What items do you NOT track?

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admaarie
admaarie Posts: 4,297 Member
in Food and Nutrition
As I get into using MFP more and more (over a month) I’ve been kind of finding it tedious tracking things like onions, some veggies, when I’ve just used 3-4 berries etc. Idk how important it is to be superrrr accurate (I’m slowly transitioning to maintenance type of lifestyle). So are there things you all skip out on tracking?
I don’t wanna be super excessive or obsessive with this!
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Replies

  • FireOpalCO
    FireOpalCO Posts: 641 Member
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    There are things I don't track. But before I get into those, let me be clear that I don't eat all my calories a day, I usually leave 200-400 uneaten. It covers the untracked, any small variations in portions I didn't weigh (restaurant or prepackaged food), or things being off in exercise calories.

    1. Salt & Pepper, I'm not watching my salt intake, so I don't log the sprinkling (ditto other spices)
    2. Breath mints
    3. Single tastes & store samples, if someone says "mmm, this is so good, want a taste" I'm not going to try and log that. It's an infrequent bump in calories. I also don't cruise Costco hoping to fill up on a free lunch, I only try things I might purchase.
    4. Vitamins
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Spices and diet soda. Everything else goes in.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    edited August 2018
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    I record everything with calories but sometimes for really small amounts I do play "same as". Lettuce, tomato and onions on a single burger I record as 2 tomato slices.
  • okiewoman510
    okiewoman510 Posts: 1,288 Member
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    Onions add up fast! I log everything down to vitamins and breath mints.

    That said, I eat the same salad for lunch every day and I don’t weigh each ingredient every day. I spot check myself every couple weeks to be sure I’m not having portion creep. I weigh the protein every day since it’s the bulk of the calories.
  • garystrickland357
    garystrickland357 Posts: 598 Member
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    I don’t track some condiments and add-ons when I make sandwiches and such. Things like pickled jalapenos, lettuce, a bit of mustard, etc.
    Like an above poster though, I almost always have unused calories. I exercise quite a bit and only eat about 1/2 the exercise calories back. I watch the trend on the scale and if weight loss starts slowing, I track calories more meticulouly. Otherwise I’m mindful but not obsessive. I may snitch a grape or a strawberry without worrying about logging - that sort of thing.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,398 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    Spices and diet soda. Everything else goes in.

    I use a lot of spices, and many of them have 15kcal for 5grams. Many spices are just very oily. So I might easily have 100kcal on spices in my food.

    I don't log water though.
  • VUA21
    VUA21 Posts: 2,072 Member
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    Zero calorie items. If it has calories, I track it, no matter how few calories, they do add up.
  • Cascadae
    Cascadae Posts: 34 Member
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    I dont track vegetables in general except potatoes
  • kemoon0915
    kemoon0915 Posts: 113 Member
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    Mustard, salt, most spices (pepper, mrs. Dash, cinnamon, etc), cooking spray, diet soda and zero calorie sparkling water, sauerkraut and no sugar added pickles... that's all I can think of right now!
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    kemoon0915 wrote: »
    Mustard, salt, most spices (pepper, mrs. Dash, cinnamon, etc), cooking spray, diet soda and zero calorie sparkling water, sauerkraut and no sugar added pickles... that's all I can think of right now!

    Cooking spray I would be careful with. It says 0 calories per serving, but a serving is usually about a 1/4 of a second spray. If you do a few seconds worth that can add up.
  • DreaDarling87
    DreaDarling87 Posts: 46 Member
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    The only things I don't log are breath mints and gum. I log everything else, including my vitamins. Turns out my morning vitamins have close to 45 calories in them and that does add up.
  • dolcezza25
    dolcezza25 Posts: 136 Member
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    I don't log salt but I do log pretty much everything else, including spices as they can add up. I track vegetables because I want to hit my fiber quota, and I track my vitamins cause they're 35cal a day.

    If I have a single bit of something I won't log it if it's too complicated or inconvenient in the moment.
  • kemoon0915
    kemoon0915 Posts: 113 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    kemoon0915 wrote: »
    Mustard, salt, most spices (pepper, mrs. Dash, cinnamon, etc), cooking spray, diet soda and zero calorie sparkling water, sauerkraut and no sugar added pickles... that's all I can think of right now!

    Cooking spray I would be careful with. It says 0 calories per serving, but a serving is usually about a 1/4 of a second spray. If you do a few seconds worth that can add up.

