Question About Logging Fruit

LexiPug
LexiPug Posts: 6
edited February 2015 in Food and Nutrition
Hi, all. I prefer to log my food by weight rather than volume since weight is the most accurate form of measurement. I have been using MyFitnessPal for several months, but there is something I have always been confused about and have never got around to asking. When you log a fruit that has a core, peel, pit, etc. (apples, avocados, bananas, and plums, just to name a few), should you enter the total weight of the fruit, or just the part you actually eat? For instance, today, I ate an apple that weighed 192 grams as a whole, but without the core, it weighed 154 grams. Should I log it as 192 grams since it was a 192-gram apple, or should I log it as 154 grams since I only ate 154 grams worth of it? For your reference, I would log it as “Apples - Raw, with skin”. Up until now, I have been doing the former (logging the weight of the fruit as a whole) just to be safe (I would rather overestimate than underestimate), but I am not sure if I have been doing it right. I know it doesn't make much of a difference calorie-wise, but I would still like to be as accurate as possible. Thanks!

Replies

  • AllonsYtotheTardis
    AllonsYtotheTardis Posts: 16,947 Member
    You weight the part that you eat. It probably doesnt make a huge difference, calorie-wise, the way you are doing it though. It's probably not a bad idea, in fact. It's building a little buffer in there for errors.

  • PaytraB
    PaytraB Posts: 2,360 Member
    I used to weigh the fruit and just leave it at that. The core weight/calories were a bit of a buffer in case I didn't log something else properly or as accurately as I could. I was too lazy to go back and weigh the core, to tell the truth.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    You log as much as you actually eat.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,230 Member
    2 apple core threads in one day!!!!!
    (*) :D
  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
    LexiPug wrote: »
    Hi, all. I prefer to log my food by weight rather than volume since weight is the most accurate form of measurement. I have been using MyFitnessPal for several months, but there is something I have always been confused about and have never got around to asking. When you log a fruit that has a core, peel, pit, etc. (apples, avocados, bananas, and plums, just to name a few), should you enter the total weight of the fruit, or just the part you actually eat? For instance, today, I ate an apple that weighed 192 grams as a whole, but without the core, it weighed 154 grams. Should I log it as 192 grams since it was a 192-gram apple, or should I log it as 154 grams since I only ate 154 grams worth of it? For your reference, I would log it as “Apples - Raw, with skin”. Up until now, I have been doing the former (logging the weight of the fruit as a whole) just to be safe (I would rather overestimate than underestimate), but I am not sure if I have been doing it right. I know it doesn't make much of a difference calorie-wise, but I would still like to be as accurate as possible. Thanks!

    The USDA only counts the edible parts of the fruit. Same with meat (although you should be careful to choose entries with or without skin, bones, etc). You are doing fine.
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,178 Member
    Theoretically just the part you are eating, but how much difference will it really make? Logging 20-30 calories more or less, it is not going to change anything.
  • LexiPug
    LexiPug Posts: 6
    Thanks for the replies, everyone. Like I said, I know it barely makes a difference, but it's just something I've always been confused about and just wanted to know for my own good!

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