Food Diary HELP!!!!!!!

Joannie30

I'm having such a headache entering certain meals into my food diary. For example, this evening my partner is cooking Carbonara for our tea. I have been through entering this into my diary in so many different ways and they ALL give me totally different totals in terms of calories, fat, carbs etc. I have even tried entering it as a recipie using each individual ingredient and exact measurements but it comes up with RIDICULOUS totals that just CAN'T be right!!!!!!!!!!! For example, it tells me that my recipie (using light milk, no bacon etc has MORE fat (and i mean MUCH MORE) than the other ones i've entered!!

HELP! Which do i trust?!?!?!

Needless to say, i'm new to this lol.

Helloitsdan

Its a matter of breaking it down then saving it for later use.
I have huge meals that require tons of ingredients so I have to save the meals!

Joannie30

But what to i do for the purposes of adding this to my food tracker for today? I have NO IDEA which one to believe and have literally spent the past 3 hours giving myself an actual headache trying to figure it out

lewandt

Honestly if i don't know, i enter the whole recipe and then i have it for when i eat it again. And it is more accurate than someone else's entry.

I have a lot of recipes in my food data base and it is nice for when i make it again. I know it is my recipe with my ingredients and it is accurate.

If you don't want to do that then you have to estimate. I would go on the higher end then just to be sure (just me though).

sun33082

Are you using the same individual ingredients when are you are comparing? what I'm saying is just because something is in the database doesn't mean it's correct. I've seen where 1 egg has 15 grams of fat in the database where in reality an egg has 4.5. So I would make sure the ingredients you are choosing from the database have actual correct data entered. Then you shouldn't have a problem. Also when you do a recipe, are you entering the number of servings it has?

delilah47

Be sure you enter the number of servings for the entire recipe.

edit: oops post ahead was typing the same thing at the same time lol

anj911

I wonder if the totals are for the whole recipe rather than a serving size? Could be why you're getting such a high reading!

lewandt

Don't forget, when you enter your recipe you have to say how many servings there are. If you don't then it gives you the amount for the total recipe.

Joannie30

Honestly if i don't know, i enter the whole recipe and then i have it for when i eat it again. And it is more accurate than someone else's entry.

I have a lot of recipes in my food data base and it is nice for when i make it again. I know it is my recipe with my ingredients and it is accurate.

If you don't want to do that then you have to estimate. I would go on the higher end then just to be sure (just me though).

I would have been happy to enter my own recipie but i just don't believe that mine (which is made with semi-skimmed milk and NO bacon, cheese etc can be so much HIGHER in fat than some of the other entries out there that contain bacon, eggs, cheese etc! I'm getting to the point now of just losing my motivation

beattie1

In "Recipes" I put in all the ingredients as best I can, matching up the quantities offered from the drop-down menu. You can adjust the portion size of, say, oil, so that if it only offers 1 tablespoon and you used 1 teaspoon, you can change the portion to 0.3 instead of 1.0 as a teaspoon is about a third of a tablespoon. Don't forget to fill in the number of portions that your recipe will feed. I usually enter dishes I cook as "4" as my husband and son both eat about half as much again as I do. So I have one portion and they have one and a half each. If you keep some of the food back for another meal it's really easy as you just input one portion of your recipe when you have that meal.

I'm sure you can do it - let me know if I can help. Send me a message with the recipe and I'll see what I get if you like.

Joannie30

I'm going to try one more time and pay attention to servings this time. If it doesn't work i'll scream lol

Joannie30

In "Recipes" I put in all the ingredients as best I can, matching up the quantities offered from the drop-down menu. You can adjust the portion size of, say, oil, so that if it only offers 1 tablespoon and you used 1 teaspoon, you can change the portion to 0.3 instead of 1.0 as a teaspoon is about a third of a tablespoon. Don't forget to fill in the number of portions that your recipe will feed. I usually enter dishes I cook as "4" as my husband and son both eat about half as much again as I do. So I have one portion and they have one and a half each. If you keep some of the food back for another meal it's really easy as you just input one portion of your recipe when you have that meal.

I'm sure you can do it - let me know if I can help. Send me a message with the recipe and I'll see what I get if you like.

