Liquid-y foods!

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Replies

  • TigressPat
    TigressPat Posts: 722
    What I do when I marinate chicken is to put the marinade in the recipe builder and then weigh it before I put the chicken in, and again after. As far as the number of servings I go by 1 serving as 100 grams. So if it makes 153 grams I put in that it makes 1.53 servings. Then if I weigh it and discover that I only used 102 grams and threw out the other 51, I can just enter 1.02 servings.

    I'm going to apologize again for the butthurt I caused you on this post!
    I actually mis-read your reply and thought you entered all ingredients including the chicken in the recipe builder, then weighed the leftovers and did the math.

    My bad!

    I would link the lovely cookie gif back to you, but my talents don't extend that far!
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    Legitimate question here, OP: how do you log the calorie count on prepackaged food, should you choose to eat it? I ask because those listed calories are estimates, and suggestions in-thread that you estimate would lead one to believe that "estimating" is insufficiently exact for your personal peace of mind.

    you're assuming I'm nit-picking calories, which I'm not.
    estimates are great, but the point of one is that you are in the right ballpark.

    I'm not quibbling over 5 calories, I'm quibbling over several hundred per serving.
    Why would your informed estimate, based on knowledge of the ingredient list, lead you to be off by "several hundred [calories] per serving?" I do not understand why the math would lead you that far astray.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    I'd make a topic of how to make cucumbers without 15 tons of sugar. But that's just me (feeling sorry for your poor sugared cucumbers)....
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    Calorimeters are cool!

    11thdr-fez-hp2.jpg
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    What I do when I marinate chicken is to put the marinade in the recipe builder and then weigh it before I put the chicken in, and again after. As far as the number of servings I go by 1 serving as 100 grams. So if it makes 153 grams I put in that it makes 1.53 servings. Then if I weigh it and discover that I only used 102 grams and threw out the other 51, I can just enter 1.02 servings.

    I'm going to apologize again for the butthurt I caused you on this post!
    I actually mis-read your reply and thought you entered all ingredients including the chicken in the recipe builder, then weighed the leftovers and did the math.

    My bad!

    I would link the lovely cookie gif back to you, but my talents don't extend that far!

    :laugh: I'm not really butthurt, just messing with you. It takes a bit more than that to get me riled up.

    tumblr_mkuwkluaM81s4ocv9o2_250_zps00b61965.gif
  • vjohn04
    vjohn04 Posts: 2,276 Member
    I love overcomplicating my food.

    ^This! yowza!!!
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    Calorimeters are cool!

    11thdr-fez-hp2.jpg

    And now you're my favorite. ETA: Sorry, I'm out of food gifs.
  • meeper123
    meeper123 Posts: 3,347 Member
    Scratches head
  • TigressPat
    TigressPat Posts: 722
    Legitimate question here, OP: how do you log the calorie count on prepackaged food, should you choose to eat it? I ask because those listed calories are estimates, and suggestions in-thread that you estimate would lead one to believe that "estimating" is insufficiently exact for your personal peace of mind.

    you're assuming I'm nit-picking calories, which I'm not.
    estimates are great, but the point of one is that you are in the right ballpark.

    I'm not quibbling over 5 calories, I'm quibbling over several hundred per serving.
    Why would your informed estimate, based on knowledge of the ingredient list, lead you to be off by "several hundred [calories] per serving?" I do not understand why the math would lead you that far astray.

    because I do not know how much of the sugar (which is the high-calorie component of the recipe) is consumed.
    In terms of calorie content, the sugar is huge, but in terms of volume as eaten, you are mostly consuming the cucumbers (which are relatively low cal)
    I started the thread looking for suggestions on how to guesstimate this, and a few people have given me good ideas (thanks!)
  • TigressPat
    TigressPat Posts: 722
    I'd make a topic of how to make cucumbers without 15 tons of sugar. But that's just me (feeling sorry for your poor sugared cucumbers)....

    and this is why cucumber salad doesn't even exist in the database...
  • SuffolkSally
    SuffolkSally Posts: 964 Member
    I don't have anything to add - sounds like you've got workable solutions there already - but I do want to sympathise. I'd really like to know the nutritional values of my homemade stock for instance, not just calories but if it's a stock made from meat bones, which it usually is, then it's probably got a significant protein count (good for my macros) and if was a ham bone then there's probably significant sodium (bad for my macros).

    I do like to count my calories to the most accurate estimate I can reasonably manage, and I work to my macros too although not obsessively. I feel I end up having to just guess entries quite a lot anyway (eating things other people have home-cooked, or in restaurants which don't give nutritional info) so when it's my home prepared food and under my control I tend to want to know how to log it.

    So good for you!
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
    Pour the sugar solution back into something and evaporate the water, then weigh the remaining sugar. Or you could build a calorimeter and burn the remaining sauce to see how much energy it contained.

