Can we talk about ACCURATE calorie counting?

Lobsters25

I feel like I am about to get lost in the funnel, as my old operations professor used to call it.

I've read it all - prepackaged food calorie counts are inaccurate, restaurant calorie counts are inaccurate, measuring cups are never the same, etc.  I've seen some intense MFPers now discussing that they will only rely on a food scale, and some apparently have the time to do that whole cals per grams of fat/grams of protein/grams of carbs to find the 'accurate' calories in a dish.

But how do they know the fat and protein and carbs aren't off?  And okay, my bread says a 24g slice is 60 cals, but the slice weighs 80 cals so 'I must be really eating closer to 100 cals'...but how do you know the 60 cals was right?  Because you did your carb to cal conversion?  But what if the carbs are wrong?

Maybe this is more of a rant than a conversation.

Anyway, what do you guys do?  I do not have the time or patience for the carb/protein/fat to calorie conversions, but has anyone headed the way of the food scale?  Or does anyone else have any fun thoughts on this?

J&K10910

I measure.  The way I figure it, if I'm losing weight, I'm fine. 

I think it's easy to cross into obsessed territory by agonizing over everything the way some people do. 

firsttimersluck

uuugh idkkk. Ill join the rant.. I'm super pissy about calorie counting right now.. I feel like nothing is working, and the Scoobyworkshop calorie calculator says (even when I tinker with it) I should be somewhere between 2,300-2,800 calories a day.. So I'm just.. angry with the world this week.. or month.. or.. year. Because it doesn't seem like anything is budging unless I eat 1,300 calories a day. That's a HUGE difference between what works for my bod, and what SHOULD work for my bod. arrrrrrgggg.  

J&K makes a good point. You sound really stressed over this all.. But 100 calories of offness in a day isn't going to make or break you, lobsters! 

I comes down to measure when you can, avoid prepackaged as much as possible because of the inaccuracies, and let go when it's just something like this that you don't control. Scientists are now saying that how fatty we think nuts are, are off. So just call it a balancing act. You will never be 100% aware. 

cnf2013

I agree with J&K, this will become a horrid obsession if you aren't careful. Nothing will ever be 100% accurate. There are far too many variables. As long as your close, I wouldn't sweat it. I just go by the package label, MFP, or Calorie King when I need to look something up. 

J&K10910

FTL, I would cry if I knew I "should" be able to eat 2800 calories a day and I couldn't do that without gaining weight.

That's another inaccuracy.  Obviously I think we all knw those numbers are a rough guideline, as FTL has so pointed out, because everyone's metabolism is different and different things affect it.  I also believe that different people metabolize different macros and micros differently, which makes everything even harder.

For me, it comes down to this:  Find a guideline to start with.  Adjust from there.  Starving all the time?  Raise it for a couple weeks and see how it goes.  Not losing weight?  Lower for a couples weeks, see how it goes.  Measure food as accurately as is reasonable.  Don't get stuck on the minutiae, because counting calories isn't worth a tension headache for me personally.

Lobsters25

Yeah, I am not going crazy, just curious as to everyone else's thoughts on the issue.  If only the FDA would crack down and make the food source locations more accountable.

FTL-I had that issue forever, too.  When I netted anything over 1300, I was gaining.  Turns out it was that I don't digest food normally, go figure.  Maybe there is something more science-y/health-related to the way you're processing food?

firsttimersluck

Yeah.. Let me about it.. I think it may have something to do with my Fructose Malabsorption  issue. 

I was going a little crazy with this for a while. I eat things like chia, flax, sesame seeds, spirulina powder, maca powder, etc. 

Those things are not easy to measure out PERFECTLY every single time. It's annoying. And I'm always just guestimating with my veggies because I am too lazy to bust out the scale, honestly. I used to be obsessed, though. Now I always start tracking my food in the morning, and give up by dinner time meh. lol

firsttimersluck

kwith that sounds similar to my Thrive books. The author (Brendan Brazier) is a vegan triathlete and talks a lot about how there is NO point in counting calories as long as you're eating QUALITY foods and are listening to your body. It's true.. When I'm eating completely raw veg I don't think about calories at all.. I mean.. why would you when you're eating all nuts, seeds, and veggies? 

I would go back to that, if H weren't in the house with all his chocolate and bread!!! lol Right now i have no will power.. This week I'm slowly working back to it though.. *les sigh* 

firsttimersluck

oh wow! Too cool! This book sounds really intriguing. I may need to put it on my Amazon list of "next to buy"s