trying to log. I agree many aren't lying just accepting when they use something. However if I add something into the data base I make sure I am using good information. However I don't add that much since we have alot of duplication as it is. Sometimes there is a duplicate set for misspelled items.

    Click on the little blue link "nutritional information" and it will let you preview the info, as well as confirm or edit it.
  • Hopelessbird
    Hopelessbird Posts: 133
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    Omigosh. I really wanted to go to the 5 guys that just opened a few miles away from my house. So last week, I exercised extra hard everyday just to burn enough calories for a cheeseburger and fries (burned over 2000 calories and 6+ hours of cardio) . Over all it was suppose to be a ~1500 calorie lunch but I only ate half. My net calories during my cheat day was still under 1200.


    I started planning my meals and logging them first. Then adjusting the actual portion I ate. So if I had a little bit too much during lunch, I will have a cucumber salad and soup for dinner.
  • paj315
    paj315 Posts: 335 Member
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    I ALWAYS go to the website of the restaurant in another tab and compare to the MFP. Thank you for making others aware of this - I've made many corrections and saved to "My Food".

    For raw foods, you want to check the USDA Nutrient Database or nutritiondata.self.com.

    Basically if an entry has an * beside it in the database, I check it out to verify it. Those ones are entered by users, and can be notoriously wrong.

    Yep I do the same thing.
  • BarbWhite09
    BarbWhite09 Posts: 1,128 Member
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    Maybe the person wasn't educated enough...Maybe they mistakenly put the wrong info... Instead of getting on here & ranting, just change the info. I end up changing wrong info all the time...Not going to get on here and call people liars because they put some wrong info.
  • lovelee79
    lovelee79 Posts: 362
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    Yes the info on MFP drives me crazy, I've seen some ridiculous entries ....so I ALWAYS correct the info on here... you're welcome ! :wink: :flowerforyou: smooches !! :smooched: :bigsmile: :smooched: :bigsmile:
  • stablesong
    stablesong Posts: 224
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    I have seen "two crispy chicken fingers" for 60 calories, 4 oz pot roast for like 120, stuff like that. Crazy.

    I have also seen overestimates. I eat breakfast Lean Pockets sometimes, (don't judge, I know they're gross) and every entry I could find had them at 270 when they are actually 180 according to the packaging. I usually try to enter my own so I can correctly log but it's so hard to get past the "duplicate entry" thing.
  • KellyBurton1
    KellyBurton1 Posts: 529 Member
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    I had corrected something in particular one time only to come back and find it back to the same way again a while later. I see it all the time and you can correct it if you like but I gave up. Its impossible to sit down and correct everything. My advise is to double check your package, measure your food properly or even use google.
  • iridescentpink
    iridescentpink Posts: 1
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    New to this site...but went to add a coffee with lite milk and 1sugar, and guess what..the nutritional info said it had 0 sugar. Hmmm I will have to be careful!
  • Zichu
    Zichu Posts: 542 Member
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    I think I've only corrected one thing and that was because the sodium wasn't put in probably. The person put the amount of grams of sodium and didn't calculate it as milligrams lol.

    Some foods I have added myself and I hope they are correct. Such as the Schwartz Beef and Beer Stew with Herb Dumplings. I looked on there website and there weren't any nutritional information on there about this recipe. So I had to follow the recipe and use the ingredients as my guide. The recipe serves 4 people and it came at about 293kcal per serving without the Dumplings. You can make about 8 Dumplings from the recipe and 1 dumpling is about 92kcal.
  • castadiva
    castadiva Posts: 2,016 Member
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    I find it annoying that some items are entered with ONLY the calorie count. No Protein, Carbs, Sugars or Sodium??? REALLY? Come on... ig you're going to add something to the MFP list pleeeeeese put in ALL the info. I've gotten to where I carry the pkd or box or label with me, until I can get to the computer & CHECK the Macros b4 I enter it to my MFP Diary. I WANT TO KNOW all the other stuff too, and if you fudge on what goes into your body (& the diary) then how can you tell what is orking or what isn't working? Yeah, imho, of course... :) J

    Problem is, if you're making things from scratch or they don't come out of a box/bag etc (bread from a local bakery, for example) a lot of this information isn't readily available. Also, for many people. the important thing is the calorie count (that is what this website is advertised as, after all) and they pay little or no attention to the macro information unless they have a specific reason to do so.

    To the OP, I think it's harsh and rather unfair of you to assume that people are 'lying' deliberately about the calorific content of foods. Misinformation abounds, and people can easily misunderstand or misread labelling, especially when nutritional information is provided not per serving but per 100g or similar.. For example, I picked up a bag of dried fruit the other day in a hurry, read the calorie count on the front, and only later saw the small print that said the count provided was for half the packet, rather than the whole, as I reasonably assumed of a snack-size packet. Mistakes do get made - it's human.
  • creative1981
    creative1981 Posts: 182 Member
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    I guess I'm guilty. I never double check. I just accept it. I assume people don't lie.

    Up until now me too!
  • m60kaf
    m60kaf Posts: 421 Member
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    Really people a bacon ,egg and cheese sandwich for 200 calories!? wake up!

    LOL

    I always sanity check the info - another thing that gets me is a 'cup' wtf is a cup!!! if I eat 110g of food I put down 110g. Not 100g or 1/2 a cup!

    I was fat because I kidded myself on a number of levels, fast metabolism, portion sizes, types of food, what I really need to weigh.

    Along the way I have had lots of realisations about just how deluded I was.

    I have a slowly simmering annoyance at people who are half way along their weight loss path moaning its failed/slowing etc. People who have succeed pointing out the fails on calories counting and portion control and them getting upset at the 'bluntness' and falling back into all the denial traps that make us fat.

    Bottom line - you dont need to eat THAT much!

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