calorie counting

Dhara549

this may seem like a lame question but here I am trying to make sense of the process.

How to count calories ? With the raw ingredients or the cooked meal?

Eg.

If I am making a black bean gravy for lunch

do i count each ingredient separately or the end product?
As the caloric value of tomato that goes in to the gravy changes when cooked, How accurate is the method.

skatemom61

I've done the math before, if you add up the calories in each ingredient then divide it by how many portions you'll get you should have something accurate. Don't forget any oil or fat you use to start it off.

mkraizel

Use the recipe function MFP offers. Add all your ingredients and divide by the number of servings. In the end, it doesn't matter really if you count the raw ingredients or do the recipe method, the numbers should come out the same. I find the recipe method easiest so I don't have to estimate how much of the 1c of something I add to the recipe ends up in my serving.