Neil_B

True. In the case of My Fitness Pal I was thinking of the various listings for "Olive Garden House Salad". I recall seeing at least six different items and six different calorie counts.

bassjones

Tracking calories is important but it's more important to know how many calories you SHOULD be consuming. MFP took my data and had my recommended calories at 2800 per day. I know from a test I had that my MBR is 2000 calories a day, so to loose weight I need to be under that. I aim for 1800. I got this from a medjem test and speaking with a nutritionist who designed a program for me. If I follow it, it works (imagine that...), but if I just followed MFPs recommendations, I'd be gaining weight.

chefisaac

That's why I like WW because nothing is imputed by other members expect specific recipes that they make. Example, if tractor makes a pizza recipe and loads it into ww and decides to share the recipe, you have the option of making that recipe. But my wife and I do it differently and load our own food. It is pretty darn simple with great support all over.

CommuteCommando

This is true. The down side is that WW's database isn't (at least wasn't when I was doing it), as extensive as the open databases. Another problem with all of them, including WW, is that sometimes the serving sizes listed are meaningless, i.e. "1 Slice Pizza", or "1 medium orange". A 3" diameter orange is about twice the volume of a 2 5/8" orange. I would love to see listings like "(fat,carb,prot)/oz peeled orange" I have a very accurate little scale.

FatSecret had me at 2600. I manually reset to to 2200. Now on TrainingPeaks, I am assigned a base of 1928, which is consistent with what I have found from researching it. I am back to losing now.

chefisaac

I would rather have a data base that is liked with preset items versus a data base that is large and open with side olive Arden house salads that all differ.

The point is that ww does not allow members to openly add items. This is because the above issue stated. So either ww admins add it or you add it for yourself via the nutritional info.

brianogilvie 

^ This is important. When you set up MFP, you need to gauge your activity level without exercise, because you track exercise separately. I'm aiming to cycle at least a hundred miles each week this summer, but I set my MFP activity level to "sedentary," because apart from cooking, light housework, and occasional gardening, I spend most of my time reading and writing.

MFP's exercise database, like most, overestimates the calories required by various activities. That's another source of problems. According to my Edge 800, I consume 600-700 calories/hour cycling at 16 mph. MFP claims that I burn over 1000. If I used its database, I'd be losing far less than I am.