I don't know how to calculate calories in my food :( !

BouchtaDouaa

Can someone give me a simple way ? Ty

Lietchi

Your question is very broad. Could you be more specific? The general idea is that you weigh your food, find the corresponding entry in the food database and enter the appropriate amount in your diary. MFP will then calculate the calories (and other nutritional info) for you.

springlering62

Give yourself some credit.

You downloaded an app, joined at 12:09 and made this post at 12:11.

If you can figure out how to find and use these boards- which some souls here have never figured out how to do- you can surely figure out basics of how to use the app.

Go to the top of each board and you’ll find “stickies”, aka threads with helpful information on how to best use the app.

Go to profile and set up your current data and your goal first. Set a reasonable - and slow- rate of loss. The slower the better, so you have the opportunity to learn to use the app, and the opportunity to learn new and sustainable habits.

Don’t use “I can’t figure it out” as a cop out- unless you’re being forced to use the app and are looking for an easy way out.

You should do this for yourself, and if you’re as motivated as I (and many many thousands of others who’ve successfully lost here) you’ll find a way to make it work.

Don’t expect to be perfect two minutes in to using the app- or even two years in to using the app. What matters is using the app.

Were you assigned an algebra textbook, cracked it open, and two minutes later knew how to do all of it?

Much success to you, but you’ve got to put effort in to get rewards out.

Many hugs to you, if you’re serious. Even more if you’re not. I’ve been you.

Making changes, losing weight, improving my health, and ultimately turning my life around was tremendously satisfying and rewarding. I would wish that for every single new person here.

We are here to help, but the onus is on you to spend more than two minutes looking over the site if you have a snowball’s chance of success.

cmriverside

I hate to be the contrarian. Wait, I love to be the contrarian.

Logging food is a skill. Logging food on this site is pretty easy, but it does take fiddling around with the system for a while. I just learned as I used it.

Here's the official "Help" section with a HOW TO USE THE APP section at the top (there's a link to Help on any page) https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us

Here's a good tutorial on the basics of logging food:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

ech9570

BouchtaDouaa - This is a very good question. And it's not as easy as point and click. First, you don't have to calculate the number of calories in a particular food. That's a procedure they do in a lab and it is literally the amount of energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 Gm of water 1 degree Celscius. So no. You don't have to do that!! 😅 For individual foods, just use the search function and pick the best fit. But foods that are a combination of foods - like a stew, soup, etc. - unless you can find a food on the search function, you'll need to break it down into it's individual foods. If you are the one preparing your meals, you can "build" a meal by listing each ingredient and the amount per serving, and save all these under a title for the meal. But if someone else is doing the cooking, you may have to ask for the details.

Using the tracker looks like it should be easy but it isn't. It's a pretty steep learning curve and you have to be willing to spend some time on adding your common foods and meals before it gets to be easy. Just have patience and you'll get there.

Good luck to you, and please message back as to how you have solved this problem.

laurata

I sometimes struggle with this, as I make meals from scratch, and it can be super tedious to get it all figured out, especially if I've used 20 ingredients and made a huge batch of whatever.

I put my favorite recipes in as recipes, and give an estimate of how many servings. If I'm making a batch of something that I'm winging, (for example, 6 cans of beans, and bags of frozen corn, peas, and green beans) I'll put it all in as a dated recipe, measure the outcome, and decide how much is a reasonable serving. The scan function is super helpful for packaged foods.

The important thing, especially if you are new to food logging, is to keep at it. Even without calories, just logging foods will add mindfulness. Take a breath, and allow yourself grace. It's a journey.

Hobartlemagne

One thing Ive done- if you hate how certain ingredients appear in the database, make an entry of your own.
A good example of mine- I regularly bake bread, and I DESPISE flour measuring by volume. There's way too much variation. Its getting better, but a few years back it was almost impossible to find All Purpose Flour by weight on the MFP ingredient database.

I entered in "Gold Medal Better For Bread All Purpose Flour (1oz)" in the database, and I use it often. Im able to go by the weight, and I know every last nutrient is copied straight off the nutrition facts label.