SO CONFUSED about serving sizes

dododo123

Hello everyone,

I am very confused about serving sizes when I eat out. For example, the other day I had a turkey wrap, but since the restaurant I bought it from doesn't provide nutrition info, I tried to reassemble the wrap on my recipes. Result: disaster. I don't even know the difference between 3 oz and 8 oz of turkey breast. Which one would it be?

Another issue I had just today is with tater tots. I bought a small bowl of them. Would that be 4oz? There was no "cup" option.

What are some tricks to estimating weight?

Zichu

I think sometimes you just get a rough idea of how much is there. The more you weigh your food you get a better idea of how much food generally weighs in other places without scales.

How big was the wrap?
What else was in the wrap besides turkey?
Was the turkey deli style or real turkey breast?
How big was the diameter of the bowl and was it filled or half filled?

Also, where did you eat?

quill16

best ting to do is but a scale ($20) and weigh. You get used to seeing the size of things,but it is soooo easy to over estimate especially when you are hungry. If math isn't your thing you can probably enlist the aide of a friend who can make a conversion chart ozs. vs. grams to help you get started.

wombat94

It can be difficult to guess at the meal that you are getting at a restaurant or cafeteria.

What I tend to do if MFP doesn't have the specific meal I am eating from the specific restaurant I am ordering it from is to search for the basic food (i.e. search for turkey wrap) and find representative samples of the same type of food. I then choose something that its in the middle of the range of calorie counts from the results that were returned.

I did this at lunch today as there was a new soup in the cafeteria at work (Roasted Red pepper with smoked gouda -yum!)

I found about 8 different examples in the database and took one that was close to the top in calories.

I know it probably wasn't exact, but it's pretty close, and by choosing something near the top of the range, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to go over my calories for the day in reality.

Ted

jamesfit99

The simpler you keep your restaurant choices, the more likely you will be to come up with accurate figures for your food log.

For example, if you order a chicken breast (plain) with baked potato, steamed veggies and a salad with vinegar and oil on the side -- it's not too hard to come up some very accurate numbers.

On the other hand, if you order that chicken breast with some mystery sauce, the vegetables sauteed in an unknown quantity of oil or butter, and salad with "house dressing" (whatever that is) -- then good luck figuring out the calories, etc. Unless, of course, it's a larger restaurant chain that posts nutritional values.

As to portion sizes, as suggested get a scale and get used to weighing things at home. That way you can make better estimates when eating out.

dododo123

I think sometimes you just get a rough idea of how much is there. The more you weigh your food you get a better idea of how much food generally weighs in other places without scales.

How big was the wrap?
What else was in the wrap besides turkey?
Was the turkey deli style or real turkey breast?
How big was the diameter of the bowl and was it filled or half filled?

Also, where did you eat?

It was probably 6 inches, comparing it to the subway sandwiches lol. There was just a couple of jalapenos and mustard. It was at my university's cafeteria. The diameter of the bowl, ughh this is a hard one. It was like 3-4 inches I would guess. It was deli turkey.

dododo123

The simpler you keep your restaurant choices, the more likely you will be to come up with accurate figures for your food log.

For example, if you order a chicken breast (plain) with baked potato, steamed veggies and a salad with vinegar and oil on the side -- it's not too hard to come up some very accurate numbers.

On the other hand, if you order that chicken breast with some mystery sauce, the vegetables sauteed in an unknown quantity of oil or butter, and salad with "house dressing" (whatever that is) -- then good luck figuring out the calories, etc. Unless, of course, it's a larger restaurant chain that posts nutritional values.

As to portion sizes, as suggested get a scale and get used to weighing things at home. That way you can make better estimates when eating out.

I really wish this was possible but I tend to eat at my school's dining venues, for most, there is no nutrition or even weight info

dododo123

best ting to do is but a scale ($20) and weigh. You get used to seeing the size of things,but it is soooo easy to over estimate especially when you are hungry. If math isn't your thing you can probably enlist the aide of a friend who can make a conversion chart ozs. vs. grams to help you get started.

Sadly, this only occurs outside since at home, I buy things to cook/prepare by weight anyways.

dododo123

It can be difficult to guess at the meal that you are getting at a restaurant or cafeteria.

What I tend to do if MFP doesn't have the specific meal I am eating from the specific restaurant I am ordering it from is to search for the basic food (i.e. search for turkey wrap) and find representative samples of the same type of food. I then choose something that its in the middle of the range of calorie counts from the results that were returned.

I did this at lunch today as there was a new soup in the cafeteria at work (Roasted Red pepper with smoked gouda -yum!)

I found about 8 different examples in the database and took one that was close to the top in calories.

I know it probably wasn't exact, but it's pretty close, and by choosing something near the top of the range, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to go over my calories for the day in reality.

Ted

This seems like the best option, and that soup sounds so yummy!

treetop57

Some rules-of-thumb: http://caloriecount.about.com/article/when_you_cant_measure_estimate_portions

dododo123

Some rules-of-thumb: http://caloriecount.about.com/article/when_you_cant_measure_estimate_portions

that is pretty helpful! i wish they gave more examples haha