    BAM!!! Calories counted!
  • TigressPat
    TigressPat Posts: 722
    I don't have anything to add - sounds like you've got workable solutions there already - but I do want to sympathise. I'd really like to know the nutritional values of my homemade stock for instance, not just calories but if it's a stock made from meat bones, which it usually is, then it's probably got a significant protein count (good for my macros) and if was a ham bone then there's probably significant sodium (bad for my macros).

    I do like to count my calories to the most accurate estimate I can reasonably manage, and I work to my macros too although not obsessively. I feel I end up having to just guess entries quite a lot anyway (eating things other people have home-cooked, or in restaurants which don't give nutritional info) so when it's my home prepared food and under my control I tend to want to know how to log it.

    So good for you!

    thank you!
    I guesstimate quite a lot, but with summer coming I really do eat a lot of salads, and the marinated ones perplex me because so much is leftover. If it was a one portion thing I would not worry.

    I did get some great suggestions which had not occured to me (and which I will employ). for that I am grateful, though I did not expect the ****storm my post (and replies!) caused!
  • manderson27
    manderson27 Posts: 3,510 Member
    Kudos to you for trying to be so accurate.

    Personally I have never even thought about absorption of calories into something and calories left over in the liquid. I wouldn't even bother trying to work out the calories to that degree of accuracy.

    I log the whole recipe and eat the amount that fits my calorie goal, if I go over by a hundred cals I am still at a slight deficit and if I overestimate how many calories I am consuming I will be at a slightly greater deficit so all good.

    <Skips off to do something that doesn't involve math>
  • AleciaG724
    AleciaG724 Posts: 705 Member
    Don't I get a cookie for explaining it better?? HAHA! j/k

    Nope you stole my thunder. :angry:


    :laugh: Just kidding. Swirling chocolate for you.



    tumblr_mfwged4zN21s1zyafo1_500_zps0b622bca.gif


    Thank you!, and I'm not logging this!
    hrngc3.gif
  • TigressPat
    TigressPat Posts: 722
    Don't I get a cookie for explaining it better?? HAHA! j/k

    Nope you stole my thunder. :angry:


    :laugh: Just kidding. Swirling chocolate for you.



    tumblr_mfwged4zN21s1zyafo1_500_zps0b622bca.gif


    Thank you!, and I'm not logging this!
    hrngc3.gif


    :laugh:
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
    so maybe this is a stupid question, but I'm a bit stumped as to how to gauge the calorie content for foods with a lot of liquid.

    and no, I don't mean soups etc, I mean foods in which you do not consume the liquid.

    for example, bean salad.
    I don't eat or drink the liquid, so If i weigh it, should I weigh it after and subtract the liquid weight? Or is this already done in the calorie counters?

    or even better, marinated cucumber salad.
    I make my own, with a large cucumber, onions, vinegar, and sugar.
    Now I'm sure someone will say "add it to the recipe counter"

    but no, If you add it as a recipe you are counting the huge amount of calories for the 1/4 cup sugar that goes in.
    sure, some of that you consume, so you cannot log the salad as a cucumber, but surely you don't consume the entire caloric value of the sugar if you throw out all the liquid after eating the cucumber.


    does this make sense to anyone?

    has anyone found a solution to it?

    thanks!

    Most entries in the food database are user input...if you can't get an appropriate estimate for your homemade dish...why do you think other users can?
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    What I do when I marinate chicken is to put the marinade in the recipe builder and then weigh it before I put the chicken in, and again after. As far as the number of servings I go by 1 serving as 100 grams. So if it makes 153 grams I put in that it makes 1.53 servings. Then if I weigh it and discover that I only used 102 grams and threw out the other 51, I can just enter 1.02 servings.

    better than most replies, but I still do not think that would be accurate, as what you are consuming is not an amalgamation of all the parts, which is what your method implies.

    I just ignore the marinade when I make chicken breasts, but now you've added another variable to my list!

    tumblr_m3r2c8XOtI1r8dw9z.jpg
  • Warchortle
    Warchortle Posts: 2,197 Member
    being over paranoid isn't good.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    Hey guise look what I found! Any ideas what I can put this in?!

    cumber682_1129835a.jpg
  • agggie550
    agggie550 Posts: 281 Member
    Stop and think about it for a second ... at worst you are over tracking calories by tracking the sugar, but calories are not an exact science and losing weight is not as simple as calories in vs. calories out. So when you track food just make sure you track consistently, use the same scale, use the same ingredients when you build a recipe, because just like a heart rate monitor is a educated guess as to what your calories burned are, so is tracking your food. What you call a small cucumber might be a large cucumber by caloric count, and you could be off 20 calories, so just stay consistent, and honest. And just because you don't drink the juice doesn't mean that some of the sugar or all of the sugar isn't soaked into your salad, so why try to cut it down to such a uncontrollable portion, just track it eat, and solider on.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    OK so here goes my real answer...OSMOSIS.

    Weigh the marinade before you put the cucumbers in it.

    Weigh the marinade after you fish out the cucumbers out.

    IF there is a difference of weight you will know how much the cucumbers absorbed and then whenever you eat .2 of the recipe's amount of cucumbers, you can divide the marinade ingredients by .2 and know how much marinade you consumed.

