First of all, why is it even important to be tracking your food accurately?
Well, it might not be. If you’re just trying to “get a decent idea” of what you consume per day, it might not be worth it to you to weigh-out every single morsel of food you consume.
If that’s you, take this article with a grain of salt and remember that it’s not always a worthwhile trade-off to be tracking meticulously 24/7.
On the other hand, if you do have a serious fat loss or body recomposition goal, these really are things you should probably be paying attention to in terms of your tracking accuracy - especially if you’re currently paying a coach your hard-earned cash for their week-to-week macronutrient adjustments.
This article is for you.
I promise you don’t want to be the person who swears they’re eating 1,500 calories when really they’re crushing upwards of 2,000 per day.
So, let’s get into it.
Mistake #1: You’re using measuring cups instead of a food scale.
This is by far the most common error I see.
The classic example of this is peanut butter.
If you’re still measuring a tablespoon of peanut butter with an actual spoon, you’re really setting yourself up for inaccuracy due to the large degree of error you introduce when you opt for plastic utensils rather than your food scale.
In fact, since peanut butter is so calorically dense, I wouldn’t be surprised if some people were actually serving themselves twice the recommended serving size, which could result in an additional 190-200 calories from one simple mistake.
When it comes to eating below your needs for fat loss, those extra 200 calories alone could kick some people out of their daily deficit.
So, plop that jar on the scale, zero it out, and remove 16g of peanut butter if you’re serious about tracking your one tablespoon accurately.
Here are a few other awkward items that emphasize the point:
Spinach - A serving of spinach in the bags I buy is 3 cups. What does that even mean? How do you put spinach in a cup? How hard am I supposed to squish in the spinach?
Although I don’t think weighing your greens to the gram is necessary in most cases, the point stands.
Berries - Again, how do I measure non-liquid items in cups? Are the berries allowed to go above the rim of the cup? What if one berry is awkwardly shaped and creates a lot of free space in the cup?
This is the same idea as the spinach example.
And you get the idea.
Takeaway: Measure your foods in grams or ounces on your food scale for the greatest tracking accuracy.
If you need help figuring out which food scale to buy, I really like the Coffee Gator Coffee Scale. Even though I’m pretty sure this thing was designed to help you weigh your coffee grounds to the tenth of the gram, I’ve found it to be an amazing tool for body recomposition. I use it literally every day in order to weigh out my oats, berries, bananas, hemp seeds, soy milk, and protein powder.
Mistake #2: You’re weighing certain things cooked when you should be weighing them dry.
The most common culprits of this are rice, pasta, and quinoa.
Be sure to weigh these items dry, log them into MyFitnessPal, and then cook them in water.
For example, if you’re weighing cooked rice by the dry weight on the box, you’re actually going to be under-eating by quite a bit.
Don’t do that to yourself - especially if the true serving size would already have had you in a deficit.
Make the quick adjustment and keep your tracking on point.
Takeaway: Weigh and log your rices, pastas, and quinoa dry before cooking them unless you already know the conversion equation.
Pro Tip: If you’re thinking, “Well, wait. What if I want to make it in bulk?” then I recommend doing an experiment to figure out the conversion. For example, the way I make rice, one cup of dried rice comes out to about 135g of cooked rice. Once you have that conversion, you’ll be set for every future meal your prepare that contains rice the way you make it.
Some food tracking apps can actually do this well for you. For example, I use Cronometer and frequently use the “steamed white rice” or “quinoa, cooked” option and experience reliable results.
Mistake #3: You think you are much better at finding your favorite eat-out equivalents in MyFitnessPal than you really are.
For example, if you go out to a local place to get a double cheeseburger slathered in BBQ sauce and mayonnaise and wind up logging the McDonald’s double cheeseburger because that “should be close,” you’re being a silly rabbit and probably just looking for an excuse to smash some extra calories because you “didn’t know any better.” Give me a break, Spongebob.
The burger you consumed could have twice the amount of calories than the version you found in MyFitnessPal, which could easily wipe away your target deficit for the day in a single blow.
For that reason, it’s probably best to limit eating out when it’s really time to get serious about tracking accuracy. Is that inconvenient? Totally.
But, sometimes it’s the price you pay for having a serious body recomposition goal.
And, remember, it’s temporary. There will time for you to enjoy a relaxed, untracked meal of a black bean burger and fries once you’ve reach your goal and are back to maintenance or surplus eating.
Takeaway: Don’t be naive about trying to find calorically equivalent items in MyFitnessPal for food items that are just frankly impossible to track.
Mistake #4: You’re weighing and logging your meats incorrectly.
When you cook meats, their weight goes down.
Keep in mind that when you scan the code on the chicken breasts you bought, that information is logging into MyFitnessPal as the raw weight, which isn’t the same as cooked weight.
Each lean meat has a slightly different raw to cooked ratio, but in my meat-eating days I found that 4:3 was a decent rule of thumb to use - at least for chicken. That means that four ounces of chicken usually cooks down to around three ounces.
If you need practical help on the math side of things, multiply your cooked weight by 1.333 in MyFitnessPal if you’re using the raw meat macros to log.
So, if you put four ounces of cooked chicken on your homemade burrito, log that as 4x1.333, which equals about 5.3 ounces of raw chicken.
Is it perfect? No, but it’s about as close as we can get, and your consistency over time will level out the minor inaccuracies on a meal to meal basis.
