How can you guys track Calories to within 100?

[peterm28]

I see some people talk about eating "200 Calories" over maintenance and stuff like that.

How can you possibly estimate that with such precision? (Especially if you cook or measure things out by eye). Is it true that some people know their Calorie intake to within 200 Calories?

[xsquid99]

You can't accurately track if you're eyeballing, you need a food scale and weigh everything down to the gram. However, there will always be a margin of error because nutrition labels only have to be accurate within +/- 20%.

For me, if I'm gaining about 2lbs per month on my bulk then I know I'm right in the zone for my calorie intake.

[AdamWW]

You can’t know, but if you consistently target that as a surplus you’ll likely end up getting fairly close. Personally I aim for a larger surplus than that because aiming for <200 is just such a small amount of difference, plus when I add more food I fidget a lot more and it seems to burn off... I often have to target 300-500 above just to gain anything

[Natty1980]

You cannot determine it in advance, but if you check your body weight regularly and record the weight gained, you can adjust your diet accordingly.
With 200 Cal over maintenance you should gain about 1 kg every 7 weeks.

[Mrpb]

I see some people talk about eating "200 Calories" over maintenance and stuff like that.

How can you possibly estimate that with such precision? (Especially if you cook or measure things out by eye). Is it true that some people know their Calorie intake to within 200 Calories?

Because they weigh everything they eat.

[905letters]

You cannot determine it in advance, but if you check your body weight regularly and record the weight gained, you can adjust your diet accordingly.
With 200 Cal over maintenance you should gain about 1 kg every 7 weeks.

that is not true, no way your gaining 4kg of weight per month on 200 cal surplus

[hardyboysare]

that is not true, no way your gaining 4kg of weight per month on 200 cal surplus

Better recheck your maths. He said 1kg every 7 weeks that is around that is around 0.5 - 0.6kg a month.

Or 140g per week.