Slippage: My Hidden Calorie Bloopers Really Add Up
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gregjohnson365
Posts: 1 Member
When I found my weight loss progress stalled I couldn’t figure out why. I was recording dutifully and exercising meticulously and the pounds wouldn’t come off. Then I came across a NYT article on unconscious ways people “compensate” when they think they are being dutiful and meticulous about their diet and exercise. https://nytimes.com/2019/07/03/well/move/weight-loss-gain-exercise.html
This article got me thinking about slippage… the cumulative impact of small amounts of untracked and mistracked calories. In short, I’m not recognizing some calories I consume and I’m overestimating the calories from exercise.
• I don’t track EVERYTHING I ate at a given meal. For example, am I really tracking every cracker I eat with my salad?
• I don’t track all the ingredients in things I make> For example, I make a savory oatmeal using rich chicken boullion instead of water and top with a small splash of olive oil.. I record the oats but not the boullion or olive oil.
• I don’t track the right quantities because I estimate rather than measure
• I don’t track the “tastes” while cooking… Dr. Oz said these tastes can add up to 200 calories or more
• I don’t track the actual food… just something close that pops up early in the MFP search. For example, I cook one type of pork (Boston butt) but record the calories for another (a leaner pork tenderloin)
• I don’t question the entries on MFP calorie charts. There are lots of entries for that boullion I mentioned, ranging from 10 to 100 calories)
• I don’t track what I eat after I hit the “complete entries” button on MFP. Maybe a handful of grapes late at night.
• I don’t track exercise with heart rate monitor, but just accept the number of calories burned as reflected on the piece of equipment. I understand these machines on machines are “one size fits all” and can overestimate by as much as 20%
Taken alone, none of these things is a major disconnect. But the cumulative impact can be a slippage of few hundred calories a day. I THINK I am consuming 1500 calories when I am actually eating 1800. I THINK I am burning 400 calories on the elliptical when I am really burning 320.
These hidden misses- this “slippage”- really add up. I found when I got more diligent about accurate recording the weight started to come off again.
This article got me thinking about slippage… the cumulative impact of small amounts of untracked and mistracked calories. In short, I’m not recognizing some calories I consume and I’m overestimating the calories from exercise.
• I don’t track EVERYTHING I ate at a given meal. For example, am I really tracking every cracker I eat with my salad?
• I don’t track all the ingredients in things I make> For example, I make a savory oatmeal using rich chicken boullion instead of water and top with a small splash of olive oil.. I record the oats but not the boullion or olive oil.
• I don’t track the right quantities because I estimate rather than measure
• I don’t track the “tastes” while cooking… Dr. Oz said these tastes can add up to 200 calories or more
• I don’t track the actual food… just something close that pops up early in the MFP search. For example, I cook one type of pork (Boston butt) but record the calories for another (a leaner pork tenderloin)
• I don’t question the entries on MFP calorie charts. There are lots of entries for that boullion I mentioned, ranging from 10 to 100 calories)
• I don’t track what I eat after I hit the “complete entries” button on MFP. Maybe a handful of grapes late at night.
• I don’t track exercise with heart rate monitor, but just accept the number of calories burned as reflected on the piece of equipment. I understand these machines on machines are “one size fits all” and can overestimate by as much as 20%
Taken alone, none of these things is a major disconnect. But the cumulative impact can be a slippage of few hundred calories a day. I THINK I am consuming 1500 calories when I am actually eating 1800. I THINK I am burning 400 calories on the elliptical when I am really burning 320.
These hidden misses- this “slippage”- really add up. I found when I got more diligent about accurate recording the weight started to come off again.
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Replies
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^^^^ this is one of the most insightful posts I've seen on MFP.4
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the only part i would challenge is the use of a HR monitor - that is good for steady state cardio exercise, but if you deviate from them; add in weights etc - not necessarily a good estimate
there are some online calculators that take into account your weight, minutes of exercise and intensity to give you a pretty good estimate2 -
The OP is why the second thing everyone is told when they post that their weight loss has stalled or stopped is "tighten up your logging and make sure you are recording everything that you eat, weighing all solids and semi solids and measuring all liquids".
