Frustrated with lack of consistency of Calorie counts for foods on MFP
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It doesn't gain calories by cooking it. We are talking about when you measure your 8 ounces.
Are you measuring out 8 ounces BEFORE you cook it? If you are, then you're consuming the 272 calories.
If you are measuring out 8 ounces AFTER you cook it, then you are eating 370.0 -
TheLegendaryBrandonHarris wrote: »
I looked up chicken breast skinless raw 8 oz and it was 272 calories on the USDA website. I don't think its going to increase in calories simply because it is thrown on a BBQ. How would they know what kind of seasoning I'm using? How does it go from 272 calories raw to 370 cooked?
Because 8 ounces raw becomes lighter after you cook away the water and fats inside it. Your 8-ounce piece of raw breast meat would only be ~5 ounces cooked.
So, if you cook your chicken breast and then measure out 8 ounces, you are eating what started out as a raw 11-ounce piece.
First off, I measure all my meats for weight when they are raw. I don't reweigh them after they are cooked.0 -
It drives me crazy too!!! I used to have an app on my Android phone that allowed me to create my own database and nobody would touch it. I haven't found one for Iphone.
I might change phones again just for that app!
Plus, when you find an item that's accurate, it can be changed afterwards without notice and it's not right anymore.
I spend a lot of time "re-checking" food items to make sure I'm still on top of things.
Supposedly, when you create an item, you can uncheck the "let other members use it" case.
That way, they won't be able to change it. I tend to do that lately.
But, it feels selfish and against the core of a shared database...0 -
asflatasapancake wrote: »The concept of 'eat less than you burn' is easy. The execution is not. Once you find the right formula for your body, things will come easier. Starting out, I had checked multiple sources for accurate information. I tried some that worked. Others that didn't, so I had to adjust them. After about one month or two, it gets better. You get to know your body better. After more than I year, I don't even put much thought into it. Persistence and determination will get you there.
Spot on. It took me about 2-3 months when I started - but about 6 months before I found some of the great posts, such as the one by @SezxyStef ( Thanks Stef ) and her comments ring so true " I made the post about "logging accurately" and I often mention "are you choosing the correct entries". No confirmations = Questionable. 100 confirmations - good to go unless 100 people are all telling lies.
I tend to pass on the "Important posts to read" and select others to any Newbies struggling with the site.0 -
If you weigh them before you cook them, then you are good. I was messing up by measuring mine after I cooked them.
I'm going to poke around more when I get the chance, because, as you pointed out, "meat only" might not mean "meat only" lol.0 -
Yes, I will look for a listing for raw or cooked depending on when I am weighing it. It's cooked unless it's single serve or part of a casserole or stir fry - I put those ingredients into the recipe builder, and then get the total weight of the cooked dish and divide to get portion sizes.0
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I wish the MFP database was a bit more streamlined. They need to excise things that have 0 confirmations or at least have us filter results by higher confirmations and such. It's just so much of a hassle finding the right foods sometimes even with the scanner.0
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kshama2001 wrote: »I try to use the system generated listing, and get irked at so many people's need to put in their own listing. I can't even find the system's listing for chicken breast any more. Fortunately, it was in Frequent for lunch so I was able to copy it into breakfast.
I do wish the database would get cleaned of duplicate entries.
+1 on this. I have trouble finding the most basic foods sometimes. I would even volunteer some time to help clean up the database.
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208 grams of protein...I wonder what that person was thinking when they entered it.
Definitely compare to USDA's nutritional information. This thread will also help you weed those kinds of things out: community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide
Good info, I was frustrated trying to log homemade food. For store bought I scan the barcode with MFP phone app then choose the servings I ate. Allot of the recipes on the internet now have nutritional values included, but I don't know how accurate they are.
I do know my weight scale keeps going down, so I'm happy0 -
This has been a bugbear of mine with MFP for as long as I've used it. The idea of crowdsourcing the growth of the food database is good up to a point, but the implementation here has been broken for a long time, and MFP doesn't seem to care to change it at all. In all reality, if LoseIt or MyNetDiary had better support I would have defected some time ago just to see if they had a better handle on it.
Some things I'd love to see:-
[
- A way to add your own food item and make sure it doesn't go into the larger database (no one needs to see my homemade kimchi in the DB.
- A mass import from the USDA or other agency of standardized food.
- A submission process where an user submitted item gets vetted a little bit first (no macros, no pass, etc)
- Search filters that allow you to only see non-starred items, items imported from USDA or items that have member upvotes. Frequently I search for things and find nothing that is not starred.
- A method of downvoting items so that they get suppressed from the default search results
Honestly, I think the MFP site managers do not like us to see the search filters because then we could see how paltry the native DB has been.0 -
TheLegendaryBrandonHarris wrote: »
I looked up chicken breast skinless raw 8 oz and it was 272 calories on the USDA website. I don't think its going to increase in calories simply because it is thrown on a BBQ. How would they know what kind of seasoning I'm using? How does it go from 272 calories raw to 370 cooked?
