Olive oil screws up my calorie data. Is it fair?
MrsTomato
Posts: 6 Member
Hi everyone. Newbie here. Newbie in calorie counting as well. All is good except one thing. MyFitnessPal counts the olive oil intake without taking in account that it's not 'bad fat' per se. Yeah, I get it that's 'a bit' healthier than other oils/butter but that makes the numbers change dramatically.
I'm Greek, and so 90% of Greek food is olive oil based, we put it in everything, loads of it, in fact we even have a meal category called "ladera" (which means roughly, "oiled"). Imagine my surprise when just 3 tablespoons of olive oil end up to be 358 cal. Even a light Greek salad has at least 6 tbsp in it.
I'm also breastfeeding my baby so I have to have a set goal of at least 1800 calories daily to have a healthy milk production but breastfeeding on it's own burns 500 calories. So, I'm pretty careful with my numbers and that's why I get puzzled with it. It's not as if I can eliminate oil or skip it altogether and be slightly hungry; I'm not supposed to be hungry or else that can potentially lead to problems.
Also, do you guys calculate naps and sleep? I know that you constantly burn some calories but since I'm suppose to count every spoonful of olive oil oh you bet I'll count every nap, breath and arm twitch I can!
I'm Greek, and so 90% of Greek food is olive oil based, we put it in everything, loads of it, in fact we even have a meal category called "ladera" (which means roughly, "oiled"). Imagine my surprise when just 3 tablespoons of olive oil end up to be 358 cal. Even a light Greek salad has at least 6 tbsp in it.
I'm also breastfeeding my baby so I have to have a set goal of at least 1800 calories daily to have a healthy milk production but breastfeeding on it's own burns 500 calories. So, I'm pretty careful with my numbers and that's why I get puzzled with it. It's not as if I can eliminate oil or skip it altogether and be slightly hungry; I'm not supposed to be hungry or else that can potentially lead to problems.
Also, do you guys calculate naps and sleep? I know that you constantly burn some calories but since I'm suppose to count every spoonful of olive oil oh you bet I'll count every nap, breath and arm twitch I can!
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Replies
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Oil is oil. MFP doesn't distinguish between types of oils. If you eat 3 TBLS of any kind of oil you are eating a LOT of calories, and will need to account for them in your daily totals.9
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It doesn't matter if it's a "good fat" or a "bad fat"...olive oil has calories. You can work the amount you use into your goal or cut back on it.
And the calories you burn while sleeping are already accounted for when MFP sets your calories.15 -
If you're making your own food, you can easily get away with limiting the amount of oil you use. You don't need a lot to cook with, or drown your salad in.5
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Calories don't care how 'good' or 'bad' their source is. Calories are calories, and oil has a lot of them.
Your calorie goal already includes allowance for sleeping, breathing, and generally living.6 -
Your Greek salad has 6 tablespoons of oil? Woah nelly. I mean, I LOVE good olive oil but you're just going to have to not have as much. Fat is fat, the calories are the same regardless of the form that fat takes. You don't need to cut it out but you're probably going to have to cut down so as not to sacrifice nutrition elsewhere.9
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6 tablespoons of oil in one salad is excessive. You don't get to pick and choose what calories you count. Your body will keep track even if you want to pretend they don't count. And logging naps exercise isn't going to help your situation.13
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The calories are what they are, unfortunately, but if you're concerned that MFP keeps telling you not to go over your fat macros, you can adjust them under settings to reflect a higher fat diet.
I eat a fairly large amount of Greek food, and also Indian food cooked in oil, and the key is to measure a modest amount of oil for cooking - the smallest amount you can use without changing the texture of the dish - and then divide the finished food into smaller portions. A big pan of food made with a large amount of oil may not turn out to be so much when divided. You may also find that some of the oil used in cooking remains in the pan instead of being consumed. Even so, while trying to lose weight you may have to avoid "ladera" type dishes!5 -
Is any of that oil left in the empty bowl?1
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You really don't need to use so much oil, but if you do and are counting calories, yeah, I'd definitely count it!4
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As said, your body is going to count everything accurately, whether you do or not. If you aren't counting oil calories, but do count napping calories, I'll be surprised if you lose anything at all, if not gain. You can game thd nets on your tracker, but not counting them doesn't erase them from your intake.
Be honest with your tracking. You're only cheating yourself.10 -
I never said I don't count olive oil calories so I don't see how I'm "cheating" myself, I just figured I should count siesta naps as well. I didn't know that the sleep is already counted but that's fine cause I haven't changed the data on that.
Also, I thought I was clear but I'll explain myself; I cook for my family and me, so there has to be some oil to have the cooking going, of course I have changed the amount of oil I cook but there is still enough oil that you would consider excessive, yet I can't eliminate it completely.
