Calorie count by food/ meal very widely on MFP

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dpendleton1
dpendleton1 Posts: 2
in Food and Nutrition
Hi, I'm new to MFP. I noticed that when I select a food or meal on MFP that the calories can vary widely. How do others handle this disparity? Is there a way to know which calorie count has been validated? What/who is the source of the food entries and MFP? Thanks!

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  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
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    dpendleton1 wrote: »
    Hi, I'm new to MFP. I noticed that when I select a food or meal on MFP that the calories can vary widely. How do others handle this disparity? Is there a way to know which calorie count has been validated? What/who is the source of the food entries and MFP? Thanks!

    It really depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for something like carrots, you want to use the entry that doesn't have an * next to it - my understanding is that those are the official entries and they seem to be on par with the labels of things.

    If you're looking for food from something like a restaurant, you always want to check the website of the establishment and find the one that matches.

    If it's something generic like "spaghetti and meatballs" you're going to want to log all the ingredients yourself rather than use anything from the database. The recipe tool is very handy.

    Oh and if something is pre-packaged, you want to scan the barcode of the item through the app.

    I hope this helps.
  • dpendleton1
    dpendleton1 Posts: 2
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    Yes it does, thank you very much for the reply.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    Try using "raw" or "USDA" in the search terms.
    Create your own "meals" in MFP.
  • vicpoole188
    vicpoole188 Posts: 31
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    Sorry, what does USDA stand for?
  • dbonnici
    dbonnici Posts: 1 Member
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    USDA=United States Department of Agriculture
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
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    dpendleton1 wrote: »
    Hi, I'm new to MFP. I noticed that when I select a food or meal on MFP that the calories can vary widely. How do others handle this disparity? Is there a way to know which calorie count has been validated? What/who is the source of the food entries and MFP? Thanks!

    Other than USDA (US Department of Agriculture, I think?) listings, database entries come from other MFP users. That's why there will be different weights and measurements (grams, oz, cups, and "1 portion", which usually means you should stay away from that listing unless it's from a national chain you know).

    Users can also validate those entries, which means you can be a little more confident they're correct. On the computer, you can see "confirmed by x number of users". On Android, you don't see this, unfortunately, you just have to try and hope you got it right.

    Experience gained from measuring my own food and entering my own entries tells me which are likely to be accurate. E.g., I sometimes have frozen meatballs. I know that a portion of 6 of them is 240 calories. If for whatever reason they're not coming up in a search and other entries are, listings that say "150" for six meatballs aren't going to be right.

    Some people just take the largest number, thinking they're banking themselves more calories and losing more. They might be losing more that way, but I'd rather get as close as I can, because if I'm "at" my goal for the day but still hungry because I haven't eaten enough calories, I might overeat anyway (because I'm hungry!).

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