Frustrated!

kristibethbeck
kristibethbeck Posts: 2
in Getting Started
Hi, I am new at this but am getting very frustrated! I make dinner for my husband and I almost every night and I am having issues with calculating the calories in a meal I make. For example, I made Shepherds Pie tonight. 2 lbs hamburger, 8 potatoes, 1 can cream of corn and 1 can whole kernel, 4 strips of bacon, one half container sour cream, 3 Tbls. butter, and 1 c. shredded chedder cheese. I entered 8 servings even though I only had one. When scanning each ing. I am not sure what I need to be entering for the servings. Its just getting to be a headache and almost ready to give up but I really like the fact that now I have an idea of how many calories I am eating a day.

Replies

  • hotjodels
    hotjodels Posts: 118 Member
    I'm new to this site too, and I am also curious about this sort of thing. I'm hoping someone can help answer this for us.
  • marciematthews
    marciematthews Posts: 2
    If the whole meal usually serves 8 then that would be correct.
  • charlottemilton
    charlottemilton Posts: 144 Member
    Under FOOD there is a recipe box where you can enter the whole recipe and then just tell it how many servings the whole recipe makes and how many you are eating. It will store the recipe so next time you don't have to reenter just fill in the number of servings you eat. I hope this helps.
  • seliinac
    seliinac Posts: 336 Member
    Add the 'recipe' and then put in how many servings it is and it does all the math for you, assuming you're doing it on a computer.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    Under FOOD there is a recipe box where you can enter the whole recipe and then just tell it how many servings the whole recipe makes and how many you are eating. It will store the recipe so next time you don't have to reenter just fill in the number of servings you eat. I hope this helps.

    This! It can be a pain, but once you get your recipes in there it is SO convenient!
  • EmilyEmpowered
    EmilyEmpowered Posts: 650 Member
    You really just have to look for the ingredients that are entered the way you put them in the meal. Multiple entries for ground beef might come up, choose the one that is the same type (ie, 90/10) and choose 2 servings of 1 pound. For the potato, pick russet potato and add 8 servings of 1 potato.. It is time consuming, but really worth it. Once you enter the recipe one time, you will already have it available when you make the meal the next time, so the initial entry of a recipe is always the most frustrating. It can take some time to find the RIGHT entries in the database, so just take your time and make sure you includ every ingredient and calculate the servings accurately. the hardest thing for me is determining how many servings it will make, because we all eat different amounts in a meal LOL. But I know for example, when I make chili it makes 6 cups and I eat a 1 cup serving, so that is what I use for my serving size.

    Stick with it, it is worth the frustrating in the end! :glasses:

    ETA: Oh yeah, duh this is all under Food>Recipes, you can add just for your use or an entry for everyone on MFP to use
  • Bobbie8786
    Bobbie8786 Posts: 202 Member
    Under FOOD there is a recipe box where you can enter the whole recipe and then just tell it how many servings the whole recipe makes and how many you are eating. It will store the recipe so next time you don't have to reenter just fill in the number of servings you eat. I hope this helps.

    This. Use the enter new recipe tab.
  • chad_phillips1123
    chad_phillips1123 Posts: 229 Member
    If it were me, I'd create a meal with all the ingredients. Then try to divide or eat it in equal portions. That way you can add the meal you created as some amount less than 1 on your log (dividing the total amount of calories used for the meal, opposed to trying to estimate how much of each ingredient is in a particular serving).

    For example, your Shepard's Pie. Create a meal with 2lbs hamburger, 8 potatoes, 1 can cream of corn and 1 can whole kernel, 4 strips of bacon, one half container of sour cream, 3 Tbls. butter, and 1c of shredded cheddar cheese and call it "kristibethbec's Shepard's Pie". Then divide it up into equal sized servings. If you divided it up into 10 servings and ate 1 serving, then log it as .1 of "kristibethbec's Shepard's Pie"; if you divided it up into 5 servings and ate 1 serving, then log it as .2 of "krisibethbec's Shepard's Pie".

    The serving sizes/amounts are up to you. Once you've created the meal, just make it and divide it the same way next time.

