Secret calories 🤔

abbasi007

When we enter something let's say beef or omlette on fitnesspal app, we suppose that it is 170 calories.
Are these calories for cooked food and includes for cooking oil too or we have to enter oil later?

abi111

If I had made an omlette, I would add seperate entries for the amount of eggs used, then any fat used and any fillings as they could be so variable.
Same for beef and everything really.

TeaBea

There are tons of personalized entries here. When some people cook an omlette they use butter, others use a non-stick pan. Instead of looking for "omlette" enter 2 eggs, 2 Tbls skim milk, 1 teaspoon of butter, etc. If omlettes are a common entry for you, create your own recipe (in recipe builder).

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

wmweeza

I add butter as another entry

diannethegeek

For meat, I look for an entry that specifies it matches the condition I weighed my meat in. Preferably one that matches the form of cooking I used. For
instance: "chicken breast, raw" or "chicken breast, grilled" or "chicken breast, baked" etc.

For prepared foods I made myself, like omelets, I list the ingredients I used separately.

For foods someone else cooked for me, I take my best guess at what I think the calories will be based on what's in it and guess high.

yirara

If there was an entry that included oil then there's no way of knowing how much was added. Or you assume it contains oil but in fact it doesn't. Keep in mind that 1g of oil has 9kcal. Thus a tiny teaspoon will easily hold more than 5 grams of oil, hence more than 45kcal. Could you cook a piece of meat with this little oil?

I suggest you always look for entries that state raw or uncooked, or do a sanity check. And then add the oil separately.

Panini911

it's best to log individual ingredients. so eggs, oil, milk or whatever you put in/on your omelette. For recipes, create your own in the recipe builder.

apullum

If at all possible, don’t just pick a generic “omelet” entry; use the recipe builder to calculate the calories of the omelet you ate.

If you are the omelet at a restaurant, estimate high—they likely used more oil/butter than you would at home.

lynn_glenmont

apullum wrote: »

If at all possible, don’t just pick a generic “omelet” entry; use the recipe builder to calculate the calories of the omelet you ate.

If you are the omelet at a restaurant, estimate high—they likely used more oil/butter than you would at home.

I wouldn't use the recipe builder for an omelet, unless you're making a single huge omelet to serve multiple people.

I would just enter the individual ingredients right into my food diary. You could save that as a meal if you want.

If you create a recipe for an omelet, you run the risk that over time you'll use more butter or other fat, and more of any high calorie ingredients in the filling, that you either won't bother weighing in the first place because it's "just" your regular omelet, or you'll get sick of fiddling to get the same amount of butter, etc. each time, or have to deal with editing the recipe.

It's much simpler to edit the individual items in a saved meal each time you log it.

apullum

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

apullum wrote: »

If at all possible, don’t just pick a generic “omelet” entry; use the recipe builder to calculate the calories of the omelet you ate.

If you are the omelet at a restaurant, estimate high—they likely used more oil/butter than you would at home.

I wouldn't use the recipe builder for an omelet, unless you're making a single huge omelet to serve multiple people.

I would just enter the individual ingredients right into my food diary. You could save that as a meal if you want.

If you create a recipe for an omelet, you run the risk that over time you'll use more butter or other fat, and more of any high calorie ingredients in the filling, that you either won't bother weighing in the first place because it's "just" your regular omelet, or you'll get sick of fiddling to get the same amount of butter, etc. each time, or have to deal with editing the recipe.

It's much simpler to edit the individual items in a saved meal each time you log it.

Depends on the omelet. I was thinking of one with several fillings that OP might want to make again later. I was also assuming that OP would weigh out the amounts entered each time, or update the recipe accordingly if a different weight was used, although that may be a bad assumption.

PumpkinPeril

Seconding making a meal entry. I do this for things that I make single servings at a time. It loads each individual item into my diary and then I edit the weights as needed.

I also do this for recipe bases. For example, I have a "base meal" for overnight oats that contains the plain necessities (oats, yogurt, milk, etc). I choose the meal and then add any add-ins like protein powder, fruit and the like depending on the day.

lynn_glenmont

PumpkinPeril wrote: »

Seconding making a meal entry. I do this for things that I make single servings at a time. It loads each individual item into my diary and then I edit the weights as needed.

I also do this for recipe bases. For example, I have a "base meal" for overnight oats that contains the plain necessities (oats, yogurt, milk, etc). I choose the meal and then add any add-ins like protein powder, fruit and the like depending on the day.

I do something similar for meals like smoothies or oats or even meals from places like Chipotle where you choose individual components, but instead of just making it a "base meal," I include all the "extra" options that I use as well (e.g., different fruits and protein powders for the smoothies, different add-ins for oats, different meats -- but not the ones I never order -- at Chipotle) in the meal, because it's so much easier to delete even 10 different things I didn't use this time than to look up and verify database entries for the two or three "extras" or "options" that I used that particular time.

texasredreb

I add oil and salt/spices to all my entered meals as well as individual weighed ingredients. I measure the amount I add to the pan/cooking apparatus and then log 1/4 to 1/2 of it as I don't eat the whole amount cooked.