For those who count calories...

[JDkeystone]

Are there any types of calories you don't bother to include in your daily totals?

ie. oil/butter used for cooking, fish oil caps, SF gum/soda, anything else considered very low cal, etc.

[finOx]

Are there any types of calories you don't bother to include in your daily totals?

ie. oil/butter used for cooking, fish oil caps, SF gum/soda, anything else considered very low cal, etc.

I include everything, but some people consider me anal with my nutrition.

[asto_86]

Are there any types of calories you don't bother to include in your daily totals?

ie. oil/butter used for cooking, fish oil caps, SF gum/soda, anything else considered very low cal, etc.

i count it all.. trace sources can add up

[gmaki]

Are there any types of calories you don't bother to include in your daily totals?

ie. oil/butter used for cooking, fish oil caps, SF gum/soda, anything else considered very low cal, etc.

I count the fish oil caps because they are easy. I don't count butter used in cooking usually or condiments for the most part... I try not to use them too much anyway.

I try to offset that by estimating slightly high during the time I have to estimate.

In the end you can really only get so close. For instance when you eat a steak, how do you REALLY know how much fat you consumed? Looking at the marbling? do you not eat the fat round the edge and would you bother trying to count it or subtract it?

What if you eat a portion of rice but can't weight it for whatever reason. You have to estimate... and the error there is greater than the error you get from not estimating a cooking oil. That's my view anyway.

In the end if you are consistent and track calories counted against weight lost or gained it should be good enough.. and it has for me so far.

[JDkeystone]

I include everything, but some people consider me anal with my nutrition.

lol same here.

i count it all.. trace sources can add up

They can, I agree, but for something like SF gum, or a few sprays of Pam before cooking or something... those I tend to not count when adding up my daily totals (which I highly doubt would make much of a difference in the end). Like, stuff that you use to grease the pan before cooking isn't going to entirely make it into your stomach when you're done eating, so how do you add it up?

I count the fish oil caps because they are easy. I don't count butter used in cooking usually or condiments for the most part... I try not to use them too much anyway.

I try to offset that by estimating slightly high during the time I have to estimate.

In the end you can really only get so close. For instance when you eat a steak, how do you REALLY know how much fat you consumed? Looking at the marbling? do you not eat the fat round the edge and would you bother trying to count it or subtract it?

What if you eat a portion of rice but can't weight it for whatever reason. You have to estimate... and the error there is greater than the error you get from not estimating a cooking oil. That's my view anyway.

In the end if you are consistent and track calories counted against weight lost or gained it should be good enough.. and it has for me so far.

Good answer

Outta curiousity, though, do you ever eat "calorie free" foods, like Walden Farms products? If so, how would you add those in (or would you)?

[Lecter612]

I count everything when I'm counting, especialy cooking oils (those are extremely calorie dense, so a tsp here and a Tbsp here really really add up). The point of counting is to know how many calories I am consuming...so only counting some of them completely defeats the purpose for me.

[SydTheKid]

i include everything, but some people consider me anal with my nutrition.

x2 .

[BloodRaged]

There are very few things I don't count.

As for the oil and cooking, I just skip on using that **** the best I can lol call me lazy.

I try to keep a really simple system and it works well for me.

Various small things I don't mess with but that's because it might be like 15 calories and the only one I have all day. Like a very small amount of sugar in a coffee... that isn't going to make or break my goal since I'm generally 20 +/- of my goal anyway.

I don't know my system now works very well for me and since I log the foods from previous days it's really easy for me to reference the older logs and tally all that **** up.

[JDkeystone]

I count everything when I'm counting, especialy cooking oils (those are extremely calorie dense, so a tsp here and a Tbsp here really really add up). The point of counting is to know how many calories I am consuming...so only counting some of them completely defeats the purpose for me.

