How to (easily) determine nutrition for a restaurant item?

AwesomeOpossum74

* Note: I tried to post this earlier today, but now I can't find the post. Hopefully this isn't a duplicate *

I ate a Hopkins Eatery Black Bird sandwich today. I asked them about nutrition, and they don't keep one. I also didn't find anything on their website or elsewhere. I'm interested in knowing how to easily determine (at least an estimate) the amount of nutrition/calories an item has?

As an example, the Black Bird sandwich has the following ingredients:
wheat roll (4-5")
turkey
cream cheese (a nice 1/4" slab about 2/3 the size of the bread)
black olives
celery
green pepper
sunflower seeds
lettuce
tomato
onion
mayo (not heavily applied)
parmesan dressing (not heavily applied)

Just to keep things "safe", I entered 800 calories into MFP for lunch. I only had the sandwich and tea (3/4 unsweet)

renku

I try to find a comparable restaurant chain and food item. I'm not sure where you are, but for example Subway could work as a comparison.

janejellyroll

If I can't find an entry for a similar item at another restaurant, I will estimate how much I had of each ingredient and log it that way (sometimes I'll take a quick picture before I eat so I don't forget anything).

WholeFoods4Lyfe

I either look for a similar restaurant items or just best guess and enter each item individually, and usually round up/go for the higher calorie entry.

AwesomeOpossum74

Ok, so I pulled up a Subway 6" turkey on wheat with veggies and cheese. 200 calories. Way under the 800 I gave. I'll adjust mine to 400 to allow for the cream cheese and condiments.

Thanks, guys!

WholeFoods4Lyfe

AwesomeOpossum74 wrote: »

Ok, so I pulled up a Subway 6" turkey on wheat with veggies and cheese. 200 calories. Way under the 800 I gave. I'll adjust mine to 400 to allow for the cream cheese and condiments.

Thanks, guys!

Knowing that Subway doesn't give a lot of meat, plus the olives, mayo, and parmesan dressing, I'd probably go 500 to be safe, but that's just me.

strongwouldbenice

michelle172415 wrote: »

AwesomeOpossum74 wrote: »

Ok, so I pulled up a Subway 6" turkey on wheat with veggies and cheese. 200 calories. Way under the 800 I gave. I'll adjust mine to 400 to allow for the cream cheese and condiments.

Thanks, guys!

Knowing that Subway doesn't give a lot of meat, plus the olives, mayo, and parmesan dressing, I'd probably go 500 to be safe, but that's just me.

I find Subway's bread to be a lot less dense than regular rolls and it's calorie count definitely reflects that. A roll itself could be 300+. Plus meat, mayo, dressing, and cream cheese.. definitely closer to 800 than 400

Cbean08

I dissect the item, calculate each ingredient, and then add it back together. I'd estimate

wheat roll (4-5") - 270
turkey - 150
cream cheese (a nice 1/4" slab about 2/3 the size of the bread) - 150
black olives- 50
celery
green pepper
sunflower seeds- 50
lettuce
tomato
onion
mayo (not heavily applied)- 100
parmesan dressing (not heavily applied)- 100

800 total for the sandwich, 200 for the sweet tea.

DX2JX2

Cbean08 wrote: »

I dissect the item, calculate each ingredient, and then add it back together. I'd estimate

wheat roll (4-5") - 270
turkey - 150
cream cheese (a nice 1/4" slab about 2/3 the size of the bread) - 150
black olives- 50
celery
green pepper
sunflower seeds- 50
lettuce
tomato
onion
mayo (not heavily applied)- 100
parmesan dressing (not heavily applied)- 100

800 total for the sandwich, 200 for the sweet tea.

This is the best way to do it. Estimate the calories based on the ingredients. The above might be a little high but it's likely in the right ballpark. Only you know how big the sandwich or how much sweet tea you think you had, but 800-900 for the total lunch would make sense to me.

tomorrowperfume

janejellyroll wrote: »

If I can't find an entry for a similar item at another restaurant, I will estimate how much I had of each ingredient and log it that way (sometimes I'll take a quick picture before I eat so I don't forget anything).

