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    What are quick-added calories?

    Posts: 150 Member
    edited November 2023 in Getting Started
    I've noticed after looking at several of my friends' food diaries that they log "quick-added calories" to their diaries. I thought the whole point of a diary was to log everything you eat. I'm confused.

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    • Posts: 5,778 Member
      a way to add in calories when you don't have all the nutrition info handy. like eating out
    • Posts: 150 Member
      a way to add in calories when you don't have all the nutrition info handy. like eating out

      If you eat out, how do you know how many calories you've eaten unless you look it up on mfp?
    • Posts: 23
      also works well if you have walked through a store like Costco and had several samples and just don't know how to log them
    • Posts: 194 Member
      It's only adding the calorie content of the foods you are eating. I don't track anything besides my calorie intake. Weight loss is as simple as calories in vs. calories out. I eat whatever I want (in moderation) and don't like being lectured by people who haven't lost as much weight as I have. It bothers me so much when I see people who haven't lost that much giving others weight loss advice. To avoid the unwanted advice and lectures, I keep it at quick added calories only.
    • Posts: 5,778 Member
      WAG. wild *kitten* guess
    • Posts: 10,161 Member
      show previous quotes

      If you eat out, how do you know how many calories you've eaten unless you look it up on mfp?

      There's a lot of info that's not on MFP, especially for smaller places. Sometimes you just have to guess.

      If you see people using quick-add calories a lot, they're probably being lazy and not logging properly.
    • Posts: 5,778 Member
      It's only adding the calorie content of the foods you are eating. I don't track anything besides my calorie intake. Weight loss is as simple as calories in vs. calories out. I eat whatever I want (in moderation) and don't like being lectured by people who haven't lost as much weight as I can. It bothers me so much when I see people who haven't lost that much giving others weight loss advice. To avoid the unwanted advice and lectures, I keep it at quick added calories only.

      that works too
    • Posts: 10,161 Member
      It's only adding the calorie content of the foods you are eating. I don't track anything besides my calorie intake. Weight loss is as simple as calories in vs. calories out. I eat whatever I want (in moderation) and don't like being lectured by people who haven't lost as much weight as I have. It bothers me so much when I see people who haven't lost that much giving others weight loss advice. To avoid the unwanted advice and lectures, I keep it at quick added calories only.

      This is kind of a weird post.
    • Posts: 194 Member
      show previous quotes

      There's a lot of info that's not on MFP, especially for smaller places. Sometimes you just have to guess.

      If you see people using quick-add calories a lot, they're probably being lazy and not logging properly.

      Highly doubt my ticker says I'm being lazy ;) What I eat is my business hence quick add calories.
    • Posts: 10,161 Member
      show previous quotes

      Highly doubt my ticker says I'm being lazy ;) What I eat is my business hence quick add calories.

      I said "probably." You're a bit defensive about this.
    • Posts: 194 Member
      show previous quotes

      I said "probably." You're a bit defensive about this.

      I'm the person on her friend list...
    • Posts: 10,161 Member
      show previous quotes

      I'm the person on her friend list...

      Well no one knew that until now.

      BTW, if you don't want people looking at and commenting on your diary, you can make it private. That probably makes a lot more sense than adding everything as quick-add just so no one knows what you're eating.
    • Posts: 5,778 Member
      show previous quotes

      I said "probably." You're a bit defensive about this.

      low on carbs? :bigsmile:
    • Posts: 34,971 Member
      It's only adding the calorie content of the foods you are eating. I don't track anything besides my calorie intake. Weight loss is as simple as calories in vs. calories out. I eat whatever I want (in moderation) and don't like being lectured by people who haven't lost as much weight as I have. It bothers me so much when I see people who haven't lost that much giving others weight loss advice. To avoid the unwanted advice and lectures, I keep it at quick added calories only.

      :huh:

      Some people don't have much to lose or they are here to gain or maintain...doesn't mean they don't know what they are talking about because they don't have a double or triple digit loss.
    • Posts: 194 Member
      I wasn't actually trying to come off as being defensive. I was just trying to explain my reasoning behind it.
    • Posts: 32 Member
      If you see people using quick-add calories a lot, they're probably being lazy and not logging properly.
      I don't think this is necessarily true.

