How nit-picky are you about calorie counting?

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  • Koholint
    Koholint Posts: 104 Member
    If the measuring cups and measuring spoons are clean, I'll measure. If not, then I try to get it as close as possible by eyeballing it and then overestimating it.

    If there's a day where I know I went way over my daily limit, I acknowledge that I should've done better, but then I get right on track the next day.
    Example... In the past 2 weeks, there was one night that hubby and I hit McDonald's at 11 PM. Sabotage, I know, but I ordered something sensible (we came from a small group and there were only snacks, and we didn't have dinner, so we were really hungry.) Forgave myself and went back to the daily routine the next day.
    Then on Easter, I made a full-fat homemade carrot cake with cream cheese icing for a gathering. And I had a piece. I hate to think of the heavy amount of calories that was, but I enjoyed it.

    I logged the McDonald's but didn't log the cake, and I've lost 2 pounds in the past 2 weeks. Probably would have been more if those 2 things didn't happen, but I'm happy and don't feel deprived.

    This is my new lifestyle, not a "diet." I suppose whatever a person eats is their diet, but I'm in this for the long haul and I can't possible see myself being super strict about going .2 a tsp over my coffee creamer forever.
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    I'm casual about counting exact amounts of low calorie vegetables like leafy greens and raw bell pepper. I'm very diligent about counting every chocolate chip and every almond that I eat.
  • NaomiJFoster
    NaomiJFoster Posts: 1,450 Member
    I spent a couple weeks measuring my cereal and milk. Now I know what 'one cup' looks like in my bowl and I just go for it.
  • anaconda469
    anaconda469 Posts: 3,479 Member
    I log everything I eat at home, where I am in control of what I eat. The problem I have is being invited to dinner at my friend`s house and I know she uses high fat/calorie stuff for dinner. That makes it hard to count as none of this shows up in MFP. So I try to estimate. I have found that counting everything is good, as It showed me all of the crap I was eating in a day and helped me change to a better diet.
  • pandahead76
    pandahead76 Posts: 122 Member
    I count it all. But then, I'm just getting started. Also, I try to keep within my macronutrient ratios.
  • skinnyinnotime
    skinnyinnotime Posts: 4,078 Member
    When I was losing I was very accurate, weighing food etc.

    Now I'm on maintenance I just eyeball and guesstimate things, I don't log tea/coffee even though I put 2 sugars in each cup and barely ever log alcohol either.
  • mnmomto4
    mnmomto4 Posts: 97 Member
    Hate to say it but I am pretty lax. I don't count my 20 calorie vitamins, I don't count my vegetables (I was also a WW and was used to having them be a free food), I count my fruit but I don't measure it to decide if it is a large apple vs medium. I just say medium unless it looks larger than it should be. I also do not weight my meat. I eye it (once again a WW habit). I have been on here for 9 months and have lost 44 lbs. 3 months of those 9 months I have been pregnant, so I say I did pretty well. Now if I would have been really strict I probably could have done better. But, being a mother of 2, work FT, and have a husband that works 6 days a week 10 hour days. Being incredibly strict just doesn't seem to work for my busy lifestyle. Good luck to you. Find what works for you.
  • Trilby16
    Trilby16 Posts: 707 Member
    I'm kinda casual about it. I keep my calorie goal low to leave room for inaccuracy. Some calories are so insignificant, it is not worth the bother.

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