The first? "Have you adjusted your calorie goal to match your current weight?"
It always amazes me how much pushback people get when they suggest someone is not logging accurately. Here is a perfect example of why those with experience always suggest it. People are human and humans are inherently lazy so getting a bit loosey-goosey in logging is extremely common.
Thank you OP for your confession and insight. There will be many links to this post because You explained how it can happen very, very well.6 -
One of the best posts I have read on MFP. Thank you!!1
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I think the only way to know if you can ever relax on logging a little (assuming you have a big enough deficit) is to log everything as accurately as possible for a time.
Cooking spray is a good example of some of the shortcuts I use. If I touch the can I log 5 grams even if I don't measure it. I periodically measure it and I am almost always 3.8 or 3.9 grams. I log 5 for the times I may be a little over. I lose weight just slightly faster than my recorded calories and as long as I do I can get away with things like this. If I stop losing as expected I will immediately return to logging every bite and calorie until I am back on track.
While I do have a few shortcuts I feel comfortable using I don't shy away from weighing and recording the overwhelming majority of what I eat.3 -
Taking manufacturer weights at face value is one I have to stop relying on. I have a loaf of bread right now that lists each serving as a 27g slice. But they actually weigh 35-45g each!4
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Taking manufacturer weights at face value is one I have to stop relying on. I have a loaf of bread right now that lists each serving as a 27g slice. But they actually weigh 35-45g each!
I am not sure I have ever purchased a bag of seafood that was actually the bag weight. It is almost always over and by quite a bit. The "pound" of squid I ate 2 days ago was actually 545 grams.0 -
This is a wonderful post! I definitely start to slip sometimes. I didn't feel like weighing my frozen breakfast sandwiches and just logged "1 sandwich" as the serving size. I decided I should tighten up this morning and threw one of those suckers on the scale... wayyyyy over the serving size listed (in grams). It was a 60-calorie difference! Doesn't seem like much but those deviations add up!1
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Im quite jealous of everyone that weighs prepackaged foods and find that they are overweight, you must be getting a bargain. Every time this comes up I nip in the kitchen and test this out and weigh some things and find them underweight. Im getting ripped off!1
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Im quite jealous of everyone that weighs prepackaged foods and find that they are overweight, you must be getting a bargain. Every time this comes up I nip in the kitchen and test this out and weigh some things and find them underweight. Im getting ripped off!
I always feel the same, especially with my yogurt, its always underweight.0 -
Im quite jealous of everyone that weighs prepackaged foods and find that they are overweight, you must be getting a bargain. Every time this comes up I nip in the kitchen and test this out and weigh some things and find them underweight. Im getting ripped off!
Oh there are tons of things under. Like @panda4153 says yogurt is always under. I could make a list but it would get tedious. This is why we check though.
On frozen vegetables I have weighed enough bags that on the lower calorie stuff I am fairly comfortable on the brands I get just logging the bag because they are usually just under or over. I periodically check but they are fairly consistently within +/- 5 calories. This is why I say you have to spend time weighing and logging every single thing so you know where you can relax a little.1 -
gregjohnson365 wrote: »<snip much excellent insight to minimize reply length>
• I don’t track exercise with heart rate monitor, but just accept the number of calories burned as reflected on the piece of equipment. I understand these machines on machines are “one size fits all” and can overestimate by as much as 20%
<more snippage>
Potentially worse than that, even: When my spin-class bike at the Y picks up the feed from my heart rate monitor, it gets delusions of grandeur. Today, for example, it estimated 639 calories for one class.
For reasons I won't detail, I'd estimate reality at less than 300 net.
It does a little better if it doesn't pick up the heart rate monitor signal . . . then, it's probably only off by 20-30%.
Heart rate monitor isn't gospel either: Likely sound(ish) for moderate steady-state cardio, worse the further you get from that, potentially howlingly wrong for strength training.1 -
This is an excellent reminder that we underestimate what we eat and overestimate what we burn. It's not a character flaw, it's really just human nature and the only true combat to it is measuring, weighing and tracking. For MFP, that also means paying attention to what the calorie counts are that appear and double checking either the package you have or going online to check several sources and confirming that what is being logged is accurate. I'm going to remember this and make it my first go-to when I feel like weight loss is slowing - thanks for the read and advice, it's very well-timed!2
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I think the only way to know if you can ever relax on logging a little (assuming you have a big enough deficit) is to log everything as accurately as possible for a time.
