questionable info on database

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yanniejannie
yanniejannie Posts: 1,090 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Honestly, is it just me????? Take something simple; like a banana and input it to determine calories on MFP. The first reading that pops up is 1/2 banana, confirmed by no fewer than 15 users at 53 cals............OK, so is there ANY indication if this is half of a 5oz. banana or half of a 10oz. banana? No, and that difference would double the cals. This sort of thing happens over and over and over. When you use the drop down feature on items to get a different size or convert to grams some of the answers are so out of the ballpark that I just give up and guess. When this subject comes up, often people post the hand way of measuring---palm: 3oz, etc.............but there is a huge difference in palms too........a woman 4'10 in going to have a palm way different from some guy (or gal) who's 6'2". Is there a better, more accurate site for calorie measurements/sizes out there???????

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  • MelsAuntie
    MelsAuntie Posts: 2,833 Member
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    I agree this is annoying, but they do list bananas by size in inches. What bugs the hell out of me is things weighed in grams. There is nothing that I will ever weigh in grams. And half a cop of chopped cheese is how many ounces? Take it back out and weigh it. Grrrr.
  • jrfronk
    jrfronk Posts: 1
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    Whenever possible I try to utilize a food scale and input info based on weight. Unfortunately, there are limits to this as well and sometimes I have to do some conversions. I've found that once I've inputed the most common foods that I eat, I can track my calories fairly easily from there. This does require some leg work, but I haven't found a free app out there that does everything I'd like it to. It took me a couple of weeks to build the database that I use and I still have to do some research on occasion, but so far the effort is paying off. I hope this helps.
  • SandyRevolution
    SandyRevolution Posts: 13
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    I've noticed the same thing. If a calorie count isn't clear and obviously correct, I double check it on a site like caloriecount.com or or nutritionfacts.org. While I don't think I should necessarily *have* to do this, I just remind myself that this site is free and it's a work in progress! I understand the frustration with the grams thing, though. I couldn't tell you how many grams something weighs if you put a gun to my head.
  • yanniejannie
    yanniejannie Posts: 1,090 Member
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    To clarify, very sorry I didn't mention it before, I certainly should have, I do use a scale.........that still doesn't help if you don't know how big the banana is (the one that's been confirmed by 15 users!!!) and you have multiple members declaring their own calorie counts, all different and most "confirmed". Does the website have no system to remove incorrect and/or confusing info?
  • TrailRunner61
    TrailRunner61 Posts: 2,505 Member
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    The most accurate way to do it is to know the calorie content in each item per gram. Weigh your food and you have an accurate number.
    What sucks is when MFP doesn't have it listed. There are other ways to find out though. Online, or on most packages, for example, my oatmeal, has a serving size listed as 1/2 cup or 40 grams for 150 calories. I measure out 40 grams of oatmeal and I'm good.
  • vivaldirules
    vivaldirules Posts: 169 Member
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    Yes, and I'm also confused by how much I'm eating and what. If I go to a restaurant, not only do I not know what's in it (how much oil might they have used to cook that thing?) but I can't easily estimate how much is there either? I've considered buying a "pocket" digital scale to take with me but then I'd need to transfer the food to a lightweight container to weigh it. And I still wouldn't know what's really in it. Add the uncertainties in the MFP and other databases, and I realize I'm just guessing. I'd bet my daily calorie intake estimates are no more than +/-30% accurate, if that.
  • Carnivor0us
    Carnivor0us Posts: 1,752 Member
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    A quick rough conversion from ounces to grams is 1 ounce = 30 grams. That's how I do it in my head at least.
  • links_slayer
    links_slayer Posts: 1,151 Member
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    yeah....you'll have that.
  • yanniejannie
    yanniejannie Posts: 1,090 Member
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    bump
  • toddis
    toddis Posts: 941 Member
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    It entertains me that some people mock Wikipedia because anyone can edit it and yet they use another crowd-sourced site and expect it to be accurate.

