Is this why some struggle to lose?!

jelleigh
jelleigh Posts: 743 Member
edited November 19 in Health and Weight Loss
So just watched this clip on the calorie information on food labels, websites, menus etc. I know it's not conclusive or anything but it's not altogether surprising . If this sort of nutritional inaccuracy is so common, wouldn't it be pretty easy to be tracking religiously and still not lose?
https://youtu.be/hE2lna5Wxuo

How do you handle potential inaccuracies ? Eat to a lower target?

Replies

  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,129 Member
    I think most people struggle to lose because they aren't being very accurate with portion sizes when logging. I myself wasn't until December last year and my underestimates were astonishing.

    A food scale is one of the most accurate ways to determine calorie intake. Yes there are going to be times when you're eating out or eating somewhere where you've not prepared the food yourself, but you can overestimate to err on the side of caution (I often use quick add calories to add an extra 100 or so calories on when eating out or choose a higher calorie entry)

    Calorie Counting is never going to be 100% accurate but then neither is the TDEE/NEAT calculators used to determine your energy output. Over time you can see how accurate you are being from the results on the scale.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    If you don't lose weight over an extended period (3-4 weeks for men, 6-8 weeks or the length of a menstrual cycle for women) you need to drop calories. Counting calories is useful but you need to base weight loss decisions on actual results.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,610 Member
    jelleigh wrote: »
    How do you handle potential inaccuracies ? Eat to a lower target?

    I didn't put myself in a position where there were many "potential inaccuracies".

    I have a food scale, and I use it.

    I didn't eat out very often ... on average, maybe a couple times a month.

    I select the item from the database with a higher calorie number any time I'm in doubt.

    I only track the activity I consider exercise. I don't track walking back and forth in my office, housework, grocery shopping or anything like that. I figure that could give me a little bit of a buffer.

    And by doing those things, I lost weight. :)
  • vivelajackie
    vivelajackie Posts: 321 Member
    I also tend to choose the higher calorie options when guestimating on food items when eating out. My main way to combat it? I don't make a habit of eating out. We cook our meals and harass our local store's produce section. I think a lot of people do suffer from portion control, but they also suffer from the desire of CONVENIENCE.

    Gotta love that "healthy" sandwich and muffin though​. Make your own and you have control over what goes in to your final product. :)
  • Ironandwine69
    Ironandwine69 Posts: 2,432 Member
    I don't count or log. That solves all that.
    The end.
  • prattiger65
    prattiger65 Posts: 1,657 Member
    I eat out quite a bit, 2-3 times per week. I find that most website info is "close enough". After some practice it isn't hard to spot something that is way off. Although I do think inaccuracy in logging is a small problem, the bigger problem is logging consistently. I can be accurate to the gram in what I log, but if I don't log everything I haven't really done anything.
  • HM2206
    HM2206 Posts: 174 Member
    I think it's A factor, but not the main one if you are serious about losing.

    I've had the same experience myself - I used to eat a specific high protein yogurt, and one day in the newspaper the producer announced that they were "very sorry to inform that the calories listed were incorrect", and that the actual amount was higher. I was really irritated, but at the same time I had to realise that these things are never 100% accurate.

    I make as much as I can from scratch. I also balance it by 'lowballing' amount of calories burned at the gym.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    jelleigh wrote: »
    So just watched this clip on the calorie information on food labels, websites, menus etc. I know it's not conclusive or anything but it's not altogether surprising . If this sort of nutritional inaccuracy is so common, wouldn't it be pretty easy to be tracking religiously and still not lose?
    https://youtu.be/hE2lna5Wxuo

    How do you handle potential inaccuracies ? Eat to a lower target?

    No because of the law of large numbers. Given a sufficiently large pool of foods whose calories can vary up or down from what the label says, the variance will start to cancel out leaving you very close to the predicted amount.
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