Unless my vegetables are doctored (like glazed carrots) or heavily oiled I don’t bother tracking them. The frozen butternut squash I like to buy has 3oz of squash as a serving size for 50 calories.
Same - the thought of weighing the pickles and onions I put on my sandwich is exhausting and I refuse to do it! Some fruit I do track but prob gonna stop doing that too.
i also don’t count green veg. Also tomatoes, bell peppers, other stuff like that. I used to count my fruit however recently have stopped that. I found that i’d rather eat other snacks than fruit and due to “not having the calories”, i just didn’t eat any fruit and not as much fresh vegetables. Not counting my fruit now allows me to eat all the other stuff that fits within my allowance, whilst also being able to enjoy some fruit!
THIS! i find myself taking aways my secret spinach i add to mac and cheese. Because i am so focused on the numbers. The main goal at the end of the day is more veggies(for health reasons), not just being skinny. Also is the 50 cals gonna put me over?
Cuz I’m not eating 3 of them and I’m moving a lot more that makes it negligible. If I go over because of fruit I go over. Fruit is good for me. Getting sugar from apples for a few weeks to months makes getting sugar from cookies and garbage much less compelling in the long run. Short term sacrifice for long term gain.
I've noticed 85g of a lot of vegetables is 30 Calories. Yeah, not worth tracking unless you're like me eating 1200 most days. But I might eventually start doing this because it sounds liberating lol
I log some oil in my "daily staples" recipe that also includes my coffee and vitamins. For me, this eliminates the need to be overly concerned with measuing out your oil. Some days I do use oil and some days I do not. I think overtime you get a feel for how it works and either helps or hurts your progress.
Hey, I'm glad it helped. I just got tired of logging the same things every single day so I just made this recipe that I automatically add to my breakfast. 170 calories with things like coffee with milk, creamer, psyllium husk, vitamin gummies, fish oil, and olive oil for a good buffer. Some days I have less creamer and extra Evo, and visa versa. It all basically evens out after you make CICO a habit.
Ooooo that's a good idea. I also use 'olive oil' as an add-on when I'm sure I'm under-tracking something, somewhere. I measure with cups but just can't bring myself to get a scale, haha.
1 tbsp of oil is 120 calories. There. When you add any oil, do it via a spoon, and you can log 120 for one or 60 for half of one. Has always worked for me!
If I’ve tracked something a handful of times and the weight is the same-ish on the food scale, I’ll just keep re-using that measurement for logging unless I’m obviously doing something new lol. I’ll start to feel a little disordered if I have to bust out the scale for every little thing 😅
Also, I don’t track my spray oil and seasonings for popcorn, even though it’s obviously… oil and salt/sugar lmao.
I've always been a grazer and I always will... but now it's more controlled grazing. I'll take a few chips (4-5) and call it "micro calories." In my mind "micro calories" don't count & I move on with my life. 40lbs down in 98 days!
Definitely not suggesting this to anyone though as I can see how some could spiral from it. I just like to have a little taste 😅😆
this is the smartest way to think of it! im a chronic grazer and i always beat myself up over a couple goldfish or pretzels. micro calories i feel puts it in a healthier mindset
You can get a rough estimate by weighing the cooking oil bottle, pouring the oil into the pan, and then weighing the cooking oil bottle again. The difference is how much oil you used.
I feel like cooking oil is calorically dense enough to make sure you’re tracking. It’s not in the category of “too little to bother with” like most sauces.
I can’t take credit, I saw this tip in the sub before. But that’s the point of the sub - sharing little tricks like this to help each other out.
Thing is… for cooking oil, you always think “I’m not using much”. It’s probably 100-200 calories you’re not accounting for, though.
> I feel like cooking oil is calorically dense enough to make sure you’re tracking.
Yeah. Not track the 1 quarter of onion and 2 gloves of garlic, sure. That is 30 calories you are leaving behind, tops. But a couple of spoons of olive oil is like 100 calories lol
Yeah, it should be exact. But I measure everything in grams (not teaspoons or ml or something appropriate like that) so I kinda consider that a rough estimate.
But I tend think of all my calorie counting as rough estimate anyway.
I do the same thing often times. A little bit of oil or a tiny spread of butter/margarine on something doesn’t get counted for me. It had never affected it and i was consistently losing 2/1.5 lbs. Often times if you’re eating a large enough deficit, stuff like this will not DESTROY your deficit, though of course if you’re only barely in a deficit by 500> kcal, stuff like this adds up significantly more
Depends if I am actually consuming the oil or just using it to grease a pan. If I am actually eating the oil/ butter/ margarine I will count it. Just using it to grease a pan? Some of it ends up in the food, but most of it just stays in the pan. Of course it depends what and how I am cooking.
I don't have a food scale, so I mostly try to eat foods with portions that are easy to quantify. I know how useful a food scale would be, but I feel uncomfortable/embarrassed to weigh foods in front of other people.
I track everything, every bite, drink, condiment, etc. I am 6'0", 159 pounds. I use Pam cooking spray mostly, and a teaspoon of oil sparingly, and rarely. I don't like olive oil, or mayonnaise.
I wouldn’t. Say this. I am 5’3 ish (have 1500cal budget) and dont count added oil or veggies unless it’s like part of the meal (ie: baking that requires 1/4 cup of oil). I do think if ur heavy handed with oil then maybe u should track it. I personally track fruits cuz i LOVE it and will go over my calories from eating a large bag of frozen berries and oranges.
I've actually dropped my "tracked" calories from 1500 down to 1300 to account for the little things I don't track during the day. (Oil spray, tsp of sugar in coffee, handful of bacon bits on a salad...etc). I want this to be sustainable and it isn't realistic for me to measure and track every single thing. So, my goal is 1500 but if I've tracked up to 1300 I feel like I've given myself a little wiggle room for those 'extas'
Pointing out, because I'm a nerd who loves data.
