Food tracking problems

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Replies

  • Cheesy567
    Cheesy567 Posts: 1,186 Member
    eminater wrote: »
    I use the "Meals" section also for dishes I prepare the way you describe - in which I vary the amounts of things I add in. Ro do this you:
    • log the ingredients in the main dairy,
    • "save as a meal" (you can even upload a pic via the phone app).
    The benefit of the meal option is next time you want to log the meal it puts the individual ingredients in your daily food log and you can simply adjust the weights according to what you use any individual time you prepare that meal.

    I do this too. An added tip (for meals and recipes)— next time you go to log it, if there’s an ingredient you typically use but didn’t this time, just set the serving numbers to zero. That way the ingredient will be there next time and you don’t have to search again.

    The meal function is great if you only ate part and are keeping the rest as leftovers— when you add a meal to your log, it offers a serving size for the whole meal, so if you only ate 3/4, it will automatically adjust the entire list of ingredients to 3/4 serving.

  • mjrc2
    mjrc2 Posts: 121 Member
    Thanks folks, I am getting it now-I am just starting out...and was having a rather cranky-pants moment b/c this semester is winding down and I have a crazy amount of work due and maybe adding food tracking to my to-do list wasn't the smartest move on my part! Thanks to all you folks, I am not giving up and I do agree I will get quicker with it as I go!
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,091 Member
    Cheesy567 wrote: »
    eminater wrote: »
    I use the "Meals" section also for dishes I prepare the way you describe - in which I vary the amounts of things I add in. Ro do this you:
    • log the ingredients in the main dairy,
    • "save as a meal" (you can even upload a pic via the phone app).
    The benefit of the meal option is next time you want to log the meal it puts the individual ingredients in your daily food log and you can simply adjust the weights according to what you use any individual time you prepare that meal.

    I do this too. An added tip (for meals and recipes)— next time you go to log it, if there’s an ingredient you typically use but didn’t this time, just set the serving numbers to zero. That way the ingredient will be there next time and you don’t have to search again.

    The meal function is great if you only ate part and are keeping the rest as leftovers— when you add a meal to your log, it offers a serving size for the whole meal, so if you only ate 3/4, it will automatically adjust the entire list of ingredients to 3/4 serving.

    FYI -- if you delete an ingredient from a saved meal that you've logged in your diary -- that is, from the logged version -- it doesn't affect the saved version, unless you intentionally replace the old saved meal with the new version. So you can delete instead of change it to zero servings of you want.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,932 Member
    edited July 2018
    mjrc2 wrote: »
    mjrc2 wrote: »
    Eating whole, fresh, unprocessed foods and avoiding factory made or grown food has become a main goal in my life, but to each his/her own.

    What's that got to do with logging?
    When I throw together a "whaever is gonna go bad first" stir-fry with small bits of 8-12 ingredients, it takes longer to log it than it does to cook it.

    If those 8-12 foods are in your list of recents it takes no time at all. My lunch for next week has a lot of ingredients (11), all but one in my recents list. It took me about 30 seconds to check the box for each one and put in how much I wanted to incorporate. The more you do it, the quicker and easier it gets.

    The one that wasn't took slightly longer...perhaps a minute or two. I had to find the nutritional info online, find a database entry, check they matched (they didn't), then edit it. It's now in my diary, and in my recent food lists (as well as "my foods" as I edited it).

    Not really. It's likely I used all those ingredients before. Thus in the app if I type spring onion into the diary search without using recipe building or anything the right entry will come up.

    I clean the spring onion, dry it, put on scale and quickly log it, then cut it into pieces. Takes about 5 seconds more than without weighing and logging. So ok, for 10 ingredients cooking might take 50 seconds longer. Or does it? After all, different ingredients have different cooking times, so usually the ingredients are long cleaned, weighted, logged and cut before they go into the wok to the rest of the ingredients.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    mjrc2 wrote: »
    mjrc2 wrote: »
    Eating whole, fresh, unprocessed foods and avoiding factory made or grown food has become a main goal in my life, but to each his/her own.

    What's that got to do with logging?
    When I throw together a "whaever is gonna go bad first" stir-fry with small bits of 8-12 ingredients, it takes longer to log it than it does to cook it.

