Include nibbling in food diary?

2

Replies

  • mhcoss
    mhcoss Posts: 220
    if you want to lose.. log everything. Otherwise you may turn into one of those people 'eating 1350 cals' per day and claim to not be losing.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
    If u snack it you track it :)
    if you bite it you write it :)

    If you hog it you blog it
    If you kissed it you list it
    If you lick it you stick it ... in your diary.

    If you ingest, it must be confessed. OK I'll stop now.

    :laugh: Brilliant.
  • theghouse
    theghouse Posts: 9
    the easiest way to account for all those snacks is to use quick tools to quick add calories. sure, it won't track your protein, carbs, etc, but it does track the most important number, which is calories. even adding a rough estimate is better than omitting it completely.

    someone earlier posted about a sip of apple juice. for example, take a look at the serving size and calories of the apple juice. if a serving is 8 oz and you took a small sip (1 oz), just quick add 1/8 of the calories of the serving. it takes about 10 seconds to log. i tend to log my snacking at the end of the day when i log my dinner, unless i have had some time during the day to add it on the spot. if i feel like i'll forget about it later, i make it a priority to add it earlier.

    i tend to estimate on the high side because if my estimate is off, i'd rather have eaten less calories than i thought than more calories than i thought.

    im my opinion, your desire to get your logs exactly right matches your commitment to lose weight and get healthy. the more commited you are, the easier it is to make yourself get everything logged.
  • Cr01502
    Cr01502 Posts: 3,614 Member
    Unless we're talking about a girls ear lobe here my advice would be to log it.
  • gsager
    gsager Posts: 977 Member
    Every bite
  • dulinh
    dulinh Posts: 99 Member
    I second the 'nibble dish' idea someone else suggested - mine has cashews, dried cranberries and dark chocolate baking chips for about 135 calories. I take it to work every day and pick from it when I think about grabbing one of the other snacks left out at work (donuts, candy, you name it).
  • GymBeast2
    GymBeast2 Posts: 81
    I don't record every little thing that goes into my mouth. When I am making lunch for the next day and I measure something out that should be 40 grams and it ends up being 42 grams, I might just pop that extra piece into my mouth. Or I might taste something I made for lunch. Or I might steal 3 M&Ms. If I stop losing weight I might be more careful, but I am not gonna get obsessive about this.

    I agree with this.
  • drvvork
    drvvork Posts: 1,162
    I put in everything - even if I take an aspirin. Vitamins and meds - all listed. I found out the hard way that if I lie to myself I'm defeating myself in my self-improvement. It's one thing to lie to someone else about what I'm eating or drinking but to lie to myself is a real no-no. Don't think I haven't walked that way in the past - one reason I had problems.
  • MorgueBabe
    MorgueBabe Posts: 1,188 Member
    It adds up so yes.
    It made want to pick less because it was such a PITA to log it all
  • mattschwartz01
    mattschwartz01 Posts: 566 Member
    Everything I consume gets logged. I even log before I start to eat.
  • anonniemouse
    anonniemouse Posts: 117 Member
    I second the 'nibble dish' idea someone else suggested - mine has cashews, dried cranberries and dark chocolate baking chips for about 135 calories. I take it to work every day and pick from it when I think about grabbing one of the other snacks left out at work (donuts, candy, you name it).

    I love the idea of a nibble dish. I'll have to try that.
  • running_shoe
    running_shoe Posts: 180 Member
    Good god! Absoultey! The only way this works is complete honesty with yourself. What happens if "nibbling" adds up to 500 calories over the course of a day? If you're going to do this and expect to get results, do it right. This is all about the math.
  • BigBrunette
    BigBrunette Posts: 1,543 Member
    It made want to pick less because it was such a PITA to log it all
    This. I've actually stopped nibbling because I don't want to figure out how to log one bite of ice cream or one cashew.
  • MirandaDeCrane
    MirandaDeCrane Posts: 78 Member
    I log it...even if it just means doing a "Quick Add Calories" somewhere. I tend to lose track of snacking or nibbling, and it sure adds up fast!
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    Easy solution:

    Make yourself a nibble dish in the morning, and weigh it out or whatever you do to measure. Nibble from that.

