Calorie counting/ break down can be so hard!!
blue_eyes1978
Posts: 127 Member
I I am watching what I eat but my family is not so since I cook dinner I try to pay attention to what goes in and I have been having a hard time.
For example last nights dinner I did ok with loggin some parts but still trying to log in my home made mac n cheese.
Fist let me tell you I cooked the pot of noodles weighed the portion I was going to have so 100g of cooked elbows for me!
Then I melted 1# cheese
added 1 can cream mushroom soup then 1 can of milk
So then I am trying to find the spot on here to add my ingredients to see how many calories were in my cheese sauce I had 1/2 cup on top of my noodles. I know there is a place to do this or so I though but it makes it tough.
My meal planning can be so time consuming and I try to eat along with the family I just find that logging can be a headache. Also I have not learned a quick way to get rid of old foods from my food diary. It would be nice to be able to update since I have made many changes to the things I eat and some food selections still in my diary don't have gram selections and I have been really trying hard to weigh and measure all of my portions to see if I can make some huge progress! Thanks for any help..
For example last nights dinner I did ok with loggin some parts but still trying to log in my home made mac n cheese.
Fist let me tell you I cooked the pot of noodles weighed the portion I was going to have so 100g of cooked elbows for me!
Then I melted 1# cheese
added 1 can cream mushroom soup then 1 can of milk
So then I am trying to find the spot on here to add my ingredients to see how many calories were in my cheese sauce I had 1/2 cup on top of my noodles. I know there is a place to do this or so I though but it makes it tough.
My meal planning can be so time consuming and I try to eat along with the family I just find that logging can be a headache. Also I have not learned a quick way to get rid of old foods from my food diary. It would be nice to be able to update since I have made many changes to the things I eat and some food selections still in my diary don't have gram selections and I have been really trying hard to weigh and measure all of my portions to see if I can make some huge progress! Thanks for any help..
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Replies
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Are you using the recipe builder tool for this? I find this the easiest way to log the foods I prepare at home.0
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Go to your "food" menu, then select "recipes"...you can import from a website (never tried) or select "manually add recipe" and that will allow you to put in your individual ingredients, etc. Then - it will be in your recipe list forever and you can add whatever portion you need on any given day. It's way faster than trying to add individual ingredients for things you cook repeatedly.0
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The recipe builder will make your life so much easier.0
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Yes, use the recipe builder.
For now, I wouldn't worry about yesterday's macaroni. But today, I'd go ahead and mess around with the recipe builder so that you can see how it works. Weigh your ingredients and add them. Determine how many servings it is going to be and then, voila, you're good. With mac 'n cheese, you could figure out the servings several ways. One way would be to build the whole recipe using a dummy number of servings, weigh it after cooking, and then determine how many grams/ounces each serving will be and go back and edit your recipe with the total number of servings. Another method would be to build your recipe, put it in your baking pan, and then when it is done baking try to cut it into an even number of servings. I confess that I would do the latter because it is easier. I'm sure that others could think of other ways to determine the number of servings.0 -
Thank you so at this point I have all my ingredients in and now I am hung up on the amount of servings lol!! Or serves blank?? number of people!!
I am not sure what to put I only had a half cup of this lol!!
Hate to be a pain but want to be sure to learn the right way to do this since this will continue to be a way of life fo me!!0 -
Someone suggested to me, which I liked, weighing the finished product on a food scale. Then enter the number of grams as the number of servings. Basically, 1g/serving.blue_eyes1978 wrote: »Thank you so at this point I have all my ingredients in and now I am hung up on the amount of servings lol!! Or serves blank?? number of people!!
<snip image>
I am not sure what to put I only had a half cup of this lol!!
Hate to be a pain but want to be sure to learn the right way to do this since this will continue to be a way of life fo me!!
When you dish up your meal, weigh the portion dished up and enter the number of grams. So 155 grams would then get entered as 155 servings. MFP does the math from there.
I will warn you that there is a small glitch when doing it this way. The system takes a few minutes to catch up, so sometimes the recipe builder screen will display the wrong numbers immediately after entering the recipe. However, the diary log will show the correct numbers.0 -
Its however you want to use it.
A couple options I've used.
1. Weigh the finished product, enter that as number of people. Then when you weigh out your portion and enter that.
Example: Dish weights 100 grams. Enter 100 as number of servings. You eat 50 grams of it. Log that you had 50 servings
2. Make it serves 1 person. Then log log it as a guestimation of the percent you ate. So if you ate half log it as .5 servings.
3. Experience how many meals that provides and enter that as the number of servings and log one each time.0 -
Derf_Smeggle wrote: »
Someone suggested to me, which I liked, weighing the finished product on a food scale. Then enter the number of grams as the number of servings. Basically, 1g/serving.blue_eyes1978 wrote: »Thank you so at this point I have all my ingredients in and now I am hung up on the amount of servings lol!! Or serves blank?? number of people!!
