Incorrect calorie information

kazzam44
kazzam44 Posts: 2 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi

My name is Karen, I've been using MFP for a few years on and off.

I have recently added a recipe manually and also via a url and was shocked to see the calorie content shown by MFP. The Steak and Kidney Pie I was making came out at 3200 c per person so I uploaded 2 recipes from two other sites to see what it showed. It showed the calories per person at more than double the calories given on the site, one a skinny taste recipe at 305 but on here 757.

Does any one have any ideas as I am unsure as to eat what we have prepared for dinner now :) I am also now unsure about trusting MFP information.

Replies

  • DisneyDude85
    DisneyDude85 Posts: 428 Member
    How did you set up the servings? I usually weigh whatever vessel I am cooking in before I add the ingredients, then weigh it again after, the difference between the 2 being the weight of the food. For Example: Pan weighs 1000g, finished product is 2500g, then the food itself weighs 1500g. Then I will set the servings to 1500 (1g=1serving) so when I weigh my portion, the amt of grams on my plate is the numbers of servings I enter on my log!

    Make sense?
  • DisneyDude85
    DisneyDude85 Posts: 428 Member
    Also, you may have to do some sifting through the food items to find the correct ones. Not every item is accurate :)
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Did you double check each of the ingredients to make sure that the ingredient was right and the quantity was right? There are some entries that cause issues. Example: the other day I was entering a smoothie recipe and the entry for bananas was adding way too many calories. Once I fixed this, the recipe was correct.

  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,979 Member
    Even when you upload a recipe you have to check each ingredient separately (by name, unit and measured amount). Otherwise it will be off. If the builder doesn't see a match right off, it will substitute for something it thinks is close but usually isn't. Often, it's not even the same type of ingredient.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Enter all the ingredients and the number of servings.

    Calorie counts given on recipe sites are never accurate (and sometimes they are WAY off).
  • kazzam44
    kazzam44 Posts: 2 Member
    Thanks everyone for your help, i sorted the problem.....when i uploaded i had an issue with the pastry and it kept adding it unbeknown to me. I did look for duplicates due to a few lines saying nul and a line through it but it wasn't obvious that there were duplicate and didn't show as being able to be deleted. When i saved and went to edit the recipe i then saw 6 listings for the pastry so deleted. Feel a bit daft now :( As for the other one's i have noticed too the different listings and calories on here which makes it hard to know which one's are correct as I know any one can add items. I have started sometimes looking at a manufacturers site but obviously no good for fresh food. I am doing the 5:2 and the book lists chicken as 105 c /100g yet on here between 140/185 per 100g. What a pain !
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    For fresh foods try to use the USDA entries. They are harder to find now (used to be able to look for entries without an asterisk), but you can usually recognize the format (for example, for chicken: Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat and skin, cooked, roasted).

    This thread has some good information: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

    For meat, you are going to get a different number whether cooked or uncooked, so it's important to get one that is the same as what you used, when you weighed it. (There's also a bizarre number of inaccurate chicken entries in the database.)

    I've never managed to successfully upload a recipe--I still just manually input using the old version of the recipe builder.
  • Michael190lbs
    Michael190lbs Posts: 1,510 Member
    edited November 2015
    put in strip steak and go through the various calorie/macro counts they are significantly different.. You need to find the most accurate and create your own food list. Yes counting calories takes work too..lol..

    My 2 cents
  • miztessbert
    miztessbert Posts: 183 Member
    DisneyDude85 wrote: »
    How did you set up the servings? I usually weigh whatever vessel I am cooking in before I add the ingredients, then weigh it again after, the difference between the 2 being the weight of the food. For Example: Pan weighs 1000g, finished product is 2500g, then the food itself weighs 1500g. Then I will set the servings to 1500 (1g=1serving) so when I weigh my portion, the amt of grams on my plate is the numbers of servings I enter on my log!

    Make sense?

    What a great idea. I can never remember the serving size for my recipes. I'm going to start doing this going forward. Thanks.

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