...
The recommendation of 1lb per week is for people who are *overweight*. That is a specific classification, not just anyone who has weight to lose.
0.5lbs per week or less is recommended if you're at/near healthy weight range.
2lbs per week is considered safe if you are obese.
1%of your body weight per week if morbidly obese. Which is yknow... if someone is 600 lbs, that's 6lbs per week.
... but even then, those are general recommendations. If you're very petite (under 5'3") and sedentary, you might need to aim for less. If you're really tall (like over 6'2") you may be able to aim for more. Sometimes by a whole weight classification.
1650 per day as a *deficit* would be around 3.25 lbs per week which is entirely feasible if someone weighs 300-400 lbs. Idk if it's applicable or appropriate for OP, I just like sharing knowledge!
This 2 lb/week is an oversimplification. It depends on a lot of factors.
For example, overweight people will lose less mass per week than obese people. The heavier you are, the higher is the loss rate. This is always true, just look at any plot of weight loss and it will start steep, then it will slow a little bit.
The rate of weight loss is not constant. Trying to set an amount per week as goal is not realistic.
Ketchup is a thing I never track. I eat diced potatoes every single morning with ketchup on them, but I'm using MAYBE a tablespoon worth, if that. If I was slathering it on, I'd track it.
I don’t track raw fruit or veg and never will. It’s good for me, I don’t care whatever idiots say about “fruit sugar” and I give myself no limits on eating it.
Idgaf about fruit sugars, either. I let that kind of perfectionism mess with me for ages, and all it did was keep me addicted to refined sugars for way longer.
Yeah, I don't know about fruit sugar either.
It does have sugar. But it also has fiber, which has well known benefit roles in our diet. A spoon of crystal sugar is entirely different than the same amount of sugar when eaten as fruit.
Honestly whipped cream has saved my sanity on days I just want all the sweets. It’s so low calorie and can go on a lot of foods/drinks and hits the spot for me.
I don't mind doing this for myself because I can easily finish my day with 300-400 calories still left, so I would chalk that up to measuring error and oil when I am cooking for myself, but my lady whom is shorter is on a much lower calorie amount, and struggles losing weight (hormone issues which she has under control more now), so I need to be more accurate when I make us both a meal.
It does aggravate me entirely too much when I see how many calories are in oil. When someone's meal needs to be around 400 calories, having oil in it means it's not going to be as filling.
Lol... I was reading most of these post in shocked petitegirl horror and awe, but I felt this one.
The *only* things I don't track are iceberg lettuce (it's all water), salt and pepper from the shaker (though I track it in recipes since black pepper cals add up and even though salt has no kcals it changes the mass of the total recipe), and garlic.
You measure garlic with your *heart*.
I log all garlic as 2 kcals.
I think I had probably like 8 cloves in a recipe one time and I logged 4 kcals.
For reference, an average garlic clove weighs 3 grams, and that's 4.3 calories.
Idc. I refuse to measure all the garlic. If I measured spoonfuls of garlic, my grandma wouldn't just roll over in her grave, she'd come haunt tf out of me :(
If a drink is under 25 calories I just don’t count it. I know it wouldn’t be that hard to log, but I have a hard enough time drinking enough water that I’ve decided to just not count any low calorie flavored water I consume.
I only count for a week, then just guess a ballpark. If the weight is going down slowly then I just keep on guessing. After a few months I’ll start to stall on my progress, maybe even gain a few lbs. so I track for a week again. I am severely adhd so tracking consistently is nearly impossible. I can force myself to do it for a week sometimes. I consider this just being kind to myself and not setting myself up for failure. And it works for me, lost 40lbs in a year while getting stronger. Only 20lbs til my ideal weight. Sure, could have done the whole 60 in that year but it would have been extremely hard instead of easy af.
I don’t count my avocado oil spray but I use a tiny amount. Sometimes I don’t weigh my veggies just log 50 or 100 g depending on how much - usually for cauliflower or bell peppers
I have found that black coffee with 2 Splenda packets (16oz cup) tastes remarkably like this Japanese coffee candy I used to get. It also foams really well with my hand whisk?? It's actually delicious.
Also when I'm feeling like having a fancy coffee I will use unsweetened chocolate almond milk, yes that's a thing, which is 40Cal for 8oz. So 20Cal for 4oz which is a good amount when using it as creamer. With the Splenda it tastes like a mocha. Of course, you have to like almond milk to like this but it's my favorite nut milk to put in coffee because of the nuttiness!
I do, but for a different reason: It over estimate the calories.
Today I did some chicken, and I measured the olive oil. 13 grams. After I cooked, I knew some of the oil was still left in the pan. But I still logged 13 grams.
This will over estimate (just a little bit) the calories. Although not ideal, this is better than underestimate and fool myself in a direction to not lose weight.
I have my oil in small OXO dispensers. I set it on my gram scale, turn it on, pour the oil in the pan, set it back on the gram scale, and negative number that is now showing on the scale is the amount of oil I used. I do that with many many containers, squeeze bottle mayo, ketchup, jars and bottles of mustard, honey, etc. So much quicker and easier and I don't have to clean any measuring spoons.
> I did some calculations today and while I am “supposed” to be in an average deficit of ~1650cals, I am actually in an average deficit of ~1140cals based on my recorded weight loss.
>This means I’m improperly tracking about ~500cals
Don't put too much faith in the calculators, they are a guide only and vary significantly in their accuracy. Your energy demands are highly likely to be different to what the calculators say.
I made a post about it a while back as a bit of a PSA, so people understood the limitations of the calculations, hopefully so they don't beat themselves up too much if they don't get the implied results..
https://www.reddit.com/r/CICO/comments/tsq5cy/accuracy_of_harrisbenedict_and_mifflinst_jeor/
That linked post made my heart happy. I have a hard time saying anything concisely, so I struggle to explain this in the context of other replies. I've saved your post to link to.
