How nit-picky are you about calorie counting?

I'm relatively lax. I track everything except when I'm traveling but I'll estimate fruits and veg sometimes. Anything packaged PR processed I always scan with the app so its accurate but I eye ball things like lettuce or fruit. I figure its not very high cal so it can't hurt too much. I also under estimate some exercise such as walking. Yesterday I went on a leisurely two mile walk and didn't track that deficit. I think it balances out.

I count everything.
A bite here, a tsp there, it all adds up, and I do not estimate.
I know what goes into my mouth, and so far it is working for me, so I see no reason to get lax about it.

I'll be honest. I'm not nearly as nit-picky as I should be. That said, the more precise your measurements are with food (macros, calories, etc.) the better you will be able to gauge how you're doing. The better your data, the more accurate your information will be. It really depends on your time, and willingness to track it. That's not to say you won't lose with less precision, but again, data quality can provide more reliable information to help you plan.

Consider getting a food scale, and logging everything.

It's a balance between being accurate enough to make sure you have enough data to make informed decisions and becoming too OCD about it where it may negatively impact your life in some ways and also may make adherence an issue (if dieting is too much of a chore, you may not stick to it)

Not tracking the little, and very low calorie, 'extra's' is fine as long as you continue to get the results you want. It is when results are not as expected that it may become an issue.

I do not track coffee, gum, artificial sweeteners or cooking spray - but I use these regularly, so I may be consistently under-recording by about 50 calories a day. As long as I use my prior results as a gauge, there is no issue. It may however be one of the reasons, among many others, that someone's results =/= that predicted by one of the online calculators for example.

It's a balance between being accurate enough to make sure you have enough data to make informed decisions and becoming too OCD about it where it may negatively impact your life in some ways and also may make adherence an issue (if dieting is too much of a chore, you may not stick to it)

Not tracking the little, and very low calorie, 'extra's' is fine as long as you continue to get the results you want. It is when results are not as expected that it may become an issue.

I do not track coffee, gum, artificial sweeteners or cooking spray - but I use these regularly, so I may be consistently under-recording by about 50 calories a day. As long as I use my prior results as a gauge, there is no issue. It may however be one of the reasons, among many others, that someone's results =/= that predicted by one of the online calculators for example.

Look at you! Sayin everything I wanted to say, and all better, and making more sense and what not.

Look at you! Sayin everything I wanted to say, and all better, and making more sense and what not.

:flowerforyou:

I try to be as close as I can be, but I focus on my fat intake. Maybe my theory is totally wrong, but I exercise almost every day and burn enough calories that I don't usually go over my calorie goal. Maybe that's wrong, but I do definitely focus on the fat. But I am pretty faithful and fussy about measuring and recording accurately.

I don't log my protein shake because it's only about 8 calories.

It's a balance between being accurate enough to make sure you have enough data to make informed decisions and becoming too OCD about it where it may negatively impact your life in some ways and also may make adherence an issue (if dieting is too much of a chore, you may not stick to it)

Not tracking the little, and very low calorie, 'extra's' is fine as long as you continue to get the results you want. It is when results are not as expected that it may become an issue.

I do not track coffee, gum, artificial sweeteners or cooking spray - but I use these regularly, so I may be consistently under-recording by about 50 calories a day. As long as I use my prior results as a gauge, there is no issue. It may however be one of the reasons, among many others, that someone's results =/= that predicted by one of the online calculators for example.

Was going to post pretty much exactly the same thing, especially the bolded part. Glad Sara did all the work for me so all I have to do is type: ^this.

I got nothing other than ^this.

Me too! :laugh:

I try my best to be as accurate as possible, but really, you can't ever really know EXACTLY how many calories your body absorbs anyway, there are just too many factors involved (e.g. the way your body digests, the efficiency of your body's processes, the differences in two pieces of food that may look/weigh similar, the types of foods you are consuming, etc.). I don't think there's a need to go crazy about it. As long as you're seeing results, you're likely doing just fine tracking, if you find that despite meeting calorie/macro goals you aren't losing, maybe you aren't tracking accurately enough.

:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: i put down everything that goes into my mouth! that way i know exactly where i am in a days time. as for spices like pepper, no i do not log that as i feel like when you calculate a dish all spices are included. as far as what i consume during cooking, i don't eat until i sit down at the table. i have sent you a friend request because i think we could encourage each other during this journey!

I put down everything but I don't weigh or measure usually. I figure everything is just an estimate anyway and the amount of calories I use from day to day varies on my activity levels, so why get all anal about 1.2 versus 1.5 cups of milk or whatever. Plus when I cook I don't measure things, I just throw stuff together. I might lose more weight if I measured and such, but at this point I'm focusing more on how I look than how much I weigh, and drinking more water and eating slower is doing much more for me than making sure I ate exactly 2014 calories in 24 hours.

If it comes in a package, I track it. If it doesn't, I guesstimate. And I do try to estimate restaurant meals since there are so many already logged, and enough info on websites that I can help add to the database. That gives me the wiggle room in a day to have a piece of gum and not track it, or a handful of almonds while I'm sprinkling the slivers on my salad.

It has made me more aware of how much I do eat, but also of how much I DON'T eat. Like chocolate. I'm a sucker for those Lindt dark chocolate and orange bars... but I gave them up the first time I tried tracking calories, because a single serving was 200 calories! Turns out, a serving is 4 bar squares. And usually, I can eat just one and be satisfied. So it has helped and hurt in that I, too, got so tired of tracking it all and obsessed with every single bite that the first time around I quit too.

Working on it again, and while it's slower coming off this time, I don't hate myself with every bite I put in my mouth, either.
Life is tradeoffs... I just want my net to run toward the good.

I weigh or measure calorie dense items (meat, cheese, potatoes). I created a recipe for my daily dinner salad and figure it's "close enough"--it's hard to add in enough fresh veggies to screw up calorie intake (and I do measure the dressing)

I don't record spices or cooking spray or supplements. If I ever stall, I may reconsider my shortcuts but for now it's working!

I weigh, count, measure everything.. I have all types of scales, measuring cups, measuring spoons etc.. im actually considering getting a bomb calorimeter to get more accurate results )