How do you work out the calories in your food?

Annabel193
Annabel193 Posts: 17
in Food and Nutrition
I'm struggling a bit with logging my food at the minute....sure I get if everything comes from a packet it's easy to log it or put in the calories manually. But when you're cooking everything from scratch, how do you work out what a portion of the meal is going to be? I feel like everything I eat has way too many ingredients for me to work it out accurately.

Is it literally a case of having to list amounts of every single ingredient? That's so time consuming!

Replies

  • rockmama72
    rockmama72 Posts: 815 Member
    Have you tried the recipe builder? Just enter all the ingredients and the number of servings.
  • TonyStark30
    TonyStark30 Posts: 497 Member
    Do it once for the recipe and save it, or find someone's else's version already on here and overestimate.
  • sheepysaccount
    sheepysaccount Posts: 608 Member
    Yep, the recipe tab on MFP is great. I make the complete recipe and then divide the food into several smaller containers I can store in the fridge. That way I don't have to say "100g is X calories", but can go with "one container of food is Y amount of calories".
  • beachlover317
    beachlover317 Posts: 2,848 Member
    The recipe tab is your friend. Plus, if it's something you cook a lot - it's always there.
  • Annabel193
    Annabel193 Posts: 17
    Ohhh I hadn't spotted that, thanks! (Sorry, I'm new at this..)
  • valente347
    valente347 Posts: 201 Member
    I second everyone else's advice. Use the recipe builder so you only have to do the tedious work once. And make enough for leftovers (as long as they're not too delicious and tempting) so you can have a few meals through the week with a calorie count that has already been calculated.
  • fleetzz
    fleetzz Posts: 962 Member
    use the recipe builder---enter each item in grams (or liquids volume), MFP will calculate total calories. Prepare as usual. Measure in grams the total product. Enter that number into the #servings on MFP (total number of servings for that recipe).

    When you eat a serving: measure how many grams it is, enter that as number of servings. MFP will calculate everything for you-> carbs, fat, protein, fiber, sodium, etc.
  • Vicxie86
    Vicxie86 Posts: 181 Member
    It might seem time consuming but in order to achieve something, you have to be willing to invest your time. I sometimes cook with 12 ingredients and i only cook 1 servings on those days. I make sure to account for every single thing one by one and then save it as a meal, means i don't have to keep entering the ingredients over and over again

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