Include nibbling in food diary?

anonniemouse

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There is a good TV series about this potential issue called Secret Eaters. It's an interesting show to watch, either way.

Season 1:

Season 2:

neacail

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

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

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

If you're way under goal, meh. If you're close, log it.

agree with this.