Does it get less time consuming?

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sofrances
sofrances Posts: 156 Member
in Getting Started
I'm committed to calorie counting, and I think I may have to do it for the long haul (including maintenance). One thing just a few days have taught me is that I have NO IDEA intuitively how many calories are in my food.

However, currently it is very time consuming, especially constructing the recipes.

I just wanted to ask long time users. Does it get easier and less time consuming? As I said, I'm committed, but obviously the easier it is, the easier it will be to stick to.

Replies

  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    Yes, it definitely does get easier! As you log more, more of your regular meals and foods will be in your recent foods and your lists. Make sure you use some of the time saving tools such as the scanner for packages, and the locations for restaurant menus. If you eat the same meal on multiple days, you can either save it and add it as a meal, or slide sideways to add a meal from the day before.

    These days it only takes me a few moments out of my day to log. And I can quickly come up with a meal with the right number of calories and the right macros, after a lot of practice. You will get used to it too.

    One other suggestion, if you aren’t using a kitchen scale, be sure to get one. I rarely use measuring cups or spoons these days because I measure directly into my dish using the scale. It’s quick and easy and saves on dishes.
  • Jackie9003
    Jackie9003 Posts: 1,110 Member
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    Yes it does, you start to build up a record of frequently used foods, if you use the same recipes then once they're in you don't need to do them again and you get better at finding foods in the database, and if you can zap the barcodes that speeds things up too.
    I rekon it takes me no more than 15 mins a day to log my foods.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,435 Member
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    Jackie9003 wrote: »
    Yes it does, you start to build up a record of frequently used foods, if you use the same recipes then once they're in you don't need to do them again and you get better at finding foods in the database, and if you can zap the barcodes that speeds things up too.
    I rekon it takes me no more than 15 mins a day to log my foods.

    I probably don't even need 5 minutes to log all my food. Yes, I don't cook for breakfast and lunch (oats, fruit and sandwiches mostly), but dinner doesn't take long either even though I cook mostly from scratch. Basically, I log while i cook. Prep some veggie: put on scale before cutting it, logging it takes seconds, next piece of veggie, etc...
  • sofrances
    sofrances Posts: 156 Member
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    Jackie9003 wrote: »
    Yes it does, you start to build up a record of frequently used foods, if you use the same recipes then once they're in you don't need to do them again and you get better at finding foods in the database, and if you can zap the barcodes that speeds things up too.
    I rekon it takes me no more than 15 mins a day to log my foods.

    Ah, I haven't been using the barcode scanner! Life saver!
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,435 Member
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    sofrances wrote: »
    Jackie9003 wrote: »
    Yes it does, you start to build up a record of frequently used foods, if you use the same recipes then once they're in you don't need to do them again and you get better at finding foods in the database, and if you can zap the barcodes that speeds things up too.
    I rekon it takes me no more than 15 mins a day to log my foods.

    Ah, I haven't been using the barcode scanner! Life saver!

    Depending on where you are the barcode scanner might not be the right way forward. I find that the calories suggested from the scanner are off in about 60% of the time, and at least once a week I get a product that is totally unrelated to what I scanned, e.g. I scanned chocolate and got broccoli
  • Jackie9003
    Jackie9003 Posts: 1,110 Member
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    yirara wrote: »
    sofrances wrote: »
    Jackie9003 wrote: »
    Yes it does, you start to build up a record of frequently used foods, if you use the same recipes then once they're in you don't need to do them again and you get better at finding foods in the database, and if you can zap the barcodes that speeds things up too.
    I rekon it takes me no more than 15 mins a day to log my foods.

    Ah, I haven't been using the barcode scanner! Life saver!

    Depending on where you are the barcode scanner might not be the right way forward. I find that the calories suggested from the scanner are off in about 60% of the time, and at least once a week I get a product that is totally unrelated to what I scanned, e.g. I scanned chocolate and got broccoli

    Yes you definitely need to compare the package to the info that comes through, generally I find it fairly accurate though.
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,467 Member
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    Does it get less time consuming? Yes!
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,993 Member
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    It does get easier. And in addition to what the others have said, if you are like me and eat a lot of the same meals you can either save a meal and then next time you have that meal when you go to add your food click on "meals" and then you can add the meal from there. You just might need to edit the meal if you have different amounts or say a different vegetable or fruit or flavor of yogurt. It will also have an option for "yesterday's lunch" (or whichever meal) and you can add it that way. I do that a lot since I tend to eat the same things for breakfast and lunch on weekdays. So I have several meals saved that I will just copy and edit for dinner, and most weekdays I just enter yesterday's breakfast and lunch and edit as needed.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,435 Member
    edited April 2020
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    I made shredded chicken buns today. Logging:
    The buns: I often eat them for breakfast, thus they are already in my commonly logged list. I added them sometime during the day.
    I prepared the chicken and notice I have 300 grams (note: I only have the possibility to cook the chicken before shredding). I decide to eat 1/3 of that. Thus sometimes in the course of the day I log 100 grams chicken breast, which is also in my commonly used items list.

    Barbecue sauce. Most spices are commonly used. Thus I use the right amount, put into mixing bowl on tared scale, note weight increase and log. Same with sugar, same with oil. Takes seconds.

    Made coleslaw. I just had the cabbage I'm using for it the previous two days. Easy to log. Other ingredients as well. Takes seconds to log.

    Mix chicken meat with part barbecue sauce and pan fry. Log a bit more oil. Add rest of sauce and assemble buns. Done. (ok, I added a picked gherkin as well)
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    In my experience, it absolutely does. I've been logging since 2015 and probably spend around five-ten minutes a day logging. That includes everything, including entering new recipes and double-checking the calorie count of items I'm not sure about. I also find I'm much better at having a general guess of how many calories a food will have. The first few months of logging, it feels like everything is new and so many foods are a shock. Once you get through that, I think it's pretty common to have a general sense of how many calories you expect things to be.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    Once you build up a database of recipes, frequent meals, and recent foods it gets really easy. If you find yourself eating the same 3 or so breakfasts every day, for example, you can save them as a meal. All you need to do after that is log the meal you want (all foods in the meal will be logged automatically and you won't have to enter them individually) and change item weights if you had more/less of something. Takes seconds.

    Recipes, I usually set the number of servings to the number of grams, and when I log a recipe it's simple to just enter weight without having to mess with servings.

    Recent foods, if you eat certain items often you see them in the list and click them, no need to search.
  • sofrances
    sofrances Posts: 156 Member
    edited April 2020
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    Thanks for all your reassurances.

    Do you guys every worry that something will go wrong with MFP and all your recipes will be deleted :scream: ? Do you keep printed backups or anything?

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