How to log food accurately?

dualvans

Total new to logging e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g I eat into my MFP. It’s dinner I seem to struggle with this cuz I make dinner my for my family, so the portions for what a recipe calls for 4 people. Most meals I make is homemade with, so for tonight’s dinner I made Mexican chicken soup. Store bought low sodium broth, rotisserie chicken, salsa, frozen corn, and seasonings in the soup.

Do I scan in those above ingredients with barcode and adjust the oz to myself? But how do I know what’s truly 4oz when it’s coming out from a big pot? Such a noob st this and feel like the answer is obvious somewhere, just not to me! Breakfast, lunch isn’t a problem since I make those meals just for myself 95%. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

rheddmobile

Have you been using the recipe builder? I use my kitchen scale and put the amounts of all ingredients into the recipe builder, then more or less estimate how much is a portion - so if I give myself about one sixth of the whole amount, I set the recipe to be six portions.

Some people weigh the finished recipe, and then weigh their portion and do it that way, which is more accurate. How important it is to be accurate depends on how calorie dense the recipe is, and how easy it is to eyeball. In many cases I can kind of poke around with my ladle and get a good idea how many ladlesful are in the pot. It works for me - but some people need to be very tight with their logging to stay in a deficit.

Unknown

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ladyhusker39

Since you're new to logging, this might be helpful to you. It's not exactly what you asked, but it's a great post.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10621050/how-to-use-the-usda-food-database-mfp-food-database-for-accurate-logging#latest

OldHobo

dualvans wrote: »

Total new to logging e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g I eat into my MFP. It’s dinner I seem to struggle with this cuz I make dinner my for my family, so the portions for what a recipe calls for 4 people. Most meals I make is homemade with, so for tonight’s dinner I made Mexican chicken soup. Store bought low sodium broth, rotisserie chicken, salsa, frozen corn, and seasonings in the soup.

Do I scan in those above ingredients with barcode and adjust the oz to myself? But how do I know what’s truly 4oz when it’s coming out from a big pot? Such a noob st this and feel like the answer is obvious somewhere, just not to me! Breakfast, lunch isn’t a problem since I make those meals just for myself 95%. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Here's what I do and it would work for the problem you describe. My apologies to those of you who have read this elsewhere recently.

1. Get the tare weights of your cook pots, pans, etc.
2. Enter or edit to update the recipe in the recipe builder. That will give you the calorie and nutrient total of the whole pot.
3. Name the recipe [whatever] per oz.
4. When it's cooked, before you serve any, weigh the pot-full in ounces. Round down to the nearest ounces and enter that as the number of servings.

Now all you have to do is measure your own bowl.

mariluny

I found that hard at the beginning as well. I usually make a recipe in the mfp builder and then eyeball portions once everything is cooked. If I make chili for example, i’ll eyeball the amount of cups and use a mesure to fill my bowl.
At the weight I am I do not need to be extremely precise so the few over or under calorie that my eyeballing is causing doesn’t affect me much now. Just keep that in mind, the lees weight you want to loose, the more accurate you will have to be.

juliet3455

ladyhusker39 wrote: »

Since you're new to logging, this might be helpful to you. It's not exactly what you asked, but it's a great post.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10621050/how-to-use-the-usda-food-database-mfp-food-database-for-accurate-logging#latest

@dualvans Like @ladyhusker39 above it's not exactly what you asked but is a collection of great posts.
This is my standard cut and paste post for someone new to MFP.

Some links to discussions in the Forums that have been voted/declared as the Most Helpful Posts.
In the Main Forums you will see all the Sub Forums.
In each of the Sub Forums you will see a post near the top labeled Most Helpful Posts - which applies to the Topics in the Forum.

Getting Started
The first 3 in this Forum are must reads in my viewpoint.
The one by sexysteff about Logging Accurately and Picking Food from the database, that even though it is dated since MFP changed the way items are marked as verified - the concepts are still valid so it is a good reference.
Calorie Counting 101 by vismal and Logging Accuracy by sidesteel are also good reads.
also by sidesteel http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

Food and Nutrition
General Diet and Weight Loss Help

From the MFP Blogs a few links that might help you start in MFP.

Meal Planning
Healthy Eating Tips
The 11 Most Common Weight-Loss Blunders Dietitians See
17 Weeknight Dinners That Registered Dietitians Actually Cook
Weight Loss 101: What’s Actually Happening Inside You? [Infographic]

This is just a small compilation and may seem rather intimidating - take it in small pieces and slowly apply them into your daily routine until they become a habit.
There is actually a multi - part Blog about Habits that was quite good but I can't find it and have lost the link to it.