My plan is to loose half a kilo per week, that's the healthy amount I can for my situation (postpartum, breastfeeding etc). I don't want 'fast diets' if that's what you guys are thinking.
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No one is assuming "fast diets" just that a lot of your calories are being taken up by olive oil perhaps to the sacrifice of other nutrition.
So when you say you use 6 tablespoons of oil in a recipe is that the entirety of oil and therefore your own consumption would be less? Say 1.5 tablespoons assuming 4 servings? That's way easier to reduce but there's a point you're going to have to make some sacrifices somewhere. Not drastically but you obviously have always eaten a lot of oil and is likely a large part of the reason you are in a position to need to lose weight. All of us losing weight have to look at our food consumption and see where we've been tripping up unwittingly that has got us here. For some it's chocolate, for others fatty cuts of meat, some really really like bread usually slathered in butter and for you it would appear it's olive oil. Something has to give somewhere.5 -
Hey logging everything is a challenge at the start. Nobody knew it all to begin.
Kudos for the lifestyle change.
Try olive oil spray in the pan instead of a pour of oil. It works as well.
Also on salads I love Greek salads try feta crumbled instead of cubes same amount goes further and for the dressing up the herbs and lemon juice and half the oil .
Hummus is amazing with veggies like pepper strips instead of pita.
Basically smart swaps plus saving room for the most delicious things in moderation3 -
I apologize, but I'm not sure what your question is. Can you clarify what you need help/advice on? Or maybe it's just a rant about how many calories are in olive oil? Which is totally cool. I just want to make sure we didn't miss your question.6
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Correct. It's the amount I use to make the salad. But I don't eat the whole salad myself, nor I soak bread in it. For me it's not the oil, I never had weight problems before. My problem is sugar (I had gestational diabetes in both pregnancies in fact, and family history) and nowadays I can't even leave the house as often as I used to. I normally walk absolutely everywhere and I guess all these years that alone helped so I didn't have weight issues.
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It's probably a half rant, half "do I need to extract calories because it's 'good fat' or is such a high calorie number normal for a diet"?0
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It's probably a half rant, half "do I need to extract calories because it's 'good fat' or is such a high calorie number normal for a diet"?
No, you don't want to take away any calories in your food log based on their source. You'll end up under counting your calorie intake. The number of calories you need to lose weight is based on a few factors. I kind of think you're already using MFP to track, so I'd recommend logging everything you eat and giving it a few weeks to see if you're losing the way it says you should. If so you're good. If not, you know you're eating more or less than your plan says.
I hope that's at least somewhat helpful.3 -
Calories are calories are calories. Sugar calories, fat calories, protein calories. Oil in particular has a LOT of calories. They all count. You have the power to choose what stays and what goes.3
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That's the way I think I should do it, basically write everything down, be moderate, see what my actual diet really is, see if it needs improvement. I was already shocked by how little water I drink and the amount of sodium even though I have pretty much banned it since there is plenty in meat etc. I'm thinking of keeping the diary entries as is, and I will be joining the gym in autumn once my toddler will start preschool. Maybe then I will get more strict with the diet with the help of my endocrinologist (I have to see her soon for postpartum checkup).
Thanks ladyhusker39!5 -
Have you looked into a low carb diet? That may be a good fit for you. If you cut back on carbs, you will have more calories to spend on oils, plus it's a diet which is good for blood glucose. I'm diabetic and while I don't eat a low carb diet, I do have to keep a careful eye on my carbs. I don't know anything about low carb diets and breastfeeding, but you could ask your doctor if there are any drawbacks.
If you want to eat many of your calories as olive oil, there's nothing wrong with that as long as you are under your calorie goal and getting enough of different nutrients.2 -
Counting calories is for weight management (weight loss, weight gain, weight maintenance). These are totally separate issues from the nutritional quality of the calories.
If you are counting calories to manage your weight, then whether the fats are "good fats" or "bad fats" doesn't matter. Good fats and bad fats have the same amount of calories and have the same effects on weight.
For the purpose of tracking the nutritional quality of your diet (again, separate from tracking calories for weight management) MFP does allow you to track micronutrients like saturated fats vs unsaturated fats, but IMO that's not particularly useful given that the MPF database is naturally restricted to data that's available on food labels, and in the US mono and poly unsaturated fats don't have to be broken out from fats in general. Saturated and trans fats (bad fats) do, so you can definitely use your MFP nutritional reports to keep track of your saturated and trans fats.2 -
I used to follow a GD diet although I had to adjust it since diary, especially milk, would spike me, strangely if eaten in specific hours of the day. Luckily it was diet controlled but I'm defo in high risk for future type 2. At the moment I vaguely follow that same diet but because of breastfeeding I'm scared to get too strict. I do the best I can to keep it under my calorie goal and so far I succeded but it's only been a few days.0
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Also, I thought I was clear but I'll explain myself; I cook for my family and me, so there has to be some oil to have the cooking going, of course I have changed the amount of oil I cook but there is still enough oil that you would consider excessive, yet I can't eliminate it completely.
