No calorie count in certain foods - What do you do?

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baybeejulia
baybeejulia Posts: 218 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Last night I went to dinner at an Indian restaurant, I know MFP has Indian Recipe calories listed, but all recipe's are made differently with different calories, depending on how much of what they use.

What do you do when you go out to eat at places where you can't count calories? Ideally, I wouldn't like to go to these places at all. But with a fit boyfriend who enjoys eating, it's quite difficult!

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  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
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    If the restaurant has a calorie listing, you can use that.

    If not, you can see if you can find something close in the database.

    Or, log each component of what you ate separately.

    Or, guess and do Quick Add Calories. I usually put what it was in the Food Notes, both so I can remember what it was weeks later and so people on my Friends List know what it was.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,096 Member
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    Estimate, enter it, and move on. Life will be full of these "moments".
  • lmainis
    lmainis Posts: 3
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    I just guess. I usually find the entry with the highest calories that matches what I'm eating the closest. If you pick the bone with the highest calories, you will either be under for the day or at least equal.
  • obsidianwings
    obsidianwings Posts: 1,237 Member
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    If I can I log all the components of the recipe, with estimate weights. For a curry I would try find the same kind and similar size, its better than not logging it at all, and won't hurt if its not often.
  • foleyshirley
    foleyshirley Posts: 1,043 Member
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    Such a good question. This has happened to me several times. Mainly, I just do the best I can. If it is something in the database, but for a different restaurant, I will look at 2-4 restaurants and aim for the middle somewhere. If I have an idea what most of the ingredients are, I sometimes estimate using the individual items (making best guess estimates on how much). A couple of times it was just a wash, because I honestly had no idea. Do the best you can; sometimes that is all we can do. Since it sounds like it doesn't happen often, enjoy it and start again the next day :).

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