    The simplest way around the issue is eat mostly the same foods, and make sure the entry your are using is as accurate as you can find (usually from another site)
  • Beautifulsoull
    Beautifulsoull Posts: 136
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    I like using a site called fatsecret.com I mostly use it when I'm fixing certain baking goods that calls for an odd amount of flour sugar, etc. I really suck at math so that site has helped me. Most of the iteams has it broken down to cup, half a cup, ounces, etc. I use a scale for all my foods and hardly use what MFP has in their data base. I'll create a new food and put my name as the Name Brand.
  • upgetupgetup
    upgetupgetup Posts: 749 Member
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    Toddis is right. Also, the entries without asterisks are USDA values, they're safe.

    I like grams.
  • socajam
    socajam Posts: 2,530 Member
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    Thanks for the site fatsecret.com, will check it out later.
  • NavyMommy
    NavyMommy Posts: 102 Member
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    When I'm looking at generic foods (those without a nutrition label) I look as much as I can for the ones without asterisk next to them. They're the USDA amounts and generally have lots of choices and descriptions for size which is helpful.

    My scale also converts easily to grams and I use that setting as much if not more than the one for ounces. It's not a fancy one either, less than $20 at WalMart. I actually prefer weighing to measuring things out because I don't have to dirty as many dishes.
  • donnaleighh
    donnaleighh Posts: 178 Member
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    I agree this is annoying, but they do list bananas by size in inches. What bugs the hell out of me is things weighed in grams. There is nothing that I will ever weigh in grams. And half a cop of chopped cheese is how many ounces? Take it back out and weigh it. Grrrr.


    It's a big wide world out there in the internet and people come from all corners of the globe - I wouldn't know an oz if I slipped on it! We use different measurements and we eat different foods and products - this is why you find the exciting level of variety you do :)

    What would help us all out is if MFP could enable you to select (automatically convert) lbs, kg, oz, g, fl oz, ml etc. Then it could be about all of us irrespective of where we come from! :)
  • JaJa1978
    JaJa1978 Posts: 1
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    It's a big wide world out there in the internet and people come from all corners of the globe - I wouldn't know an oz if I slipped on it! We use different measurements and we eat different foods and products - this is why you find the exciting level of variety you do :)

    What would help us all out is if MFP could enable you to select (automatically convert) lbs, kg, oz, g, fl oz, ml etc. Then it could be about all of us irrespective of where we come from! :)

    Second that!

    But I mainly think the populatiry of the website, and the app, warrants a big database clean up. I use the app, every day, for every meal, and it has helped me lose a good amount of weight, but now that I am using it more and more to maintain weight and change body composition, it becomes increasingly important to really track nutrient intake. And with the current state of the database, I am considering just creating all the food I eat as an item in my Foods.

    As a first clean, ditch all the home-made foods from the shared database. While I totally support the addition of recipes for personal use (it's great, also for really tweaking your own recipes on a second and third try), I get a bit annoyed to find a mile of homemade potato salads when searching for a potato to add to my menu. Homemade should mean just that, and per definition rules out its usefulness for sharing. Moreoever, I can no longer label my homemade chilli as "homemade chilli", as someone beat me to that specific name. And I suck at being creative, so I end up with a lot of homemade ... #298's on my recipe list (but this is me being peevish).

    As a second clean, run a quick calculation and ditch all recipes where the total amount of fat, carbs and proteins do not add up to the total calorie count. There's heaps of people tracking only sugar intake, or fat, or carbs, and as a result all the foods they create are missing info. I kind of never used to check these things, but after being stuck with fats and carbs in the red at the end of the day, and apparently having to eat 500 calories worth of protein, I started checking and noticed.

    After cleaning, I guess the option could easily be implemented for MFP to autoconvert between grams and ounces. I never quite understood the use for inches and cup size as a measure of anything useful...

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