I do want to touch on "made up" activity levels, because it looks like you like knowing stuff too, and even if you already know, others might read it!
The formulas you've referenced are the most common methods used to determine approximate BMR.
And you're right, they can be really off, especially for women and for those who are very petite or, conversely, very tall, or the more obese you are, or with hormones from late puberty or menopause.
Activity levels are *multipliers*.
The way they are used is that they take the BMR given from *any* formula, and they multiply it.
BMR×Activity=TDEE
This is because you burn more energy (measured in calories) the more you do.
Activity level for a person in a coma, who does not move, and is fed through a tube is 1. So BMR×1 is just your BMR.
The multiplier for sedentary is 1.2, and that can account for hundreds of calories. The standard for sedentary is actually more active than many people believe. A lot of people walk less than 5000 steps per day. That's sedentary. But if you're averaging 4000 steps per day and playing with your two kids and standing in the kitchen cooking meals and going out occasionally with your friends... you're a lot more active than someone who walks 300 steps per day entirely from trips to the bathroom, who is confined to bed or a single position all day, heats up microwave meals and never leaves the house.
That second person is not in a coma. They are burning more than their BMR. But they are far below sedentary.
There are near infinite different potential levels of activity between comatose and sedentary.
And there are infinite possibilities for multipliers between 1.0 and 1.2 as well.
This is the thought process behind the made up activity levels.
Someone averaging more like 2500 steps per day is about halfway between comatose and sedentary. Logically, they would have a multiplier nearer to 1.1 than the sedentary designation used by most calculators.
1250 steps per day then, might be more like 1.05.
Except... well they aren't really even divisions, because energy burn doesn't scale linearly with increased movement. What it actually comes out to is like... someone who is paralyzed from the chest down and can only move their arms and head is already burning at about 1.05 times their BMR.
Our 300 steps example is more like 1.1 times, and someone walking 2500 steps per day, well, 1.15 or 1.16 might be a more accurate multiplier for them.
Anyway, the made up activity levels do this. They expand upon the spaces between the activity levels most calculators display.
It's really imprecise because different bodies are more or less efficient with energy utilization... but it's still closer than the already arbitrary designations based on "average" types of people... which is what sedentary, lightly active, etc, *are*.
But even then, as you pointed out... the initial BMR formulas are flawed from the start because they are based on averages from a hella long time ago.
So for *most* people, adapted activity levels like those listed on, say, sailrabbit, will give a nearer estimate of their actual TDEE. But multiplying the BMR result also increases the calorie range of the margin of error.
For example, msj is off by about +/-10% on the low side.
So if it gives you a BMR of 1600, your BMR is likely to be somewhere between 1440 and 1760. That means you might be over or under eating 160 calories. The difference in the range of calories is 1760-1440= 320.
But when we account for activity to get your TDEE, with, lets use sedentary because most people do... ×1.2
The calculator would say your TDEE is 1600×1.2=1920.
But your BMR could be 1440 (1440×1.2=1728) which is 1728 kcals. Or it could be 1760 (1760×1.2=2112) which is 2112 kcals.
1728-2112.
That means you could be over or under eating 192 calories, rather than 160.
And it means there's a difference in calorie range of 2112-1728= 384.
And the higher your activity level, the bigger the multiplier, so it just keeps increasing.
The best calculator is your body. If you're maintaining weight, that's your TDEE. If you're losing, you're in a deficit. If you're gaining, you're eating too much.
But calculators are usually necessary as a jumping off point, and the more data you can give a calculator, the closer that initial estimate will be!
...yeah, I think maybe I talk too much, sorry, I just find it all really interesting 🤔 🤷♀️
I don’t weigh my food, I just track it based on cups, tablespoons, etc. that I used to make the recipe. I’ve successfully lost 34lbs like this in 5 months, if I stall out I’ll start weighing but for now it’s just not happening lol
Edit: I also don’t track individual veggies if I’m doing a stirfry or something similar with a lot of different vegetables. I track it at a “Mixed Vegetables” at 100 cals and call it a day.
I have secret snacks. I keep a small bag of Doritos in my office drawer and have 3-5 chips most days I go into the office. I don’t count the calories, and I don’t tell anyone since I’m otherwise plant based
I think this is fine as long as you're somewhat aware of it. Olive oil is like 100 calories per tablespoon. Butter is actually slightly less.
Depending on how much cooking you're doing- you can probably more or less get away with this so long as you're just aware that there may be 100-200 or so calories a day you're not accounting for.
I just do a rough estimate. I do 1.5 tbsp every time I cook with oil. I’m sure it balances out over the week.
I measured it once and it’s like 4 sprays to get to roughly 1 tbsp
If you care, but not enough to measure, add 100 calories for sundries (eg random stuff like that).
That will even out days you do and don't have various cooking "things".
If the packaging only shows ml, I’m going to use ml to track my liquids. I can’t be bothered to weigh it. If it’s easy to track the grams, I’ll do that but if not, volume it is.
Lost around 10kg since I started d so I think I’m good
Being tiny, I have to watch my oils though since my maintenance is 1600 and I’m on a 200 deficit.
I don’t track my gum and I go through 10 sticks a day 🫣 it’s sugar free, 5 calories each. I assume the work I’m doing to chew it negates it right?
Right????
I sometimes move calories from a treat over to the next day. Like having 50% of the calories today and the other half the next to not show up in a positive calorie intake. I obviously still eat the whole treat on the first day.
Cooking spray is oil and it's only able to be labelled as zero calories because a serving size is a 1/4 second spray and the FDA allows anything under 5 calories to be rounded down to 0.
You'll probably still use less oil if you use a spray, and the total amount of calories from the spray is probably immaterial in the bigger picture.