    Your welcome for both the giant cucumber and the answer to your question. p.s. PM me if you don't know what to do with a cucumber that big. Your summer salads should take care of it, but if not and you want some suggestions I'd be happy to send you some in PM's complete with gif's. :cucumberflowerforyou:




    .





    .








    ..



    ..





    ..





    .




    ...no seriously....




    ...



    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ6esBuARf-Ohy2RL9znotAWbOb3w9mJ__SgpxRNsfH2yKbMkUlKw

    /end thread.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Guesstimating is the only option I can think of. I'd log only a fraction of the sugar in the cucumber salad. Maybe 1 Tbs, then the solid stuff you eat and divide into servings. Nothing is ever exact anyway. Just get as close as you can.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    Guesstimating is the only option I can think of. I'd log only a fraction of the sugar in the cucumber salad. Maybe 1 Tbs, then the solid stuff you eat and divide into servings. Nothing is ever exact anyway. Just get as close as you can.

    NO! It must be exact. How dare you be so glib, rude and insulting to someone suffering from the 'zactly disease.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    *looks left, looks right* no sign of OP she may have lost interest in this thread....soooooooo..........


    Other ideas:
    measure it?
    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRBMpcywohnz43tNrcnso_H3qSAJKhaZVuMQndaq1n5CLHCaQqAQA
    accept it?
    1.a.Giant+cucumber+I+thought+was+a+watermelon.JPG
    eyeball it?
    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR3gOqbAzBQsALE50qEC3Fl_bzdcpLt19gKvecRMRaH_bw17KoZ
    cucumberhenge..become one with the cucumber?
    7459125096_1f04baa929_z.jpg
    listen to it?
    2696709321_f97f140a52_z.jpg?zz=1

    145431.jpg tickle it?

    and finally the real solution to the problem. kris10.JPG
  • sullus
    sullus Posts: 2,839 Member


    thanks, but does not solve my dilemma.
    if I log the 1/4 cup sugar that goes into the marinade that's 194 calories.
    I'm not actually CONSUMING them, only SOME of them.

    I want to know HOW to determine what is actually consumed.

    Simple, then:

    - Enter a recipe for the marinade only
    - Weigh the marinade separately.
    - add your cucumbers (or whatever)
    - eat the cucumbers.
    - weigh the remaining liquid.
    - log the cucumbers
    - log the value from (Liquid(pre) - Liquid(post))

    also .. don't forget to weigh your fork and bowl before and after so you can determine how much residue was left on them. Also, weigh the marination container before and after to account for residue in there too.
  • Shannota
    Shannota Posts: 308 Member
    Legitimate question here, OP: how do you log the calorie count on prepackaged food, should you choose to eat it? I ask because those listed calories are estimates, and suggestions in-thread that you estimate would lead one to believe that "estimating" is insufficiently exact for your personal peace of mind.

    Sorry if this was already said, (didn't go through the last several pages) but in the U.S., prepackaged foods are allowed to be up to 20% off in caloric estimations (either over or under...guess which one they do more). Does it upset me that this is allowed...heck yes, but all we can do is estimate, so decide what sounds best and estimate away.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    Legitimate question here, OP: how do you log the calorie count on prepackaged food, should you choose to eat it? I ask because those listed calories are estimates, and suggestions in-thread that you estimate would lead one to believe that "estimating" is insufficiently exact for your personal peace of mind.

    Sorry if this was already said, (didn't go through the last several pages) but in the U.S., prepackaged foods are allowed to be up to 20% off in caloric estimations (either over or under...guess which one they do more). Does it upset me that this is allowed...heck yes, but all we can do is estimate, so decide what sounds best and estimate away.

    You're missing out. Just sayin'.

    apparently my "real answer" is so easy even a dog can do it.

    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT8Nkvkk9bwN70wJJen58E30cFKJ20RxP9PiRr3KyoCqHf9HcGh
  • TigressPat
    TigressPat Posts: 722
    *looks left, looks right* no sign of OP she may have lost interest in this thread....soooooooo..........


    Other ideas:
    measure it?
    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRBMpcywohnz43tNrcnso_H3qSAJKhaZVuMQndaq1n5CLHCaQqAQA
    accept it?
    1.a.Giant+cucumber+I+thought+was+a+watermelon.JPG
    eyeball it?
    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR3gOqbAzBQsALE50qEC3Fl_bzdcpLt19gKvecRMRaH_bw17KoZ
    cucumberhenge..become one with the cucumber?
    7459125096_1f04baa929_z.jpg
    listen to it?
    2696709321_f97f140a52_z.jpg?zz=1

    145431.jpg tickle it?

    and finally the real solution to the problem. kris10.JPG

    I lost interest after getting a few workable answers. The topic was more than dead, my question was sufficiently answered, and there wasn't all that much more i could say in response to all the mockery.

    I admit, I'm curious now, do you maintain a database of huge vegetable photos, or did you search for them on the fly?