How many people "estimate" their food intake?
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I dont think it matters how accurate your counting is - it is results that matter.
So, if you are consistently losing at around your expected rate, then what you are doing is working for you and keep doing it.
I dont estimate 100% of the time - but I certainly practice what I call "lazy logging" - I measure calorie dense things like dried fruit and cheese and I have a scale and use it for things like mashed potato etc as I serve my dinner.
But in my diary, every mandarine is a medium one, every tin or packet has how much it says it has and if I have half and my husband has half, I assume our halfs were equal, every slice of bread and egg is same size, every cup of coffee has same amount of milk as the one I first measured, I guestimate when I eat out.......
But my results are what I expect them to be, so this is working fine for me.
I do get that people who are not losing/gaining/maintaining as expected should tighten their logging and check their numbers are what they think they are - but if what you are doing is working and it aint broke - don't fix it.6 -
So what about restuarant foods that aren't in the food chart? Say "little anthony" pizza. Would you pick little seasors pizza or pizza hut then? As for a tuna melt, whole wheat bread 2 slices, tuna, mayo, cheese and heat it up in an oven....yummy but high in sodium.
Assuming a full can of tuna, "regular" bread, and a full serving of cheese, that sandwich would probably be in the neighborhood of 400 calories (amount of mayo would be critical). If you log for a while, you'll be in a better position to make accurate estimates.
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WinoGelato wrote: »By this I mean I can pick a tuna melt that has 200 calories or one that has 150 calories. Which one is going to be more accurate? Homemade french bread pizza--roll sauce cheese--how many calories? I tend to pick the lowest ones if I have a choice but am I cheating myself?
A tuna melt meaning a whole sandwich with two slices of bread, tuna fish, Mayo and/or cheese? With some butter or oil on the outside like a grilled cheese (sorry I don't eat tuna fish so I've never made one but this is what I assume it is). Yeah I can't imagine that sandwich being 150-200 cals unless using low cal bread, cheese and butter.
You are cheating yourself by choosing the lowest option if that is the wrong option and it falsely leads you to believe you are in a calorie deficit when you actually aren't. Inaccurate logging is what prompts almost all of the "why am I not losing I'm only eating xx calories" posts here. You don't have to have a food scale to be successful (I didn't use one) but you do have to be realistic and have a good idea of what the basic calorie counts of certain ingredients/foods would be. I highly recommend the food scale though for optimal accuracy and success.
Just FYI -- all the tuna melts I've ever seen have been open-faced (one slice of bread), and yes, cheese, because that's what makes it a melt, but not generally butter or oil on the outside because you cook them in an oven or under a broiler, not on a grill. Of course, if you get it at a restaurant, you're often served two tuna melts -- that is, two open-faced sandwiches. And the bread is often something fairly thick, or even half a bagel, because a standard slice of white commercial loaf bread is not going to hold up well to tuna salad and a broiler. So I'd say you're probably looking at 400 calories for one open-faced tuna melt at a restaurant--they tend to have a huge mound of tuna salad, and about an ounce of full-fat cheese.1 -
I try to measure accurately, but in situations where I have no choice but to estimate, I try to estimate high. If I'm eating in a restaurant, I usually assume that the food has more added fats than I'd use at home. I am very short and close to my goal weight, so my calorie deficit is pretty small. It only takes a few little logging errors to put me out of a deficit.1
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There is no estimation for me. I know all the calories of everything I eat. I have to or I go crazy.0
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Sloth lady what do you do when you eat out?
Also curious - how long have you been doing this? - as you get further along, you will probably find you can estimate some things from previous experience and as you get a feel for what they usually are.0 -
100% of people estimate!
It's impossible to know the precise amount of calories in food without destroying it.
Then your ability to absorb all the food that you eat will vary.
Foods naturally vary - ripeness of fruit, different varieties, leanness of meat, cooking methods etc...
You can decide to attempt to be very accurate with food measuring if you really want to or alternatively just be consistent but with a feedback loop. Not getting the results you want over an extended period of time? Just make adjustments to your base calorie goal.
I decided that there are some things worth being precise about (breakfast cereals for example) but for convenience I was happy to go with package weights, estimation of proportions, picking generic but reasonable database entries. One benefit of measuring my porridge ingredients on a food scale is that it's perfect every time and never explodes in the microwave.
A period of using a scale and attempting precision is educational about portion sizes and calorie load but it's not compulsory to become obsessive about it.4 -
@SlothLady_97SlothLady_97 wrote: »There is no estimation for me. I know all the calories of everything I eat. I have to or I go crazy.
How do you know the precise calories in your egg, pizza roll or slice of bread?
They are all average estimates.