I do this too, although it's pretty hard for something that's cooked, especially stir-fry type foods. You don't know what kind of oil or sauce they've been cooked in. It's been giving me a headache for the past couple of days >_<

janejellyroll

tomorrowperfume wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

If I can't find an entry for a similar item at another restaurant, I will estimate how much I had of each ingredient and log it that way (sometimes I'll take a quick picture before I eat so I don't forget anything).

I do this too, although it's pretty hard for something that's cooked, especially stir-fry type foods. You don't know what kind of oil or sauce they've been cooked in. It's been giving me a headache for the past couple of days >_<

It's true that it isn't perfectly accurate. I'll usually start with an estimate of two tablespoons of oil. It's never been a problem for me in terms of impacting my weight loss, but if I noticed that I was losing less than expected I would probably temporarily reducing eating out or begin choosing things that were easier to estimate.

Gisel2015

I don't eat at fast food places so most of the places that my husband and I eat at, don't have the nutritional information listed, with the exception of Mimi's Cafe, Island, Panera, etc. Therefore, I don't worry.

I don't log the meal nor I try to find something similar in the database because in my opinion, it would be totally inaccurate and a waste of time. I just do enter a description of what I ate in the Comments section of my food diary and the name of the restaurant, for my own information. If I feel that a particular lunch was high in calories, I eat less for dinner, or I eat less the next day.

I know that this approach doesn't resonate well with the MFP crowd, but it didn't make a dent in my loosing stage and I haven't change it while in maintenance for eight years.

deannalfisher

janejellyroll wrote: »

tomorrowperfume wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

If I can't find an entry for a similar item at another restaurant, I will estimate how much I had of each ingredient and log it that way (sometimes I'll take a quick picture before I eat so I don't forget anything).

I do this too, although it's pretty hard for something that's cooked, especially stir-fry type foods. You don't know what kind of oil or sauce they've been cooked in. It's been giving me a headache for the past couple of days >_<

It's true that it isn't perfectly accurate. I'll usually start with an estimate of two tablespoons of oil. It's never been a problem for me in terms of impacting my weight loss, but if I noticed that I was losing less than expected I would probably temporarily reducing eating out or begin choosing things that were easier to estimate.

a good quote - don't let perfection be the enemy of good enough

AwesomeOpossum74

Gisel2015 wrote: »

I don't log the meal nor I try to find something similar in the database because in my opinion, it would be totally inaccurate and a waste of time. I just do enter a description of what I ate in the Comments section of my food diary and the name of the restaurant, for my own information. If I feel that a particular lunch was high in calories, I eat less for dinner, or I eat less the next day.

I know that this approach doesn't resonate well with the MFP crowd, but it didn't make a dent in my loosing stage and I haven't change it while in maintenance for eight years.

What works for you, works. I don't think you need to justify it to the crowd.

janejellyroll

deannalfisher wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

tomorrowperfume wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

If I can't find an entry for a similar item at another restaurant, I will estimate how much I had of each ingredient and log it that way (sometimes I'll take a quick picture before I eat so I don't forget anything).

I do this too, although it's pretty hard for something that's cooked, especially stir-fry type foods. You don't know what kind of oil or sauce they've been cooked in. It's been giving me a headache for the past couple of days >_<

It's true that it isn't perfectly accurate. I'll usually start with an estimate of two tablespoons of oil. It's never been a problem for me in terms of impacting my weight loss, but if I noticed that I was losing less than expected I would probably temporarily reducing eating out or begin choosing things that were easier to estimate.

a good quote - don't let perfection be the enemy of good enough

Exactly. When it comes to calorie counting, I'm shooting for "good enough to be effective," not perfect.

Brabo_Grip

I do the dissection method with an overestimate on the ingredients ie, I assume the higher calories for the sliced turkey lunch meat.