[Elenaaria]

I really hate to list a specific food bcuz I lovee eating it for breakfast every morning but.. I was taught that 1 g of carb and 1 g of protein is 4calories and 1g of fat is 9 calories. Which is true btw. Last year I got pretty obsessive and would count up my calories by doing the math of multiplying the carb gs by 4 and so on...anyways most of what I counted came out to the same thing as what the food product said it was except my bread that came out to 30cals more and my fiber1 original cereal. Im asking this because I have a cup of fiber1 cereal every morning and I want to know if I should go by the box or my own math.

FIBER 1 ORIGINAL CEREAL NUTRITIONAL INFO
Serving size: 1/2 cup
Amount per Serving
calories: 60
Total fat: 1g (9calories)
Total Carb: 25g (100calories)
Protein: 2g (8calories)
Total calories by my math: 117
So when I did the math myself it was almost 2x as much as what the box said (btw the fibercalories only comes out to the 60calories it says)

Like I said I hate to list a specific product since I lovee what this cereal does for me but this is the only product (besides that bread but thats only by 30cals) thats off by my math. Since I have a cup every day I could be wrong in my calories by amost 120cals each day thats why im asking. Ive been going by my math since Id rather eat less calories than more but which do you think I should go by. Btw I dont count things out anymore.

So do you think I should go by my own math (234cals for a cup each morning) or the boxs (120cals for a cup each morning)

[katy trail]

kaploids wrote recently about this. i believe she said it was because the unsoluable fiber doesn't get digested by our body. so they don't count those calories.

[Elenaaria]

and since it has 13gs of insoluble fiber that would make it like 75cals so almost accurate..ok thanks. They dont count the insoulable calories but do you think I should?

[cassieroll]

Food manufactures stretch the truth.. there are guidelines on what they do and do not have to count as calories which makes it really hard for the consumer to trust anything they say.

ETA: This link has some really good information about labeling http://www.precisionnutrition.com/label-lies and it makes you just want to eat vegetables and fruits and beans and not bother with having to read labels LOL

[icelandgirl90]

actually you donīt absorb any of the calories from fiber, itīs a different kind of starch that humans canīt use the calories from. So you would have to subtract the number of grams of fiber from the number of grams of carbohydrates before you do the math. You definitely should not count the calories from fiber as they arenīt absorbed. Both soluble and insoluble fiber.
Iīm studying biological chemistry, so Iīm a 100% sure donīt worry!

[Elenaaria]

Oh so they werent lieing then it is 60 calories..haha and I always thought I had it all figured out and that a calorie was a calorie but there are rules for fiber too and since its called fiber1 cereal ofcourse like 1/2 the calories are fiber haha ok thankyou. So ive been counting 120cals too much for like a year from doing my own math...woohoo this means more calories for me lol

[QuilterInVA]

A serving of Fiber One is 1/2 cup, not 1 cup so they are not lying. You are being obsessive.

[katy trail]

i think she was saying she eats 1 cup of it, as a serving. i don't think she's taking it too far....but it's easy to go nuts because everything has so many calories. i try not to count that often for that reason. sticking to more whole foods, not worrying so much about calories.

[martinimouse]

I think of calorie counting as a guide, not an absolute. While I do measure and weigh my foods when I am actively seeking to lose weight, I realize that I can be as meticulous as I want to be, but that does not mean I have the most accurate count. Produce varies in the sugar content, manufactured foods can round up or down on their numbers, and of course someone else's cooking or a restaurant meal is a mere hint of a guess at best.

I watch my week's average more than I watch the day's total and I only end up taking the whole month's average as my comparison guide to the weight loss or gain that month. If I averaged 1300 calories for a month and did not lose weight, I know I need to drop it a bit. One meal, one day are not carved in stone for me, nor do I think of it as a failure to have varying calories throughout the month. But a month is the cutoff in analyzing my progress.