    This is a great suggestion. I've been weighing out a handful of cereal here or two cashews there. This method would save me a lot of time. :flowerforyou:
  • nikkohli
    nikkohli Posts: 311 Member
    I usually leave myself 50 calories extra to account for nibbling. I really don't nibble a lot throughout the day but when I am cooking I might take a bite of a noodle to see if it is done or taste a sauce for seasoning. I haven't stopped losing so it is working for me but I am honest with myself if I take a Hershey Kiss from the candy bowl or a handful of fries from a friend's plate.
  • sunshinestater
    sunshinestater Posts: 596 Member
    If you put calories in, they belong in your log. Otherwise you don't get an accurate picture. I use my log to follow trends. Why did I crave a certain snack? Am I more or less hungry on certain days, and if so, what's going on on those days? The only time I don't log is on a rare occasion when I'm under my calories, grab a bite of something that won't put me over, and am not near my computer. But that's so rare that it's happened maybe twice in over a month.
  • whitecapwendy
    whitecapwendy Posts: 287 Member
    If it is the end of the day, I have 300 calories left to work with and I have 1 small bite of something. I probably will not log it. If I do that a couple times during the day, I log it
  • peacefulsong
    peacefulsong Posts: 223 Member
    Some people will say you have to log every single thing you put in your mouth, but I think something like stealing a french fry, having a bite of someone else's meal at a restaurant, etc is going to be almost impossible to log with any accuracy. I'd suggest leaving some leeway in your calories for that sort of thing. But be honest with yourself about it. If you're doing it all day long, it's going to add up and maybe throw you off track. If your progress seems too slow or stops, that might be something you'll want to reassess. You're the only one who knows how much you do it and how it might be affecting you.
  • socioseguro
    socioseguro Posts: 1,679 Member
    Easy solution:

    Make yourself a nibble dish in the morning, and weigh it out or whatever you do to measure. Nibble from that.


    Your question is kind of silly. More information is more helpful in determining what has worked and what hasn't, less information is less helpful. It's up to you to decide how much help you need and how much effort you are willing to put in, not anyone else.

    Very good suggestion. I will keep it in mind. Thank you for sharing

    I concur with other posters. I do need to log everything or my weight will go up after 4 days of non logging and it will be a significant jump. I plan my food intake the night before, including snacks. This works for me

    to the OP: I hope you arrive to a conclusion after all posters information. Good luck in your journey
  • fluffychicken7
    fluffychicken7 Posts: 77 Member
    I'm also on 1200 calories and I under-record my exercise 'cos I think MFP is way too generous with calorie counts for things like walking. I often don't make my calorie goal, but it's good to aim for and if I'm on or near it most days, I lose.

    My personal take on this is that it under-records the values. Case in point, zumba, which isn't on the list of activities here, you can record it as aerobic dance and log it as roughly 450 kcal burns on here for 55 mins, but if you go to calorieburnedhq.com it can be up to 200 kcal more adding on weight and intensity.

    I don't stress about the variance as I use what this site tells me it's worth because I'm more about doing it than to figure out how much I can eat after. I understand that some may need to be more vigilant than others to achieve there goals. I log to say, "but did you do this today?" and if it's yes, then all is well.
  • mebsuta
    mebsuta Posts: 11 Member
    I log EVERYTHING. I just started using this site on a regular basis but didn't seem ready to make this healthy change. So I logged everything anyways, healthy or not. Logging everything has helped me to become more aware of what I am putting in my body and all the unnecessary calories I am consuming. That in turn has finally motivated me to want to eat better. Also, I have had issues with snacking. That snacking can add up so fast and by logging everything I am able to see just how much of am impact snacking/nibbling has on my diet.
  • RoadsterGirlie
    RoadsterGirlie Posts: 1,195 Member
    Oh yes.

    The truly magical thing about tracking my food was once I started, I stopped nibbling all together as I didn't want to have to track it.

    And then I lost 90 lbs!
  • RandomMiranda
    RandomMiranda Posts: 298
    If I take a big bite of something high calorie and I'm close to my limit for the day I log it. If it's really just a nibble, like if I have one or two m'n'ms or a tiny taste of my husband's desert, I don't. If I become too obsessive I'm actually more likely to fall away from logging altogether. If you really only do this occasionally, like a few times a week, it probably doesn't make a big difference. If it's an every meal thing, or mindless nibbling throughout the day that is different. I'm not much of a nibbler, if I'm snacking I'm truly snacking enough to log it.
  • majoki
    majoki Posts: 151 Member
    If you're "nibbling" every day, then definitely log it, but if you take a bite of someone's steak or whatever just to taste it, I wouldn't bother logging it as long as you're not someone who has difficultly losing weight.

    If you are someone who struggles losing weight (lots of plateaus or very slow loss or slight gain weeks), then I'd log everything if I were you.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    There is a good TV series about this potential issue called Secret Eaters. It's an interesting show to watch, either way.

    Season 1: https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PL85231D0F6E025D19

    Season 2:
  • neacail
    neacail Posts: 228 Member
    I log everything. In the event I'm unsure of what a bite or two of something will add up to, I add "quick calories" to my daily total. I'm not much of a "nibbler" however: maybe once of twice a week.
  • Zalli
    Zalli Posts: 132 Member


    The truly magical thing about tracking my food was once I started, I stopped nibbling all together as I didn't want to have to track it.



    I agree with this person. If something is too annoying to log, it makes me not want to eat it. And voila! I don't have the nibble after all.
  • whitecapwendy
    whitecapwendy Posts: 287 Member
    logging my food has made me more careful of my choices, period. When I start thinking something sounds good, I will think "do I want to log this?" or perhaps "Can I afford this calorie-wise?" It has made me make more wise choices.
  • YoungDoc2B
    YoungDoc2B Posts: 1,593 Member
    If you're way under goal, meh. If you're close, log it.

    agree with this.

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