How honest ...

jolodo
jolodo Posts: 24
in Health and Weight Loss
How honest are you when filling in your food and exercise diaries? Do you think you underestimate your food and overestimate your exercise?

Replies

  • lcfairbairn74
    lcfairbairn74 Posts: 412 Member
    I tend towards overestimating my food and underestimating my exercise. I'd rather be on the safe side! However, I think the key is being honest about it. Recently, I have been looking over my diary, especially the 'red number' days and have spotted a number of patterns so I can work on correcting some of my downfalls. It is really useful!

    Edited to say: I meant this if you were eating out, if at home always use scales or measuring spoons to ensure your portions. Before I could afford an activity monitor I estimated my calorie burns, and the mfp database was usually way over my true burns!
  • LydsVille77
    LydsVille77 Posts: 126 Member
    To avoid either one of these, I use a food scale along with measuring spoons and cups, as well as an HRM for my exercise.
  • ykckby1949
    ykckby1949 Posts: 8 Member
    I weigh and measure and always log before eating....very honest. Can't see the point of all the effort otherwise.
  • honeylissabee
    honeylissabee Posts: 217 Member
    It depends on what I'm eating. I haven't figured out the exact weights of the ingredients in my usual parfaits, so I do use measuring cups to measure out the chia seeds and oatmeal, but I generally DO use a kitchen scale to weigh things.

    However, I don't really track most vegetables at this point, so I don't tend to stress over that. With fruit, I'll usually just estimate whether it's a small, medium, or large sized fruit- though I may weigh it as well. I'm just not as concerned about being accurate with the fruit and veggies as I am, say, the cheese I add to my eggs in the morning.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    As honest as I can be! There are some things that are tough like if you get take-out or go to a party but for the most part I'm eating things that I've made myself and measured out so it's as good as it can get. For exercise I use an HRM 90% of the time so that's about as accurate as you can get.

    If you're not being honest, what is the point of logging?
  • cmurphy252
    cmurphy252 Posts: 279 Member
    To avoid either one of these, I use a food scale along with measuring spoons and cups, as well as an HRM for my exercise.

    ^^ This right here!
  • sara_alexandra
    sara_alexandra Posts: 65 Member
    I feel like the hardest part is choosing which foods in the database to use if you don't know exactly what brand it is, etc. For instance, at work we use Aramark. So I'll search those foods in the database. Sometimes, I'll get multiple entries for the same exact item and i don't know which to choose. They might even be 100 calories off from one another. That's one of my biggest challenges which under/overestimation.

    -Sara
  • Lovdiamnd
    Lovdiamnd Posts: 624 Member
    Very honest. I enjoy tracking my food. It's like a game to keep all the numbers green lol
  • ashorey87
    ashorey87 Posts: 173 Member
    To avoid either one of these, I use a food scale along with measuring spoons and cups, as well as an HRM for my exercise.

    This.
  • dixieracer27
    dixieracer27 Posts: 79 Member
    There's no point in trying not to be honest about it. I weigh my foods, and use measuring cups and spoons. If it's a time where I'm not at home I usually eyeball it and have a pretty good clue. Fruit is small, medium, and large. I definitely measure drinks because that's where you can be off by a lot. I use a HRM now for my exercise so no guessing there. I've found that I can do the same workout a few times and get a different burn.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    As long as I can weigh it or measure it and I have a nutritional label, I'm 100% honest. I estimate non-chain restaurant meals as best I can by finding what looks like a comparable recipe and going from there. I'm slack with some yummy sweet/spicy pickled veggies I bought at the farmer's market. I use them as a condiment or a mix-in with tuna or sardines and quick add 50 Cals when I do. I use ~ 1Tbs and dice it up nice and fine so it goes a long way.

    I don't log exercise and I don't try eating back those Cals, either. I'm walking 30min a day and lifting once a week. The Cals burned can't be all that much.
  • littlelaura
    littlelaura Posts: 1,028 Member
    In the past I was honest, then I would slide and estimate maybe in my own favor but against my own health, so now that I am interested in real results and not fooling myself, I log it as it is or try to guess high if in doubt.
  • caseythirteen
    caseythirteen Posts: 956 Member
    Since my food logging is only done to serve me, I'm not doing myself any favors by lying on it. I measure as much as possible and if I'm not totally sure I tend to overestimate a bit. I don't log calories burned in exercise so no lying there.
  • Fozzi43
    Fozzi43 Posts: 2,984 Member
    Measure everything and be honest..or you're just lying to yourself.
  • kathymhardy
    kathymhardy Posts: 267 Member
    On the occasions that I go way over, I just don't log the extras and so don't complete that particular diary. I know I have gone over on those days and restart the next day.
  • shayleac
    shayleac Posts: 76 Member
    I always overestimate my food, and underestimate my exersize.
    I'm 5'1 and 115 lbs. I feel like I would burn less calories then the machine tells me.
    Better be safe then sorry.
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
    I try to be as meticulous and honest as possible. I don't want to overestimate my food because I don't want to think I've hit my macro and micro goals when I haven't. I don't want to underestimate, either. The same with exercise. It took a while to get the hang of things and to make the best estimations that I can.