Because 8 ounces raw becomes lighter after you cook away the water and fats inside it. Your 8-ounce piece of raw breast meat would only be ~5 ounces cooked.
So, if you cook your chicken breast and then measure out 8 ounces, you are eating what started out as a raw 11-ounce piece.
First off, I measure all my meats for weight when they are raw. I don't reweigh them after they are cooked.
It's not that the meat gains caloroes but rather loses weight when it's cooked because some of the juices will cook off during cooking. So if you weigh it raw use the nutrition info for raw meat. Cooked meat does not have the additional water weight that raw does.0 -
So basically on days that I eat chicken I've been shorting myself about 200 calories. And thats just on the chicken....
Yup hence the reason I made the post about "logging accurately" and I often mention "are you choosing the correct entries"
If MFP premium came with only USDA calorie entries and from the manufacturer I would pay...
I would too!
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I've also been told that calorie counts for meat, chicken, fish etc are always only approximate because it can differ slightly from one animal to the next.
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Oh yeah, one other item I'd add: A numeric field for the serving size (in grams). In theory, you should be able to enter the weight you used for your item and MFP could do the math from there.0
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TheLegendaryBrandonHarris wrote: »
I looked up chicken breast skinless raw 8 oz and it was 272 calories on the USDA website. I don't think its going to increase in calories simply because it is thrown on a BBQ. How would they know what kind of seasoning I'm using? How does it go from 272 calories raw to 370 cooked?
Because 8 ounces raw becomes lighter after you cook away the water and fats inside it. Your 8-ounce piece of raw breast meat would only be ~5 ounces cooked.
So, if you cook your chicken breast and then measure out 8 ounces, you are eating what started out as a raw 11-ounce piece.
First off, I measure all my meats for weight when they are raw. I don't reweigh them after they are cooked.
It's not that the meat gains caloroes but rather loses weight when it's cooked because some of the juices will cook off during cooking. So if you weigh it raw use the nutrition info for raw meat. Cooked meat does not have the additional water weight that raw does.
Yeah I understand that. That's why I always weigh my food before I cook it and most of the time I cook my meats on a BBQ grill. So I can't imagine it gaining any calories in the cooking process unless I add any suaces or seasoning in which case I would measure that out and count it as well in my diary.0 -
It doesn't gain calories. 8 ounces raw = 272 calories or whatever. It's still 272 calories after cooking, but now it's 5 ounces so the calories per ounce, not per piece, will be higher.TheLegendaryBrandonHarris wrote: »
I looked up chicken breast skinless raw 8 oz and it was 272 calories on the USDA website. I don't think its going to increase in calories simply because it is thrown on a BBQ. How would they know what kind of seasoning I'm using? How does it go from 272 calories raw to 370 cooked?
Because 8 ounces raw becomes lighter after you cook away the water and fats inside it. Your 8-ounce piece of raw breast meat would only be ~5 ounces cooked.
So, if you cook your chicken breast and then measure out 8 ounces, you are eating what started out as a raw 11-ounce piece.
First off, I measure all my meats for weight when they are raw. I don't reweigh them after they are cooked.
It's not that the meat gains caloroes but rather loses weight when it's cooked because some of the juices will cook off during cooking. So if you weigh it raw use the nutrition info for raw meat. Cooked meat does not have the additional water weight that raw does.
Yeah I understand that. That's why I always weigh my food before I cook it and most of the time I cook my meats on a BBQ grill. So I can't imagine it gaining any calories in the cooking process unless I add any suaces or seasoning in which case I would measure that out and count it as well in my diary.
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TheLegendaryBrandonHarris wrote: »
I looked up chicken breast skinless raw 8 oz and it was 272 calories on the USDA website. I don't think its going to increase in calories simply because it is thrown on a BBQ. How would they know what kind of seasoning I'm using? How does it go from 272 calories raw to 370 cooked?
Because 8 ounces raw becomes lighter after you cook away the water and fats inside it. Your 8-ounce piece of raw breast meat would only be ~5 ounces cooked.
So, if you cook your chicken breast and then measure out 8 ounces, you are eating what started out as a raw 11-ounce piece.
First off, I measure all my meats for weight when they are raw. I don't reweigh them after they are cooked.
It's not that the meat gains caloroes but rather loses weight when it's cooked because some of the juices will cook off during cooking. So if you weigh it raw use the nutrition info for raw meat. Cooked meat does not have the additional water weight that raw does.
Yeah I understand that. That's why I always weigh my food before I cook it and most of the time I cook my meats on a BBQ grill. So I can't imagine it gaining any calories in the cooking process unless I add any suaces or seasoning in which case I would measure that out and count it as well in my diary.
chicken cooked 8 oz would weigh a lot more raw hence the extra calories.
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Chrysalid2014 wrote: »I've also been told that calorie counts for meat, chicken, fish etc are always only approximate because it can differ slightly from one animal to the next.
If this is how you feel, then there's obviously no point in you counting your calories at all.
