(Guess)-timating Calorie Intake

buster0042

I've been using this since the End of March, and it has been absolutely wonderful to see how much I eat and be able to track what I eat. I don't think it has really affected WHAT I eat, because I don't really think about what I eat, but it helps me realize just how much I do eat.

WIth that said, I go out to eat with my co-workers almost every day for lunch. This fact could assist with my plateau'ing of weight loss (even with the cardio I do). How does one enter the calories for items of which you have no idea.

For example, on Friday's, we go out to a local Teriyaki restaurant. I found Gyoza in the tracker. But the actual menu item I usually eat, does not exist in the tracker. There's also a local sandwich shop, which I get a sandwich. It's like subway, but better (and probably worse). When I enter these, I either use my best judgement to search for the items I ate, or I do not enter anything in, and add a note for the day with what I did eat.

Yes, there's the "don't go out to eat anymore and make your own lunch each day", which, would probably be healthier overall, but I'm really not good at getting up in the morning with enough time to slap together a lunch for myself. Which makes going out to each so much more easy.

How do you overcome the (guess)-timation of calorie intake?

Thanks.

Kminor67

See if the restaurants you go to have available nutrition info. If they do, you can add them into the database if they're not there. Also you can check their websites and see if they have the info there. If not, you have to do your best to guesstimate. Try dissecting what is in the dish and adding stuff one by one.

Lleldiranne

Most national restaurants have a website that lists the calorie info for their menu items, you can google the restaurant name and "nutrition information" to find it quickly. You can also ask at the restaurant for the nutritional information. I think that they are supposed to have it available to customers who ask.

You can enter it into MFP, and even make it available for other members to use, helping the rest of us, too!

For those that don't have anything available, check a couple of other restaurants with similar menu items and try for the average between them. It's not perfect, but probably not too far off.

artofbs

There is really no way of overcoming it that I have found. Using this and and another calorie counting website in the past (this one wins hands down with an iphone app) I have found that all you can do is try to track the individual ingredients, if you can determine them, or find something close and over-estimate the size.

foxxybrown

Stick with simple items so that you can add each ingredient separately.

buster0042

Thanks for the quick responses! When I go out to a national chain type restaurant I've been going on their website and finding what I've eaten, and then publicly entering it into the system for everyone to use if it isn't already there Unfortunately, I go to more of the local chain restaurant or mom-and-pop restaurants and so that has more resulted me into doing the best guesstimate I can do, and ultimately telling myself that it must be over.