Estimating!

bossmodehan

Just wanted to know how others deal with having to estimate the nutritional info for a meal. I mean for the times when you haven't prepared the meal, such as at a restaurant, party, someone else in your household cooking etc.

At the moment i just try and reconstruct it as best I can with the mfp database, then worry and leave a load of calories over for the day 'just in case'.

Grateful for others thoughts on this issue!

Aesop101

I often ask for the ingredients if someone is cooking. Sometimes you just have to find the item you think is closest to what you ate.

aa1440

For restaurants you can look up the info on the internet. Most restaurants have that info on their website. Also, I try to only eat half of my meal when I go out to eat. I take the other half home for another meal.

Hope this helps.

Bristle82

There are also 'quick calories' which you can add if you can work out an average of what was in your food. I don't tend to use this but it is there.

I try to add what I have had and do an average!

HeidiMightyRawr

I just estimate it all, going through all the ingredients and finding close matches on here or google. Not going to be perfect unless you ask them. Luckily when my family cook I know where they shop, so know the sort of stuff they use and alot of the time I;ll see them cooking so later it's straight to the supermarkets website looking up the nutritional info haha Restaurants also usually have that info on their website if it's a well known chain.

bossmodehan

thanks guys, that's pretty much what i do really. unfortunately a lot of my favourite places to eat out dont list their nutritional info, but on the other hand, the reason why i might prefer a non-franchise place is because it offers healthier, cleaner options!

unfortunately, something in my mind just does not allow me to leave half a meal - it has to be a really disgusting meal or i have to feel REALLY ill or full!

also, it's not just the calorie estimation that makes me uncertain, its the macronutrient content that's equally important to me too! I love mfp but i've become such a stickler for perpping my own food. the other day i went to a theme park and took a quinoa salad i had made and logged the night before!

Pebble321

I just accept that it will have to be an estimate when I'm eating out. For me, going out to eat is part of my lifestyle and I'm not going to give that up so that I can have an exact breakdown of what is there. I think I'm pretty good at picking a healthier option from a menu - or at picking what I really want to have and enjoying all of it's occasional unhealthy tastiness (like the Irish coffee after my decadent dinner out last night - seriously not a good choice healthwise, but I enjoyed it immensely and probably won't have another one for the rest of the year, so I'm happy with that!)