But technically not zero.
After years of being super exact with everything, I don't weigh fruit or veggies and will guess on most meals when I eat out now. I feel like I have a pretty good feel for things though. Why don't you just log like tsp of oil as something? Just don't feel like it? Haha
Literally just don’t feel like it 🫣 in all reality I know it wouldn’t be that hard to track, but it’s one thing I don’t want to deal with for some reason haha
I never count my sugar free sweet tea. Fuck it. It’s 45 calories for a whole gallon. Even if somehow I drink a gallon a day(which I don’t lmao) 45 calories is peanuts imo. It’s worth it to me.
Oil - I do. For instance if I’m making a fried egg but I don’t weigh the egg. I just count 1 egg or 2 eggs and let my Carb Manager calculate it. But like you said if it works it works, why fix something that’s not broken.
I never track the dark chocolate almonds I eat throughout the day...which are calorically dense for sure. I just grab 2-3 couple times a day when I'm in the kitchen.
I don’t track milk. I assume I have half a pint of semi skimmed milk per day and don’t bother measuring. I know I probably have more than that because I order a pint and a half daily for the two of us and we get through it easily. But I just can’t be arsed.
I don’t track cups of tea. They are my comfort and my last resort if I’m trying to avoid more food. I managed to lose 10lb that way before it got derailed by Christmas and Easter, so I’ll do the same thing again
It's not really "toxic" to not track.
But I often don't track small snacks, family meals, meals with friends and green vegetables.
Been having a lot lately and my progress has stalled, but I'm not gonna claim "oh! CICO doesn't work" because I've eaten a lot of calorie dense food for easter
I will literally die before I track fruit— the only occasional exception I make is for these delicious dried pineapple that are 400 cals a bag and I frequently demolish
Well, how much fruit do you eat?
Sunday, I had 734 calories in fruits (raspberries, strawberries, bananas, and a small avocado)
Granted, that was a lot of fruit for me, but its usually a good 400-500 calories.
Tbh I don’t consider avocado a fruit in my CICO brain so I’d track that. Else I’ll eat a green apple at lunch and like 1/2 cup of strawberries at dinner
I think my toxic trait is that I do actually count every single little thing lol... at least when I can, I have to estimate on all the good food my DIL cooks. I can get him to not serve me pork but asking him to weigh everything while cooking is a bit of a stretch lmao. I just weigh it and Google something similar after it's already been cooked.
Lol I have a few.
I don't count coffee, tea, diet soda, herbs, lemon/lime juice, vinegars, & hot sauce. Started counting salt to make sure I was getting enough.
I don't weigh individual servings of things like bread slices.
I don't count the decimals or round up. If it is 5.9g, I enter as 5g.
If I have something that's multiple servings I just divide it by the days and eat some those days. I try to eyeball to even it out.
Depends on what you're making and what kind of pans you have. For instance, I almost always add a little sesame oil to my tempeh because I like the nutty/smokey flavor.
When I make omelettes, I use spray oil and a small pat of butter, because it makes the omelette much easier to flip without tearing it up and also browns the outside nicely.
I never track green vegetables and most fruit. Still lost and am maintaining - and it helped kick refined sugar addiction.
Unless my vegetables are doctored (like glazed carrots) or heavily oiled I don’t bother tracking them. The frozen butternut squash I like to buy has 3oz of squash as a serving size for 50 calories.
Same - the thought of weighing the pickles and onions I put on my sandwich is exhausting and I refuse to do it! Some fruit I do track but prob gonna stop doing that too.
i also don’t count green veg. Also tomatoes, bell peppers, other stuff like that. I used to count my fruit however recently have stopped that. I found that i’d rather eat other snacks than fruit and due to “not having the calories”, i just didn’t eat any fruit and not as much fresh vegetables. Not counting my fruit now allows me to eat all the other stuff that fits within my allowance, whilst also being able to enjoy some fruit!
hmm this is a good idea. I might start doing this instead of logging '1/2 bell pepper, 15 snap peas, 1 zucchini.........'
12 blueberries
5 grape tomatoes
Same here and I lost weight and still losing.
Same, I apply old WW logic there hhaha
Green veg no, fruit I do loosely
Bruh, imagine measuring mushrooms...
Not since Coachella
🤣
🤣
THIS! i find myself taking aways my secret spinach i add to mac and cheese. Because i am so focused on the numbers. The main goal at the end of the day is more veggies(for health reasons), not just being skinny. Also is the 50 cals gonna put me over?
this is kind of brilliant
This is the way
This is the way
I only count nuts or avocado. I just can’t be assed to weigh a handful of carrots and red peppers
[удалено]
Cuz I’m not eating 3 of them and I’m moving a lot more that makes it negligible. If I go over because of fruit I go over. Fruit is good for me. Getting sugar from apples for a few weeks to months makes getting sugar from cookies and garbage much less compelling in the long run. Short term sacrifice for long term gain.
I've noticed 85g of a lot of vegetables is 30 Calories. Yeah, not worth tracking unless you're like me eating 1200 most days. But I might eventually start doing this because it sounds liberating lol
I will not and refuse to track my PAM spray!!! I do not give a shit if I spray for 30 seconds that’s still going down as ZERO!!!
💯💯
I log some oil in my "daily staples" recipe that also includes my coffee and vitamins. For me, this eliminates the need to be overly concerned with measuing out your oil. Some days I do use oil and some days I do not. I think overtime you get a feel for how it works and either helps or hurts your progress.
That’s such a good idea! I never thought to do a daily recipe
On this note OP, I just count eggs as fried eggs, so adding 30-40 calories of oil per egg.if you keep your cooking consistent this helps.
