How accurate does a food journal have to be?

[tara]

If I'm off by a small amount for each food I enter in my food journal, will it make a big difference to my weight loss? I don't know how accurate I'll be able to be when it comes down to the last handful of calories or so.

[Beth]

I try to be as accurate as I can with my tracking and just keep in mind that I might not be accurate right down to the single calorie. So if I'm fifty calories over or under, I pretty much consider myself right on target and don't give myself a hard time either way.

[KraftyJo]

Your best guess is good enough as long as you're not making decisions based on the total, right down to the handful of calories. Create a range for yourself instead of a single limit and you'll find that the process works a lot better for you.