Calories in food you have no idea what's in?

Ow3593
Ow3593 Posts: 21 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
How do you find the calories in food that you don't know the ingredients in or there isn't any label? I don't want to guess because then it would be inaccurate.

Replies

  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    don't eat it, guess/best estimate, or look up nutritional info if you're talking about fresh food (meats, veggies, fruit, etc).
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    There are going to be occasions where you have no choice but to guess. When this occurs, guesstimate UP!
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    Look it up and use an average of the calories, or simply guess. You will be inaccurate at times.
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,333 Member
    jsut guess high and add it to your "quick add calories"… i say cheat in your favor..meaning over estimate so you still lose weight.
  • Cardio4Cupcakes
    Cardio4Cupcakes Posts: 289 Member
    Add in all the ingrediants, or just guess up with one thats already in MFP
  • MsWisconsinite
    MsWisconsinite Posts: 23
    I agree with what other people have been saying...
    For me, I try to avoid it altogether because there are other factors that go into it that's not necessarily just the calories that's bad for you. My parents would make a lot of homemade food (which usually has a lot of sodium because of my culture).

    But, if you have/want to eat it, add up the calories of the individual ingredients, and add extra calories into your total.
  • Ow3593
    Ow3593 Posts: 21 Member
    Has anyone here tried to guess the calories in food and still have lost weight on a weekly basis? For me I've been losing fat really slowly since June, so it seems like I'm miscalculating my calories. I should in theory be losing 2 pounds per week.
  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,668 Member
    I might have an unpopular opinion about this but....I tend to avoid things like that. I'm too focused on my weight loss at the moment to have any unknown variables. I would choose something else.
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
    An overestimated guess is what you can do.

    Try to limit the amount of times you need to do this by making your own food.
  • RHachicho
    RHachicho Posts: 1,115 Member
    As long as it doesn't happen a best guess won't hurt too much. Experience calorie counting tends to make you better at guessing too so things will improve with time.

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