Trusting single-serving packaged food nutrition information

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rileyleigh
rileyleigh Posts: 106 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been wondering recently about the accuracy of the nutrition information on some of the foods I eat. Thus far I have been losing just fine, but I am sure that as I get closer to my goal weight, every little calorie will count. So I wanted to ask this question:

How do you record foods such as a single, individually wrapped granola bar? Or an individual packet of oatmeal? Or a can of soup? Or any other food item where one container is considered 1 serving as described by the nutrition information on the box?

Currently I just look at the packaging and see that it says 1 serving is one pre-packaged granola bar, and then record the granola bar as 170 calories (same for all other single serving packages). I'm certain that every granola bar in the box isn't the same size exactly, but just assume the difference is negligible.

Do you experienced folks do anything fancier than that? If anyone actually weighs them and records it in grams rather than servings, have you noticed the calorie amounts being significantly different than what the packaging says?

Thanks!
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Replies

  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    edited May 2016
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    I have found that 1-serving packages that claim to contain 30g of something often have 31-32g of a thing. So, if accuracy is important to you, you might want to weigh it anyway. So let's say your granola bar said 30g serving = 170 calories. But it actually weighed 32g, you could log 1.07 servings to be more accurate. Which would be 181 calories.

    ^^and yes, this is why some people think they're eating 1500 calories and aren't losing weight at the expected rate, because it turns out they're actually eating 1600.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    I have a tendency to weigh one or two items out of the container when I buy a new food or brand I'm not familiar with. Some of them are bang on or close enough for my needs. When that happens, I tend to log as you do: 1 piece, 1 container, etc. But some brands are a lot further off than I'm comfortable with. Those I either weigh out each time and log them appropriately, or I get a feel for the amount they're off if it's consistent in the same direction and log them as something like 1.2 pieces, 1.3 containers, etc. each time.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
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    I weigh everything. including single serving items.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    I don't weigh granola bars or slices of bread or any other individually packaged items like that on a regular basis. Once in a great while I'll do something like weigh an entire loaf of bread and then divide that number by the number of slices, just to have something to do while waiting for my toast to pop. But that's about it.

    I do, however, weigh out things like crackers where the label reads "serving size = 16 crackers (40 g)".
  • chimaerandi
    chimaerandi Posts: 153 Member
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    I weigh things like, oh, lil smokies, where it says 5 links or what have you, but for bars and individual ice creams and such I generally just record it and chill. I lost 75 pounds and am maintaining doing this. That being said, I don't have a step counter or anything, so I'm not eating RIGHT TO THE LINE, you know?
  • rileyleigh
    rileyleigh Posts: 106 Member
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    diannethegeek wrote: »
    I have a tendency to weigh one or two items out of the container when I buy a new food or brand I'm not familiar with. Some of them are bang on or close enough for my needs. When that happens, I tend to log as you do: 1 piece, 1 container, etc. But some brands are a lot further off than I'm comfortable with. Those I either weigh out each time and log them appropriately, or I get a feel for the amount they're off if it's consistent in the same direction and log them as something like 1.2 pieces, 1.3 containers, etc. each time.

    That's a good idea. I can weigh 5 or 6 of them and see how close they are to the actual weight, then log based on that. Simple enough!
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    I weigh them. I had a box of protein bars that every single bar in the box weighed 50-60 grams. A serving size is only 45 grams (1 bar). That meant that some of those bars were 57 calories more than they should be.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I usually weigh them. I've seen some things that were 30% more calories or something...
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    I usually weigh them. I've seen some things that were 30% more calories or something...

    Legally they can have a maximum 20% error rate in either direction.

    Not a huge deal for low calorie items, but for calorie dense foods (especially when you have a small deficit) it can totally screw your goal.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    chimaerandi wrote: »
    I weigh things like, oh, lil smokies, where it says 5 links or what have you, but for bars and individual ice creams and such I generally just record it and chill. I lost 75 pounds and am maintaining doing this. That being said, I don't have a step counter or anything, so I'm not eating RIGHT TO THE LINE, you know?

    Good post.

    I do think that we each need to figure out our own comfort level in regard to accuracy and then just be aware of it and how we're going to handle each day.
  • beastmode_kitty
    beastmode_kitty Posts: 844 Member
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    I found that too with pre-packaged single serving food. I weigh it and I find it tends to weigh a bit more than what the package says. THats why I love it when it allows you to pick 1g and then you type in how many servings of 1g
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    rainbowbow wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I usually weigh them. I've seen some things that were 30% more calories or something...

    Legally they can have a maximum 20% error rate in either direction.

    Not a huge deal for low calorie items, but for calorie dense foods (especially when you have a small deficit) it can totally screw your goal.

    No, legally the nutrition label can be off by 20% for the weight listed. After that, products can be heavier too... so potentially you could have nutrition label that are 40% off or something...

