Forgot to weigh

niamhdean97
niamhdean97 Posts: 108 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey all, what do you do when you forget to weigh your ingredients and when you forgot to weigh your final dinner.

Tonight was a bit rushed and I made a spag bol (vegan) but forgot to measure the ingredients and the final amount as that's usually how I work out servings is by weighing it all then weighing my amount.

What would you do?

Replies

  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,365 Member
    Have you logged that before? Just go back and use those numbers. If not, it’s just one meal, definitely not worth stressing over.
  • niamhdean97
    niamhdean97 Posts: 108 Member
    I know I just want a snack and I don't know if it's in my calorie limit as I don't know how many calories my dinner was :(
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,185 Member
    I would do what @COGypsy suggested. If you are that worried about going over then you can skip the snack, but honestly if it was a meal I ate frequently then I would just make my best guess and maybe have a smaller snack.
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 2,024 Member
    just find something similar in the database and estimate on this meal. enjoy
  • moonangel12
    moonangel12 Posts: 971 Member
    nighthawk584 wrote: »
    just find something similar in the database and estimate on this meal. enjoy
    That’s what I do - a rough estimate is better than a goose egg for calorie count. Have a snack, enjoy it, start fresh tomorrow 👍

  • gallicinvasion
    gallicinvasion Posts: 1,015 Member
    You could make your best estimate in the recipe builder, log what you eyeballed as your portion, and accept that none of are counting our calories wiTh perfect accuracy 🙂 youll overestimate and underestimate constantly, but as long as you make a commitment to always making your best and most honest estimate, and always look back at your data trend to make adjustments if necessary, you will achieve results.
  • jwoolman5
    jwoolman5 Posts: 191 Member
    I prefer to weigh everything in grams, but also keep alternate entries with volume measurements in my tracker database and use that info to estimate if needed. I generally put grams per piece, per package, or per cup info on relevant items in the Brand space when entering new items into my database, even though I use weight as the measure. This makes estimating easier also.

    I also use a previous meal's numbers if necessary. Just overestimate food and underestimate exercise and it should all even out in the end.

    There are actually apps that give you a calorie estimate if you take a picture of your meal. Don't know how well they work.
  • jwoolman5
    jwoolman5 Posts: 191 Member
    Also remember that everything we record so carefully is still an estimate. The database averages info and is unlikely to accurately match the food on your plate. Package info likewise. Plus we don't really know how much energy our specific bodies use for our daily activity and our basal metabolism. It's all guesses based on averages that may or may not apply to us. That's why if you are not losing weight as you expect, trackers can give you a way to tweak the calorie budget to compensate for the fact that you don't quite fit into the categories of activity level provided or the algorithm they use. My tracker does that at least (LoseIt).

    Consider it all as just a useful guideline.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,302 Member
    I confess I do this all the time - well, not forget, do it on purpose.

    I make spaghetti bog frequently - the first time I weighed all the ingredients and came up with a calorie count per serve from the recipe builder.

    Every time I make it I use the same ingredients, more or less, and I know it makes 3 serves, aprox same size each - so every time now I just put 1 serve.
    Averages out.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    What is spagbol?
  • ThinnerLiz
    ThinnerLiz Posts: 55 Member
    I would give my best estimate of the calories involved, and the macros. I would make that a very generous estimate, and add 1/4 again (at least) to my guess. That ought to cover you.
    Sometimes this is going to happen, particularly in restaurants and family gatherings, or when traveling.
    You just try to do better next time. It's not about perfection; there is often guessing involved, and since it's not a straight road to weight loss, a little more here and a little less there to make up for it still gets you to the same place!

    Over time you'll be better able to judge your intake and make adjustments as needed. Another helpful tip is to be aware of how foods are made. Knowing what ingredients go into a Chicken Parm, for example, will help you figure it out. (Mental Note: Olive oil, bread crumbs, chicken, marinara sauce, cheese, pasta....and then I estimate all of the ingredients or find something very close on MFP.)
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    ThinnerLiz wrote: »
    I would give my best estimate of the calories involved, and the macros. I would make that a very generous estimate, and add 1/4 again (at least) to my guess. That ought to cover you.
    Sometimes this is going to happen, particularly in restaurants and family gatherings, or when traveling.
    You just try to do better next time. It's not about perfection; there is often guessing involved, and since it's not a straight road to weight loss, a little more here and a little less there to make up for it still gets you to the same place!

