Calorie Counters Beware!

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  • cassiegal724
    cassiegal724 Posts: 63 Member
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    UGH! This is like, the worst trick ever!!! I'm so absurdly dilligent about reading the full label these days. I also very often find myself adding new foods to the database when tracking my calories on MFP. Does anyone else do this? I feel better knowing that I've read and understood the labels and have all the information entered correctly.

    you can verify the information if the product or food's already in the database. You can estimate how accurate something is by how many times its been verified. I often compare the label to what's already in the database and then verify it.
  • maroonmango211
    maroonmango211 Posts: 908 Member
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    A lot of this type of packaging (2.34 servings per container etc) is because eating 'healthy' has become such a concern. People want to catch your eye by marketing their product as low cal, low fat, low sugar etc so they cut the portions into smaller sizes so their package can boast any of the above. Its sad that portions arent really what is considered a full serving for most people. I would reccomend taking an off day and cook cook cook and freeze your own portions. I can have a giant piece of my home made lasagna that i KNOW is good for me for the same amount of calories as 1/4 of one of the store bought small ones.
  • Beastette
    Beastette Posts: 1,497 Member
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    I have to add in a small rant. I love pickles and just happened to look at the jar while I was enjoying a spear. One serving is half a spear! Who eats half a spear?!? Who comes up with the serving sizes on some things. Just put one pickle = 10 cals!

    Haha! On my jar of pickles it says a serving is 3/4 of a pickle, haha.

    That's ridiculous. What would you do with the other 1/4?
  • McLifterPants
    McLifterPants Posts: 457 Member
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    I had an (arguably) worse one of these the other day: I was making a pasta dish from the newest issue of Cooking Light that claimed to be 332 calories per serving... but when I plugged the ingredients in to the MFP recipe builder, it was actually 538! That's a 60% difference! I was so mad, I wrote them an angry email, haha. Righteous indignation FTW!

    For the record: I double checked my ingredients, and they were all pretty standard, calorie count wise. Things like linguine, chicken breast, raw spinach and whole milk. Not a whole lot of places where I could reasonably have been way off.
  • ceejay3101
    ceejay3101 Posts: 36 Member
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    You are better off eating a banana and an apple, more nutritious, more vitamins and more energy all round, yes they are filling as well :-)
  • addaline22
    addaline22 Posts: 114
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    Ive been saying for years that they need to adjust the calories on a pint of icecream according to a normal serving......the whole pint.


    yes.
  • goldfinger88
    goldfinger88 Posts: 686 Member
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    It's always smart to determine just how much a serving is -- especially if you count calories and not portions.
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
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    I had an (arguably) worse one of these the other day: I was making a pasta dish from the newest issue of Cooking Light that claimed to be 332 calories per serving... but when I plugged the ingredients in to the MFP recipe builder, it was actually 538! That's a 60% difference! I was so mad, I wrote them an angry email, haha. Righteous indignation FTW!

    For the record: I double checked my ingredients, and they were all pretty standard, calorie count wise. Things like linguine, chicken breast, raw spinach and whole milk. Not a whole lot of places where I could reasonably have been way off.

    Unless you had the number of servings per recipe wrong, that seems really bad.
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
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    It's always smart to determine just how much a serving is -- especially if you count calories and not portions.

    And when you weigh things you'll find big differences from measuring, too.
  • NikkiSixGuns
    NikkiSixGuns Posts: 630 Member
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    And this is why they teach you to cook as a child. Those 45 minutes could have been better spent preparing a healthy meal.

    Really? I thought that people learn to cook so they could eat.

    And who is "they"?
  • McLifterPants
    McLifterPants Posts: 457 Member
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    I had an (arguably) worse one of these the other day: I was making a pasta dish from the newest issue of Cooking Light that claimed to be 332 calories per serving... but when I plugged the ingredients in to the MFP recipe builder, it was actually 538! That's a 60% difference! I was so mad, I wrote them an angry email, haha. Righteous indignation FTW!

