calorie management when you cook your food.

Ellaskat

I was curious what others do who cook most/all of their own meals? I do not eat packaged foods with a very few exceptions. It seems to me that calorie counting is really geared towards folks who either eat packaged foods (where cal counts are easily knowable) or to folks who eat 1 ingredient foods - like an apple, or an egg.

What do others do? I personally have tried weighing all my ingredients, and then dividing dishes to approximate cal counts - but have decided for my life, that is an insane thing to do.

So, I eat as healthfully as I can, but I have no idea how many calories i'm eating.

Would love your thoughts.

dopeysmelly

I use the recipe builder in MFP. Enter all the ingredients, weigh the final batch and divide into portions.

SuggaD

I use the recipe builder when I can. But my mother cooks most of my meals, so I just estimate. Has worked out ok. I agree re: weighing (but I am in the minority on here).

WickedPineapple

Or people who like spreadsheets. Before the recipe builder was added (or I discovered it), I'd take a recipe and enter each ingredient and its nutritional info into a spreadsheet and make totals per serving. Then I'd enter the totals into MFP as one of 'my foods'. I just recently discovered the recipe builder, it's pretty easy to use.

Ellaskat

sigh - i just refuse to do that - i did it on here about 4 years ago and that just doesn't work for me. I don't measure when I'm cooking - and I'm not interested in starting. I'll add wine, or olive oil, or chicken broth (that I made) at the 'right' level based on sight.... When I was counting calories on her about 4 years ago I was very unhappy and crazy about it - which made my husband ccrazy too! So it's just not for me. Curious what people do who cook, that are unwilling to weigh and measure each ingredient.

glevinso

Either you are trying to count calories or you aren't. Clearly you aren't.

WickedPineapple

I'm unsure what your question is. You're wondering what people who don't weight their ingredients/calorie count do for what?

Ellaskat

correct - i do not plan to count each and every calorie - that's why my post says calorie management. I want to manage my calories. you can have an awareness without counting each and every one.

MomFLYer

I estimate... I too try to stay as far away from processed foods as I can - but I'm a sucker for lunchmeat & sodas.....
I also try to limit my portions - very hard for me at times....

Ellaskat

i'm wondering how people keep an awareness/manage what they eat if they do not count calories. There are ways to be healthful without counting each one - so i'm curious what others do.

SuggaD

Sounds like you have it figured out, so why the question? Stay generally aware of your calories. Manage your portions. So long as you are realistic/reasonable, I think it can work out fine. Personally, I think that should be everyone's goal. Really, who wants to count for the rest of their lives?

WinoGelato

Then it is possible this site, which is built off of calorie counting databases, is not for you...

Ellaskat

that's my point SuggaD. I've 'been there done that' with counting calories and for me, it's not a lifestyle choice I want - and I'm all about creating a lifestyle. I try to be mindful of eating reasonable quantities of reasonable foods - thought someone who has been doing that longer than me might have interesting tips of how they keep a healthy diet without watchign the calories.

Ellaskat

kruggeri, i come here for the community, as well as the tracking of my exercise, which syncs with the fitness app i use. I find it useful and know not everyone counts calories. i was curious what those who don't count caloreis do instead to have a healthy diet. Why is that such a controversial question? I'm surprised by the snarky tone in some of these posts. Just looking for others who know more than me and could offer ideas. Count away, if that works for you - it just isn't what i want for me.

TheVirgoddess

Ellaskat wrote: »

sigh - i just refuse to do that - i did it on here about 4 years ago and that just doesn't work for me. I don't measure when I'm cooking - and I'm not interested in starting. I'll add wine, or olive oil, or chicken broth (that I made) at the 'right' level based on sight.... When I was counting calories on her about 4 years ago I was very unhappy and crazy about it - which made my husband ccrazy too! So it's just not for me. Curious what people do who cook, that are unwilling to weigh and measure each ingredient.

You only really have to do the measuring/weighing of ingredients once though. The next time I sort of throw it in, being mindful of my original measurements. It's worth it to me.

If it's not worth it to you, I'd don't really have much advice.

Th3Ph03n1x

Ellaskat wrote: »

I was curious what others do who cook most/all of their own meals? I do not eat packaged foods with a very few exceptions. It seems to me that calorie counting is really geared towards folks who either eat packaged foods (where cal counts are easily knowable) or to folks who eat 1 ingredient foods - like an apple, or an egg.

What do others do? I personally have tried weighing all my ingredients, and then dividing dishes to approximate cal counts - but have decided for my life, that is an insane thing to do.

So, I eat as healthfully as I can, but I have no idea how many calories i'm eating.

Would love your thoughts.

I cook a lot from recipes found online and many of them give the nutrition information. If I'm cooking from a book or something I just whipped up I do as the first poster suggested use the MFP builder.

cwolfman13

Ellaskat wrote: »

that's my point SuggaD. I've 'been there done that' with counting calories and for me, it's not a lifestyle choice I want - and I'm all about creating a lifestyle. I try to be mindful of eating reasonable quantities of reasonable foods - thought someone who has been doing that longer than me might have interesting tips of how they keep a healthy diet without watchign the calories.