BTW - do you not drink anything with calories?1 -
I estimate all my dinners since I don't actually make them. I just make a conscious effort to err on the side of caution and overestimate calories. It's worked so far.0
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I can eyeball it or mostly ignore it entirely (as long as I stay out of the cheese) on low carb until I hit the low 120s. Then I have to weigh and measure just like anyone else trying to lose weight with a tiny deficit.0
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The majority of my food is prepared from home.
If I make a sandwich I would log the bread and any fillings seperately. I would not look for a tuna melt entry.
If I make a pizza the same deal or I'd use the recipe builder to log everything at once.
If it is a non-chain restaurant food then I find something similar in the database from a different restaurant.0 -
So what about restuarant foods that aren't in the food chart? Say "little anthony" pizza. Would you pick little seasors pizza or pizza hut then? As for a tuna melt, whole wheat bread 2 slices, tuna, mayo, cheese and heat it up in an oven....yummy but high in sodium.
I don't log restaurant food in my diary unless the restaurant has the nutritional information available in their menu or on line. I do use the comment section in my food diary and I record there where and what I ate, just for my own information. I don't log much while on vacation and nothing at all if I go to somebody else house.
One of the reason is that those "fake" entries overload the Recent section of my food diary and they can not be deleted; so no thank you.0 -
On the most part I weigh, but there are times when I just quick add an estimate, but I always over estimate. We'll be going to a carvery for our roast tomorrow, there'll be two different meats, accompaniments (yorkie, pig in blanket, stuffing ball), roast potatoes, boiled potatoes and around 6 types of veg. I'll have half the yorkshire pudding, pass the other extras to my OH, have a couple of roast potatoes, couple of boiled and fill my plate with veg. I have calculated it before and with pud it comes to around 750, but I'm going to log 1000 so if I want to indulge in a latte I can without worrying.0
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I do this. I know it's akin to sacrilege on MFP to say you don't measure and weigh everything but I've had success without it. I've lost 40 lbs over the last year. I tend to pick higher calories for things though and probably overestimate. I will also say that as a lower weight now I think my margin of error is much smaller and have totally plateaued. But I've also been sliding back into old eating habits.0
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I do this. I know it's akin to sacrilege on MFP to say you don't measure and weigh everything but I've had success without it. I've lost 40 lbs over the last year. I tend to pick higher calories for things though and probably overestimate. I will also say that as a lower weight now I think my margin of error is much smaller and have totally plateaued. But I've also been sliding back into old eating habits.
Is it???
Ive been on this forum for several years now and I've said many times that I dont weight and measure everything - havent felt that about saying it at all.
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I think that it gets jumped on when people complain that they "can't lose weight" and are logging everything, and eating a minuscule number of calories, but are weighing nothing.3
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A tuna melt for 150 or 200 calories
Is it the size of a canapé?
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Estimating does not work for me. I was perfectly aware of how one gained weight, and managed to gain a LOT of weight a little at a time over many years.
Being as accurate as possible has yielded very good results for me, and I intend to continue this path forward.3 -
ShammersPink wrote: »I think that it gets jumped on when people complain that they "can't lose weight" and are logging everything, and eating a minuscule number of calories, but are weighing nothing.
oh yes that is fair enough - even in every thread where I say I estimate a lot and do lazy logging I do qualfiy that be saying it works for me , my weight is doing as expected but if people's weight is not doing so, tightening logging will help them to see where their problem lies.0 -
If it aint broke, don't fix it!2
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For those who find that estimating calories is working for them, bear in mind that the closer you get to your goal weight, the less wiggle room you have to mess around with. At that point, being highly accurate with your caloric intake will be more important simply because there's very little margin for error.3
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snickerscharlie wrote: »For those who find that estimating calories is working for them, bear in mind that the closer you get to your goal weight, the less wiggle room you have to mess around with. At that point, being highly accurate with your caloric intake will be more important simply because there's very little margin for error.
I didnt find that myself.
and I got to my goal and have now maintained there for over 3 years.
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paperpudding wrote: »snickerscharlie wrote: »For those who find that estimating calories is working for them, bear in mind that the closer you get to your goal weight, the less wiggle room you have to mess around with. At that point, being highly accurate with your caloric intake will be more important simply because there's very little margin for error.
I didnt find that myself.
and I got to my goal and have now maintained there for over 3 years.
Then you have a very good handle on it, a skill which is quite uncommon. Not for a second saying that estimating doesn't work, since it obviously did for you.