    For the record: I double checked my ingredients, and they were all pretty standard, calorie count wise. Things like linguine, chicken breast, raw spinach and whole milk. Not a whole lot of places where I could reasonably have been way off.

    Unless you had the number of servings per recipe wrong, that seems really bad.

    Nope, triple checked it. Now I am second guessing all their recipes, and they've been my go-to for months :-/
  • Ddmck1
    Ddmck1 Posts: 89 Member
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    I hate that!! I've started to pay close attention to servings per container.
  • dmh0204
    dmh0204 Posts: 81
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    Ive been saying for years that they need to adjust the calories on a pint of icecream according to a normal serving......the whole pint.

    Agreed, but it's not hard to realize that there are 4 "servings" per pint.

    Wait, have you guys not heard of Arctic Zero?! It's supposed to be a like a frozen protein shake. 150 calories per pint. Lots of different flavors. I mean, you aren't going to be fooled into thinking you just ate ice cream. But if you are having an "I'm gonna eat the whole pint" night, see if your local grocery store has these bad boys. They have gotten me through more than one pity party!
  • ktsmom430
    ktsmom430 Posts: 1,100 Member
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    When I started out on MFP, I ate the low calorie frozen entrees. Then I really started reading labels. I avoid processed foods as much as I can now. Much healthier and better tasting to cook your own food. Preservatives, sodium, sugar, and who knows what, are way over used in most packaged foods. I cook on the weekends and freeze indiviual serving sizes for breakfasts, lunch and dinner through the week. We eat salads for supper M-Thurs so meat I grill on the weekends is added to our salads during the week. I even air pop my popcorn. It really cuts down on the calories not to have the oil. Fresh or frozen vegetables and fruits.
  • smithntuck
    smithntuck Posts: 113 Member
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    I always read the serving size...schooled some girls at work on that and they were like "Whaa?" People just assume that a 20 oz soda is 1 serving...nope, 2.5. ALWAYS read the label.
  • AmyFett
    AmyFett Posts: 1,607 Member
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    the info panels are a "must read" onall foods!

    yeah, I agree. I always look, at everything. My hubby is getting annoyed with this.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    I was tempted by a candy bar the other day and read the calories AND THE SERVINGS. 200 calories per serving - and 2 servings in candy bar.

    Left it on the shelf.

    Lesson learned.
  • CharityPearce
    CharityPearce Posts: 215
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    I have to add in a small rant. I love pickles and just happened to look at the jar while I was enjoying a spear. One serving is half a spear! Who eats half a spear?!? Who comes up with the serving sizes on some things. Just put one pickle = 10 cals!

    You're stressing over 10 cals? Ok, this is a joke... surely... right? I'm kind of dense today.. : ) I always worry more about the sodium in pickles, certainly not the calories.
  • crimsoncat
    crimsoncat Posts: 457 Member
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    Ive been saying for years that they need to adjust the calories on a pint of icecream according to a normal serving......the whole pint.

    Meet your dream come true: http://www.myarcticzero.com/

    pints.jpg
  • steph1278
    steph1278 Posts: 483 Member
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    Ive been saying for years that they need to adjust the calories on a pint of icecream according to a normal serving......the whole pint.

    Agreed, but it's not hard to realize that there are 4 "servings" per pint.

    Wait, have you guys not heard of Arctic Zero?! It's supposed to be a like a frozen protein shake. 150 calories per pint. Lots of different flavors. I mean, you aren't going to be fooled into thinking you just ate ice cream. But if you are having an "I'm gonna eat the whole pint" night, see if your local grocery store has these bad boys. They have gotten me through more than one pity party!


    One of the morning shows did a test on so called better for you desserts and found that the majority were off on calories by quite a bit. The Arctic Zero was one of the worst offenders testing in at 40-60% higher calories than they were claiming.

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