    Hope that helps!
  • lewandt
    lewandt Posts: 566 Member
    Enter it in as a recipe. You can enter each ingredient and just figure if it is pie shaped how many slices you are going to cut it into (i usually do a pie in 8) and figure it that way. (it is not going to be exact)

    Nice part is next time you make it you just find your recipe and hit how many servings you had. i enter all my recipes i use a lot in here. And after you make it if you figure out how many servings it is exactly you can edit it.
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    Yes, use the recipe function and add everything to the whole recipe. However many servings you decide the recipe should make, cut the dish into that many pieces and have one piece. Save the recipe and you can use it anytime you make that dish again.
  • Rebeccas2323
    Rebeccas2323 Posts: 4 Member
    Hi guys, try making it a "meal" in your FOOD tab. Check all the items that you had, and then move over to "Meals" and click "add checked". It should make it a meal, which you can then mark as having eaten 1/8th. Meals like that can be tricky and lots of work to log. I tend to just look at my receipe and divide things by 8 (if that's how many servings it made). For example, if I added 2 cups of chopped carrots, I would lot it as 1/4th cup of carrots that I ended up eating. Make sure you're really eating only one serving though. That's the biggest mistake people make.
    Good luck!
    Rebecca
  • Barbonica
    Barbonica Posts: 337 Member
    Are you creating the recipe or trying to add each item individually to you daily diary? You can create recipes in your food diary, they are saved so you have them handy for next time. Go to your food diary, you should see s tab for recipes, and a button to add new recipe. Hope that helps!
  • sherm98
    sherm98 Posts: 61 Member
    When you enter the items it adds them all up. Then asks how many the total dish will serve. If you enter 8, it divides the total calories by 8 to get the calories for one serving. So if the total casserole is 4000 calories Divided by 8 one serving will be 500 calories.
  • amberxy
    amberxy Posts: 35 Member
    Hey lovelies.

    In this case, what I do is the following:

    1)Weigh the total amount of every ingredient as you go, and record the calories for the amount of ingredients as you go.
    2)Figure out how many servings your dish has (in this case, 8)
    3)Add up all the calories for all the ingredients you used. Divide this number by 8, and that's your calories per serve.
    4)I also pre-cut any large dish into even portions, and refrigerate/freeze in seperate bags, containers, whatever. That way, when you grab it you know you are truly having one serving, and not having to gauge it by eye every time.

    Here's an example:

    Soup
    80g veg stock (4L water) - 96cals
    1 can chickpeas - 304cals
    carrot - 254g - 104cals
    cucmber - 192g - 29cals
    leek - 374g - 208cals
    english spinach - 300g - 75cals

    Grand total of: 816cals
    Divide this by eight, or six, however many serves you want to get out of it. I did eight.
    816/8 = 102cals per serve.

    I seperated each serve into a different container.

    Hope this made sense/helps

    Elena
  • emmyles
    emmyles Posts: 16
    If you can get 8 of your servings out of it that than is absolutely correct but if you find that your serving isn't as large do this....
    Eyeball how many servings it would be for you and use that instead of how many servings it is for someone else.
    If you know that it would take you 12 plates to eat it that is the number or servings you should use, if you eat more than what your regular serving is make sure you enter it as 1.25 or 1.33 servings instead of 1.

    Good luck :-)

    I make a lot of recipes and use this rule of thumb all the time.
  • sherm98
    sherm98 Posts: 61 Member
    This is under recipes.
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
    I use the recipe feature. Add all the ingredients, then add the servings when I am done and have it portioned. Or sometimes I will commit to a certain number of portions and make sure I cut /scoop I to those servings when it' scone cooking.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    You enter all of that into recipes. You say you have 8 servings (8 slices in a pie - makes sense). You say you ate one serving on your diary. It should calculate the calories for you.
  • rachel4304
    rachel4304 Posts: 115 Member
    Get a food scale.

    Weigh your casserole dish empty. Weigh it full. Subtract weight of dish. Enter the weight as the serving size.

    Tare out the weight of your bowl or plate. Add your serving to the plate.

    Enter into journal.

