Help! How to make portions more precise on mfp food counter

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mocherob
mocherob Posts: 1 Member
in Food and Nutrition
New to the site so please someone explain to me how to make adjustments to amounts of food consumed when searching for food and nutritional information. Ex. I searched dates and I was given only two choices on the amount of dates that consumed. It should be that I can enter the actual amount consumed but this is not my case. Please help. I want to be as precise as possible. I'm thinking maybe I just have to choose whichever choice is closest to the consumed amount and make make adjustments using my own calculator. Problem is there is a record here that overtime can add to confusion about the true numbers on nutritional intake. Please someone help me fix this if there is a fix...

Replies

  • jcorpern
    jcorpern Posts: 96 Member
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    Use a food scale. Most foods have a 100gm option. Use that and simply enter the fraction that you consumed (i.e. 65gms would be .65 of a 100gm servering size). Some entries even have 1gm options--I've been know to have 150 servings a 1gm before!
  • Vailara
    Vailara Posts: 2,454 Member
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    If I search for dates, I get a choice of adding dates by number, rather than by weight (there's a drop-down box).

    I don't know if this is too obvious, but you do know you can change the number in the "servings" box? So the serving size is 1 date and you have 3 dates, change it to 3. If the serving size is 100g and you have 50g, change it to 0.5. And so on.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Use a scale. Then divide whatever grams you get by what a serving size is (in grams) and enter the number it gives you as the number of servings.
  • CTcutie
    CTcutie Posts: 649 Member
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    Yup. You will need to use a calculator quite often. (But if you use a cell phone, there is one on there- even an older/regular phone should.)
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    Look for the entries with no asterisk. Those are the original MFP entries, not user-entered, and they should have several choices in a drop down menu for your serving. Weigh your dates on your food scale in grams. Then choose 100 grams from the serving size menu. Then if you had 50 grams you'd enter 0.5 servings of 100 grams. If you had 137 grams you'd enter 1.37 servings of 100 grams.
  • elyelyse
    elyelyse Posts: 1,454 Member
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    If I search for dates, I get a choice of adding dates by number, rather than by weight (there's a drop-down box).

    I don't know if this is too obvious, but you do know you can change the number in the "servings" box? So the serving size is 1 date and you have 3 dates, change it to 3. If the serving size is 100g and you have 50g, change it to 0.5. And so on.
    How big is each date though? It's much more accurate to go by weight. If you go by how many of something you ate, your calorie count can be way off. Sometimes that's the only option in the database, and every once in a while guesstimating is ok, but on a regular basis...it's better to make a new, correct entry based on weight if one isn't available.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    Most foods have a weight option in the drop down box - I usuaully choose either 1g or 100g, and then use the servings to get the right weight.
  • SouthernArt77
    SouthernArt77 Posts: 265 Member
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    Look for the entries with no asterisk. Those are the original MFP entries, not user-entered, and they should have several choices in a drop down menu for your serving. Weigh your dates on your food scale in grams. Then choose 100 grams from the serving size menu. Then if you had 50 grams you'd enter 0.5 servings of 100 grams. If you had 137 grams you'd enter 1.37 servings of 100 grams.
    This! :)
  • cricket_77
    cricket_77 Posts: 165 Member
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    Weigh your food and then look at the nutrition data on the package. For instance, if the package says 50 grams is a serving size and it equals 100 calories, then if you eat 100 grams, then your intake would be 200 calories. From there, I enter the serving size in MFP so that it will equals 200 calories. For instance, if 8 dates equals 100 calories, then I would enter 16 dates so that it now reads 200 calories.
  • Vailara
    Vailara Posts: 2,454 Member
    Options
    If I search for dates, I get a choice of adding dates by number, rather than by weight (there's a drop-down box).

    I don't know if this is too obvious, but you do know you can change the number in the "servings" box? So the serving size is 1 date and you have 3 dates, change it to 3. If the serving size is 100g and you have 50g, change it to 0.5. And so on.
    How big is each date though? It's much more accurate to go by weight. If you go by how many of something you ate, your calorie count can be way off. Sometimes that's the only option in the database, and every once in a while guesstimating is ok, but on a regular basis...it's better to make a new, correct entry based on weight if one isn't available.

    The weight IS available. What I'm saying is that the option is there to change the portion size (whether it's listed by number or by weight). If your actual portion isn't listed you can just change it, whether it's an amount or a weight. It's pretty easy if 1g or 100g is listed (and you're measuring in g). It can get more complicated if the only portion size listed is, say 87g, and you've eaten 56g - that does need a calculator or a good mental arithmetic! The option is there, but it could easily be missed.

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