    Over time you'll be better able to judge your intake and make adjustments as needed. Another helpful tip is to be aware of how foods are made. Knowing what ingredients go into a Chicken Parm, for example, will help you figure it out. (Mental Note: Olive oil, bread crumbs, chicken, marinara sauce, cheese, pasta....and then I estimate all of the ingredients or find something very close on MFP.)

    There is no need to aggressively overestimate your calories. Just estimate them on a reasonable, fair, basis, and go from there. We don't need to constantly be under our calorie goal no matter what.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    lorrpb wrote: »
    What is spagbol?

    Spaghetti bolognese—basically spaghetti with meat sauce.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,302 Member
    edited December 2019
    lorrpb wrote: »
    What is spagbol?

    Sorry, forgot rest of the world doesn't share the weird Australian trait of shortening everything. :o
    Spag bog or spaghetti bolognaise

    Easy recipe .serves 3.

    500g beef mince ( what you call ground beef, I think)
    1 large onion, cut into small pieces.
    1 tinned tomatoes, preferably the spicy one
    3 tablespoons tomato paste
    Oregano, about 1/2 teaspoon
    2 beef stock cubes
    teaspoon sugar ( omit it if u want)
    Enough water to make it ' sauce like' - about 1/4 cup.

    Fry mince and opinion, once browned add other ingredients, cook through.

    Meanwhile cook up pasta to put it on.

    Whole thing ready in 20 minutes.

  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,302 Member
    PS That is my recipe, obviously not OP's since his was a vegan dish.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,302 Member
    I think you forgot to weigh ingredients and to weigh final total but were able / are able to weigh your actual portion eaten?

    If yes, then I would look at your previous recipe and use that with the actual weight you recorded.

    If not, then I would look at your previous recipe and one or two meals you had eaten and either recall whether your current meal was similar or smaller or larger and adjust for today, or take the average of your previous batch's meals and stick it as your calories for today's meal.

    In the end, if you want to snack because you're hungry then go ahead and eat it--even if you didn't have the calories, at worse you will be delaying your "goal" by a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of time. If you're eating without being hungry--ask yourself why and accept it only if it is helpful to you overall.


  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Often the recipe builder flakes on me and loses all the ingredients I inputted except the last one, at which point I use to grit my teeth and used something from the database.

    Now I build recipes using My Meals: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10471173/how-to-use-my-foods-and-my-meals-in-a-recipe-a-workaround
  • jwoolman5
    jwoolman5 Posts: 191 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    In the end, if you want to snack because you're hungry then go ahead and eat it--even if you didn't have the calories, at worse you will be delaying your "goal" by a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of time. If you're eating without being hungry--ask yourself why and accept it only if it is helpful to you overall.

    This is good advice for other situations also, such as when you knowingly go over your planned daily calorie budget. The worst that will happen is that you won't meet your final goal on the original schedule. No need to beat yourself up or punish yourself by overexercising or starving yourself. Tomorrow is another day.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    MikePTY wrote: »
    ThinnerLiz wrote: »
    I would give my best estimate of the calories involved, and the macros. I would make that a very generous estimate, and add 1/4 again (at least) to my guess. That ought to cover you.
    Sometimes this is going to happen, particularly in restaurants and family gatherings, or when traveling.
    You just try to do better next time. It's not about perfection; there is often guessing involved, and since it's not a straight road to weight loss, a little more here and a little less there to make up for it still gets you to the same place!

    Over time you'll be better able to judge your intake and make adjustments as needed. Another helpful tip is to be aware of how foods are made. Knowing what ingredients go into a Chicken Parm, for example, will help you figure it out. (Mental Note: Olive oil, bread crumbs, chicken, marinara sauce, cheese, pasta....and then I estimate all of the ingredients or find something very close on MFP.)

    There is no need to aggressively overestimate your calories. Just estimate them on a reasonable, fair, basis, and go from there. We don't need to constantly be under our calorie goal no matter what.

    I wouldn't call that an aggressive overestimation and it does not mean that in the right system it will result in being constantly under a calorie goal. It depends on how often it is happening and if a person is naturally compensating for the overages when they happen. I will very often log a restaurant meal 20 percent higher than I believe it to be. I also watch my rate of loss pretty closely so I know that the areas where I am a bit more loose will mostly balance the places where I log too high. It isn't the prettiest logging method but it gets the job done pretty accurately most of the time.

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