Any tips on estimating calories?

Options
Erik8484
Erik8484 Posts: 458 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I buy my lunch every weekday from various small places and find myself having to estimate the calories. Because they dont have entries on MFP I end up creating a recipe with all the ingredients and weights I imagine went into my sandwich. Today i realised that I could possibly be wildly off, as i have no idea how many grams of roast beef were in today's sandwich, and there are hundreds of different entries for roast beef with wildly different calories.

Does anyone deal with this regularly too? Any tips?

Replies

  • DaddieCat
    DaddieCat Posts: 3,646 Member
    Options
    Pick a method and use it the same way always.

    For example, always use the same roast beef entry so that your estimates are always consistent if not accurate. You can also attempt to create it yourself with known ingredients, put that in the recipe maker and log your recreation every time.

    Those methods work for me.
  • mpat81
    mpat81 Posts: 351 Member
    Options
    Ask the restaurants you visit for nutrition information. More often than not they can at least tell you how many ounces of meat are in your sandwich. Choose the simplest menu items. For example- a turkey and swiss on rye will be much easier to match accurately than an elaborate muffaletta sandwich with 15 or more ingredients. Look for similar rolls and breads in the grocery store and check the calories on them. The longer you do this, the better you'll be at eyeballing it.
  • scolaris
    scolaris Posts: 2,145 Member
    Options
    I like the consistency tip above. I sometimes try to replicate at home, too, especially if it's something I know I'll order again. And if it's a finished dish I'll never make & probably never see again I look in our database for a Paula Deen version as my 'worst case scenario' guesstimate...
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
    Options
    the more and longer you weight your foods at home, the better you get at guesstimating amounts.

    otherwise, i try to find a similar dish in the database, and select a higher calorie one, at that.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    Options
    Look up some visual estimation cues. I think an ounce of sliced meat or cheese is around the size of a CD. So if your sandwich had say four bread-sized roast beef slices, that's around 4 oz. The palm of your hand or a deck of cards is also around 4 oz. (I'm sorry, you'll have to convert to grams.)
  • CassidyScaglione
    CassidyScaglione Posts: 673 Member
    Options
    Ask the diner for its nutritional info, most have it available. Or start packing lunches. Estimating is silly, and likely to lead to either over or under eating.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    Options
    It's all an estimate. Even if you carry a food scale around and deconstruct your meals. The diner estimates. The food databases are estimates of the average roast beef, etc.
  • mpat81
    mpat81 Posts: 351 Member
    edited February 2016
    Options

    WalkingAlong wrote: »
    It's all an estimate. Even if you carry a food scale around and deconstruct your meals. The diner estimates. The food databases are estimates of the average roast beef, etc.

    Good point! You can get the nutrition info right off the package of roast beef but it doesn't take into account that one slice may be a lot leaner or fattier than any other slice etc. Do the best you can as often as you can, hope that you overestimate roughly as often as you underestimate.





  • Erik8484
    Erik8484 Posts: 458 Member
    Options
    Thanks for all the tips!

Categories