    If those 8-12 foods are in your list of recents it takes no time at all. My lunch for next week has a lot of ingredients (11), all but one in my recents list. It took me about 30 seconds to check the box for each one and put in how much I wanted to incorporate. The more you do it, the quicker and easier it gets.

    The one that wasn't took slightly longer...perhaps a minute or two. I had to find the nutritional info online, find a database entry, check they matched (they didn't), then edit it. It's now in my diary, and in my recent food lists (as well as "my foods" as I edited it).

    Not really. It's likely I used all those ingredients before. Thus in the app if I type spring onion into the diary search without using recipe building or anything the right entry will come up.

    I clean the spring onion, dry it, put on scale and quickly log it, then cut it into pieces. Takes about 5 seconds more than without weighing and logging. So ok, for 10 ingredients cooking might take 50 seconds longer. Or does it? After all, different ingredients have different cooking times, so usually the ingredients are long cleaned, weighted, logged and cut before they go into the wok to the rest of the ingredients.

    Did you mean to quote me? Not sure how it relates?
  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
    I am ever so grateful to have MFP on hand; I record all food eaten - mainly calculated with spoon / cup sizes and it works for me. So far there is only a set of scales at the gym which can take my weight. I haven't been able to get there for the last 3 weeks or so, but according to MFP I should have lost a certain amount of weight during that time. Yesterday I was at the gym and the figures tally within about 500 g, (1 pound) over those 3 weeks - proof, that MFP works!
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,932 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    mjrc2 wrote: »
    mjrc2 wrote: »
    Eating whole, fresh, unprocessed foods and avoiding factory made or grown food has become a main goal in my life, but to each his/her own.

    What's that got to do with logging?
    When I throw together a "whaever is gonna go bad first" stir-fry with small bits of 8-12 ingredients, it takes longer to log it than it does to cook it.

    If those 8-12 foods are in your list of recents it takes no time at all. My lunch for next week has a lot of ingredients (11), all but one in my recents list. It took me about 30 seconds to check the box for each one and put in how much I wanted to incorporate. The more you do it, the quicker and easier it gets.

    The one that wasn't took slightly longer...perhaps a minute or two. I had to find the nutritional info online, find a database entry, check they matched (they didn't), then edit it. It's now in my diary, and in my recent food lists (as well as "my foods" as I edited it).

    Not really. It's likely I used all those ingredients before. Thus in the app if I type spring onion into the diary search without using recipe building or anything the right entry will come up.

    I clean the spring onion, dry it, put on scale and quickly log it, then cut it into pieces. Takes about 5 seconds more than without weighing and logging. So ok, for 10 ingredients cooking might take 50 seconds longer. Or does it? After all, different ingredients have different cooking times, so usually the ingredients are long cleaned, weighted, logged and cut before they go into the wok to the rest of the ingredients.

    Did you mean to quote me? Not sure how it relates?

    Yep, meant to quote the TO
  • mjrc2
    mjrc2 Posts: 121 Member
    @Ming777 This thread has really good info!
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    It is time consuming when you first start but the more you utilise the menu and recipe functions, the easier and quicker it becomes. Good luck.
  • motivatedmartha
    motivatedmartha Posts: 1,108 Member
    I usually cook two meals a day pretty much from scratch but like most people, those meals are from a fairly set repertoire during weekdays.I either use the recipe builder or, if it is a common meal I save it in my meals. Much quicker to add next time I eat that. That way I only have to type the detail in once. If saving the meal, next time you add it to your diary it will list all the ingredients for you, then quick and easy to make any quantity adjustments.
    Logging seems a faff at the start I know, but now I can log my meals in about 5 mins every morning and I feel that's a fair price for the benefits it gives me.
  • mjrc2
    mjrc2 Posts: 121 Member
    Thank you to everyone, I just put in my first recipe, yay! I will be able to log my work meals much easier now!
  • strongwouldbenice
    strongwouldbenice Posts: 153 Member
    If you're using the app and you've used the foods before they should be in your recent list and pop up as soon as you type the first letter.
    I prelog the rough ingredients I'm going to use before I start cooking, then as I chop and weigh each thing I have my phone next to me and click the ingredient and change the amount. Takes no time at all.
  • danishgirlagain
    danishgirlagain Posts: 7 Member
    the recipe function has suddently stopped workin for me. I spend loads of time filling in the ingrediants etc and when I click the last button I get a message that the function is having a malfunction and to try again later. Anyone else???