Weighing Food/ Guessing Calories

0wlface

Hi,

I just wanted to get your views on calculating calories/ keeping the calorie limit.

Also to say I am fairly new to this forum, I have been on myfitnesspal on and off for a few months now.

My biggest problem is not only tracking food and logging it but also weighing it and calculating the calories. I like to cook from scratch and often when I come home from work I am hungry and want to quickly make dinner and I keep forgetting to weigh the food. And frankly it seems so much bother, especially when cooking something like a curry, finding out the calories takes almost longer than cooking it. I even started buying packaged food just to be able to easily keep a food diary, but not only does the food not taste that good, it also seems unhealthy. I try to eat as much vegetables, salad and fruit as possible and since I enjoy them that is not the problem (and keeping within my calorie limit when I do make the effort to track it)

Thanks in advance!

FlaxMilk

Go with whatever method will keep you the most long-term satisfied. If you can guesstimate your calories and lose weight, do that. If you can't, make the time to weigh or measure it out. Can you prepare your meals ahead of time in any way? Such as weighing the portion of veggies you'll use and storing it in one container, the rice or pasta in another, etc? Then you just have to weigh your portion.

Use the recipe tracker and once you make a recipe, weigh the final result and put it in the title. Then in the future you can just weigh your portions.

QuilterInVA

You have to do what is necessary if you want to lose weight and that means keeping a food diary and weighing and measuring your food. As you enter your food, you'll have a list of frequently eating foods you can just click on to add. Guestimating won't get the weight off.

chezjuan

Sometimes, if I am in a hurry (or forget to weigh/measure ingredients), I look for a similar item in the diary. I have found that many times, after putting in all the ingredients of my recipe, the database ones are about the same. So in a pinch, I will just look for the same recipe and pick an entry that seems reasonable. This worked for me throughout my weight loss, but I do prefer to enter my own recipes because then it is definitely more accurate.

Francl27

I just weigh as I go typically and log while it cooks or before eating. It's totally worth it, IMO. But a huge pain if you're not just cooking for yourself, lol.

cdahl383

If you're in a rush after work then I would plan the meals ahead of time on the weekend or something. That way you can still weigh stuff out but you're not rushed after work, you can just dump all the ingredients in together and you know what you're having already.

But if you're able to get pretty close and still lose weight then I'd just keep rolling with whatever works for you.

obsidianwings

If your managing it without tracking what you are eating then you don't really need MFP. If you're not, and thats why your here, then you need to make the time.