Too Nitpicky or Due Diligence?

SDenae
on 11/21/15 11:48 pm - Greenwood, IN
VSG on 09/23/15

For those of you *****cord what you eat (so, nearly all of us):

Do you record your chewable vitamins and count the calories from them? I have been, even though it's only ~7 calories each dose.

Secondly, I have a sore throat, so I took a Cepacol and decided to scan the bar code and see what came up. Well, it's got 9 calories. Now, I'm all conflicted. Should I count it. Would you count it? I can't decide. On the one hand, I don't think medicine calories should count, but on the other hand, my body's going to count the calories even if I don't.

 

So, am I being too nitpicky about this?

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Bufflehead
on 11/22/15 2:23 am - TN
VSG on 06/19/13

I count vitamins/minerals but not medicine. I worry that if I start freaking out about medicine calories, I won't take the meds I need. That said, I try to avoid OTC meds that only treat symptoms, and when I do take them, I try to look for SF versions.

White Dove
on 11/22/15 3:21 am - Warren, OH

I count everything.  It is so easy when it can be just scanned.  I had surgery in 2007 and did my tracking by hand then.

Real life begins where your comfort zone ends

Grim_Traveller
on 11/22/15 5:47 am
RNY on 08/21/12

I count everything. But if you take something  ike Cepacol once in a blue moon, you could skip it. But vitamins are different since you take them every day. Depending on what types you take, you can easily get over 100 calories a day in vitamins and calcium. That's a big chunk of calories to skip.

6'3" tall, male.

Highest weight was 475. RNY on 08/21/12. Current weight: 198.

M1 -24; M2 -21; M3 -19; M4 -21; M5 -13; M6 -21; M7 -10; M8 -16; M9 -10; M10 -8; M11 -6; M12 -5.

happyteacher
on 11/22/15 10:54 am

Early out I made a "meal" in MFP for all of the daily vitamins. It did log calories, but I used it more to track that I actually took them. I don't count meds- you are right, the body counts them but unless the scale says I need to it is a little overkill for me.

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psychoticparrot
on 11/22/15 2:09 pm

I log e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. My chewable and gummy vitamins/minerals add up to 50 calories a day. That's why, when I have them with a cup of black unsweetened coffee in the afternoon, it feels like I've eaten a meal. In the caloric sense, I have.

But don't let a few medicinal calories that you need now and then to alleviate pain stop you from taking them. If you made a habit of taking a dozen Cepacols daily, then sure, you would have a problem. But temporarily while you're ill? Not a problem. Still ... put them in your food log if for no other reason than to be totally aware of your intake.

Better to be too "nitpicky" than not nitpicky enough (I found that out the hard way).

Hope you get over your sore throat soon.

 

psychoticparrot

  "Live for what today has to offer, not for what yesterday has taken away."

midwiferywoman
on 11/23/15 7:29 am
VSG on 12/04/15

Sorry if this is a dumb question but how are you scanning the barcode to get calorie info??  Is it an app?


"You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit" -Aristotle
SW: 237lbs | Lap Band Feb 2010 | LW: 188lbs | Post op baby Feb 2013 | July 2015 slipped band diagnosed | Oct 2015 band port eroded through adominal wall | 10/20/15 lap band removed | Regained to 215lbs | VSG: 12/4/2015 | LW: 148lbs but settled around 154lbs | Post-op baby #2 born Jan 2018 | CW: 160lbs

Duetoprivacy
on 11/23/15 9:39 am

The My Fitness Pal app has a scanning function that lets you scan in the bar code on the food label and it automatically adds the nutritional information. It's super handy. 

FuturePinUp
on 11/23/15 11:33 am

I do not count calories from medicine or vitamins/supplements, unless each serving is greater than 10 calories. I did track calories when I was taking chewable vitamins, and chewable calcium but all of my pills are of the swallowing variety, since 3 months post-op, and I really don't want to obsess that closely. Plus, I only take about 4 vitamins/supplements a day so I can't imagine it being that much - especially since I generally always over-estimate food calories.

VSG: 06/24/15 // Age: 35 // Height: 5'10" // Lost so far: 190 lbs

HW: 348 (before 2 week pre-op diet) // SW: 326 // CW: 158

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