Cooking spray is a good example of some of the shortcuts I use. If I touch the can I log 5 grams even if I don't measure it. I periodically measure it and I am almost always 3.8 or 3.9 grams. I log 5 for the times I may be a little over. I lose weight just slightly faster than my recorded calories and as long as I do I can get away with things like this. If I stop losing as expected I will immediately return to logging every bite and calorie until I am back on track.
While I do have a few shortcuts I feel comfortable using I don't shy away from weighing and recording the overwhelming majority of what I eat.
How are you measuring cooking spray? I just started doing this when I use it for a grilled pita bread because I noticed that I am spraying 4 times in the process - and when I looked it up and paid attention, I found each spray was a second and in the long run my grilled pita had an add of about 25 calories just for the spray. Are you measuring the can before and after or measuring the seconds or do you have a different method altogether?0 -
raleighgirl09 wrote: »I think the only way to know if you can ever relax on logging a little (assuming you have a big enough deficit) is to log everything as accurately as possible for a time.
Cooking spray is a good example of some of the shortcuts I use. If I touch the can I log 5 grams even if I don't measure it. I periodically measure it and I am almost always 3.8 or 3.9 grams. I log 5 for the times I may be a little over. I lose weight just slightly faster than my recorded calories and as long as I do I can get away with things like this. If I stop losing as expected I will immediately return to logging every bite and calorie until I am back on track.
While I do have a few shortcuts I feel comfortable using I don't shy away from weighing and recording the overwhelming majority of what I eat.
How are you measuring cooking spray? I just started doing this when I use it for a grilled pita bread because I noticed that I am spraying 4 times in the process - and when I looked it up and paid attention, I found each spray was a second and in the long run my grilled pita had an add of about 25 calories just for the spray. Are you measuring the can before and after or measuring the seconds or do you have a different method altogether?
I just use the food scale. I tare the pan/bowl/plate to zero and spray. When I started I was trying to do the seconds method but I was consistently over-logging it. Not everyone logs too low. I log too high and I have had to reign that in so I have more reliable numbers. I still seem to lose faster by about 100 calories a day but there is no way to know what part of that is just standard MoE from calorie averages and what part is variations in daily energy expenditure.0 -
Cooking spray drives me nuts. I accept that it might be a more efficient distribution method for a light coating on my pan, but if the ingredients is simply Avocado Oil (or whatever) then it does have significant calories. You look on the nutrition facts panel and it says 0 calories because the 'serving' is like 1/5th second spray, so they can round down to 0 (in the US).
I know some machines include your estimated calorie burn for just existing (RMR?) in their calories burned number. Is there any way to tell besides a general sense of 'that seems really high'?0 -
I have looked at the calorie burned issue. Endomondo seems to use the heart rate calculator for calories burned, while MapMyFitness seems to use the MET formula. I have started exclusively using the MMF and the MET because it is a lower number, which won't overinflate my estimation of calories burned.
You have a very good point about what my friend said Weight Watchers calls BLTs (bites, licks, and tastes). I do it all the time and have no way to account for it, so I am trying to stop. But otherwise, I measure almost everything. It means it takes more time to get to sitting down and eating, but it is also teaching me patience.0 -
Cooking spray drives me nuts. I accept that it might be a more efficient distribution method for a light coating on my pan, but if the ingredients is simply Avocado Oil (or whatever) then it does have significant calories. You look on the nutrition facts panel and it says 0 calories because the 'serving' is like 1/5th second spray, so they can round down to 0 (in the US).
I know some machines include your estimated calorie burn for just existing (RMR?) in their calories burned number. Is there any way to tell besides a general sense of 'that seems really high'?