I'm able to do this now, but I counted calories and weighed and measured most things for months to learn how to do this....

Over the course of 9 months I lost about 40 Lbs counting calories and weighing and measuring most things...I've maintained for going on 2 years without counting calories save for a spot check here and there. I still weigh and/or measure calorie dense things when I'm cooking though. Weighing and measuring helped me to learn portions...I can eyeball most things now, but it was a learned thing.

Logging and counting calories and whatnot isn't the lifestyle...but it is good "training wheels" to help you along until you can ride without them. This seems to be lost on a great many...

MinnieInMaine

I do the same as MomFLYer - guesstimate and keep my portions small. Say I make a soup. I try to count how many servings there are in total as I dole them out and hope for the best. For portions, try using smaller plates and bowls and avoid going back for seconds.

NJGamerChick

I use the old recipe builder and only count things with significant calories. I don't add in herbs or things that have few calories. And I estimate as well as I could. For example, I made marinara yesterday. I calculated my tomatoes, onions and oil. Then I guessed (and because I'm neurotic at the moment, I measured) as I jarred. If I'm off a few calories, I don't freak. I tend to overestimate normally anyway, don't log exercise calories, and always eat at a deficit. And when I freestyle cook, I estimate the ingredients in the calculator and divide by how many servings I plan to have.

auddii

TheVirgoddess wrote: »

Ellaskat wrote: »

sigh - i just refuse to do that - i did it on here about 4 years ago and that just doesn't work for me. I don't measure when I'm cooking - and I'm not interested in starting. I'll add wine, or olive oil, or chicken broth (that I made) at the 'right' level based on sight.... When I was counting calories on her about 4 years ago I was very unhappy and crazy about it - which made my husband ccrazy too! So it's just not for me. Curious what people do who cook, that are unwilling to weigh and measure each ingredient.

You only really have to do the measuring/weighing of ingredients once though. The next time I sort of throw it in, being mindful of my original measurements. It's worth it to me.

If it's not worth it to you, I'd don't really have much advice.

I do this. I find it really hard to follow recipes anyways, so I log the main ingredients (I never bother logging spices) once and then use that as an estimate each time I make the same dish. If I do something drastically different, I relog it to see what it's like. For example, I make a kind of Italian stew (essentially pasta sauce that has a ton of veggies and I don't put it over pasta), and I normally make it with ground venison. I didn't have any so I tried Italian sausage and shredded chicken. I relogged it because it was pretty different.

Th3Ph03n1x

Ellaskat wrote: »

kruggeri, i come here for the community, as well as the tracking of my exercise, which syncs with the fitness app i use. I find it useful and know not everyone counts calories. i was curious what those who don't count caloreis do instead to have a healthy diet. Why is that such a controversial question? I'm surprised by the snarky tone in some of these posts. Just looking for others who know more than me and could offer ideas. Count away, if that works for you - it just isn't what i want for me.

I actually tried to do it without counting calories. Just to make more healthy choices and eat less. Apparently I am not aware enough because I was gaining weight so for me... at least until I become more aware the counting is necessary. I also try to stay close to MFP's calorie recommendation for calories even though other calculators recommend more calories for me. I do that mainly in case I under calculate my calorie intake.

momswanson

I use the recipe builder. It used to be cumbersome but it has been updated recently and is much easier to use. You should give it a try!

Ellaskat

thank you guys - these are some good ideas. I'm working on creating healthier versions of foods I already like cooking, so perhaps once i get a good routine going, i could measure a batch once and then input that info for myself. i also like the idea of looking for recipes with cals included - i don't think i've seen that - any sites you can share?

4 years ago when i was on here, i was measuring each and every time i cooked - wont do that again.

WickedPineapple

Ellaskat wrote: »

kruggeri, i come here for the community, as well as the tracking of my exercise, which syncs with the fitness app i use. I find it useful and know not everyone counts calories. i was curious what those who don't count caloreis do instead to have a healthy diet. Why is that such a controversial question? I'm surprised by the snarky tone in some of these posts. Just looking for others who know more than me and could offer ideas. Count away, if that works for you - it just isn't what i want for me.

Gotcha. I can honestly understand why people don't like calorie counting. I lost a chunk of weight just eating healthier and less, but to get down to my goal weight I had to calorie count as well. I would suggest decreasing portion sizes of your entrees and increasing portion sizes of your veggies. Also, replace certain ingredients with healthier ones while cooking (for example, when I make pizza I mix wheat flour with the white and sometimes add a little flax seed into the crust and use part-skim mozzarella instead of the full fat).