In all seriousness, every little itty bitty thing we do with calorie counting is an estimate. How much you burn every day will never be exactly 2000 calories. Some days it will be higher, some days it will be lower.
How much you eat, even if you precisely measure it and track every gram, if going to be off. Heck, the nutritional informaiton on labels are just averages and are rounded numbers. (Look at a bottle of coke for example. 65g of sugar =/= 240 calories).
It's all about averages. Get it close enough every day and you'll lose weight. If you don't lose weight, then you're going to have to drop your target a bit.0 -
OhMaryMack wrote: »Since there no way to request corrections to obviously erroneous nutrition information found in the database, it's no surprise that it is so full of discrepancies. I realize this service is free, but in order for it to be useful, it needs to be somewhat accurate. It's too bad they don't have a mechanism for corrections.
You can edit user submitted entries, I do it all of the time. I haven't found a way to do it from my phone app, so I always wind up opening my laptop and doing it from the website.
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Oh, so I have you to thank for all those Correcteds? 0
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kshama2001 wrote: »Oh, so I have you to thank for all those Correcteds?
I get so irritated when something is listed as "1/2 cup" serving size. I change it to grams as often as I can.0 -
So how does meat gain calories by roasting it? I'm assuming thats a rotisserie? Doesn't make sense.
It doesn't gain calories by being cooked. It becomes denser. So an 8 oz raw breast, when cooked, has the same amount of calories. However, 8 oz of cooked breast started out as more than that in its raw form, so it had more calories.0 -
Oh yeah, one other item I'd add: A numeric field for the serving size (in grams). In theory, you should be able to enter the weight you used for your item and MFP could do the math from there.
On many of the "base" entries (i.e. not entered by users/no stars), there are a number of options in the drop-down, including per 100 grams. If I don't see an entry with grams, I add it to the database, and put "per 100 grams" at the end of the description. The U.S. system of cups and tablespoons is horribly inaccurate. I weigh everything raw, in grams, and enter it that way. Far easier. Keep in mind that for whole-ish foods, you don't need to go by brand names to be in the ball park. You can type chicken, raw and get a base entry. No need to put in Tyson or whatever. For fruits and veggies, enter the plural to get the base entry. Raspberries, raw will get you a more accurate listing than some random brand name. It takes time, but you can get your most frequent foods set up with good entries. 0 -
On the Tyson frozen chicken breast bag, from Costco, it says 4 oz of raw chicken breast has 110 calories. So I go by that. Just weigh the raw chicken and go by that number of calories.
Edit...and I just looked up that USDA site. They show 102 calories for 4 oz. Raw.0 -
A lot of the entries in the USDA database are averages of multiple tests of the food item. If you click on the Full Report (All Nutrients) you would see a column for # Data Points. The USDA data is a best approximation of what you'll get on the supermarket shelf for staple food items since they aren't relying on one test when possible.
Also, since the FDA labelling regs allow for a 20% error in calories shown, we're never even close to 100% accurate. It would be nice to not add to the error with bad MFP data, since we are trying to accurately weigh and log to avoid getting worse than the 20%.
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sugaraddict4321 wrote: »Oh yeah, one other item I'd add: A numeric field for the serving size (in grams). In theory, you should be able to enter the weight you used for your item and MFP could do the math from there.
On many of the "base" entries (i.e. not entered by users/no stars), there are a number of options in the drop-down, including per 100 grams. If I don't see an entry with grams, I add it to the database, and put "per 100 grams" at the end of the description. The U.S. system of cups and tablespoons is horribly inaccurate. I weigh everything raw, in grams, and enter it that way. Far easier. Keep in mind that for whole-ish foods, you don't need to go by brand names to be in the ball park. You can type chicken, raw and get a base entry. No need to put in Tyson or whatever. For fruits and veggies, enter the plural to get the base entry. Raspberries, raw will get you a more accurate listing than some random brand name. It takes time, but you can get your most frequent foods set up with good entries.
Yes, that works. I do it. Currently I jot down the food weight and serving size weight (i.e. bread 39g/34, and log 1.15 svg when entered in MFP). I think it would be nice if the serving weight in grams could be a field for those dropdowns, since frequently the user originally created them with the manufacturer's volume serving size. That way you could simply enter the weight you measured and let MFP do the math from there.
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Just from my own experience...
The nutrition labels on boneless skinless chicken breasts will vary. For 4oz/112g I have bought chicken that ranges from 110 calories to 140 calories.
I finally just create for myself an entry with the USDA figures.0 -
It drives me crazy searching for accurate caloric information until I step back and think, "I've obviously been doing something right...I didn't get this close to my goal weight quibbling over chicken calories".
Seriously, I hear you. So annoying.
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This is good information. I usually cook a large bag of Costco frozen chicken on the grill and then once it's all done, divide it up into 5 oz portions that I re-freeze and bring for lunch. It's been hard to determine the proper calories to use up to now, but I found the USDA entry "Basic Report: 05747, Chicken, broiler or fryers, breast, skinless, boneless, meat only, cooked, grilled", and have created my own entry showing the correct 214 calories for it. Awesome!0
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