Tracking home made and restaurant foods

bluesrockerman
bluesrockerman Posts: 21 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Anyone have any tips for this? I understand you can add all of the ingredients together and divide them into how many servings, but it's not always possible if someone else made it or you are eating at a restaurant that doesn't have nutrition info.

Replies

  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    bluesrockerman wrote: »
    Anyone have any tips for this? I understand you can add all of the ingredients together and divide them into how many servings, but it's not always possible if someone else made it or you are eating at a restaurant that doesn't have nutrition info.

    You have to estimate. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing and it gets easier as you get more experienced.

    At a restaurant, I try to find a similar restaurant dish in the database. Alternately, I might try to log what I think the ingredients are, and will add an extra TBL of butter or oil.

    Someone else's homecooking, I estimate. If I can't guess what the majority ingredients are, I might ask what the ingredients are like I want to try to make it myself.

    You just do the best you can and learn as you go. If you eat food you didn't prepare a lot, it's definitely a challenge!
  • James_1954
    James_1954 Posts: 187 Member
    For home cooking, there's lots of recipe analyzers online that will generate a "nutrition label" for you. Restaurants -- for standardized things like chains and fast food, a lot of those are in the MFP database. Otherwise, as Kimny72 says above, you pretty much have to cross your eyes, hold your thumb up to sample the windage, and take your best guess.
  • emmies_123
    emmies_123 Posts: 513 Member
    For home made:
    -If someone else made it, say that you would love to have the recipe. You may have to eyeball servings if their recipe doesn't say. If they won't give you the recipe ask them what it is called, then google a recipe that looks similar for main ingredients. It won't be perfect but will likely get you in ballpark

    For restaurants:
    -Google restaurant and you may have nutrition info if not posted at restaurant. If you know where you are going you can try to scope beforehand
    -If it is relatively well known restaurant an entry may already be on MFP database to use
    -If all else fails, look for the dish name and try to pick one from another restaurant. If you find a range of calories, go for the middle one or the higher, your choice. I tend to use the overestimate when I have to use this
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    For homemade at someone else's home:
    Best guess. Did I watch them make it? Can I estimate in my head? If I can, I just treat it like I would an at-home recipe for me, and enter the ingredients, with an extra two tablespoons of oil, because I know other people don't cheapskate on oil like I do.


    For restaurant:
    First step -- Do they have nutritional info? If they do, perfect -- just use that, and create a new entry if it's not already in the database.

    Second -- Are they "close enough" to a major chain that *does* have nutritional info? Like, my two nearby Chinese restaurants are small businesses and don't have info available. So I use the PF Chang or Panda Express entry -- usually PF Chang, because PF Chang has information available in ounces.

    If neither of the above happen, I search the database for "Sodexo" + "item name" (or a close approximation for the item). Sodexo and Aramark are the largest prepared food distributors in the United States (Aramark tends to do a lot of the arenas and stadiums as well), so I figure those entries will be close enough for my needs. And even if your restaurant claims they *don't* use a distributor, the odds are still really good that you'll find a Sodexo entry that is close enough for your needs.
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    earlnabby wrote: »
    Others have given the same advice I would have, it is the best you can do.

    What I want to add is: when you are weighing your daily foods, pay attention. The more you weigh things, the more accurate your estimates will be. Just by doing this daily, you can get a sense of what a 1/4 cup of shredded cheese looks like so if you get a side salad with shredded cheese you can estimate better. Same thing with a chicken breast or steak, you can get a good idea when you practice at home.

    I've found this to be very very true. I was thrilled one time I was out at a restaurant, guesstimated a serving of rice to be 1/3 of a cup, and came home, prepped the other half for lunch leftovers, and saw that it was the equivalent of 1/3 cup (I weighed it at home) on the dot.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    You just have to estimate in those cases. Find similar entries in the database and look at a few, go with one that where calories are right in the middle, or if you want to be safe, go with the one with the highest calories.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    collectingblues wrote: »
    earlnabby wrote: »
    Others have given the same advice I would have, it is the best you can do.

    What I want to add is: when you are weighing your daily foods, pay attention. The more you weigh things, the more accurate your estimates will be. Just by doing this daily, you can get a sense of what a 1/4 cup of shredded cheese looks like so if you get a side salad with shredded cheese you can estimate better. Same thing with a chicken breast or steak, you can get a good idea when you practice at home.

    I've found this to be very very true. I was thrilled one time I was out at a restaurant, guesstimated a serving of rice to be 1/3 of a cup, and came home, prepped the other half for lunch leftovers, and saw that it was the equivalent of 1/3 cup (I weighed it at home) on the dot.

    When I was visiting my Mom (who was over 90, tiny, and ate like a bird), she couldn't understand why I put so much lunch meat on my sandwich. "Aren't you on a diet?". Yes Mom, but this is 2 oz. which is a serving size. Well, after a bit of back and forth, I discovered she had one of those old spring type scales so I dug it out and weighed it and, sure enough it was 2 oz. She never questioned me again.

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