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Lounmoun

I cook but I generally follow recipes and do measure quite a few things. Since I have been cooking and measuring food a long time I am pretty confident about what certain measurements look like. I have checked my estimates with measured portions so I know I am pretty good at eyeballing some things.
Do you make the same things pretty often? If you eyeball/guess/measure once, jot down the amounts you used and what a portion size was, then enter the recipe here then you can just use that recipe entry in future and never have to measure again. Even if a dish isn't really prepared exactly the same every time it will give you a fair idea of the amount of calories you are eating.
If you eat maybe 20- 30 different recipes in rotation you only have to enter it in the recipe builder tool once for each thing.
Find a recipe on the internet that is most similar to the food you make. If the amounts are pretty close to what you probably use copy it into the recipe builder. Save it. Use that entry every time you cook that thing. Again, it won't be exact like if you weighed and measured everything but will give you some idea of the amount of calories you are eating.

If you do this and don't lose weight then you might need to just go ahead and weigh and measure everything.

SuggaD

I've been loosely counting again to see whether I have been hitting my macros, since I kind of tuned that out when I stopped counting. Once cycling season gets started again, I won't log at all. I did that most of last year and actually got down to my goal weight and maintained. I kind of followed the plate method for dinner (mostly veggies, lean protein, starch, fruit), had many of the same breakfasts and lunches as when I was counting so I knew they were healthy, and when eating out, I made healthy choices. And I limited my snacking to healthy stuff, minimally processed if bought, things I bake myself, and frozen yogurt. That's how I will live my life.

WinoGelato

Ellaskat wrote: »

thank you guys - these are some good ideas. I'm working on creating healthier versions of foods I already like cooking, so perhaps once i get a good routine going, i could measure a batch once and then input that info for myself. i also like the idea of looking for recipes with cals included - i don't think i've seen that - any sites you can share?

4 years ago when i was on here, i was measuring each and every time i cooked - wont do that again.

I think I better understand your question. You aren't opposed to calorie counting in total, just find the process of weighing and measuring individual ingredients cumbersome when cooking from a recipe? To be honest, I don't weigh and measure my food and I successfully used MFP and the calorie counting tools here without it. I know that by weighing and measuring and logging more accurately I probably could have either eaten more, or lost my weight more quickly, but I never really had any major plateaus so I never bought a food scale.

With regards to recipe websites that offer calorie counts for the total recipes - try Allrecipes.com, Myrecipes.com (in fact I think that now links to MFP), Skinnytaste.com, etc.

I often search the MFP database for an entire recipe and find the one I'm looking for, like "Pioneer Woman Beef Stew" and see if the calorie counts look reasonable and go with that.
Again, it may not be the most technically accurate way of doing it but it worked for me.

Sorry if you thought my original response was snarky!

Ellaskat

BFDeal wrote: »

My favorite thing about this thread is the implication that if you aren't making a dish with 97 ingredients at every single meal you are somehow not normal.

not making that implication at all BFDeal - what I'm stating is that I have found it really crazy making to try to keep track, unless I'm doing something like adding an orange or an egg that I ate. If I made a soup, or a casserole, the amount of measuring etc was way too cumbersome to me.

If you're reading it as a statement about your cooking - that's all you! I'm by no means a great cook, i just find the counting and measuring to not be a lifestyle i want to choose.

sugaraddict4321

Some people like to weigh and measure everything. Others can't stand it and estimate. Estimating can work, but if you're not losing like you want to then the first place to start is your logging.

I guess I'm in between. I log almost gram for gram, but sometimes I estimate. I pre-log a lot since I eat some of the same foods from day to day. I have entered recipes for common dishes that I eat, and even if I tweak the recipe now and then the basic info is still the same. I just weigh my plate of food so I have an idea of portion size. Otherwise I just log individual ingredients as I go along. It's not that hard (for me) to chop everything up and then toss on the scale just before tossing in the pan. Other people would rather stab themselves in the eye with a fork than do that.

It can get monotonous to enter everything all the time. But I've not lost all the weight I want to lose so I suck it up and do it. I estimated for most of my life and it's part of how I allowed myself to get so fat. Now I only take breaks from logging when I am on vacation. Find what works for you and then run with it (but don't run with a fork in your hand).

CorlissaEats

I build a recipe based on measured ingredients. I used that entry over and over again even if there are slight differences. Yes, I still measure/weigh things but if the next time I have 642g of raw potato and not 665g I don't sweat it. I generally measure the higher calorie items and things like kale I will just guesstimate. I also eyeball portions because its just me eating it and eventually I will eat the entire meal.

Another example. I have a recipe for roasted root veggies that I entered based on grams. In general, my ratio of veggies to oil is the same. So I measure my cooked food and enter it based on the grams per serving (150g) listed not caring if there are a few more carrots vs potatoes vs yams in the mix. Its not perfect but it helps with portion control.

When I actually want to actively pick up the weight loss again, I measure everything though. I switch from diet break to dieting on a regular basis. Long calorie deficit periods are discouraging and I actually am more prone to illness the longer I am on them so I make full diet breaks happen often.