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counting calories

josie8451
josie8451 Posts: 2
edited November 2023 in Getting Started
I track my calories as best as I can but I like to cook more then to eat food that's already cooked but im new to this and I dont know how to get the calories of what I'm eating like the other day made turkey burger with cheese and a tsp of mayo had sara lee bread. how would I get the calories does any one else have this problem

Replies

  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,584 Member
    weigh the turkey on a food scale.
    enter the amount.
    scan the jar of mayo and the bread bag.
  • brraanndi
    brraanndi Posts: 325 Member
    weigh the turkey on a food scale.
    enter the amount.
    scan the jar of mayo and the bread bag.
    I need to get into this whole scanning thing, I do alot of googling.
  • AleciaG724
    AleciaG724 Posts: 705 Member
    You have to add a new recipe for things you cook/make at home. It's important to be accurate & measure/weigh everything and also accurate with how many portions you get out of the recipe. It's a little time consuming at first, but it gets easier. If you have a smart phone the scanning feature is great for anything you buy pre-made like the cheese, bun, mayo, etc.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    You can enter ingredients individually...weight the turkey, mayo, etc. You can also use the recipe builder. I've built a ton of recipes in my recipe builder over the past year. 99.9% of what I eat is prepared fresh with ingredients, not prepared package foods. It takes a bit of time, but once you get your recipes in the builder, you're golden.
  • Enic03
    Enic03 Posts: 173 Member
    weigh the turkey on a food scale.
    enter the amount.
    scan the jar of mayo and the bread bag.

    Yes this. I mean the scanning thing is if you have it on your phone which is easiest to record with. If you don't have a food scale (I don't) then just take the total lbs of turkey and convert the total to ounces (just google lbs to oz since most servings are oz). Then you should easily be able to determine how many patties you made out of the total turkey so split those ounces up into however many patties you made and you have the ounces for that burger roughly.

    Then scan/enter everything else in. Good luck!
  • SpecialKitty7
    SpecialKitty7 Posts: 678 Member
    i tend to list the ingredients separately rather than use the recipe builder (due to constantly fluctuating amounts used). it has the plus side of making it look like i ate a ton!
  • jvbrooks
    jvbrooks Posts: 82 Member
    It is pretty straightforward. Weigh everything, turn that into one meal. So if you use say a pound of turkey, a tablespoon of butter, a teaspoon of pepper, and a teaspoon of lemon (I don't know), that becomes one meal.

    If you eat 60% of that one night and have the last 40% for breakfast the next morning, the math is easy.
  • calliekitten9
    calliekitten9 Posts: 148 Member
    I just type in the food (example chicken breast) and look for whatever is closest. It isn't accurate but it gives me a good enough estimate for me to base my calories against. :)

    Good Luck.
  • redladywitch
    redladywitch Posts: 799 Member
    You've already had some great advice here. Sometimes measuring is not the most accurate approach. I weigh everything I can.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    i tend to list the ingredients separately rather than use the recipe builder (due to constantly fluctuating amounts used). it has the plus side of making it look like i ate a ton!

    On the iOS version of MFP, you can edit the quantity recipe ingredients without having to delete the ingredient and add it again. That makes it relatively easy to adjust your recipe to the most recent version.
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