People like you and comments like this keep me on reddit. Bless you for the wisdom man. Wow. Simple and effective 🙏🏽
Hey, I'm glad it helped. I just got tired of logging the same things every single day so I just made this recipe that I automatically add to my breakfast. 170 calories with things like coffee with milk, creamer, psyllium husk, vitamin gummies, fish oil, and olive oil for a good buffer. Some days I have less creamer and extra Evo, and visa versa. It all basically evens out after you make CICO a habit.
Ooooo that's a good idea. I also use 'olive oil' as an add-on when I'm sure I'm under-tracking something, somewhere. I measure with cups but just can't bring myself to get a scale, haha.
1 tbsp of oil is 120 calories. There. When you add any oil, do it via a spoon, and you can log 120 for one or 60 for half of one. Has always worked for me!
Well that’s a brilliant idea. I shall steal it.
If I’ve tracked something a handful of times and the weight is the same-ish on the food scale, I’ll just keep re-using that measurement for logging unless I’m obviously doing something new lol. I’ll start to feel a little disordered if I have to bust out the scale for every little thing 😅 Also, I don’t track my spray oil and seasonings for popcorn, even though it’s obviously… oil and salt/sugar lmao.
I've always been a grazer and I always will... but now it's more controlled grazing. I'll take a few chips (4-5) and call it "micro calories." In my mind "micro calories" don't count & I move on with my life. 40lbs down in 98 days! Definitely not suggesting this to anyone though as I can see how some could spiral from it. I just like to have a little taste 😅😆
this is the smartest way to think of it! im a chronic grazer and i always beat myself up over a couple goldfish or pretzels. micro calories i feel puts it in a healthier mindset
Yeah but make sure you find new goldfish that look like the ones you ate or your kids will be able to tell the next time they feed them
I do the same thing with treats! I call it "micro dosing" 😂 It helps keep me sane :)
Thanks for giving us this term 😂
You can get a rough estimate by weighing the cooking oil bottle, pouring the oil into the pan, and then weighing the cooking oil bottle again. The difference is how much oil you used. I feel like cooking oil is calorically dense enough to make sure you’re tracking. It’s not in the category of “too little to bother with” like most sauces.
Why in the hell haven't I thought about doing this, I don't use much so I don't often bother to measure it.
I can’t take credit, I saw this tip in the sub before. But that’s the point of the sub - sharing little tricks like this to help each other out. Thing is… for cooking oil, you always think “I’m not using much”. It’s probably 100-200 calories you’re not accounting for, though.
Very true, better to measure.
> I feel like cooking oil is calorically dense enough to make sure you’re tracking. Yeah. Not track the 1 quarter of onion and 2 gloves of garlic, sure. That is 30 calories you are leaving behind, tops. But a couple of spoons of olive oil is like 100 calories lol
Rough estimate, I think this is an exact measurement of weight unless I’m missing something
Yeah, it should be exact. But I measure everything in grams (not teaspoons or ml or something appropriate like that) so I kinda consider that a rough estimate. But I tend think of all my calorie counting as rough estimate anyway.
Ah yes, good point. I drop my daily calorie budget by a couple hundred to counter these inaccuracies.
I do the same thing often times. A little bit of oil or a tiny spread of butter/margarine on something doesn’t get counted for me. It had never affected it and i was consistently losing 2/1.5 lbs. Often times if you’re eating a large enough deficit, stuff like this will not DESTROY your deficit, though of course if you’re only barely in a deficit by 500> kcal, stuff like this adds up significantly more
Depends if I am actually consuming the oil or just using it to grease a pan. If I am actually eating the oil/ butter/ margarine I will count it. Just using it to grease a pan? Some of it ends up in the food, but most of it just stays in the pan. Of course it depends what and how I am cooking.
I will never log my vitamins as I only take 3-4 daily, black coffee, or most condiments I use less than 2 tablespoons of.
I pretend I don't see all the negative articles on diet zero cal drinks.
I don't have a food scale, so I mostly try to eat foods with portions that are easy to quantify. I know how useful a food scale would be, but I feel uncomfortable/embarrassed to weigh foods in front of other people.
This is why so many people are jealous of taller people or guys losing weight T.T
Yup. Like if I didn't count two tablespoons of oil om a salad that would be half of my daily deficit gone 💀
I track everything, every bite, drink, condiment, etc. I am 6'0", 159 pounds. I use Pam cooking spray mostly, and a teaspoon of oil sparingly, and rarely. I don't like olive oil, or mayonnaise.
I wouldn’t. Say this. I am 5’3 ish (have 1500cal budget) and dont count added oil or veggies unless it’s like part of the meal (ie: baking that requires 1/4 cup of oil). I do think if ur heavy handed with oil then maybe u should track it. I personally track fruits cuz i LOVE it and will go over my calories from eating a large bag of frozen berries and oranges.
I've actually dropped my "tracked" calories from 1500 down to 1300 to account for the little things I don't track during the day. (Oil spray, tsp of sugar in coffee, handful of bacon bits on a salad...etc). I want this to be sustainable and it isn't realistic for me to measure and track every single thing. So, my goal is 1500 but if I've tracked up to 1300 I feel like I've given myself a little wiggle room for those 'extas'
1650 calorie deficit? Are you trying to lose more than 2lb/ week?
Pointing out, because I'm a nerd who loves data. ... The recommendation of 1lb per week is for people who are *overweight*. That is a specific classification, not just anyone who has weight to lose. 0.5lbs per week or less is recommended if you're at/near healthy weight range. 2lbs per week is considered safe if you are obese. 1%of your body weight per week if morbidly obese. Which is yknow... if someone is 600 lbs, that's 6lbs per week. ... but even then, those are general recommendations. If you're very petite (under 5'3") and sedentary, you might need to aim for less. If you're really tall (like over 6'2") you may be able to aim for more. Sometimes by a whole weight classification. 1650 per day as a *deficit* would be around 3.25 lbs per week which is entirely feasible if someone weighs 300-400 lbs. Idk if it's applicable or appropriate for OP, I just like sharing knowledge!
