Which calories do I count?

I've noticed that sometimes the calorie counts on the site differ from the ones on the package, even if it's the exact same brand...for some reason, the site is usually lower.

What I've been doing is just changing the serving size I enter untill the calories for that match the calories listed on the packaging, but that also changes the amount of fat, sodium etc. in my food log, thus altering my nutrition analysis.

So...which one should I count?

Also, I'm not sure if this is the right forum...moderators, feel free to move this wherever you feel it fits best :p

follow the packages, the calories on this site can vary depending on who entered the information and when it was entered. sometimes the nutrition information for any given item can change, so i would go by the package and make sure to eat the recommended serving on the package. stay consistent, if you're looking at the package always go by the serving size and calories on the package and remain using the same information in subsequent times so that your intake is comparable across weeks. hope that makes sense :)

It does...thanks a lot!

Hi, I'm not sure if what items you have had this happen with, but if it is really close to the package stats, it may be that the site actually has more accurate info! Or at least it seems it... Take milk for instance: 1 cup whole milk is 150 calories on the carton and 146 on the site. To me it seems they have possibly a better reading; which seems a bit odd I know. Anyhoo, I too have had this happen obviously but only a tiny difference and only with a few items.

I've noticed that as well, but it's normally just off a few calories from the label, so I don't worry too much about it. :P

I always go by whichever is higher... just in case.

There is a way to enter your own information on the calorie log, for products that aren't on the site. I do that all the time. When you're doing your food log, its right next to the search button. After I add a new food, I just tag it so I don't have to re-enter all of the nutritional stats the next time I have it. Just click tagged items and its right there.

One reason the site and the packages differ is because food manufacturers round calories down (usually) to the nearest 5.  This site on the other hand, uses the number of grams of protein, carbs, and fat to calculate the calories, using the rule that each gram of protein and carbohydrate has X number of calories and each gram of fat has Y number of calories.

The rule (at least in the US) is that food manufacturers can round down the number of calories to the nearest 5, ie. if a food has between 5 and 9.9999 calories, then they can say it has 5 calories per serving.  So I have found that this site usually says that foods have more calories then the labels.

OH!  I was wondering why my jar of pickles claimed to have 0 Kcal a pickle!  Thanks for clearing that up, techdog!

Glad to be of help.  The basic rule is that protein and carbs (except for alcohol) provide 4 calories per gram, fat provides 9 calories per gram and alcohol is 7 calories per gram, so if you want to see how much they are rounding, then use these numbers (assuming that the label tells you how many grams of each of these) to calculate a more accurate calorie count.  Or if you are lazy, just add 5 to every calorie listing on labels.  This will give you a slight overestimate, but not by a whole lot.