      I live in Quebec and a lot of things that are available here just have not been added.
      Besides that point, I round up everything I eat to make counting easier. A can of tuna that is 140 calories gets counted as 150 for convenience and to make sure I am under my calorie goal.
    • Posts: 10,161 Member
      show previous quotes
      I don't think this is necessarily true.

      I live in Quebec and a lot of things that are available here just have not been added.
      Besides that point, I round up everything I eat to make counting easier. A can of tuna that is 140 calories gets counted as 150 for convenience and to make sure I am under my calorie goal.

      For every person like you, I see a dozen that fill their diary with "quick add calories" and wonder why they're not losing weight.
    • Posts: 179 Member
      I use "quick add" when I eat something that I really can't break down. A few days ago I had dinner with a friend. She made some sort of casserole. Rather than pick apart every ingredient and listing "3 peas, 1/12 potato, 1/2 cup some kind of thickened sauce, a couple slivers of chicken..." in my diary, I just eyeballed it and assigned it 300 calories. Was I close? Who knows? But it was my absolute best guess. My other option would have been not to eat it...and that wasn't going to happen. It's just dealing with real life.
    • Posts: 90 Member
      show previous quotes

      If you eat out, how do you know how many calories you've eaten unless you look it up on mfp?

      The webpage for the restaurant, asking for a basic food prep breakdown at a mom and pop shop and estimating using 15 years of nutritional information that is logged in my head, etc.

      My food scale has the calorie and macro nutrient breakdown for fruits, veggies, nuts, meats, etc. I write that down in my personal log, and tend to fast add the calories when I don`t have time to add them line by line, or didn`t record them line by line in the first place as I can add the calories into memory and then get the totals.

      Also like others have said I tend to round my calories to the nearest 5 for simplicity.
    • Posts: 151 Member
      It's only adding the calorie content of the foods you are eating. I don't track anything besides my calorie intake. Weight loss is as simple as calories in vs. calories out. I eat whatever I want (in moderation) and don't like being lectured by people who haven't lost as much weight as I have. It bothers me so much when I see people who haven't lost that much giving others weight loss advice. To avoid the unwanted advice and lectures, I keep it at quick added calories only.

      But aren't you doing yourself a disservice by doing that? Congrats on your weight loss, but if someone was lecturing me on my diary, I would just delete them if they were a friend. If they weren't, I would not make my diary viewable. I like knowing what I ate, macronutrient breakdown, etc.

      And your comment on ppl not losing as much weight as you giving advice... you don't know if these ppl have reset their tickers, have a masters in nutrition etc.
    • Posts: 666 Member
      I use it for the odd mini chocolate bar so my friends don't see it and say, ooh I want one of those and end up eating a whole box full. public service really ;)
    • Posts: 947 Member
      Didn't even know this existed! Thanks!
    • Posts: 80 Member
      I use quick-added calories for when I honestly have no idea and it's my best guess. After nearly a year of logging those guesses have become more accurate. There are still times where I eat out or at a friends/family house where I just want to enjoy and not worry too much, I can't turn off my internal calorie counter, nor do I wish not to log my food as accurately as I can, so quick calories it is.

      As I become better at logging, they are used less often.
    • Posts: 104 Member
      Something you should not use regularly
    • Posts: 101 Member
      I use quick add if I am out and i eat something (That I know calorie amount of), but no internet access to look up name on MFP
    • Posts: 104 Member
      I use quick added cals to plan my day, later replacing them with what I actually ate- That way I know jsut how much I am allowed to snack and also keep enough cals for a good dinner :)
    • Posts: 790 Member
      WAG. wild *kitten* guess

      Haha totes a wag!
    • Posts: 7,692 Member
      I use them when:

      A) I know the calorie info (from a package) and I'm just to lazy to look it up. (Been doing this more often lately since my phone had to be sent in for repairs)

      or

      B) Don't actually know the calorie count, usually for a local restaurant, and I add like 1000+ calories (because I honestly just don't know)

      Oh and my husband does it, when I put something into recipe builder on my account and I'll tell him how many calories where in his serving.
    • Posts: 570 Member
      I use them if I just tried a new recipe and it's not on the database.
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