<snip image>
I am not sure what to put I only had a half cup of this lol!!
Hate to be a pain but want to be sure to learn the right way to do this since this will continue to be a way of life fo me!!
When you dish up your meal, weigh the portion dished up and enter the number of grams. So 155 grams would then get entered as 155 servings. MFP does the math from there.
I will warn you that there is a small glitch when doing it this way. The system takes a few minutes to catch up, so sometimes the recipe builder screen will display the wrong numbers immediately after entering the recipe. However, the diary log will show the correct numbers.
That is a great idea. I never thought of it before. Going to have to try that from now on.0 -
Ok so given what I have added to the recipe at this point yes I know it was yesterdays meal so I can no longer weigh it but moving forward and learning can I figure what 1/2 cup of these ingredients is in calories I got the elbows already separated trying to log the cheese sauce for my diary I will have to play more with this to learn more about it!! Thanks everyone I appreciate all the help and suggestions they will help me along my way and be life long lessons I will keep under my hat. 0
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I'll add one more thing - the recipe builder can be a challenge at first, but the more you use it the easier it gets and the more uses you'll find for it. So don't get discouraged if there's a bit of a learning curve.0
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blue_eyes1978 wrote: »Ok so given what I have added to the recipe at this point yes I know it was yesterdays meal so I can no longer weigh it but moving forward and learning can I figure what 1/2 cup of these ingredients is in calories I got the elbows already separated trying to log the cheese sauce for my diary I will have to play more with this to learn more about it!! Thanks everyone I appreciate all the help and suggestions they will help me along my way and be life long lessons I will keep under my hat.
1/2 cup of just the cheese sauce? (B/c if the 1/2 cup includes the elbows, I can't help you without more information)
1/2 cup = 4 fl. oz.
ingredients:
311 ml or 10.5 oz. (those are fl. oz.) of soup
1.25 cup milk = 10 fl. oz.
16 oz. (those are weight oz, e.g., 28 g) of cheddar cheese = 1.83 cups or 14.7 fl. oz.*
Total fl. oz. for cheese sauce recipe = 35.2
you consumed 4 fl. oz. of the total cheese sauce
4/35.2 = .114
You can enter 1 in the field for number of servings, and then you log .114 servings (which means your serving was about 286 calories).
Or you can approximate and make it 8 or 9 servings and say you had one serving.
*see USDA nutrient database for cheddar cheese. 1 cup melted cheese = 244 g.
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This is definitely not the most exact way to use the recipe builder, but I don't weigh my food (although I do recommend that to others especially those just starting out).
You made a big pot of macaroni and cheese, right? For your family? How many people ate the mac n cheese? 4? Were they equal size portions? Did you have leftovers? How many portions? It's an estimate, but dividing the total number of calories into the actual number of servings you got (2, 4, 6, 3.5, etc) is better than nothing at all.
Most standard recipes have an estimated number of servings in them, usually 4 or 6. When I make meals for my family, I start with the recommended servings (4 or 6) when I put the recipe into the recipe builder. I usually serve out one portion for myself, one for my husband, and about half each for my kids (4 and 6). That's three portions, and if I have one portion for leftovers, then the recipe online for 4 servings was pretty accurate. Sometimes they say 6 servings, and we get 4 out of it, in which case I just log that I ate 1.5 servings of it.
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1 is genious!!!!!!
1. Weigh the finished product, enter that as number of people. Then when you weigh out your portion and enter that.
Example: Dish weights 100 grams. Enter 100 as number of servings. You eat 50 grams of it. Log that you had 50 servings
2. Make it serves 1 person. Then log log it as a guestimation of the percent you ate. So if you ate half log it as .5 servings.
2 is what used to do
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »blue_eyes1978 wrote: »Ok so given what I have added to the recipe at this point yes I know it was yesterdays meal so I can no longer weigh it but moving forward and learning can I figure what 1/2 cup of these ingredients is in calories I got the elbows already separated trying to log the cheese sauce for my diary I will have to play more with this to learn more about it!! Thanks everyone I appreciate all the help and suggestions they will help me along my way and be life long lessons I will keep under my hat.
1/2 cup of just the cheese sauce? (B/c if the 1/2 cup includes the elbows, I can't help you without more information)
1/2 cup = 4 fl. oz.
ingredients:
311 ml or 10.5 oz. (those are fl. oz.) of soup
1.25 cup milk = 10 fl. oz.
16 oz. (those are weight oz, e.g., 28 g) of cheddar cheese = 1.83 cups or 14.7 fl. oz.*
Total fl. oz. for cheese sauce recipe = 35.2
you consumed 4 fl. oz. of the total cheese sauce
4/35.2 = .114
You can enter 1 in the field for number of servings, and then you log .114 servings (which means your serving was about 286 calories).
Or you can approximate and make it 8 or 9 servings and say you had one serving.
