I have no idea how many calories this is...

ninifire
ninifire Posts: 21
in Recipes
And I don't want to take two hours to figure it out. I can't search the right salad in the food section that I'm having. i can make my own but I don't know how many calories it is. I searched online and found a counter and I'm spending a lot of time inputting every single thing. I don't even know how much I put in things. I never measure or count things. All I know if I have a bowl of kale salad with cilantro, green onion, blueberry strawberry, salt and pepper and olive oil and vinegar. And I have a chicken tikka pita on the side. It's difficult for me to track my food on here and it's difficult to track exercise (because there are so many individual things I do I can't possibly input them in the correct way) I think it is possible to stay healthy and keep exercising. But I may just give up on trying to track things. It's taking up too much of my time. Meanwhile... yum.




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Replies

  • SweetCheekszx0
    SweetCheekszx0 Posts: 478 Member
    You can make your own recipes on here and input all the ingredients and it'll giv u a caloric amount for each serving ... Tracking is annoying sometimes when you really have no way of knowing how many calories are n something ... Drives me mad some times.. Fr a piece of mind when I eat out or at a friends house I just look it up in the database and go with the highest caloric amount... If your not gonna measure anything well idk how your gonna count calories, but if you still lose well who cares then? Lol good luck
  • zewolf77
    zewolf77 Posts: 173 Member
    You can make your own recipes on here and input all the ingredients and it'll giv u a caloric amount for each serving ... Tracking is annoying sometimes when you really have no way of knowing how many calories are n something ... Drives me mad some times.. Fr a piece of mind when I eat out or at a friends house I just look it up in the database and go with the highest caloric amount... If your not gonna measure anything well idk how your gonna count calories, but if you still lose well who cares then? Lol good luck

    This is what I do also, but I measure as well wherever possible.
  • infamousmk
    infamousmk Posts: 6,033 Member
    Estimate based on your best knowledge. Calorie counting is not an exact science.
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    And I don't want to take two hours to figure it out.

    Sounds like you're really motivated and off to a great start.
    I never measure or count things.

    You might want to start.
  • ninifire
    ninifire Posts: 21
    I will try. Thanks.
  • Crankstr
    Crankstr Posts: 3,958 Member
    once you figure it out the first time it will be there and it wont take hours.

    measure...it really isnt as hard as you are making it out to be.
  • _DaniD_
    _DaniD_ Posts: 2,186 Member
    842.7
  • sunsnstatheart
    sunsnstatheart Posts: 2,544 Member
    You will get out exactly what you put in. If you don't want to even put in the most basic of efforts, then you will fail. If you're serious, then you will see results. Lifestyle changes take effort.
  • BeccaLevine
    BeccaLevine Posts: 315 Member
    Thousands of others can take the time to track calories and exercise, why can't you? You certainly seem to have extra time because writing that post and taking that picture probably took more time than adding up the calories in your meal. And this was less productive.
  • Ezzie
    Ezzie Posts: 665 Member
    It gets easier as you do it. So much IS a guess. Once you get a start on some of the things you eat on a regular basis that makes it easier as well. From what I've seen this is one of the BEST and EASIEST places to track calories and nutrition.
  • dinosnopro
    dinosnopro Posts: 2,177 Member
    1,654
  • ninifire
    ninifire Posts: 21
    I'm officially driving myself crazy. I went back to try the recipe again. I'm trying to add blueberries and It wants 1 pint or 100 gram or 1 cup, or 50 berries. All I did is add about a dozen blueberries. Nothing on there is similar to that.
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
    Chicken tikka is some high calorie stuff. Might want to count that up. Depending on how you make it. Don't just guess, but I'd say that alone is over 700.
  • ninifire
    ninifire Posts: 21
    Ouch.
  • MightyDomo
    MightyDomo Posts: 1,265 Member
    I'm officially driving myself crazy. I went back to try the recipe again. I'm trying to add blueberries and It wants 1 pint or 100 gram or 1 cup, or 50 berries. All I did is add about a dozen blueberries. Nothing on there is similar to that.

    1/50*12= # you input using the 50 count blueberries.

    I got 0.24. That should work for ya.
  • ninifire
    ninifire Posts: 21
    MighyDomo: Thanks! I didn't realize I could do that. That solves A LOT of my issues right now!

    tlt12345 : I bought the Tikka sandwich from Natural Grocers. And I just checked the package. It says 390 calories. So that's great. It's not too many calories and it's easy to add to my food plan.


