Make me feel better- bad day

skinnyforhi

Yesterday I skipped breakfast, ate a cheese and vegetable quesadilla from a food truck for lunch, and ate 2 pieces of pepperoni pizza (from a medium pie- not the biggest nor the smallest pizza slices I've seen) and a green salad for dinner. My additional food was 200 calories of snacks. I really don't know how to log this but I guessed the quesadilla was around 900 calories and I guessed each piece of pizza was around 380 calories. These 2 meals and the 200 snack calories put me around 250 over for the day. Is that POSSIBLY right or am I being way too generous with myself? It didn't seem as bad as I thought it would be when I logged it. I was ready for hundreds of calories over. In reality it looks like those 2 meals and snacks were between 1800-1900 calories. To "fix it" I went to spin this morning and I'm back on track today.

I recognize I have no objective data for anyone to review, but any thoughts are appreciated (even if based on little to no evidence ).

_dixiana_

With little objective data, I'd say forget it and move on. Today is a new day.

SoDamnHungry

Sounds like you took care of everything. If my "bad day" was only being over by 250 I'd be pretty pleased with myself.

skinnyforhi

Yeah, this was kind of a dumb question. It's hard to figure out what might be in food when there's no nutrition data. If you get protein/veggies/rice or something like that, it's fairly easy to guess. I have no idea how to deconstruct a quesadilla from a food truck. At least it was delicious.

minizebu

skinnyforhi wrote: »

Yeah, this was kind of a dumb question. It's hard to figure out what might be in food when there's no nutrition data. If you get protein/veggies/rice or something like that, it's fairly easy to guess. I have no idea how to deconstruct a quesadilla from a food truck. At least it was delicious.

How to deconstruct a quesadilla from a food truck:

1) Search MFP for a supermarket brand packaged tortilla and choose an appropriate size (probably go with "burrito size" vs. "quesadilla size" because real-world-food-truck tortillas are bigger than supermarket tortillas).
2) Find a supermarket brand packaged cheese and choose an appropriate serving size. I'm guessing that your quesadilla probably had upwards of at least 3oz of cheese on it. (You could actually go to the supermarket and look at the individually wrapped servings of X oz of cheese to get a visual for yourself.)
3) Select any appropriate additions to the quesadilla (Did it have chicken? Guess the number of ounces and find an appropriate entry. Did it have peppers, onions or other veggies? Guess the amounts and find appropriate entries.)
4) For good measure, add at least 1 tbsp of butter or oil to your estimate, which they would have used for greasing the grill.
5) Don't forget the condiments. Did it have guacamole? Did it have sour cream? Did it have salsa? (Find appropriate supermarket equivalents.)

Is all of this tedious and soul killing? Yes, perhaps. But it will get you as close as you can to an estimate of the calorie hit for a real-world-food-truck quesadilla.

Alternatives:
1) Find an MFP entry that someone else has made for a restaurant or food truck quesadilla. Treat it with suspicion. It is probably almost always a lower calorie estimate than it should be.
2) Get in the habit of asking if the food truck or restaurant you are patronizing actually has nutrition data. You would be surprised how many actually do. (But, don't treat it as gospel. It's probably almost always more calorific than they say it is.)
3) Even if the restaurant or food truck doesn't have a nutrition menu, you can say. "Hey, I'm just keeping track. Can you tell me approximately how many ounces of cheese/chicken/X you put in your quesadilla?" You may think that they won't know. But, yes, they probably know. It's a business. Ingredients cost money. They often have pre-measured, or at least pre-determined amounts of ingredients that go into each item they cook. You may feel weird at first asking these questions, but get used to it. It's not that embarrassing, and it probably isn't the first time that they've been asked this question. People all over or more conscious of what and how much they are eating.

Of course, you can just say "Eff it. I'm not doing all that."

And, of course, you can also remain in the dark about how many calories you are ingesting.

And you can continue to wonder why you aren't losing weight when you are "counting calories" and "watching what you eat".

skinnyforhi

I estimated using your second option- I looked up a taco bell cheese quesadilla, and then doubled the calories. The soul crushing route probably would have been a better option.

astrampe

Don't let 250 calories stress you out, it is really nothing...Especially if it is a once in a while thing. just move on. I went 600 calories over my planned day yesterday - I logged it (more or less, cause I don't know exactly how much it was) and will NOT go through a process as described above - it is food, it is one day, it is done. Move on....

ObsidianMist

why are you guessing at your calories?

minizebu

astrampe wrote: »

it is one day, it is done. Move on....

This is good advice.

What happens on any one particular day has little impact on the overall scheme of things.

However, what happens repeatedly, day in and day out, what happens most of the time, has a huge impact on the overall scheme of things.

When someone's "it's one day" attitude becomes the way they approach logging every day, then that has a detrimental effect on their progress.

The food diary is nothing more than a tool to help you monitor the "calories in" part of the "calories in/calories out" equation. If you are going to log your food, then try to be as accurate as you can. Log everything you eat, even if it means teasing out the details of a food-truck-quesadilla.

kwtilbury

One ounce of cheese is roughly 100 calories, depending on the variety. Assuming 300 calories for the tortillas and butter, it would take 6 ounces of cheese to make 900 calories. That's almost half a pound of cheese. I'd scale back the caloric estimate.

Need2Exerc1se

trinairby wrote: »

With little objective data, I'd say forget it and move on. Today is a new day.

I agree with this. Whatever the calorie count it's over and done. Look forward.

DanSTL82

You could always just search "quesadilla" and pick one that looks like it's probably similar, rather than just guessing the calories from scratch.

janjunie

OP you are 5'6 and 135lbs you are already at a healthy weight. Based on other posts, I actually think your issue is not weight related, but food related.

neldabg

+1 on the "just move on" vote. What has happened cannot be undone, and though I do not know you personally, this post reads as though it is coming from a level headed individual. As long as you make this a learning experience and not the one thing that causes you to give up, you'll be just fine.
I have no idea if you were being too generous as calories in any food product widely varies, but I think @minizebu gave good advice, and overestimating is usually the best route.
From personal experience, I ate like nearly 900 calories above my TDEE on Valentine's Day, but I got back on track immediately in the following days and weeks and stayed within my goal range just fine.
Also, keep in mind that 250 calories is only about 8.33% of a pound, *and* you took care of things the next day, right? You'll be fine.

MsBuzzkillington

ObsidianMist wrote: »

why are you guessing at your calories?

Sometimes you have to.