Break meals down item by item?

purrrmeowww

I often will just search something similar when I make a dinner - e.g. shrimp linguine or chicken curry with rice, but of course the ranges for calories in those items that come up is huge. I just feel like it's a ridiculous amount of effort to go: 100g pasta, 1 tbsp oil, one tomato, etc.

Who actually breaks it down and who just wings it?

clags301

I always break it down, for the reason you mention. Why bother tracking at all if you're not going to be accurate?

Sna_ke

Depends on what is happening.

When I eat out, it's "find something similar". When I eat at home, I'll take the time to input as a recipe. Especially since if it's good I'll probably make it again.

I also like to do it ahead of time (not after I've eaten). That way I can choose to cut things out/find alternatives if I don't like the calorie count.

I do agree it can be a PITA (especially on the smartphone). So if the recipe is too large I'll head to the website.

Alatariel75

I make it as a recipe, or break it down. I figure if I want something bad enough, it's worth the effort. If you're winging it and losing weight, cool. But if you slow down or stop, you know the first thing to do.

Ready2Rock206

clags301 wrote: »

I always break it down, for the reason you mention. Why bother tracking at all if you're not going to be accurate?

This for sure. I'm not logging a bunch of stuff I didn't actually eat just to keep a log.

Orphia

purrrmeowww wrote: »

I often will just search something similar when I make a dinner - e.g. shrimp linguine or chicken curry with rice, but of course the ranges for calories in those items that come up is huge. I just feel like it's a ridiculous amount of effort to go: 100g pasta, 1 tbsp oil, one tomato, etc.

Who actually breaks it down and who just wings it?

Me. I've been doing this for 666 days and counting. I have reached my ultimate weight loss goal, plus maintained it for 10 months.

I rarely make the same meal twice. Recipes don't really work for me. All the ingredients in the meals I eat are in recent or favourites, so logging takes about a minute a day.

I do choose generic meal entries occasionally when I eat out, but I try err on the side of overestimation.

victoria_1024

I break down the meal and enter it into MFP's recipe builder. When I title the meal, I put a serving size in parentheses like this: Spaghetti with meat sauce (250 g). Usually we make our meals fairly similarly each time. Maybe it's not the exact same amount of ground beef, but for my purposes it's close enough. So then I can use that meal entry again and I have the weight of a serving size already in my title. If I make it differently, like we use meatballs instead of meat sauce, or we use elbow noodles instead of spaghetti noodles, then I make a new entry.

I just wing it if I go out to eat or eat at somebody's house.

violetta5345

Me. I either create recipes with weighed individual ingredients or add the individual weighed ingredients. I wouldn't depend on database entries being accurate.

bbell1985

It's not hard to break it down. Takes 3 minutes.

spiriteagle99

I create a meal so the next time I eat it it's very simple to enter. I may have to change out the vegetables, but that's it. Unfortunately, I'm not a very creative cook and we eat the same meals a lot.

AnnPT77

I break it down. I just jot things on a recycled junk-mail envelope as I weigh them, while cooking, so I don't get my electronic device all ooky, then record it after the meal. Easy & quick.

Things I repeat frequently (like my regular 11-item (!) oatmeal breakfast) I store as a meal. Things I make and will eat for a while (like frozen crustless mini-quiches for the freezer) are stored as a recipe.

I vary things enough that stuff I need drops out of the recent/frequent list, but it's probably only around 10% of the items or so.

An accurate log is a boon, not just for tracking calories to lose, but so you can predict your personal loss rate when changing calories, estimate the impact of over-goal days (figure how many more days to goal, or how many deficit days it'll take to be back to even again), recognize when a scale gain must be water weight and estimate how much, and predict eventual maintenance calories.

markrgeary1

I go item at a time. You only eat a number of items. How many hundreds? They all tend to stay together in the recent foods.

SLLRunner

purrrmeowww wrote: »

I often will just search something similar when I make a dinner - e.g. shrimp linguine or chicken curry with rice, but of course the ranges for calories in those items that come up is huge. I just feel like it's a ridiculous amount of effort to go: 100g pasta, 1 tbsp oil, one tomato, etc.

Who actually breaks it down and who just wings it?

I always break it down, and I weight the foods separately. I will either use a recipe builder to make a recipe or I will just enter the foods in my diary. So far, so good.

Winging it is what led to my weight gain because my winging it barometer is broken beyond repair.

Seffell

Just takes several minutes. Are you not worth that time?

N_G_H

I always break it down so I know exactly where I am. Also, I may have used a lower fat alternative in the ingredients, don't want calories / etc adding which I didn't have. Besides, how would I otherwise know if I'd earned a pudding

lightenup2016

I break it down. I want to log as accurately as possible, or my mind starts thinking WTH and I end up eating over my goal.

I have a number of repeat recipes stored, which helps. Salads are the biggest pain for me to log because they're always different, but I tend not to be AS exact there with the low-cal items. 2 cups of lettuce vs 3 is a difference of about 3 calories. Dressing, cheese, egg, nuts, etc, I definitely log accurately.

MelanieCN77

Absolutely break it down. Even when I make the same dish over and over I'll make it differently. It only takes a couple extra minutes, if that.

gothchiq

I break it down and log all the ingredients separately. It's a bit cumbersome but it's the only way I can get true accuracy.

MelodyMomof2

I break it down. It's a pain sometimes, but I really try to be accurate. It's working well for me (about 90 pounds lost..24 to go). So, I don't want anything to mess me up!

Lounmoun

purrrmeowww wrote: »

I often will just search something similar when I make a dinner - e.g. shrimp linguine or chicken curry with rice, but of course the ranges for calories in those items that come up is huge. I just feel like it's a ridiculous amount of effort to go: 100g pasta, 1 tbsp oil, one tomato, etc.

Who actually breaks it down and who just wings it?

I've mostly entered my recipes into the recipe builder and log it that way because I do follow the recipe every time.
If it is something like tacos then I enter the items individually because I might have different toppings or use ground turkey instead of ground beef.