The Self-Deception
In what ways do you deceive yourself about what or how much you eat?
The Short Answer
Almost everyone underestimates. Studies show people consistently misreport calorie intake, sometimes by 40-50%. The deception isn’t conscious lying — it’s selective attention, motivated forgetting, and portion distortion. The bites while cooking don’t count. The handful was small. The healthy label means unlimited. The drink was “just water” (with juice). Until you honestly inventory these blind spots, you’re working with corrupted data.
Something to Sit With
You’re not lying to yourself on purpose. But somewhere, there’s a gap between what you think you’re eating and what you’re actually eating.
Where’s the gap? What are you not seeing?
Learn More
The research on underreporting. Study after study confirms that people underestimate how much they eat:
Calorie underestimation. Research using doubly labeled water (an objective measure of energy expenditure) compared to self-reported food intake consistently finds that people report eating 30-50% fewer calories than they actually consume.
Portion distortion. When asked to estimate portion sizes, most people significantly underestimate — often by a third or more.
Selective memory. People remember main meals better than snacks. The incidental eating — the tastes, the bites, the extras — gets lost.
This isn’t about honesty. Even people trying their best to report accurately underreport. The mechanisms are largely unconscious.
Common blind spots. Where does the untracked eating hide?
Bites while cooking. A taste of the sauce, a sample of the stir-fry, a piece of cheese while prepping. These add up but don’t register as “eating.”
Drinks. The coffee with cream. The smoothie. The juice with breakfast. Liquid calories often fly under the radar because they don’t feel like food.
The handful. Nuts from the jar. Chips while passing through the kitchen. A few candies from the bowl. “Just a few” adds calories that don’t feel countable.
Restaurant portions. When you “ate a salad,” you’re thinking of the lettuce. You’re not counting the dressing, croutons, cheese, and fried protein that turned it into 1,000 calories.
“Healthy” foods. Foods perceived as healthy often get a mental pass. Granola, smoothie bowls, trail mix, avocado toast — these can be calorie-dense, but the “healthy” label makes them feel like they don’t count.
The extras. The bread before the meal. The sauce on the side. The butter on the vegetables. These don’t feel like “eating” because they’re accompaniments.
Why we deceive ourselves. The deception serves psychological purposes:
Protecting self-image. If you think of yourself as eating healthily, acknowledging the untracked eating threatens that identity.
Avoiding cognitive dissonance. If you’re trying to eat less but actually eating more, recognizing the truth is uncomfortable.
Confirmation bias. You remember the salads. You forget the cookies. Memory serves the narrative you want to believe.
Wishful thinking. If you don’t track it, maybe it doesn’t count. This magical thinking is surprisingly common.
Finding the truth. To identify your blind spots:
Track everything for a week. Not to restrict — to observe. Write down every bite, including the tastes, the handfuls, the drinks. Use a scale for portions. The goal is data, not judgment.
Pay attention to the “not counting” moments. When do you think “this doesn’t count” or “this is so small it doesn’t matter”? Those are the moments to scrutinize.
Ask an observer. If you live with someone, ask them what eating they see that you might not track. Outside perspective catches what internal attention misses.
Notice the gap. If you’re eating “perfectly” but not seeing results, the gap between perception and reality is the explanation.
Further reading:
- Lichtman SW et al., “Discrepancy between self-reported and actual caloric intake and exercise in obese subjects” — New England Journal of Medicine, 1992
- The Hungry Brain by Stephan Guyenet, PhD — The psychology of food consumption