Logging Food

lisamarie2181
lisamarie2181 Posts: 560 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey All!

When you log your food, do you enter your foods in yourself or do you trust the database? I have noticed there are a lot of things not put in properly, and even when I scan things sometimes, it doesn't pull it off the label, it will pull something that has been entered in already and is incorrect, and I end up having to put it in under My Foods.

Because of this, I enter in every single thing I eat/make, with the exception if I have a meal out or something along those lines, and then search the web to get an idea of where my cals should be or the nutrition info off their website. For example, sushi, very hard to find nutrition info, but tried my best to get the most accurate numbers I could.

Do any of you really trust the database? I am having a hard time finding much in there that is accurate, is it just me or am I missing something? lol Are there foods that were put in by MFP staff or are they all put in by users?

And can you only allow people to see your added foods and stuff on the computer and not on the iPhone App?

Replies

  • slackerwoman
    slackerwoman Posts: 261 Member
    It depends. If I have the label handy, I check it against the label. But if its something that I don't know for sure what the calories are I just use my best judgement and try to trust the database.
  • RedWeb
    RedWeb Posts: 108 Member
    Do any of you really trust the database?

    Yes. I find it very accurate.
  • moreORless50
    moreORless50 Posts: 261 Member
    i double check the foods in the database if incorrect will enter in my own
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
    I'll check against the label, but I don't stress out too much. After all, everything is an estimation, no need to stress about being accurate down to the last calorie.
  • cb83580
    cb83580 Posts: 136 Member
    I only trust the entries NOT put in by members--those without the asterisk. So for raw, not processed ingredients, that works great--meats, vegetables, fruits, etc.

    For all others, I double check the label against what a user entered into the database.
  • bvinette31
    bvinette31 Posts: 15 Member
    I trust it for the most part but you must make sure that you are converting what the database says to the correct serving size you actually ate. Also, some people who have enetered information on foods only care about the amount of calories and leave out other information others may care about like carbs and fat and protein. When I notice this, I then do research. Also as far as I know I think you can either make your food diary private or public but not different between the app and the website.
  • lisamarie2181
    lisamarie2181 Posts: 560 Member
    I seem to have troubles with some things like the meat and fruit.

    I was using a generic Honeycrisp apple one, and didn't notice that whoever put it in didn't put the sugar in! A large HC has about 35g of sugar, so that could really mess with the numbers for the day.

    Even cuts of meat, I find like 5 different cal options for the same 3 oz serving, so this is why i question how accurate it can be.

    I know this stuff may not matter so much to some, but if I am logging, I want it to be as accurate as I possibly can.

    Does anyone else use outside sources to double check the info? I usually just google, but some things are hard to find in general for some reason :( I shop a lot at traders, which luckily has nutrition info on almost everything in the store, but do have some issues when I shop other places that don't.

    Thank you all for your replies :)
  • Bess_74
    Bess_74 Posts: 68
    I have found that the more specific I am in searching for the food (brand name, ect) the better results I get. I have found a few things that were inaccurate so just did what you do (the my foods thing). I believe most of the items are user submitted and often I find the same item entered numerous times, but worded differently. I always look for the one that has the most confirmations and have had good luck with accuracy. I don't have an iphone, so can't comment on your other question...good luck!
  • ChristyRunStarr
    ChristyRunStarr Posts: 1,600 Member


    Does anyone else use outside sources to double check the info?
    If it's something I can't scan in myself with my phone, then I'll double check what I find here (if it's entered in by a member) to Livestrong's website (http://www.livestrong.com)
  • taylorblues
    taylorblues Posts: 49 Member
    If I'm in a hurry, I'll pick the one nearest to what I want that has been confirmed by at least one person (the more the better). If I have time to spare, I'll check the nutrition label and 'confirm' or 'edit'. The more people that do this, the more accurate it will be in the long term.
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,324 Member
    This why you should always shoot under your calorie goal..or work out extra and not eat all the calories back.
  • melissawilson21
    melissawilson21 Posts: 74 Member
    Hi, I think it is better to add i on your own thant o dend on what is in the databse. I rather d that anyways and save to my favorites, especiallyif I eat it often..you can also go to menus and etc from different food places to get a rough estimate if it is close to the same thing. Most of the time they list calories and etc with their food..
    :wink:
  • just4nessa
    just4nessa Posts: 459 Member
    I've found some of the entries in the database to be inaccurate, even with bar codes because any user can edit the info. For items without a label (meats, fruit, vegetables, I use: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/list.
  • wahmx3
    wahmx3 Posts: 633 Member
    for the most part, I find it accurate, I do have a look when I add a new food and make sure it makes sense for calories and nutrients. If it seems off, I will sometimes do a second search or go to the company website to check.
  • b0nnyd0g
    b0nnyd0g Posts: 84 Member
    I always check against the label if I have it and rarely dont find branded items in the list. Much better than the Weight Watchers food database by the way !
  • lisamarie2181
    lisamarie2181 Posts: 560 Member
    thanks for all the great responses, I am a bit of a perfectionist so I like to make sure I am accurately putting everything in. Lots of good ideas from you all, I appreciate all the input :)
  • Koldnomore
    Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
    I'll check labels and try to use the non-user entered amounts if possible. I find quite a lot of people don't put everything in when they enter a food so you will get things like no sugar or missing nutrients. Since I track those it's important. I equally hate user entered items where the weight is missing (even though it's right on the label when I look) because I weigh everything. Lazy people peeve me :P
  • RiverMelSong
    RiverMelSong Posts: 456 Member
    I've been counting calories for over 7 years now so I can usually tell when something is off. Whenever I log something new (as in stuff I haven't logged before) I check the package to make sure the MFP database is correct. If it's not I adjust the amount of the item I'm logging and save it for future reference.
  • lisamarie2181
    lisamarie2181 Posts: 560 Member
    I agree, this is why I question some entries. Some things I do know calorie wise where they should be, and I do find some that have the right cals, but then other things are entered. I am surprised by this because you don't only have calories logged in your diary, you have other macros and if you don't enter the whole thing, then you numbers at the end of the day will not be right.

    Maybe some are close to goal or maintenance and don't watch all the other stuff, but like you I do watch my macros, so I find this is why I put in my own foods because it is hard to trust them.

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