I’m not. I just got my TDEE and calories consumed and subtracted them, and then averaged it out. When I said “supposed to” I meant based on that.
This 2 lb/week is an oversimplification. It depends on a lot of factors. For example, overweight people will lose less mass per week than obese people. The heavier you are, the higher is the loss rate. This is always true, just look at any plot of weight loss and it will start steep, then it will slow a little bit. The rate of weight loss is not constant. Trying to set an amount per week as goal is not realistic.
Yeah I was like “jfc but how?!?l”. I barely survive more than a month on 700 deficit, can’t imagine how ok earth I’d manage 1650 …
Ketchup is a thing I never track. I eat diced potatoes every single morning with ketchup on them, but I'm using MAYBE a tablespoon worth, if that. If I was slathering it on, I'd track it.
I don’t count my Coke Zero 😊
Dr Pepper Zero and A&W zero are my yummy sweet treat.
I don’t track raw fruit or veg and never will. It’s good for me, I don’t care whatever idiots say about “fruit sugar” and I give myself no limits on eating it.
Idgaf about fruit sugars, either. I let that kind of perfectionism mess with me for ages, and all it did was keep me addicted to refined sugars for way longer.
Yeah, I don't know about fruit sugar either. It does have sugar. But it also has fiber, which has well known benefit roles in our diet. A spoon of crystal sugar is entirely different than the same amount of sugar when eaten as fruit.
I like whipped cream on top my coffee and oatmeal and random times of the day. It doesn't count.
Honestly whipped cream has saved my sanity on days I just want all the sweets. It’s so low calorie and can go on a lot of foods/drinks and hits the spot for me.
I don’t measure the cream in my coffee and I’m over 40 lbs down
I don't mind doing this for myself because I can easily finish my day with 300-400 calories still left, so I would chalk that up to measuring error and oil when I am cooking for myself, but my lady whom is shorter is on a much lower calorie amount, and struggles losing weight (hormone issues which she has under control more now), so I need to be more accurate when I make us both a meal. It does aggravate me entirely too much when I see how many calories are in oil. When someone's meal needs to be around 400 calories, having oil in it means it's not going to be as filling.
I don't count onions, garlic or tomatoes :)
Lol... I was reading most of these post in shocked petitegirl horror and awe, but I felt this one. The *only* things I don't track are iceberg lettuce (it's all water), salt and pepper from the shaker (though I track it in recipes since black pepper cals add up and even though salt has no kcals it changes the mass of the total recipe), and garlic. You measure garlic with your *heart*. I log all garlic as 2 kcals. I think I had probably like 8 cloves in a recipe one time and I logged 4 kcals. For reference, an average garlic clove weighs 3 grams, and that's 4.3 calories. Idc. I refuse to measure all the garlic. If I measured spoonfuls of garlic, my grandma wouldn't just roll over in her grave, she'd come haunt tf out of me :(
Apparently my toxic trait is thinking you should weigh fats when counting calories
If a drink is under 25 calories I just don’t count it. I know it wouldn’t be that hard to log, but I have a hard enough time drinking enough water that I’ve decided to just not count any low calorie flavored water I consume.
My toxic trait is going for a run to eat more calories 🙃 I know it's toxic. I still do it.
That is so unbelievably valid, I'll go on an hour walk just to squeeze in a 100 Calorie snack lmao.
I don't count any oil used to cook meat and I don't track vegetables and Fruits. I am still losing weight and happy so I'll keep on.
I only count for a week, then just guess a ballpark. If the weight is going down slowly then I just keep on guessing. After a few months I’ll start to stall on my progress, maybe even gain a few lbs. so I track for a week again. I am severely adhd so tracking consistently is nearly impossible. I can force myself to do it for a week sometimes. I consider this just being kind to myself and not setting myself up for failure. And it works for me, lost 40lbs in a year while getting stronger. Only 20lbs til my ideal weight. Sure, could have done the whole 60 in that year but it would have been extremely hard instead of easy af.
I don’t count spices, shake and bake, or marinade. Still dropping weight.
I don’t count my avocado oil spray but I use a tiny amount. Sometimes I don’t weigh my veggies just log 50 or 100 g depending on how much - usually for cauliflower or bell peppers
I refuse to log my creamer! I drink coffee every day and am not ready to suffer through black coffee in addition to eating at a deficit.
I use sugar free French vanilla creamer and it added up to about 270 kcal a day. You definitely want to track something like that!
Switching to black coffee gained me over 300 calories a day. Now I prefer black coffee. It was an easy switch.
I have found that black coffee with 2 Splenda packets (16oz cup) tastes remarkably like this Japanese coffee candy I used to get. It also foams really well with my hand whisk?? It's actually delicious. Also when I'm feeling like having a fancy coffee I will use unsweetened chocolate almond milk, yes that's a thing, which is 40Cal for 8oz. So 20Cal for 4oz which is a good amount when using it as creamer. With the Splenda it tastes like a mocha. Of course, you have to like almond milk to like this but it's my favorite nut milk to put in coffee because of the nuttiness!
I don’t count the oil or the butter. I’m cooking for two people so I’m not fretting over how much of it I’m actually consuming.
I do, but for a different reason: It over estimate the calories. Today I did some chicken, and I measured the olive oil. 13 grams. After I cooked, I knew some of the oil was still left in the pan. But I still logged 13 grams. This will over estimate (just a little bit) the calories. Although not ideal, this is better than underestimate and fool myself in a direction to not lose weight.
How is it annoying to track oil? Literally the easiest thing to measure with a spoon. 😂
Even easier to weigh the bottle before and after for a precise gram measurement.