Also, I always take the opportunity to use this platform to raise awareness around the benefits of eating a plant-predominant diet.
So if there’s any part of you that is “plant-curious” or tired of being encouraged to eat a ton of meat to support your body recomposition goals, click here to read about the meals I personally eat to build muscle on a completely plant-based diet.
Mistake #5: You’re forgetting about butters and oils and dressings.
Just because you go to Addison’s and get the steamed broccoli on the side doesn’t mean your boy in the back didn’t bathe your broccoli in butter or oil.
Remember, chefs don’t care about your fat loss goals. They care about food tasting good so they don’t get fired.
Another culprit? Oils in pastas and on fish like salmon.
Olive oil, although widely touted as a healthy fat, is one of the most calorically dense foods on the planet. Just one tablespoon packs 14g of fat.
And, if you need context to make sense of that number, know that I’m a 185-pound male and eat around 60g of total fat per day when dieting for fat loss. Just two tablespoons of olive oil would account for 46% of my daily needs.
But this is no reason to be afraid of olive oil. It just means you should be educated about olive oil.
The same mistake can be made with something simple like a Cobb salad, which plenty of people order thinking they’re making the “healthy choice.”
And really, they’re not technically wrong. Most of the foods in a salad are technically healthy, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to support your fat loss goal. Why?
Because Cobb salads typically come with bacon, avocado, egg, cheese, and dressing, which are all high-calorie tack-ons to keep your tastebuds happy.
If those portion sizes get loose at all, you’re looking at a 1,500+ calorie salad, which is what plenty of my female clients eat in an entire day to support their fat loss efforts.
Worth it? Maybe, but I doubt it unless you really like Cobb salads.
Takeaway: Don’t be a noob when it comes to being oblivious about butters, oils, and dressings - especially when you’re not preparing your own food or eating out. When in doubt, pass on unnecessary high-fat add-ons or limit yourself to one modestly-portioned, plant-based fat source like avocado.
Mistake #6: You’re putting too much faith in the caloric numbers some companies put on their menus or online nutrition guides.
Think about it.
How can some nutrition expert at Chipotle headquarters guarantee that every random bro working the burrito line is going to give you the exact serving size of steak, black beans, rice, and guac to make that 700-calorie burrito bowl you designed on their website exactly 700 calories?
That burrito that the website technically says is 700 calories could easily be 1,000 or more - especially if fat sources like cheese and sour cream are involved.
And, what about the chips and queso?
What if you get the guy with tiny hands versus the girl with huge hands? Or the guy who is feeling generous versus the girl who shorts you so bad you ask to speak to the manager?
The caloric differences can be massive.
Takeaway: Again, don’t be green. Just because the website says what you ordered is 700 calories, keep in mind that it could be 500 or 1,000 calories (or anywhere in between) depending on which random college kid happened to be working that day.
Mistake #7: You aren’t tracking alcohol.⠀
I don’t know why this happens so much, but a lot of people just don’t track their booze.
Alcohol has quite a few calories, so if you’re not tracking them you’re really doing yourself a disservice.
Personally, my favorite fat loss friendly beverages are either gin and tonics or diet sodas with a bit of rum or whiskey.
You’ll find my two favorite combos below with accompanying moods:
Diet Sprite and Malibu (if I feel like listening to Taylor Swift by the pool)
Diet Coke and Whiskey (if I feel like pressing into masculine stereotypes)
Alcoholic seltzers like Truly or White Claw can be low-calorie options as well.
Booze to be careful with
You’ll probably want to be careful with wines and beers (especially IPAs or stouts) as they tend to pack a hefty caloric punch.
“But, I thought red wine was good for you?”
Maybe it is, but it still has a boat-load of calories if you and the girls starting getting wily with your pours during The Bachelor premier.
And for the beer drinkers, even just two cans of your favorite IPA can contain nearly 500 calories - and, let’s be honest, that’s just the beginning for some people on the weekends.
Takeaway: Track your booze, and make sure you craft enough space in your diet for them if you’re passionate about enjoying an alcoholic beverage from time to time.
Mistake #8: You justify going hog wild with your calories when you’re away from your food scale.
For some people, life falls apart when they don’t have their scale, which means on the weekends they go bananas when out with friends.
Let me encourage you not to do that. Those extra calories really do matter.
It’s like being a good kid during the week and then throwing a total banger of a house party on Friday night and burning your parents’ place down in true Project X fashion.
Fat loss is pretty similar. Even though one “bad day” probably won’t ruin the consistency of weeks and months, it can certainly slow down the fat loss process and leave some people feeling set back and discouraged.
And, to be fair enough, if you go hard enough on the weekend, you can absolutely undo an entire week’s worth of disciplined dieting toward your gal.
My opinion? Try to strike a balance and rely on good habits when you’re separated from your food scale.
If you need something concrete, here are some strategies I implement:
Prioritize whole foods.
Focus on consuming plenty of vegetables and fruits.
Try to get your fats from healthy sources (or keep them to a minimum).
Enjoy one modestly-portioned sweet treat if you really want to participate and enjoy the moment.
So there you go! Hopefully highlighting these easy-to-make mistakes will help you tidy up your food tracking methods and get the results you want.
As always, thank you for engaging with my content! If you feel like this blog was helpful, I would love it if you sent it to a friend who might be struggling to make sense of all this calorie talk. It can certainly be overwhelming.
Lastly, I want to disclose that I do earn from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate.
Later, friends.
-Andrew
