How accurate is your logging

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  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I will say 80/20

    I weigh at home (or meals I prepare and take with me) but I am not going to take my scale out to a resturant...please.

    I lost weight before I used my food scale...but now it's a more consistent loss...it will always be one of my best friends....
  • hotjodels
    hotjodels Posts: 118 Member
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    I have a kitchen scale, but I hardly ever use it. I mostly eyeball what I eat and estimate. I do want to lose weight, but I think weighing everything I eat to an exact amount will get stressful and make me want to quit. It might not be the right way to diet, but I'm proud the 9 lbs I've lost in the past month and since its working so far, I'll stick to eyeballing for now. : ]
  • BenjaminMFP88
    BenjaminMFP88 Posts: 660 Member
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    I log very accurately on my notepad. Everything is calculated and entered. I tried entering everything on MFP, but didn't like it. I prefer my trusty legal pad :)
  • heyitsnicolejay2013
    heyitsnicolejay2013 Posts: 11
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    I don't own scales and am in college so I do the best I can with things. I generally don't log what I drink unless there are calories in it.
  • emilyisbonkers
    emilyisbonkers Posts: 373 Member
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    OP i'd hate the upset you, but did you know that the calories on food packaging can be out by as much as 20%?
  • MACnificence
    MACnificence Posts: 419 Member
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    OP i'd hate the upset you, but did you know that the calories on food packaging can be out by as much as 20%?

    Yep. + or -

    But, I think that's a cop out. The more accurate you are, the more accurate you are. If you're wrong and they're wrong and everyone's guessing, who knows what's going on. But, at least if you are weighing and measuring, then you know you're doing it right. Also, if you're set to lose 1 lb per week, and you are, then it's working. It's amazing how when I weigh and measure, I can exactly lose or gain exactly how much I want by measuring and weighing everything.

    If you are getting the results you want, it doesn't matter. But, when the trouble starts is when someone isn't getting results. The first place to look is always in the weighing and measuring. Also, in the beginning, it's easy to guess. It gets critical when you're at that last 10 lbs.

    Lastly, most people under estimate by quite a bit. A cup of rice, 4 oz of chicken, etc, it's very tricky. I weigh and measure all the time. Sometimes for giggles, I'll put what I think is 4 oz of chicken on my plate and eye ball a cup of rice. I'm always wrong. Usually way too much chicken. I typically over estimate rice. A cup is a lot of rice, more than I like to eat. But, I typically mistake 6 to 8 oz of chicken for 4 oz. I do this with other foods too. I would challenge the guessers to once in a while guess, then go back and weigh and measure and see how close they were. You might be surprised at how off you really are. Plus, IMO, guessers leave out ketchup and sauces and other things that really impact their guesses.




    This is exactly my thinking yes I know nutritional information isn't 100% so why throw it off even more by eyeballing , I didn't weigh everything at the start I didn't even own a scale and yes I lost alot of weight that way but echoing what was said about when it gets down to the nitty gritty of last few pounds often them little differences can be between losing and plateauing so to speak !
  • fourfiftythree
    fourfiftythree Posts: 203 Member
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    I would say 99.9% accurate when I'm at home. When I go out - I estimate based on similar items in the database.
  • lucan07
    lucan07 Posts: 509
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    I would love to find out my Vo2max aswell , I don't eat back exercise calories but it would be interesting to see what my fitness level is like now

    How did you find that out ?

    I have mine tested at the hospital as I am recovering from some serious medical problems!

    However I did the test on a concept 2 rowing machine a couple of times to compare results and was surprised how close the results were to each other so may be a good guide it can be found here

    http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training/calculators/vo2max-calculator

    However I do row regularly and form can make a big difference to the result so bear that in mind!
  • padams2359
    padams2359 Posts: 1,093 Member
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    I pretty much weighed meats more than anything. Had I had an issue with the progress of my weighloss, I would have been more diligent with weighing and measuring. I like to cook, so I have a pretty good grasp on eyeing measurements. If there was something that I was cooking from scratch, I would find some thing close that was already in the database.

    I do log all my Suppliments, Coffee and Tea contents, etc. which I know many people with more to lose and struggling to lose it do not.
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
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    I make it all up. If I find that I am going over my calorie limit, then I modify things to bring it down a bit, because that looks a bit better doesnt it.

    And I have still lost the weight I needed. Lucky old me!
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    I would love to see the success rates between accurate everyday loggers and those who guess.

    I think people who think they're accurate don't know where they're not. And those who guess can often realize that it's not the number that's important but the result and the relative level. So if you think you're eating 1500 and you're just not losing (because you're eating 1900), instead of finding all the errors in your logging, you can just shoot for 1200 because then you'll really be eating more like 1500 or some level you'll lose at. The number itself is irrelevant, despite the fascination with it here.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    I'm of the mindset that whatever you do to lose the weight needs to be a long term change - that's the whole point behind the lifestyle change concept. However, if you don't really understand serving sizes, it's best to weigh and measure frequently when you first start logging food. At least that way you can get an idea of what a Tbsp of peanut butter or 4oz of meat or 2oz of pasta really looks like. Without some sort of base, your guesstimates will likely be way off.

    And obviously the test is - if you're logging everything and aren't losing, it's likely that your estimates are way off and you should, at least for some time, weigh and measure.

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