    Hence why a lot of people who eat packaged food within their calories can't seem to lose weight.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    I don't weigh packaged items and haven't run into any issues losing. I'm down to 117, have another 3-5 lbs to lose so I have very little wiggle room.

    However, I also have a demonstrated tendency to overestimate what's on my plate, which may compensate for the packaged stuff. Or, the packaged foods I buy just aren't off by all that much. Who knows.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    The Fortifx Crunch Protein Bars are 88 grams but when I always weigh the bar it is 91-92 grams. And this being a 380 calorie bar those grams add up. I only want a portion of this anyways.

    Now take something that does have multiple servings in the package and the serving is 3 pieces (in my case Canadian bacon) the grams in three pieces are lower or higher so they have to be weighed and I have to use an entry in the database that supports grams weights.

    The 1 pound lean 96% ground beef I buy at Walmart says it is 1 pound. The meat is never 1 pound. It is always 15.2 to 15.4 ounces of meat. I could have made burgers thinking they were going to be 1/4 pound each.

    Do you see I weight everything. I periodically change goals, from loosing, to bulking, or maintaining for a while until the next goal... I do not want to say I estimated therefore I could be off and unsure the numbers are 100% as accurate as I could get them.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    rainbowbow wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I usually weigh them. I've seen some things that were 30% more calories or something...

    Legally they can have a maximum 20% error rate in either direction.

    Not a huge deal for low calorie items, but for calorie dense foods (especially when you have a small deficit) it can totally screw your goal.

    No, legally the nutrition label can be off by 20% for the weight listed. After that, products can be heavier too... so potentially you could have nutrition label that are 40% off or something...

    Hence why a lot of people who eat packaged food within their calories can't seem to lose weight.
    Francl27 wrote: »
    rainbowbow wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I usually weigh them. I've seen some things that were 30% more calories or something...

    Legally they can have a maximum 20% error rate in either direction.

    Not a huge deal for low calorie items, but for calorie dense foods (especially when you have a small deficit) it can totally screw your goal.

    No, legally the nutrition label can be off by 20% for the weight listed. After that, products can be heavier too... so potentially you could have nutrition label that are 40% off or something...

    Hence why a lot of people who eat packaged food within their calories can't seem to lose weight.

    ugh. that compounds and makes it even worse. :cry:
  • Purplebunnysarah
    Purplebunnysarah Posts: 3,252 Member
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    At this point in my weight loss journey, I don't need to weigh packaged foods. If I wind up stalling, I'll start. (Then again, at this point I typically only weigh/measure stuff that is really calorie dense, like my 11% Greek yogurt or my almond butter.)
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
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    I just log the assumed value. I also prelog my food, and don't go and correct to actual values when I weigh things out and am a bit off.

    I figure it all averages out in the end. Some things are probably overestimates, some underestimates, but over a large enough number of items it averages out.
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    edited May 2016
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    I weigh every prepackaged item I have. Boy the weights can be way off the mark! At this stage of the game I cannot afford any errors except for the expected ones from rounding which I account for.

    One of the worst offenders thus far was this dark chocolate and nut bar from Trader Joe's; it was 50 calories over the amount listed and it was off by 10 grams. Chobani and Fage yogurts are usually on point weight wise. I've had a few that were -/+2 grams and that's not bad at all. Quest, Oh Yeah, and other protein bars are normally 3 to 7 grams over the serving size listed. I am constantly shorted a few grams by the large brown eggs from Whole Foods but I just leave it as a full serving in my diary anyway. Props to Galbani for giving me 30 to 33 grams of mozzarella string cheese 99% of the time when I only paid for 28g sticks.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    edited May 2016
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    Worst for me are Graze snacks. The flapjacks are frequently 60 calories more than what the package says. Some frozen waffles can be 40 calories off too... Nuts/ganola bars/packaged bread slices are often 3-5g extra. Some English muffins were 8g extra, and they were already 160 calories to start with... Even low carb tortilla are always pretty much 6-10 extra calories than what the package says.

    I admit I don't weigh my individual yogurt cups because every time I have, it was under, so whatever really. I do weigh eggs too (well, most of the time), and enter the whole egg when it's under as well. For Chobani flips and such though it's pretty impossible to be accurate as you could have more nuts and less yogurt or something.

    But I'm more lenient on weeks when I go out to eat and have to estimate anyway - but I should probably tighten that up too.

    In the end, like everything else, if you're losing fine without weighing, it's probably not a huge deal. If you're starting to stall and have a smaller deficit, it's more of a big deal though. But in the end, your TDEE will never be 100% accurate either. The main issue (for me) is that if I have 60 calories left after dinner, I'm more likely to get a 80 calorie fudge bar... so if I didn't weigh my processed food and was already 60 calories off, I would actually end up eating 140 extra calories than I thought... On a 1000-1600 weekly deficit = not good. Especially if that happens every night (that's why I log my condiments and lettuce too).

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