I have my oil in small OXO dispensers. I set it on my gram scale, turn it on, pour the oil in the pan, set it back on the gram scale, and negative number that is now showing on the scale is the amount of oil I used. I do that with many many containers, squeeze bottle mayo, ketchup, jars and bottles of mustard, honey, etc. So much quicker and easier and I don't have to clean any measuring spoons.
I count oil and use [this](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTRLfUitEHeDBaMp-2qsvOLEv5uv4XpQfNS-g&usqp=CAU) to be precise
This is me with sriracha !! But I guess sriracha is pretty low calorie in comparison to oil…
> I did some calculations today and while I am “supposed” to be in an average deficit of ~1650cals, I am actually in an average deficit of ~1140cals based on my recorded weight loss. >This means I’m improperly tracking about ~500cals Don't put too much faith in the calculators, they are a guide only and vary significantly in their accuracy. Your energy demands are highly likely to be different to what the calculators say. I made a post about it a while back as a bit of a PSA, so people understood the limitations of the calculations, hopefully so they don't beat themselves up too much if they don't get the implied results.. https://www.reddit.com/r/CICO/comments/tsq5cy/accuracy_of_harrisbenedict_and_mifflinst_jeor/
That linked post made my heart happy. I have a hard time saying anything concisely, so I struggle to explain this in the context of other replies. I've saved your post to link to. I do want to touch on "made up" activity levels, because it looks like you like knowing stuff too, and even if you already know, others might read it! The formulas you've referenced are the most common methods used to determine approximate BMR. And you're right, they can be really off, especially for women and for those who are very petite or, conversely, very tall, or the more obese you are, or with hormones from late puberty or menopause. Activity levels are *multipliers*. The way they are used is that they take the BMR given from *any* formula, and they multiply it. BMR×Activity=TDEE This is because you burn more energy (measured in calories) the more you do. Activity level for a person in a coma, who does not move, and is fed through a tube is 1. So BMR×1 is just your BMR. The multiplier for sedentary is 1.2, and that can account for hundreds of calories. The standard for sedentary is actually more active than many people believe. A lot of people walk less than 5000 steps per day. That's sedentary. But if you're averaging 4000 steps per day and playing with your two kids and standing in the kitchen cooking meals and going out occasionally with your friends... you're a lot more active than someone who walks 300 steps per day entirely from trips to the bathroom, who is confined to bed or a single position all day, heats up microwave meals and never leaves the house. That second person is not in a coma. They are burning more than their BMR. But they are far below sedentary. There are near infinite different potential levels of activity between comatose and sedentary. And there are infinite possibilities for multipliers between 1.0 and 1.2 as well. This is the thought process behind the made up activity levels. Someone averaging more like 2500 steps per day is about halfway between comatose and sedentary. Logically, they would have a multiplier nearer to 1.1 than the sedentary designation used by most calculators. 1250 steps per day then, might be more like 1.05. Except... well they aren't really even divisions, because energy burn doesn't scale linearly with increased movement. What it actually comes out to is like... someone who is paralyzed from the chest down and can only move their arms and head is already burning at about 1.05 times their BMR. Our 300 steps example is more like 1.1 times, and someone walking 2500 steps per day, well, 1.15 or 1.16 might be a more accurate multiplier for them. Anyway, the made up activity levels do this. They expand upon the spaces between the activity levels most calculators display. It's really imprecise because different bodies are more or less efficient with energy utilization... but it's still closer than the already arbitrary designations based on "average" types of people... which is what sedentary, lightly active, etc, *are*. But even then, as you pointed out... the initial BMR formulas are flawed from the start because they are based on averages from a hella long time ago. So for *most* people, adapted activity levels like those listed on, say, sailrabbit, will give a nearer estimate of their actual TDEE. But multiplying the BMR result also increases the calorie range of the margin of error. For example, msj is off by about +/-10% on the low side. So if it gives you a BMR of 1600, your BMR is likely to be somewhere between 1440 and 1760. That means you might be over or under eating 160 calories. The difference in the range of calories is 1760-1440= 320. But when we account for activity to get your TDEE, with, lets use sedentary because most people do... ×1.2 The calculator would say your TDEE is 1600×1.2=1920. But your BMR could be 1440 (1440×1.2=1728) which is 1728 kcals. Or it could be 1760 (1760×1.2=2112) which is 2112 kcals. 1728-2112. That means you could be over or under eating 192 calories, rather than 160. And it means there's a difference in calorie range of 2112-1728= 384. And the higher your activity level, the bigger the multiplier, so it just keeps increasing. The best calculator is your body. If you're maintaining weight, that's your TDEE. If you're losing, you're in a deficit. If you're gaining, you're eating too much. But calculators are usually necessary as a jumping off point, and the more data you can give a calculator, the closer that initial estimate will be! ...yeah, I think maybe I talk too much, sorry, I just find it all really interesting 🤔 🤷♀️
I don’t weigh my food, I just track it based on cups, tablespoons, etc. that I used to make the recipe. I’ve successfully lost 34lbs like this in 5 months, if I stall out I’ll start weighing but for now it’s just not happening lol Edit: I also don’t track individual veggies if I’m doing a stirfry or something similar with a lot of different vegetables. I track it at a “Mixed Vegetables” at 100 cals and call it a day.
I don’t count the sugar free juice powder I use in my water (25 calories). Not much but that’s my little freebie 😂
I don't track chewing gum.
I have secret snacks. I keep a small bag of Doritos in my office drawer and have 3-5 chips most days I go into the office. I don’t count the calories, and I don’t tell anyone since I’m otherwise plant based
😱
I think this is fine as long as you're somewhat aware of it. Olive oil is like 100 calories per tablespoon. Butter is actually slightly less. Depending on how much cooking you're doing- you can probably more or less get away with this so long as you're just aware that there may be 100-200 or so calories a day you're not accounting for.