Inaccurately estimating caloric intake, however, is the biggest stumbling block for most people to overcome, especially as they get closer to goal weight. And at that point, you don't want to be going over your allotted calories and stalling your progress, but just as importantly, you don't want to underestimate them either, and risk nutrient deficiencies or making the last leg of the weight loss marathon harder than it needs to be. 3 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »For those who find that estimating calories is working for them, bear in mind that the closer you get to your goal weight, the less wiggle room you have to mess around with. At that point, being highly accurate with your caloric intake will be more important simply because there's very little margin for error.
Not for me. I was always results based not numbers based. The more experience you have the better idea you have what you need to do to get those results.
My accuracy actually declined not increased. I did things like average out the cycling part of my commute rather than record rides individually, average out the number of routine drinks I had a day etc..0 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »For those who find that estimating calories is working for them, bear in mind that the closer you get to your goal weight, the less wiggle room you have to mess around with. At that point, being highly accurate with your caloric intake will be more important simply because there's very little margin for error.
Not for me. I was always results based not numbers based. The more experience you have the better idea you have what you need to do to get those results.
My accuracy actually declined not increased. I did things like average out the cycling part of my commute rather than record rides individually, average out the number of routine drinks I had a day etc..
Agree to the bolded.
But most people here are new to the process of weight loss/maintenance and therefore do not yet have the experience needed for estimating to be routinely viable for them. They tend to underestimate what they're eating and overestimate calorie burn from intentional exercise. The dozens and dozens of "Help! I'm doing everything right and not losing weight!" threads here are evidence of that. 0 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »snickerscharlie wrote: »For those who find that estimating calories is working for them, bear in mind that the closer you get to your goal weight, the less wiggle room you have to mess around with. At that point, being highly accurate with your caloric intake will be more important simply because there's very little margin for error.
Not for me. I was always results based not numbers based. The more experience you have the better idea you have what you need to do to get those results.
My accuracy actually declined not increased. I did things like average out the cycling part of my commute rather than record rides individually, average out the number of routine drinks I had a day etc..
Agree to the bolded.
But most people here are new to the process of weight loss/maintenance and therefore do not yet have the experience needed for estimating to be routinely viable for them. They tend to underestimate what they're eating and overestimate calorie burn from intentional exercise. The dozens and dozens of "Help! I'm doing everything right and not losing weight!" threads here are evidence of that.
That's just evidence that some people struggle. People who don't struggle don't tend to ask for help.
Dozens and dozens of people struggling out of thousands of users could be interpreted as evidence that most people find a way to make it work in whatever ways suits them.
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I agree that there are lots of 'silently successful' people on *both* sides of the equation. Those that manage to figure out the process of properly weighing their food to get a realistic handle on their calorie consumption don't start those "Help me" threads either.snickerscharlie wrote: »snickerscharlie wrote: »For those who find that estimating calories is working for them, bear in mind that the closer you get to your goal weight, the less wiggle room you have to mess around with. At that point, being highly accurate with your caloric intake will be more important simply because there's very little margin for error.
Not for me. I was always results based not numbers based. The more experience you have the better idea you have what you need to do to get those results.
My accuracy actually declined not increased. I did things like average out the cycling part of my commute rather than record rides individually, average out the number of routine drinks I had a day etc..
Agree to the bolded.
But most people here are new to the process of weight loss/maintenance and therefore do not yet have the experience needed for estimating to be routinely viable for them. They tend to underestimate what they're eating and overestimate calorie burn from intentional exercise. The dozens and dozens of "Help! I'm doing everything right and not losing weight!" threads here are evidence of that.
That's just evidence that some people struggle. People who don't struggle don't tend to ask for help.
Dozens and dozens of people struggling out of thousands of users could be interpreted as evidence that most people find a way to make it work in whatever ways suits them.
And most likely the vast majority of those that do need help but don't start a thread about it, get the help and information they need from reading the threads of those that do. 2 -
I only estimate at parties and at restaurants, and then I estimate high. If I'm absolutely starving a few hours later, I know that my estimate was too low and I add an apple and a low-cal yoghurt.0
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I measure every new food I have then next time it's already and I can adjust the portion size if I have more or less than previous. I use the barcode scanner a lot .... that must be accurate0
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I don't estimate much anymore. My calorie allotment is so minimal and my goal is high and I have a time goal too. So I'm weighing most things except liquids like milk. I weigh meat and veggies now. I actually found I waa underestimating veggies so i get to pump up the volume of those. I made popcorn last night and even weighed the butter. For the most part I avoid eating out, if I do I choose the least sauced, version of meat i can find, eyeball a portion about the size of what I previously weighed in the past at home, and get a doggie bag. I choose all veggies as sides and assume a minimum of a half tablespoon of fat (oil, butter) has been added to them. I stay away from breads or other high carb sides.0
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