A full tbsp of olive oil I would definitely count (120 cals a shot is pretty big). I'm mainly talking about stuff that has trace calories (sugarless gum, cooking sprays, diet soda, etc). This kinda stuff I just simply don't count cuz it's so tiny (and a lot of it you're not even actually eating). But are you saying you would still count all of these?

[determined4000]

Are there any types of calories you don't bother to include in your daily totals?

ie. oil/butter used for cooking, fish oil caps, SF gum/soda, anything else considered very low cal, etc.

I dont count oil spray, gum, diet drinks, etc. because I eat/use the same everyday so any changes in weight would be due to the other food I am consuming. Its not as if some days I would all of a sudden chew 10 pieces of gum, drink 10 gallons of diet drinks or use an entire can of PAM. As long as you are fairly consistent in using them and know what you maintain on otherwise, why bother counting.
I would count added oil and butter when added to my food (or if I used them for cooking) but generally don't use oil for cooking because it is hard to determine how much is left in the pan vs. on the food

[fgfan1]

do you guys count cals from green veggies? i dont think i ever have, maybe i should start though

[Opies]

i don't count sugar free gum nor fish oil (2g/day)

[JDkeystone]

do you guys count cals from green veggies? i dont think i ever have, maybe i should start though

I count my vegetables (but I also eat 50-100 cals worth per serving).

i don't count sugar free gum nor fish oil (2g/day)

I don't bother counting gum either, but fish oil (mine, anyway) is like 10 cals per caplet, and I take 4-6 a day, so that I do include (if it was under 20 cals, I prolly wouldn't, though).

[gmaki]

Outta curiousity, though, do you ever eat "calorie free" foods, like Walden Farms products? If so, how would you add those in (or would you)?

I've never heard of these "calorie free" foods... hang on a sec while I use the Google...

Ahh, that's interesting. For my part adding flavor to my food isn't that important. When I was in deficit I just ate whatever plain, or with salt at the most. Eggs, steak, chicken, whatever. I'd just eat it basically plain. To me eating is just a necessary daily chore (other than special occasions) so I would just eat what I planned and not make a big production out of it. Just get the job done!

Now I am "bulking" so everything is easier in some respects although I am still counting calories so as not to gain more than 1/2 lb a week. Believe it or not though it's still a bit of a struggle getting in enough calories right now. I have grown so used to eating at a severe deficit.

[c-diddy]

i count it all. even every little packet of splenda and oil added during cooking.

after months of doing so, i've come to the conclusion that green veggies like brocolli, spinach and celery aren't really worth their weight in calories. so, if you're on a bulk then eating 300 calories worth of fresh broccoli won't really amount to much.

weight watchers and even jillian michaels advocate unlimited dark green veggies in their diet plans.

[Discipline27]

I've made myself a mealplan for everyday for the past 5 months. But I have given myself 2 cheat meals a week where I don't pay attention to how many calories I eat. Great lean gains for the first 4 months.

Over the holidays, I have been drinking several glasses of milk, which I don't count either. I think I have been gaining weight a bit too fast though since I added milk, so I may stop drinking it.

[UCFBuilder]

when im dieting for competition..which starts again in a few weeks..yes..everything get counted..in offseason..i have a set diet to gain weight..any little thing i eat off that diet doesnt get counted

[RealMenDeadLift]

Why anyone would count every calorie outside of deep contest prep is beyond me

[determined4000]

Outta curiousity, though, do you ever eat "calorie free" foods, like Walden Farms products? If so, how would you add those in (or would you)?

well 1/4c of their syrup is listed as 0, so it can have a max of 4 calories. I doubt that will make a difference, considering the label for every slice of bread, egg, nutritional bar, etc, can be off by 10%.

[queenofswords]

Why anyone would count every calorie outside of deep contest prep is beyond me

mmm I kinda feel the same about that. I pretty much count everything apart from the really anal trace stuff that I don't bother with. The way I see it, if I don't have a competition to diet down for, (which I don't), those trace cals aren't going to make or break my figure.