Another reason why you may be gaining whilst maintaining...

melbee25
melbee25 Posts: 7 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
This is a 6 minute vid where the host takes some pre-packaged food to a lab to work out the real calories within that food.
At the end he calculates that if he was calorie counting then he would have consumed 500 more calories than he thought according to the food labels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGunZpKLb5o

Replies

  • ChrisS30V
    ChrisS30V Posts: 157 Member
    This isn't particularly surprising. Unless you've personally weighed and measured the food you're eating, you can't really be too sure of it's caloric content. With something like a Big Mac where it is assembled by just eyeballing the ingredients and you know the person putting it together probably doesn't care much about everything being the same on every sandwich, the variation in calories from one sample to the next could be quite a bit.
  • buzzcockgirl
    buzzcockgirl Posts: 260 Member
    Thanks for that link... I'm not surprised either, but was shocked to see how MUCH over some of the items were. I understand a little bit of variance-- because a lot of food is made by a person who is squirting on mayo, or throwing a blob of butter in the pan, or ladeling on sauce...
    This is just another reason that I cook primarily at home, so I can control what goes in my food, and how much of it. Also using 'whole' foods, or 'single ingredient' foods make sit much easier to get the accurate calorie content.
    Chicken, broccoli, carrots, egg.... easy!!
    Thanks again for the eye opener!!
  • SlimmingMeDown
    SlimmingMeDown Posts: 63 Member
    This is just another reason that I cook primarily at home, so I can control what goes in my food, and how much of it. Also using 'whole' foods, or 'single ingredient' foods make sit much easier to get the accurate calorie content.
    Chicken, broccoli, carrots, egg.... easy!!
    Thanks again for the eye opener!!

    Agreed!
  • RoyBeck
    RoyBeck Posts: 947 Member
    Very interesting thank you.
  • husseycd
    husseycd Posts: 814 Member
    Luckily, our bodies like to stay the same for the most part--assuming you've maintained for a while.

    Knowing there are errors in calorie counting, I usually err on the low side. I also build a deficit into my M-Th consumption knowing I'll probably go over F-Sun. If I were tracking religiously every day and my maintenance was 2100 calories, I'd shoot for 2000 and assume I'm probably under-estimating food.
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    This is a 6 minute vid where the host takes some pre-packaged food to a lab to work out the real calories within that food.
    At the end he calculates that if he was calorie counting then he would have consumed 500 more calories than he thought according to the food labels.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGunZpKLb5o

    I think in the US the FDA only requires an approximation of the calories to within 10? percent. That can sure add up.
  • jmcreynolds91
    jmcreynolds91 Posts: 777 Member
    Wow, That really sucks! Good to know though, Thanks!
  • _EndGame_
    _EndGame_ Posts: 770 Member
    Interesting.
  • marvybells
    marvybells Posts: 1,984 Member
    I'm surprised that the Subway Sandwich actually came in under
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
    Interesting. We have a calorimeter here at my work (same one as in video, actually). We are not a food lab and use it for fuel testing, but I often thought about bringing in food and seeing how it stacks up. I am not at all surprised by the Chipotle, Starbucks being off because the portions are inconsistent (I always add 20% quick calories to my Chipotle). But I was really surprised by that little sandwich...double??? Yikes!
  • rainybblady
    rainybblady Posts: 12 Member
    Bump
  • summer8it
    summer8it Posts: 433 Member
    I'd think this would make more of a difference for people who were just starting on their weight loss journey. I don't know about the rest of you, but I didn't start eating a whole bunch of different foods when I hit maintenance. I'm doing what I've always done, I just eat a bit more of the same foods!
  • Iknewyouweretrouble
    Iknewyouweretrouble Posts: 561 Member
    Damnit where's the share button.
  • Iknewyouweretrouble
    Iknewyouweretrouble Posts: 561 Member
    restaurants are off by a lot.
  • Dewymorning
    Dewymorning Posts: 762 Member
    The problem in restaurants is they don't follow a recipe they follow what the chief thinks tastes good, which often includes lots of fat and salt.

    As for the video, I was SHOCKED by the number of calories in the muffin. I think I shall not look at muffins the same again.

    And the sandwich, I read one comment that it could have been a mislabeling, with the packaged sandwich being counted as 2 servings, but the label only giving the amount for 1 serving. But I think that kind of labeling is misleading anyway.

    Who buys a packaged sandwich like that and only eats half?

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