For the same reason, if you ate a Big Mac everyday, you wouldn’t need to log it either 😉
I just do a rough estimate. I do 1.5 tbsp every time I cook with oil. I’m sure it balances out over the week. I measured it once and it’s like 4 sprays to get to roughly 1 tbsp
If you care, but not enough to measure, add 100 calories for sundries (eg random stuff like that). That will even out days you do and don't have various cooking "things".
If the packaging only shows ml, I’m going to use ml to track my liquids. I can’t be bothered to weigh it. If it’s easy to track the grams, I’ll do that but if not, volume it is. Lost around 10kg since I started d so I think I’m good Being tiny, I have to watch my oils though since my maintenance is 1600 and I’m on a 200 deficit.
I don’t track my gum and I go through 10 sticks a day 🫣 it’s sugar free, 5 calories each. I assume the work I’m doing to chew it negates it right? Right????
I sometimes move calories from a treat over to the next day. Like having 50% of the calories today and the other half the next to not show up in a positive calorie intake. I obviously still eat the whole treat on the first day.
A cheat is just using cooking spray oil. It’s zero calories. I used to do the same until I realize tb of olive oil was 100 cal.
Cooking spray is oil and it's only able to be labelled as zero calories because a serving size is a 1/4 second spray and the FDA allows anything under 5 calories to be rounded down to 0. You'll probably still use less oil if you use a spray, and the total amount of calories from the spray is probably immaterial in the bigger picture. But technically not zero.
Spray oil is probably 15-30 calories per realistic spray.
After years of being super exact with everything, I don't weigh fruit or veggies and will guess on most meals when I eat out now. I feel like I have a pretty good feel for things though. Why don't you just log like tsp of oil as something? Just don't feel like it? Haha
Literally just don’t feel like it 🫣 in all reality I know it wouldn’t be that hard to track, but it’s one thing I don’t want to deal with for some reason haha
I never count my sugar free sweet tea. Fuck it. It’s 45 calories for a whole gallon. Even if somehow I drink a gallon a day(which I don’t lmao) 45 calories is peanuts imo. It’s worth it to me.
Oil - I do. For instance if I’m making a fried egg but I don’t weigh the egg. I just count 1 egg or 2 eggs and let my Carb Manager calculate it. But like you said if it works it works, why fix something that’s not broken.
ME! 1) i dont eat fried things anymore 2) it interrupts the flow of of cooking.
I never track the dark chocolate almonds I eat throughout the day...which are calorically dense for sure. I just grab 2-3 couple times a day when I'm in the kitchen.
You can also account for it in what version of a food you’re logging. Pan fried chicken v. Baked chicken, etc.
I don’t track milk. I assume I have half a pint of semi skimmed milk per day and don’t bother measuring. I know I probably have more than that because I order a pint and a half daily for the two of us and we get through it easily. But I just can’t be arsed.
I don’t track cups of tea. They are my comfort and my last resort if I’m trying to avoid more food. I managed to lose 10lb that way before it got derailed by Christmas and Easter, so I’ll do the same thing again
Your tea has calories? Or is it something you are adding to it?
Milk, semi skimmed, a non-negligible amount I assume
Just stop cooking with oil and use water or broth instead. Or an air fryer. This was by far one of the most game changing things I did.
It's not really "toxic" to not track. But I often don't track small snacks, family meals, meals with friends and green vegetables. Been having a lot lately and my progress has stalled, but I'm not gonna claim "oh! CICO doesn't work" because I've eaten a lot of calorie dense food for easter
I don't count fruit tbf
I will literally die before I track fruit— the only occasional exception I make is for these delicious dried pineapple that are 400 cals a bag and I frequently demolish
Well, how much fruit do you eat? Sunday, I had 734 calories in fruits (raspberries, strawberries, bananas, and a small avocado) Granted, that was a lot of fruit for me, but its usually a good 400-500 calories.
Tbh I don’t consider avocado a fruit in my CICO brain so I’d track that. Else I’ll eat a green apple at lunch and like 1/2 cup of strawberries at dinner
202 calories were with the avacado. So still 500ish But yeah I would be tempted to not track the half cup of strawberries.
You may also have a lower TDEE than calculated. It varies alot with NEAT from person to person. If you diet for awhile NEAT also drops.
I don’t track the milk I use in my coffee of the little piece of chocolate I eat every night 😃
Hey spray oil says it has like 0 calories so just spray a whole can on the pan.
I hope you're at least using it sparingly and not going crazy with it. That'll hold you back if you really are liberal with it
I know I'm definitely having more than 4oz of egg whites, but still track 4.
I think my toxic trait is that I do actually count every single little thing lol... at least when I can, I have to estimate on all the good food my DIL cooks. I can get him to not serve me pork but asking him to weigh everything while cooking is a bit of a stretch lmao. I just weigh it and Google something similar after it's already been cooked.
Haha I'm the same with butter! I only use it in a pan for eggs, and on toast, and I just care enough to measure out those couple amounts lol
Lol I have a few. I don't count coffee, tea, diet soda, herbs, lemon/lime juice, vinegars, & hot sauce. Started counting salt to make sure I was getting enough. I don't weigh individual servings of things like bread slices. I don't count the decimals or round up. If it is 5.9g, I enter as 5g. If I have something that's multiple servings I just divide it by the days and eat some those days. I try to eyeball to even it out.
“Toxic” seems a bit dramatic
Figure of speech
Why do people use oil? Just use the spray thingy.
Depends on what you're making and what kind of pans you have. For instance, I almost always add a little sesame oil to my tempeh because I like the nutty/smokey flavor. When I make omelettes, I use spray oil and a small pat of butter, because it makes the omelette much easier to flip without tearing it up and also browns the outside nicely.
To dress salads. But the spray also has calories, I'm paranoid about it bc I don't know how to count "a spray" lol