    Honestly, it's all guesswork. We're relying on a computer program and food labeling to guide us, and we're trusting that those two things are accurate. It's the best we can do.
  • SoViLicious
    SoViLicious Posts: 2,633 Member
    I tend to over estimate my food and under estimate my calorie burn.
  • GormanGhaste
    GormanGhaste Posts: 430 Member
    I try to be as honest as possible without using a food scale or HRM. I would rather just manually adjust my calorie goal than get too obsessed with precision.
  • DontStopB_Leakin
    DontStopB_Leakin Posts: 3,863 Member
    Incredibly honest. What's the point in lying to myself?
  • Vansy
    Vansy Posts: 419 Member
    I'm as honest as I can be. Exercise I'm always spot-on (usually under estimate actually) -- I use my heart rate monitor and enter those calories burned from that. But, especially on work days, I tend to walk and stand and move a lot and none of that is added in -- except Saturdays because it's my "Work Fit Day", I do a workout every hour....so I add a flat 150 calories burned (mainly because I burn that doing my 45 minute walk in the middle of the day).


    And Food, I'm 100% honest with the foods prepared at home and eaten. Where it gets tough is when I eat food that someone else has prepared. I think I usually overestimate how much is on the plate though -- but I try to get as close as possible with that.
  • MelsAuntie
    MelsAuntie Posts: 2,833 Member
    I try to be completely accurate. I log everything I eat, weighed or measured as needed. I time my barn work, and my elliptical machine tracks my cardio for me. The only thing I might guesstimate is whether a banana is medium or large.
  • RunForChai
    RunForChai Posts: 238 Member
    I try to be very honest about my food and exercise---sometimes I forget to record my exercise but recording my food is so helpful in making changes in the way I eat.

    Good luck.
  • cals83
    cals83 Posts: 131
    I am as honest as I can be. I have a food scale and weigh things out although I've been noticing recently that it isn't 100% accurate. For instance I made a recipe and it made 18 oz. of food so I decided that it was 3 6 oz. servings. I weighed out 6 oz of it each day and on the third day, there was only 4.5 oz left. I think it is more accurate when I use a bowl than when I use a plate or a wider surface. So even though I try to be honest, I know I'm not always 100% accurate.

    Also, I really have no idea how many calories I am burning when I exercise. I basically just use what MFP tells me and round up or down depending on what other people have said about doing the same form of exercise. I also don't eat back all of my exercise calories since I really have no idea what I am burning.

    Also, it really helps when I log things in advance. That way I can fudge and finagle numbers and follow suit with what I end up eating and I don't end up cheating myself.
  • AllonsYtotheTardis
    AllonsYtotheTardis Posts: 16,947 Member
    I try to be as honest and accurate as I can. Why on earth would you do otherwise? You're only hurting yourself.
  • AleciaG724
    AleciaG724 Posts: 705 Member
    I feel like the hardest part is choosing which foods in the database to use if you don't know exactly what brand it is, etc. For instance, at work we use Aramark. So I'll search those foods in the database. Sometimes, I'll get multiple entries for the same exact item and i don't know which to choose. They might even be 100 calories off from one another. That's one of my biggest challenges which under/overestimation.

    -Sara

    Yes, I agree. If I have to chose because I don't see exactly what I am eating and don't have a label, or don't have time to log a whole new recipe, I always go with the highest calorie item from the list.
  • Pangea250
    Pangea250 Posts: 965 Member
    An honest answer to this? LMAO!

    Seriously, though. I'm brutally honest with my exercise. I'm fairly honest with my food - I do log everything, but I probably pick listings that are lower in calorie content that I'm actually eating. I tend to go low on my total intake, though, so I'm sure I balancfe out in the end.
  • cmcollins001
    cmcollins001 Posts: 3,472 Member
    Don't really understand the point of lying to myself. I know if I'm burning what I'm burning and eating what I'm eating. The only reason to report something different is to "look good" for my friends list, but if I'm doing that then I'm only hurting myself.

    I record everything as honest as possible 95% of the time. There are "those days" where I don't log or stop logging, but the majority of the time, I try to be as honest as possible.
  • Saucy_lil_Minx
    Saucy_lil_Minx Posts: 3,302 Member
    I strive to be super honest with myself. I'll even count that little swipe of peanut butter off the knife. Cardio I list, but will sometime leave off my strength training. I generally do not include herbs I use on my food either. I guess there is always room to grow.
  • Fozzi43
    Fozzi43 Posts: 2,984 Member
    I always overestimate my food, and underestimate my exersize.

    Thing with that is you don't know truly what your calorie deficit will be? You could end up under eating?

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