    This is how I do it. Hope that's not confusing.
  • sweetNtangy
    sweetNtangy Posts: 7
    Hi!
    Maybe you can try this website weightloss resources.co.uk allows you to convert any which way. There are lots of different sites. Cheers
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
    Under FOOD there is a recipe box where you can enter the whole recipe and then just tell it how many servings the whole recipe makes and how many you are eating. It will store the recipe so next time you don't have to reenter just fill in the number of servings you eat. I hope this helps.

    This. Use the enter new recipe tab.

    This. Then weigh the whole finished product. Find out how many grams it has and set the number of servings to the number of grams. Then weigh whatever portion you take in grams. That's how many servings you had. It simplifies it immensely.
  • kristibethbeck
    kristibethbeck Posts: 2
    Wow! Lots of good ideas! Thank you for responding. I think I got it but just don't know how accurate it will be. For instance 1 can of cream corn is 60 cal. for a 1/2 cup but there are 3 1/2 servings in a can. I used the whole can so for servings I would enter 3 1/2 for that ingredient. also another example is sour cream, there are 40 cal. per serving which is 2 Tbls. 15 per container. I used half a container so for this ing. I just put 7 servings. Then in the end it will just calculate 8 servings as a whole. Does this all sound correct?
  • tottie06
    tottie06 Posts: 259 Member
    So you entered 8 servings. Not sure if this is what you are asking, but you can simply click that entry, and a window will pop up where you can correct the amount of servings you had. I believe the standard serving size of something like a casserole is 8oz or 1 cup.
  • ktsimons
    ktsimons Posts: 294 Member
    Under FOOD there is a recipe box where you can enter the whole recipe and then just tell it how many servings the whole recipe makes and how many you are eating. It will store the recipe so next time you don't have to reenter just fill in the number of servings you eat. I hope this helps.

    This. Use the enter new recipe tab.

    This. Then weigh the whole finished product. Find out how many grams it has and set the number of servings to the number of grams. Then weigh whatever portion you take in grams. That's how many servings you had. It simplifies it immensely.


    Oh for crap sake, this is brilliant! :drinker:

    I am always trying to divvy it up in equal servings or use some stupid kind of cups/quarts eyeball measurement....Just weigh the empty pan, cook, weigh the result, shazam!

    You made my night! LOL
  • spoiledpuppies
    spoiledpuppies Posts: 675 Member
    Wow! Lots of good ideas! Thank you for responding. I think I got it but just don't know how accurate it will be. For instance 1 can of cream corn is 60 cal. for a 1/2 cup but there are 3 1/2 servings in a can. I used the whole can so for servings I would enter 3 1/2 for that ingredient. also another example is sour cream, there are 40 cal. per serving which is 2 Tbls. 15 per container. I used half a container so for this ing. I just put 7 servings. Then in the end it will just calculate 8 servings as a whole. Does this all sound correct?

    Yes, if you use the recipes function AND you select 8 as the number of servings. (You can also take things to decimal places, so 7.5 servings for the sour cream as an ingredient.)
  • besaro
    besaro Posts: 1,858 Member
    no please do not add it to the database for everyone to use!! nonono! its too cluttered already
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    Wow! Lots of good ideas! Thank you for responding. I think I got it but just don't know how accurate it will be. For instance 1 can of cream corn is 60 cal. for a 1/2 cup but there are 3 1/2 servings in a can. I used the whole can so for servings I would enter 3 1/2 for that ingredient. also another example is sour cream, there are 40 cal. per serving which is 2 Tbls. 15 per container. I used half a container so for this ing. I just put 7 servings. Then in the end it will just calculate 8 servings as a whole. Does this all sound correct?

    You can do it this way, but there is usually a serving size by cans of things to select "whole can", or for the sour cream, slelect whole container and then .5 for number of servings. A little less math that way, but either way will work. If its something you make often, save it under "my meals" and you can save your recipe, but not for the whole database, just for you. It does seem tedious at first, but once you get used to it, and get several of your "regular" recipes saved, it will get easier.
  • IanBee93
    IanBee93 Posts: 237 Member
    Had the exact same problem. I didn't know about the recipe feature on here. Which is why I lose weight faster eating fast food since I knew how many cals were in eat item.:glasses:

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