How to figure out calories in something?

didda1

I've been logging every single thing that goes into my mouth, until I get the hang of being able to get a good estimate on something. I'm not going to be this strict forever, this is just a to get myself kickstarted thing.
I've ran into something that I have no idea even where to start.
I was out at an event, with no access to a scale. They had caramel popcorn, and a child offered me some. I'm not going to say no to a 5 year old who wants to share her treat.
I had 7- I counted them- caramel popcorn pieces.
How the heck many calories might that be?

gmallan

Look up caramel popcorn in the database and guesstimate based on an average of entries. Pretty much the best you can do here

riffraff2112

Find out what a small bag would be, and take a fairly small fraction of that. Maybe 1/20th (or .05)
Pretty tough to be accurate with such a small amount but kuddos to you for wanted to be accountable.
I am not that fanatical (sorry that sounds bad!) but admire your intent

didda1

I promise that I'm not going to be this fanatical for much longer haha.
I think 1/20th would probably be a close guesstimate. I ate a LOT that day, it's a good thing I didn't take more than that, or I would have been over. Not a huge issue, but this is good stuff to know!

DebzNuDa

1 oz. Caramel popcorn, no peanuts (per USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 27)

Calories - 122

The popcorn may not be heavy but caramel has density so I go with that.