Thanks! Yeah i'll do that

vjrose

When I put a recipe in I actually go get all the containers and double check the database entries so they match my particular products and since I use the same products each time then my recipe can be tweaked if I make more or less.

beattie1

Nice to see that several of us have thought of the same possible pitfall in the "how many servings" department.

Schnuddelbuddel

Don't forget, when you enter your recipe you have to say how many servings there are. If you don't then it gives you the amount for the total recipe.

Yep, and what was said here. Enter how many portions your recipe is for and make sure you have each ingredient with the proper measurements.

I've done a lot of my dinner/lunch meals with the recipe one as a lot of them somewhat repeat and then all I have to do is exchange a few ingredients and then it's there

good luck!

wahmx3

I hope it works for you, I prefer adding my own recipes for anything with mixed ingredients so I know they are accurate. You have no idea how someone else will modify the same recipe, maybe they are leaving out something, for example, bacon which will cut back on fat and calories.

In "Recipes" I put in all the ingredients as best I can, matching up the quantities offered from the drop-down menu. You can adjust the portion size of, say, oil, so that if it only offers 1 tablespoon and you used 1 teaspoon, you can change the portion to 0.3 instead of 1.0 as a teaspoon is about a third of a tablespoon. Don't forget to fill in the number of portions that your recipe will feed. I usually enter dishes I cook as "4" as my husband and son both eat about half as much again as I do. So I have one portion and they have one and a half each. If you keep some of the food back for another meal it's really easy as you just input one portion of your recipe when you have that meal.

I'm sure you can do it - let me know if I can help. Send me a message with the recipe and I'll see what I get if you like.

Thanks! Yeah i'll do that
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theNurseNancy

I use the MFP app on my phone with the barcode scanner. It makes correct entry sooo easy. And if I cant find my brand in the database, I enter in the information myself! just make sure you're entering correct portion sizes!

DorothyR87

When I put a recipe in I actually go get all the containers and double check the database entries so they match my particular products and since I use the same products each time then my recipe can be tweaked if I make more or less.

I check the containers with everything I enter as well. If I can't check a label then I look at how many confirmations an item has and pick one that looks about right to me and has a lot of others saying it is accurate.

betsygw

I often have all the cartons from the ingredients sitting right next to me, and pay close attention to the serving sizes. Make sure you adjusting the serving sizes to the recipie. Also make sure that the product you are pulling up from the database matches the label exactly, then adjust the serving sizes for an entire recipie. Make sure you put in the number of servings at the top. I am always suprised that when I put in the ingredients and actually physically measure out the recipie with measuring cups, it makes much more servings then I estimated. I made some veggie stew yesterday and measured out 15 cups, when I estimated it served 10! This cut the calories and fat by a fourth! Entering it in yourself and being sure the ingredients match the labels exactly is the most accurate. Good luck, I hope this makes sense.

suztheq

Honestly, a lot of the entries that people have put in MFP are wrong. Some of them are downright ridiculous. I do a lot of research before I enter something because if I'm going to spend the time to enter it, I would like it be as accurate as possible. I look online for things, whether it's a certain product or a restaurant's info. If I have the actual label, I'll compare it to what I find on MFP. If none of them are right, I'll either edit the info or enter it myself as a "new food". If it's somewhere like Carrabba's that refuses to put their info online, make the best possible guess that you can with what you can find and error a little on the high side. It is a pain in the butt at first (and maybe I'm a little overzealous about it), but once you enter things you know you will use again, under that meal, hit the "quick tools" option and choose "remember meal". Do this for everything if you want. I also use the "copy from date" option a lot. If if's my own recipe, I'll enter all the ingredients for the whole recipe in the recipe section as one serving and adjust the amount to reflect how much I actually eat. A little more time up front will save you tons of time later and make entering your food less of a "hassle" because the guess work is all but gone. Hope this helps

Joannie30

Thanks everyone! You've all been a big help. I've put it in again as best i can and changed according to servings. It looks sort of about right now (i think lol) but to be honest my head's to baffled with it all now to change it again so it's staying as it is- whether it's right or not lol