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    Anyone else overestimate how many calories you're eating?

    Posts: 1,041 Member
    edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition
    At home I use a food scale. I weigh and measure everything.

    When I go out to a restaurant that doesn't publish their calories, I'm pretty certain I overestimate a lot.

    I think I've heard too many times that the average person largely underestimates caloric intake, leading me to err on the side of caution.. maybe too much.

    I don't think it's detrimental because I don't eat out too much, but I was just wondering who else might do this.

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    Replies

    • Posts: 18,781 Member
      I always overestimate on food when I'm out and can't get the info for it, I figure better safe than sorry. Like you, I don't do it often enough for it to impact negatively.
    • Posts: 148 Member
      Alatariel75 wrote: »
      I always overestimate on food when I'm out and can't get the info for it, I figure better safe than sorry. Like you, I don't do it often enough for it to impact negatively.

      ditto!
    • Posts: 29 Member
      I always overestimate, but it's an educated guess. I have worked in restaurants for 10 years, no chef I have ever worked for is concerned with health more than taste. No chef has ever said "I'll use olive oil instead of butter, it tastes almost as good!" Everything has butter in it. Or bacon. Or both. I'm talking hamburgers fried in duck fat. Veggie mixes grilled with bacon fat. Deep-fried veggie burger patties. Hamburger buns buttered and then mayonaised. You see my point.
    • Posts: 53 Member
      Agree, overestimate food, underestimate exercise. At the end of the day, anyone trying to use these figures as an exact science will be surprised. You just need a guide then see what works.
    • Posts: 95 Member
      DoogCampbell wrote: »
      Agree, overestimate food, underestimate exercise.

      Bingo (especially eating out)!

      I'll add to that point to listen to your body, be it exercise, hunger or thirst; don't become overly fixated with the numbers. If I'm eating well and I'm hungry (and truly not thirsty), I will supply my body with the nutrition it seeks, irrespective to calories (but prudent to micros). I am not going to bed hungry or thirsty. Likewise, if I'm just not that hungry, I will not force it. Since I monitor caloric intake and macros on a weekly average, these choices balance out.
    • Posts: 1,041 Member
      B_TEEN wrote: »
      show previous quotes

      Bingo (especially eating out)!

      I'll add to that point to listen to your body, be it exercise, hunger or thirst; don't become overly fixated with the numbers. If I'm eating well and I'm hungry (and truly not thirsty), I will supply my body with the nutrition it seeks, irrespective to calories (but prudent to micros). I am not going to bed hungry or thirsty. Likewise, if I'm just not that hungry, I will not force it. Since I monitor caloric intake and macros on a weekly average, these choices balance out.

      This gets difficult for me sometimes. I don't ignore hunger, but I can't just go with it when I don't feel hungry either because my appetite can be fickle. It's pretty important for me to meet my calorie goal (or come very close to it) every day, or else I can easily go without and fall back into old habits. It's interesting though, the only things I really focus on are protein and calories, but if I'd had my calories for the day and am still very short on protein (which doesn't happen often because usually I'm very mindful of it), I'll eat something else to try to meet that protein goal. Not sure if that's the best thing to do when it puts me over calories, but it's what I do. I used to be really fixated on the numbers and not going over my goal, but now I think the numbers are just more of a tool than the focus. Thanks for your response, by the way!

    • Posts: 2,561 Member
      Eh, sometimes. I try to be as close to accurate as I can when eating out. If I go to a restaurant that doesn't have nutritional information posted, I just pick an entry from a similar restaurant. I don't overestimate it by a lot, though. I may even underestimate at times. I only eat out on weekends, so it's not a huge concern of mine.

      At home when I have a scale I always log exactly what I eat. I'm not overestimating because I have my macro goals set to certain values for a reason. If I'm overestimating everything, I'm not really eating according to my macro goals, am I?
    • Posts: 4,590 Member
      Butter AND mayo? Duck fat on greasy hamburgers? HOLY CRAP. It's a blessing in disguise that I can't afford to eat at restaurants! This would make me obese! @______@ Maintenance for me is 1440 cals. One hamburger like that would probably take up that entire number!
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