Actually it is not because they round down it is because that anything under 5 calories can be reported as a zero on US nutrition labels. I am not sure what, other than water, actually has zero calories. Anyway the lesson here is that if you see a zero and you use A LOT of it you might need to find the actual calories and log it. A cup of straight tea is not something to worry about. Drinking a large pitcher of it might be worth recording.
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raleighgirl09 wrote: »I think the only way to know if you can ever relax on logging a little (assuming you have a big enough deficit) is to log everything as accurately as possible for a time.
Cooking spray is a good example of some of the shortcuts I use. If I touch the can I log 5 grams even if I don't measure it. I periodically measure it and I am almost always 3.8 or 3.9 grams. I log 5 for the times I may be a little over. I lose weight just slightly faster than my recorded calories and as long as I do I can get away with things like this. If I stop losing as expected I will immediately return to logging every bite and calorie until I am back on track.
While I do have a few shortcuts I feel comfortable using I don't shy away from weighing and recording the overwhelming majority of what I eat.
How are you measuring cooking spray? I just started doing this when I use it for a grilled pita bread because I noticed that I am spraying 4 times in the process - and when I looked it up and paid attention, I found each spray was a second and in the long run my grilled pita had an add of about 25 calories just for the spray. Are you measuring the can before and after or measuring the seconds or do you have a different method altogether?
I just use the food scale. I tare the pan/bowl/plate to zero and spray. When I started I was trying to do the seconds method but I was consistently over-logging it. Not everyone logs too low. I log too high and I have had to reign that in so I have more reliable numbers. I still seem to lose faster by about 100 calories a day but there is no way to know what part of that is just standard MoE from calorie averages and what part is variations in daily energy expenditure.
That's a good method, and I use it sometimes.
Another method is to put the spray bottle/can on the food scale, zero it, spray what you want, put it back on the scale, and note the negative number: It represents the amount you used. (This will work as long as your scale has tare/zero, and will display negative values . . . both features you really, really want for easiest weighing.)
There is propellant in the non-pump-type sprays, but the amount is of truly negligible weight. (I've experimented with doing it both ways, and comparing.)2 -
raleighgirl09 wrote: »I think the only way to know if you can ever relax on logging a little (assuming you have a big enough deficit) is to log everything as accurately as possible for a time.
Cooking spray is a good example of some of the shortcuts I use. If I touch the can I log 5 grams even if I don't measure it. I periodically measure it and I am almost always 3.8 or 3.9 grams. I log 5 for the times I may be a little over. I lose weight just slightly faster than my recorded calories and as long as I do I can get away with things like this. If I stop losing as expected I will immediately return to logging every bite and calorie until I am back on track.
While I do have a few shortcuts I feel comfortable using I don't shy away from weighing and recording the overwhelming majority of what I eat.
How are you measuring cooking spray? I just started doing this when I use it for a grilled pita bread because I noticed that I am spraying 4 times in the process - and when I looked it up and paid attention, I found each spray was a second and in the long run my grilled pita had an add of about 25 calories just for the spray. Are you measuring the can before and after or measuring the seconds or do you have a different method altogether?
I just use the food scale. I tare the pan/bowl/plate to zero and spray. When I started I was trying to do the seconds method but I was consistently over-logging it. Not everyone logs too low. I log too high and I have had to reign that in so I have more reliable numbers. I still seem to lose faster by about 100 calories a day but there is no way to know what part of that is just standard MoE from calorie averages and what part is variations in daily energy expenditure.
That's a good method, and I use it sometimes.
Another method is to put the spray bottle/can on the food scale, zero it, spray what you want, put it back on the scale, and note the negative number: It represents the amount you used. (This will work as long as your scale has tare/zero, and will display negative values . . . both features you really, really want for easiest weighing.)
There is propellant in the non-pump-type sprays, but the amount is of truly negligible weight. (I've experimented with doing it both ways, and comparing.)
I would do it that way if I needed the oil heated before using it to cook something and I chose that moment for one of the times I measure it. When I am doing mine it is usually for a bit of flavor on vegetables, coating a pan, or making popcorn. Even though I don't weigh it each time cooking spray is probably the thing I check myself on 2 or 3 times a week just because it is oil. I seem to naturally hit just below 4 grams almost every time though.1
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