*see USDA nutrient database for cheddar cheese. 1 cup melted cheese = 244 g.
Thank you so much for taking the time to break this down for me I REALLY appreciate it!! This will help me at least log for the day I am working very hard to keep track and I haven't felt complete with out adding the sauce.. Sounds silly but it's just my determination and accountability kicking in and a bit of OCD lol!! I will log this and hopefully learn more about the recipe builder. Thanks again this has helped me a lot!!0 -
Confuzzled4ever wrote: »
1 is genious!!!!!!
1. Weigh the finished product, enter that as number of people. Then when you weigh out your portion and enter that.
Example: Dish weights 100 grams. Enter 100 as number of servings. You eat 50 grams of it. Log that you had 50 servings
2. Make it serves 1 person. Then log log it as a guestimation of the percent you ate. So if you ate half log it as .5 servings.
2 is what used to do
This sounds like an awesome plan for my next recipe I look forward to giving it a try.
Thanks so much everyone I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to post to help me figure out my journey.
It's not always easy but sure is worth it!
Have a great day everyone!0 -
Ok so here I am again stuck this is going to take me some getting used to but I want to eat the same things as my family sometimes and know what I am consuming in calories so this is what I have!
So I can tell I have messed something up with the home fries they were 20 ounce bags, I used 2 of them. I weighed what I ate in grams.. lol amount being 210 grams consumed!
For the eggs I consumed 220 grams
I want to get better at this and practicing is the only way I hope some one has the patience to walk me through this I have provided as much as I can so I hope I can get some answers lol
Thanks everyone!
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Ok so I did a ounces converter to grams and changed my number of servings to 1134... lol I am hoping I am on the right track to fixing this!
Made my serving portion of 210 grams to 7.40 ounces, making my meal look like this!
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Be careful as 1/2 cup does equal 4 fluid oz of water, but not cheese sauce. That works for most things that are mostly water and they may be true for cheese sauce, or at least a conservative assumption.
I'm confused on what you are trying to do. Here's what I suggest for your cheese sauce and noodles:
Weight your three ingredients for the cheese sauce and then also weigh the noodles. I prefer to use grams because my scale does fractions of ounces and its easier to use grams. Put all the nutritional information in per gram.
10.5 oz. of soup->297.7 g
10 oz. of Milk->283.5 g
14.7 oz of cheese->416.7 g
Total weigh of sauce=997.9 g
Assume you made 4 servings of noodles, Dry each serving weighs 56 g. Cook all the noodles, drain, and weight them. For this example, lets assume the weight is 448 g for the weigh noodles (I have found noodles typically double in weight).
Add noodles and sauce together. Total weight is 1445.9 g. For your recipe, your have 1446 servings. Weigh what you eat in grams and add that as the number of servings.
If you make this the same weigh each time, you only have do this once. Or you can edit the recipe each time.0 -
Thanks for the suggestion! I am going to still have to practice at this. It's going to take some getting used to for sure. I have pretty much nailed my daily logging for my salads, sandwiches, smoothies and things like that. It's a bit tricky when I am making a main meal and watching and weighing everything I am putting in. I'm trying to be accurate. Then figuring out the recipe builder and my portions amounts out are all a bit over whelming. I sure hope it gets easier because I don't want to miss out on a lot of the yummy meal I am preparing for my family. I will not be eating along with them if the scales start going up because I can't log it correctly. I am putting a lot of work in working out and logging to have it all screwed up because the dinner I choose to eat with the family can't get logged correctly. I don't want it to throw me off or I will just eat something I can log accurately.0
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Be careful as 1/2 cup does equal 4 fluid oz of water, but not cheese sauce. That works for most things that are mostly water and they may be true for cheese sauce, or at least a conservative assumption.
I think you're confused. 1/2 cup of anything always equals 4 fluid oz. of that thing, just like a pound of something would always equal 16 oz. (not fluid oz.) of that thing. It doesn't depend on what the thing you're measuring is. Fluid ounces and cups are both measures of volume, and a cup consists of 8 fluid ounces (at least in the U.S.--not quite sure how it works in countries where a cup is 250 ml instead of 240 -- are the fluid ounces larger as well?).
You're probably thinking of the fact that 100 ml. (volume measure) of water weighs 100 grams (measure of weight or mass), but not all substances have the same density as water, so you can't assume that 100 ml. of everything weighs 100 grams.
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10.5 oz. of soup->297.7 g
10 oz. of Milk->283.5 g
14.7 oz of cheese->416.7 g
Total weigh of sauce=997.9 g
This isn't right. First, you're making an assumption that all these foods have the same density as water, which you seemed to be trying to warn against earlier in your post. Plus, the OP said she used 16 oz. (weight) of cheddar, which according to the USDA nutrient database is 14.7 fl. oz. of melted cheese--so if you want to convert it to grams, you should use 16 oz. (weight), not 14.7.
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