Living The Lifestyle Thursday 4/20/17

imastar2

Everyone says it, but just how do you do it? How do you take the guidelines of the WW program and turn them into a lifestyle you can live every day...from now on? That is what we are here to explore. Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Newbie? Join in! Veteran? Join in! Your thoughts may be just what someone else needs to hear.

Monday -- RedSassyPants
Tuesday -- 88olds
Wednesday -- goldenfrisbee
Thursday -- imastar2
Friday -- Al_Howard

TODAY'S TOPIC: LTL and Eating Casseroles, soups, bisque and their contents that you did not prepare can be challenging to figure points or calories. How do you figure the caloric content or WW point content for familiar casseroles like broccoli cheese rice and or chicken ? Meat Lasagnas ? Tuna noodle casserole? or other similar type meat casseroles. Then there are many vegetable casseroles, squash, broccoli, green bean ? the list goes on.

The general qestion is do you just estimate and move on or just go to the food diary and look up xxxxxx casserole generic.? Do you just try to eat something else if it's available?

imastar2

I find myself trying to figure out this all to often. DW usually knows that it can be a challenge and sometimes forgets to measure how much of an ingredient she put in etc; so I tread lightly in that situation. When it comes to Lasagna I'm stuck and very hard to figure that one out. You never know exactly how much cheese went into the dish or if it's a meat dish how much meat went into it. It's kinda frustrating for me as a general rule.

As for soups those are difficult to figure out as well. Chili? Chicken Noodle, Broccoli cheese soup. tomato bisque? These are just a few to name a few. I usually just go to the food dairy and hit something like generic and move on. If it's like a well know restaurant that has a familiar soup I might use that. In any event it has been a challenge for years and still to this day frustrates me but I put something down and move on.

So many of the items in the food diary's Ww or MFP are private dishes that folks use low fat items so in may cases their caloric content is lower than a generic one so you know they some type of light mayo or low cal ingredient in the recipe. Still I just tread along and work through it.

GavinFlynn1

I've had the same problem. Lately I have been just looking it up and choosing one of the highest calorie options.

gadgetgirlIL

I do the same as @GavinFlynn1 - just try to pick something that sounds about right and try to overestimate calories. This was my mode of operating during my recent vacation. The scale stayed stable so I must have done okay.

I will say that I'm glad to be getting back into my comfortable routine of knowing how foods are prepared because I've made them!

Jerdtrmndone

If I am home I will measure what I am having and look up the generic so I have some kind of calorie or pt. value.

If in a restaurant I just use my judgment to my portion size and take the generic values from that or at least take a pt. value because I would have no idea what the calories would be.

Jimb376mfp

"How do you figure the caloric content or WW point content for familiar casseroles like broccoli cheese rice and or chicken ? Meat Lasagnas ? Tuna noodle casserole? or other similar type meat casseroles. Then there are many vegetable casseroles, squash, broccoli, green bean ? the list goes on."

When I read this allI I heard was: DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER!!

My DW doesn't cook for me and haven't faced this dilemma since last Thanksgiving @ DIL feast. Interesting reading your thoughts.

imastar2

@Jimb376mfp wrote When I read this allI I heard was: DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER!!

Jim...Your right and many times I will avoid them all together but sometimes there is no other option when in the situation but yes I hear you. It's always best to avoid it but like Gavin says default to portion size and usually that's the best option.

Al_Howard

I take a calculated guess, or look up a similar item and go with it.

88olds

I try to avoid that kind of stuff. Sometimes I encounter it at family gatherings or summer cookouts. Seems like my wife's family won't serve a vegetable without cheese. Even salads have cheese and nuts.

I've got a pretty good eye as to portion sizes. When tracking, I'd just find a generic #, write it down and keep moving. If not tracking well enough, I'd find out on WI day.

goldenfrisbee

I try to break down the ingredients and then estimate from there.
If I'm at a non chain restaurant for a meal I will try to find something similar that is made by a chain restaurant and use that as my caloric guide. For example, we had beef fried rice last night from our favorite local Chinese restaurant. So I looked up beef fried rice from PF Chang and then measured out a portion on my handy dandy WW scale.

Rachel0778

I do calories, not points but I figure it's the same general strategy.

I do a search for "chili" and take a mid-high range calorie option to use as my estimator. Inaccurate tracking is always better than no tracking

beachwoman2006

Like @Rachel0778 , I'm counting calories using MFP. If I make it myself, I calculate the calories for each ingredient and then decide what constitutes a serving size, divide by that number, and go with it. If it's something I didn't make myself, I find the closest description I can and go with that -- and I think I err on the high side of things.

linmueller

Thinking about this, I realize I don't usually eat them. If I go to a pot luck, I gravitate toward the plain food, a lettuce salad, fresh veggies or fruit. I might do a bite or two worth of a casserole, and I usually just count it as 2 and move on.

I don't like to eat mystery food. I know how many calories can be hidden in those!

minimyzeme

Al_Howard wrote: »

I take a calculated guess, or look up a similar item and go with it.

This. Simple works best for me.

countcurt

All the techniques described above will work. Small portion, calculated guess, extrapolating from available 'like foods.'

I don't do any of those. The reality is it's not the one 'no good option' potluck that interferes with weight management. It's the fifty of them. So I just try to do what 'naturally thin people' do. Which is to take sensible portions of some of those dishes. And realize that I can compensate for overingestion by moderating caloric intake later.


I also consider that most of those glops aren't nearly as worth it as I may have once thought. Discernment is your friend.

leeless511

I search the database first, if nothing aligns I try to break it down by ingredient -- since I cook and know ingredients pretty well I can sort of work my way through the ingredients and determine a fair point value.

imastar2

Thanks to al for your input. Some really good points.