Weight-Loss underestimating calories

Weight-Loss
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GonnaGetAbs

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I don't really have a question here, just wanted to share this. I thought I was pretty good about counting calories, and even thought I was overestimating, but I was very, very wrong. I added up everything in my salad today (2 eggs, half an orange pepper, a quarter avocado, 9 carrots, 15 cherry tomatoes, half a cucumber, spring mix lettuce, ranch dressing), and it came to almost 450 calories. I was shocked! I thought it was maybe 300. Another thing I realized I do is not count things I snack on because they're small at the time, but they add up. Example: throughout the day today I've had 3 handfuls of grapes and 2 handfuls of granola totaling probably 200 calories.

I'm really glad I figured these things out. I'm hoping it will get the weight loss going again.
 
Welcome to the world of weight loss.

9/10* reasons people don't lose is miscalculations... at least in my experience.

*That's not including people who just can't stick with a plan consistently.
 
Serving sizes are tricky as well. I weight everything (at least until I get a good idea of what a g looks like) I like Frosted Mini Wheats and a serving is like 240 calories I think so I was counting my bowl of cereal as such but a "serving" is 1/4 cup. Or about 4 squares which is maybe a third of what I was eating at best.
 
Which is why I use my food scale for everything, even my tablespoon of crunchy peanut butter. I record everything I eat, and the calories with it. It's a lot of work, but it's necessary. My digital scale is the best investment I've made for weight loss.
 
LowFatMilk said:
Which is why I use my food scale for everything, even my tablespoon of crunchy peanut butter. I record everything I eat, and the calories with it. It's a lot of work, but it's necessary. My digital scale is the best investment I've made for weight loss.
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Couldnt agree more:) I love my scales and it gives me peace of mind that my cals are as accurate as i can possibly make it. Itend ot then add some cals on to make sure that i have over counter rather than under....good habits to get into i think :)
 
GonnaGetAbs said:
I thought I was pretty good about counting calories, and even thought I was overestimating, but I was very, very wrong.
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I don't weigh my food, but I've counted calories long enough and consistently enough, that I'm pretty decent at eyeballing portion sizes. And I still put everything into Fitday, because, while I can tell you what a cup of peas looks like, I couldn't tell you how many calories were in a cup of peas. That's what the computer is for! (I rarely eat dinner out - lunch a lot, but dinner hardly ever - so I do my entry for my day's foods, then for what I've planned for dinner, then adjust my dinner plans accordingly.)

GonnaGetAbs said:
3 handfuls of grapes and 2 handfuls of granola totaling probably 200 calories.
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You must have tiny hands. I love grapes, but really have to portion control them, because they add up so fast. I'd have guessed at least 200 for the grapes, and another 200 for the granola (which is the most calorically-dense cereal I'm aware of).
 
Wow, so I still might be underestimating. I'm debating on whether to get a scale or not. I used to use fitday, so I think I'll start doing that again. I definitely will be actually counting, and not just guessing.
 
unless you're using a scale -everything will be guessing to some degree... even measuring implements can be a little off...

depending on what a serving of granola is (most og the mass produced stuff is 1/4 cup_ depending on teh size of your hand - that could be 1/4 cup or bigger...
 
Stop debating getting a food scale- just get one. You'll really be glad you did, trust me.

I find mine especially helpful for weighing nuts, meats, fruits, veggies, peanut butter, etc. It's amazing how off I was on some things, grossly underestimating some things and overestimating others(Even using measuring cups). There's so much room for error when counting calories, so you want to be as close as you possibly can get, and a food scale will do that.

~Rina
 
I've also found that one of my sources of errors in calorie counting was relying on the nutrition facts printed in cookbooks. I figured it out a few weeks ago when I was making a recipe that said it had 75 grams of fat per serving. Shocked the pants off of me because it just had a tbsp of olive oil in it. So I entered all the ingredients into a spreadsheet and did the calcs myself. It was WAY off - this time in a good way as it was way fewer calories. But I went back to some of the other things I've made and the book was underreporting. Now I check every recipe. Just can't have it easy... :p
 
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