Need advice on figuring out calorie counts

eurogal

I just joined MFP yesterday and could use some help. I became a vegan 5 months. I was under the mistaken impression that somehow becoming vegan, I would magically lose weight. I've discovered it doesn't happen that easily- I've only lost 5 lbs and have 50 to go. I realized I had to do something different and go back to counting calories but still being vegan. I make almost everything from scratch, usually following vegan recipes I find online. The problem is that none of the recipes have calorie counts. I am starting to lose weight and the food diary really helps with balancing carbs, proteins , sugars etc. But on my homemade recipes like my tofu lentil meatloaf- I'm clueless on calorie counts. Can anyone advise me how to enter the various dishes?
Thanks Laura

crissygm

Whenever I make a recipe, I go under the food tab then "Enter New Recipe". I measure everything I'm using and enter in there and how many portions it will make.

kaliya89

I do the same thing crissygm does. It takes a lot of work sometimes, but I think it's worth it. Soon you'll have a decent collection of recipes saved, and it won't be as bad

But yeah, I was under the same impression as you. I thought that as soon as I went vegan, I would lose weight. That definitely hasn't proven to the be case. You can be just as unhealthy on a vegan diet as you can on a non-vegan diet. I've gotten better at listening to my body and tracking my food, and when I do that I manage to lose weight and feel good doing it. It's just taken a little while to adjust.

LaNetsah

Yes, use the Recipe log on here! It's so comfortable and I love that it calculates everything per serving. I cook 90% of my food, so I definitely use it every day, you get used to it very quickly, and like Kaliya89 said, soon enough you'll have most of your recipes on here, so it's get very easy to use.

_Zardoz_

Just weigh everything.