    For the couple of people who reacted a little negatively to my rush of impatience, I just wanted to say I was frustrated. It was a plea for help! Thanks guys I really appreciate it.
  • SweetCheekszx0
    SweetCheekszx0 Posts: 478 Member
    Walmart has a nothing extravagant food scale for 8$ for things like this lol.. I lost all my weight without a food scale and just guesstimating, but finally bought one once my caloric count got much higher for maintenance, I was shorting myself out on so much food especially meat smh.., I wish I would have known that.. Anywho the scales worth the 8$ and works just fine ., besides its 8$ lol
  • ninifire
    ninifire Posts: 21
    I wouldn't think just a food scale would work. Aren't different foods different calories even if weight is the same?
  • SweetCheekszx0
    SweetCheekszx0 Posts: 478 Member
    Almost everything you buy has nutritional facts well at least I hope .. Except obviously raw fruits or veggies... The nutritional facts state a serving size and a caloric amount... For example it'll say 180 cals for 3oz of chicken ..... So I put my chicken on the scale and measure 3oz lol or else how else would I know how much 3oz is lol?
  • EatClean_WashUrNuts
    EatClean_WashUrNuts Posts: 1,590 Member
    I think you skip that side salad....just eat this in it's place

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  • Catlady87
    Catlady87 Posts: 302 Member
    I wouldn't think just a food scale would work. Aren't different foods different calories even if weight is the same?

    Yes but if you know how much an item weighs it makes it easier to find the right item and get the right calorific value when adding it to your diary, e.g you could weigh your 12 blueberries and if they weigh 20grams you could add in "blueberries 1 gram, 20 portions."
  • ninifire
    ninifire Posts: 21
    catlady87: that's pretty cool. Learning a lot of stuff I didn't know.


    BTW I did it! And apparently it was only about 500 calories for everything. Wow.
  • successgal1
    successgal1 Posts: 996 Member
    The are measurement converters online. For the blueberries i would use the cup measurment, and convert to tablespoons if need be. A scale helps me with measuring protein, chicken mainly. I like to have evenish portions of protein throughout the day.
  • ninifire
    ninifire Posts: 21
    Well I really appreciate the help and I'm super glad I took time to check everything. A couple people guessed this meal was 1000 calories or more. It was only about 500. If i wouldn't have checked it would have sucked!

    Thanks everyone! Gotta be off for now.

    p.s. will make a better effort of asking you all questions next time instead of skipping right to the freaking out part. =)
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    I wouldn't think just a food scale would work. Aren't different foods different calories even if weight is the same?

    HMmN7.gif
  • zaph0d
    zaph0d Posts: 1,172 Member
    I wouldn't think just a food scale would work. Aren't different foods different calories even if weight is the same?

    headdesk.jpg
  • lacurandera1
    lacurandera1 Posts: 8,083 Member
    I feel like this is a joke but I fear its not.

    I will bite my tongue and say ...nothing worth having is easy. And if is too much work for you to track your food then you have a hard row to hoe in the future.
  • ninifire
    ninifire Posts: 21
    Guys, calm down. I'm glad I got some answers that helped. I sincerely didn't know some things and now I am all the wiser.
    If there is something you must face palm to because it is 'common sense' to you, remember that common sense is not common.I would rather not go my whole life not knowing 'common sense' and risk degradation to find the truth. I have risked degradation and I've received it. I'm all the wiser, and stronger. Just like you all were at one point in your lives.

    Again, thanks to those who gave some really helpful answers.
  • marx4
    marx4 Posts: 236 Member
    It can be frustruating, to say the least. I start out looking on the MFP site, say for you---kale salad, add that and then just add on the other few items that you put in, onion, dressing, etc.... Or, as others have suggested, make your own recipe, under "my recipes" and add the ingredients, like you've said, then, if it's an item that you eat all the time, it will be there. Then, add your pita bread, if that's what you used, by the brand name and add the ingredients, for example 4 oz chicken, baked, etc....

    Don't let it get to you, it is TIME CONSUMING when you first start and you build a "library" of foods that you normally eat. I've been here 1+ years and still add things daily. But, the process is worth the end result. Best wishes for success!!
  • mbonacci12
    mbonacci12 Posts: 72 Member
    Don't sweat it! There are always people that can be self-righteous on message boards. The positive ones outweigh the negative ones!

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