When I am cooking a meal for four (I live alone, and often cook in batches so I can freeze some of it), I use less than 1 tbsp of oil in the entire meal.
Now, you don't have to cut down on the oil if you don't want to, but you do have to accept that that is how many calories are in it. You can then decide for yourself whether you're happy with using those calories for oil, or whether you'd rather use less oil and have more bread or olives or something. The good thing about MFP is that it gives you the knowledge to make those choices.5 -
If you're cooking for your family, is that 3 Tbsp of Oil for the whole lot, or just your portion? If it's for the whole lot and it's feeding 4, then you only need to track 1/4 of the amount. If it's 3 Tbsp per portion, then how often do you have to buy Olive Oil? Omg you must get through so much!
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Yes, I know. MFP is an amazing tool for fat loss and maintaining. It also does not give us a bigger list of vitamins and minerals, or the amount of EPA and DHA in omega 3. Use MFP for what it's great for and if you want a more nutritionist's point of view on deeper specific's there are other tools like Choose MyPlate.
So just choose your healthy olive oil for the fat, and if over time you gain weight you know it's too much food energy. What matters is the food energy at the end of the day in the 24 hour period, extend that out 7 days, 30, 60, and 90 days for results.
Your body gives you truth. It tells you if what you did was right. If wrong you regroup. In the end it is energy balance.
Protein grams × 4 = protein calories.
Carbohydrate grams × 4 = carbohydrate calories.
Fat grams x 9 = fat calories.
Alcohol grams x 7 = alcohol carbohydrate calories.
Add up those calories and you have your total for the day. Divide any macro by the total and it gives you the % of that macro (if you move the decimal point over by place holders). That's what makes those fancy nutrition pie charts.2 -
That's the way I think I should do it, basically write everything down, be moderate, see what my actual diet really is, see if it needs improvement.
This is a very good plan.
When I looked at my diet upon starting, I realized I was eating lots of extra calories in ways that could be easily cut back (and olive oil was one such example -- I've learned to cook with less, use less in dressings), and that made it easy to cut calories without it feeling like a big sacrifice. It would be nice if someone couldn't make you fat if it is nutrient dense, but sadly that's not so, it's overall calories in your diet, no matter how nutrient dense that diet is.1 -
^^ This.
Just keeping a diary for a week (without trying to change anything) is a really valuable starting point, as it may highlight some uncomfortable truths, or show where cutting back would be relatively easy.
(NB oil on Greek salad... take your portion out before adding oil for everyone else? Spray lightly if needed, or just a squeeze of lemon juice or whatever. After a while, you get good at finding the little hacks to shave calories without feeling like you're missing out!)0 -
^^ This.
Just keeping a diary for a week (without trying to change anything) is a really valuable starting point, as it may highlight some uncomfortable truths, or show where cutting back would be relatively easy.
(NB oil on Greek salad... take your portion out before adding oil for everyone else? Spray lightly if needed, or just a squeeze of lemon juice or whatever. After a while, you get good at finding the little hacks to shave calories without feeling like you're missing out!)
Along these lines, another "hack" is to just lightly dress the salad with a couple tablespoons of dressing, put a cover on the container, shake it thoroughly, then put additional dressing on the table if anyone wants to add some.
It is, indeed, a painful discovery to learn evoo is 120 calories for such a small amount. I would eat a crazy amount just sopping it up with bread! Now I measure carefully and learn to take things more modestly dressed.1 -
Here's a spanakopita hack. Don't pour olive oil on the phyllo. Dip your fingers into the oil and dab it on the phyllo. This way I make a whole batch with just 1/4 to 1/3 cup oil and it still comes out flaky and delicious. I also use Trader Joe's light feta which tastes pretty much like the regular and has only 40 calories an ounce.4
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I don't have much to say about the oil issue, but I did want to mention what I did while breastfeeding and trying to lose weight. I just set my MFP goal as "maintenance" which gave me close to 2,000 calories a day, which was what I needed to take in (per my doc) to keep my milk supply up. I also knew that nursing and working out would burn extra calories, which would bring me under maintenance level. I lost all of my pregnancy weight and then some this way. I did a Whole 30 when my baby was 4 months old, but other than that, I just counted calories and did a strength training routine 3 times a week. Good luck!1
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