    I decided a long time ago that if not logging in a few squirts of cooking spray caused me to not lose weight or to gain then the cooking spray obviously wasn't the problem at all-it was the rest of the things I was eating.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
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    kemoon0915 wrote: »
    malibu927 wrote: »
    kemoon0915 wrote: »
    Mustard, salt, most spices (pepper, mrs. Dash, cinnamon, etc), cooking spray, diet soda and zero calorie sparkling water, sauerkraut and no sugar added pickles... that's all I can think of right now!

    Cooking spray I would be careful with. It says 0 calories per serving, but a serving is usually about a 1/4 of a second spray. If you do a few seconds worth that can add up.

    I decided a long time ago that if not logging in a few squirts of cooking spray caused me to not lose weight or to gain then the cooking spray obviously wasn't the problem at all-it was the rest of the things I was eating.

    I usually log it just to keep from getting on the slippery slope of not logging. But as mentioned earlier, I will sometimes fudge upwards on one thing to account for another when it is a small number of calories. I still consider that logging everything.

    You are right; it wasn't a small amount adding up that caused my gains over the years and I lost weight pretty consistently. Right now I am still trending down slowly while in maintenance. I think it is a combination of overestimating things I don't measure exactly and being too conservative on my base and burn. But I am not going to try to counteract that by getting sloppy with logging.
  • FL_Hiker
    FL_Hiker Posts: 919 Member
    edited August 2018
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    I do a rough logging of my food, I don't use scales or weigh anything but I am very good about knowing what a normal portion looks like. Also if I take a bite of something I won't log it either, not really enough to worry about. I hate being obsessive about food... really takes the fun and enjoyment out of life for me. I am very active too so I'm okay with eating over occasionally. Down 23 lbs and only 1 to go!

    I stopped taking my thyroid meds for a while (hypothyroid) and over ate, I know exactly where I went wrong to begin with.
  • fraukazi
    fraukazi Posts: 614 Member
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    I don't log leafy greens, spices or 0cal drinks like diet coke (which I have around once a week)
  • TrishSeren
    TrishSeren Posts: 587 Member
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    Diet soda, spices, salt and pepper and cooking oil. I probably should log cooking oil but I don't use it much, I use it very little when I do use it and I'm still losing without logging it.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,995 Member
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    Diet soda, water, spices, cooking oil ( I use tiny bit) margarine ( again, I use tiny bit) lettuce, onion, small pieces of other veg - like one slice of tomato, couple of strawberries

    Also do lots of lazy logging - every banana, etc is same size, I guestimate things as similar to previous things etc.

    Have never been a follower of Logging must be accurate to the nth degree - IMO it just has to be accurate enough.

    Since my weight stays within about 1 kg of my desired maitenance target, it is accurate enough for me.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,969 Member
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    The only thing I absolutely never log is water.

    I frequently don't log diet soda, black coffee, black tea, spices, herbs, vinegar, mustard, and pickles. Occasionally I don't log salsa, ketchup, and other non-fat-based condiments (e.g., hot sauce, steak sauce, barbecue sauce, soy sauce) if I'm using them in small amounts. I don't use condiments that much, so it's not like it's happening every every day, much less multiple times a day.

    For small amounts of veggies, especially the ones that are mostly water and fiber (leafy greens, cucumbers, brassicas, etc.), I sometimes just do a rough estimate, or, as a couple of other people have mentioned, add more of one kind to account for small amounts of others when I'm eating several different kinds as toppings on a sandwich or one of those tiny mixed veggie sides you sometimes get in a restaurant.

    Other than that, I pretty much weigh and log everything when I eat or prep at home, and estimate and log as best I can when eating out.
  • Deviette
    Deviette Posts: 979 Member
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    okiewoman510 wrote: »
    That said, I eat the same salad for lunch every day and I don’t weigh each ingredient every day. I spot check myself every couple weeks to be sure I’m not having portion creep. I weigh the protein every day since it’s the bulk of the calories.

    I do this too, my base salad varies a little in ingredients, but not enough to actually make much of a difference to the calorie count.

    I don't log:
    - Condiments (I just don't eat that much of them, if I have a lot, then I will log)
    - Cooking spray
    - Low cal drinks under 10kcal a can
    - Dried spices
    - Herbs
    I have also only recently started logging work tea & coffee, and alcohol.

    I figure I've been losing at a rate I'm happy with without logging those right now. And I know that if I need to I can always tighten up my logging, but right now it's not too much of an issue

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