How to post my lunch?

Vamakshi

Hello!
this isn't technically difficulty that i'm facing.. it's just that for lunch every day i would have a bowl of salad .. some lettuce, a few carrots, tomatoes and some pieces cooked tofu... and some bread crumbs with french dressing and that's pretty much it.
I assume that's about 50-80 calories.. but how do i enter that for my lunch food? All the stuff i put in salad? if i do, it goes much more than the actual calories it is! what should i do?

Thank youuu!

Sezmo83

I'd weigh each ingredient individually and enter them individually. If doing that comes to more calories than you thought then I'd guess that the salad is higher in calories than you thought I'm afraid.

irishkiss

When I eat a salad I enter each item. Even lettuce has calories...you would be surprised what a salad can equal to....I was.

milaxx

Enter it individually. Salad has more calories than you would believe. Also thing like cooked tofu (depending on what it's cooked with), french dressing and bread crumbs are probably more than 50 calories. Entering it separately make you really think about whether your salad is a healthy one or not.

Crystal817

but how do i enter that for my lunch food? All the stuff i put in salad? if i do, it goes much more than the actual calories it is! what should i do?

Thank youuu!

Then you are probably underestimating how many calories are in the salad. Salad dressing can add tons of extra calories, depending on what you are using.

Best way is to measure everything out individually.

LittleMissVintage

Lettuce= 10
dressing= 90- 170
carrots= 30
tofu= 100
(per serving)
So I'd say somewhere around 230- 310 cal is what your salad may have. This is based on generic brand nutrition facts and if you eat a serving of each thing.

I'd suggest if you live near a trader joes, get their raspberry vinaigrette. It's only 40 cal per 2 tbsp.

Crystal817

I plug all my ingredients for salad in the recipe tool. I make one serving.

Earth Greens - Spring Mix Salad, 42.5 g 10 cals
Peppers - Sweet, red, raw, 12 g 3 cals
Fresh Vegetables - Red Onion Raw, 3 g 1 cals
Santa Sweets - Grape Tomatoes, 1 oz. 10 cals
Eat Smart - Sunrise Slaw, 1 oz 12 cals

I use a food scale and adjust portions/ingredients when needed. This come to about 36 calories for a side salad (dressing not included).

Bviera

...
I assume that's about 50-80 calories.. but how do i enter that for my lunch food? All the stuff i put in salad? if i do, it goes much more than the actual calories it is! what should i do?

Thank youuu!

Never assume. If you put it all the individual ingredients, and the calories came out higher than you though they would be, it means you underestimated the amount of calories the salad has. How would you know how many calories it has unless you measured out all the ingredients anyway?

Pebble321

Put it into the recipe section then you can quickly add it each day if it is the same. If you add something different one day you can either change the recipe or just add extra to your diary for that day only (say if you add walnuts one day for example) as an extra item.
Much quicker and easier than adding every lettuce leaf each day.
Also remember that if you add it today and have the same thing tomorrow that you can use the quick tools to copy from one day to the next.

concordancia

...
I assume that's about 50-80 calories.. but how do i enter that for my lunch food? All the stuff i put in salad? if i do, it goes much more than the actual calories it is! what should i do?

Thank youuu!

Never assume. If you put it all the individual ingredients, and the calories came out higher than you though they would be, it means you underestimated the amount of calories the salad has. How would you know how many calories it has unless you measured out all the ingredients anyway?

3 baby carrots have about 6 calories
5 cherry tomatoes have 20 calories
...I am half way to your assumed total by guessing at how much you actually use of only two of the ingredients you mentioned. The tofu alone probably has what you have been thinking the whole salad has, depending on the type of tofu, it may be even more.

Alternatively, one tablespoon of French Dressing has more calories than you thought your salad was.