Do you change calorie count when you make something new

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aileengh
aileengh Posts: 27 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Say you've made a tuna sandwich on wheat bread for lunch one day and figured the calorie count according to all the ingredients you have on hand. It shows up in your food list. So the next day you make it, but you use a different brand of tuna and a different brand of bread and they have a different calorie count than the first sandwich you made. How do you handle this? Do you just use the tuna sandwich from your food list or do you recalculate the whole thing?

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  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,136 Member
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    I add each thing on its own.
  • donyellemoniquex3
    donyellemoniquex3 Posts: 2,384 Member
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    I add each thing on its own.
  • rickerred12
    rickerred12 Posts: 75
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    recalculate, if you want to be accurate. If you go from tuna in water to tuna in oil that is a big difference.
  • AliciaStaton
    AliciaStaton Posts: 328 Member
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    Yes I do because it helps to make sure I keep to date with the calorie count
  • zaph0d
    zaph0d Posts: 1,172 Member
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    The more accurately you log, the more predictable your results will be.
  • darleyschroeder
    darleyschroeder Posts: 322
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    Recalculate. What if the 2nd sandwich you made was 100 calories more and you logged it wrong? Better to be accurate!
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
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    I always enter exactly what I'm eating whenever possible. So if I use one brand of tuna yesterday and a different brand of tuna today, I enter each brand for each day.
  • Healthydiner65
    Healthydiner65 Posts: 1,579 Member
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    If you care about being accurate, which I do, then enter in the new items.
  • vmekash
    vmekash Posts: 422 Member
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    My approach is more casual.

    For something simple and low cal, I'll usually re-do everything as far as tracking.
    For something more complicated, like a recipe I've saved, I'll just use whatever I've saved -- like for lasagna, rather than be concerned that THIS time I used 1.16 lbs of ground beef, when originally I used .97 lbs., or perhaps last time I used a leaner mix, or whatever.
  • FabMrFox
    FabMrFox Posts: 259 Member
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    I allow a 10% variance. If it doesnt go over or under that I don't spend the time to be more accurate. I also only eat back 60% or so of my excersise calories in the end it all averages out for me to loose 2 pounds or so per week so whatever works for you
  • Flowers4Julia
    Flowers4Julia Posts: 521 Member
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    Recalculate it...for sure! We are all learning that different foods have different calories.....right!?


    It's all about educating ourselves :bigsmile:
  • Melo1966
    Melo1966 Posts: 881 Member
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    Breads can have a big diffference. I log tuna seperate from bread.
  • WolfPackFan13
    WolfPackFan13 Posts: 95 Member
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    The more accurately you log, the more predictable your results will be.

    This is bloody brilliant
  • zanAspera
    zanAspera Posts: 29 Member
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    Ultimately you are logging for yourself. Only you will know if you are lying to yourself in your log. And if you are going to lie, there isn't any point in logging anyway. But you don't need to be neurotic about logging everything exactly either. capture all the data in your log that is important for you, and/or important to your doctor/ nutrition coach or any other professional who you may now or later wish to share your results with

    If I know two things are basically equivallent, (eg, a cup of frozen pepper strips from one store brand is going to be about the same as another store brand), that is not something I worry about (though I might if there was a marked difference in Sodium or something if that particular stat was one I was tracking for a goal )... But if there is a difference in macronutriets between brands, I would relog it, especially since we are talking packaged food, that you just need to scan the UPC code on.
  • Tsunami79
    Tsunami79 Posts: 122 Member
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    I make a recipe and change what ever needs to be changed for that recipe.

    Example: Tuna Fish, If i use a different tuna, then I will take the old one out of my recipe and put the new one in, and change the number of servings if I have too.

    Or I log everything separately.

    I like to be accurate.
  • aileengh
    aileengh Posts: 27 Member
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    So far I've been like the majority of you and recalculating each time, but my food list is getting so long it's almost unmanageable. Any suggestions there?
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    That's why I like the smartphone app. Foods like tuna, mayonnaise and most bread will have a barcode I can scan. I just double check to make sure it's correct. I just scan as I make it. Foods like lettuce I don't worry about different brands.
    I pretty much eat the same brands anyway.
  • EndlessSacrifice
    EndlessSacrifice Posts: 325
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    I add each thing on its own.

    This.

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