Anyone else shunning homemade food due to calorie confusion?

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Replies

  • raven_ous
    raven_ous Posts: 223
    I think OP means when other people make the food... In that case I am a little hesitant to indulge because I don't usually have all the info. I just practice moderation and use my best judgement when logging it. As for my own homemade food, I use the recipe builder with no problems.
    If that is the case it is alright to indulge occasionally, one night a week is not going to undo all your hard work. Abstaining from eating with loved ones, friends, colleagues etc is not something that is either healthy of something you can maintain forever.

    Just try and be sensible with your portion sizes and realistic with your estimations. This is part of developing a healthy relationship with food.
  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
    How do you figure out servings in one pot meals like that? and how can I make sure they are accurate on my plate? I can't weigh my food since I don't know how much one portion should weigh or how much the whole thing weighs?

    Weigh the empty pot. Write it down somewhere.
    Enter all ingredients into recipe builder.
    Weigh full pot after. Write it down.
    Subtract empty pot weight from full pot weight. Now you have the total amount of ounces or grams of the total meal.
    Divide by however many servings you want it to have (4, 6, 8, whatever)
    This will give you the amount that you should serve yourself.
  • monkeywizard
    monkeywizard Posts: 222 Member
    I'm like the OP, I would prefer a pre-packaged meal over something where I don't exactly know the content. For a party, my wife got Chicken Wraps from BJ's and I had those for lunch like 3 days.. just kinda had to take a guess at how many calories were in each wrap & the right serving size.. I have no idea if it was over or under.

    I've considered using the recipie tool but have not actually done it yet. Is there a "best way" to decide how big a serving size is? Do you go by calories?
  • IpuffyheartHeelsinthegym
    IpuffyheartHeelsinthegym Posts: 5,573 Member
    no, I prefer homemade meals, because I know how many calories and macros are in everything I make. Not to mention, those ready meals are packed with sodium.
  • gerla_k
    gerla_k Posts: 495 Member
    I try to eat homemade foods- even for lunch. I use the receipe builder like some other people in here mentioned. After you create the receipe it will tell you how many calories in a serving.
    or if i'm too lazy to do that i'll just google the food i ate to see how many cals and use "quick cal add" to add to my diary.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    Ive found myself eating ready meals as I know exactly how many calories are in it, and when I have homemade food i am anxious about eating it as I cant tell how many calories are in it.
    That's why the food scale and recipe builders were invented. :smile: : Homemade food is all I eat, except for occasionally going out.
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,228 Member
    I did, in the beginning, then I stopped losing and swelled up. I had developed dieter's edema from too much sodium and not enough potassium. You have to find balance in your diet. You can have processed food, but you are going to have to trust in whole foods if you are going to get acceptable nutrition.
  • McKenzieLeigh
    McKenzieLeigh Posts: 113 Member
    How do you figure out servings in one pot meals like that? and how can I make sure they are accurate on my plate? I can't weigh my food since I don't know how much one portion should weigh or how much the whole thing weighs?

    Weigh the empty pot. Write it down somewhere.
    Enter all ingredients into recipe builder.
    Weigh full pot after. Write it down.
    Subtract empty pot weight from full pot weight. Now you have the total amount of ounces or grams of the total meal.
    Divide by however many servings you want it to have (4, 6, 8, whatever)
    This will give you the amount that you should serve yourself.

    Thank you. This was very helpful. I am sure it will annoy my husband that I have to weigh his meals, but this will make me feel better about how much I am getting instead of 1/4 of the pot or whatever. I am just getting my first food scale anyway so I will make good habits!
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Ive found myself eating ready meals as I know exactly how many calories are in it, and when I have homemade food i am anxious about eating it as I cant tell how many calories are in it.

    No never! It's cheaper, fresher and tastier to make my own meals, and I know exactly what the ingredients and amounts of each are.

    It can be a real pain to log all ingredients, then determine what portion of the whole meal you ate (if cooking for more than one), but I would rather not log a homemade meal than have to eat prepackaged meals just so I could log.

    You'll never really know the exact calories counts anyway. Calories for packaged meals can vary up to 30%.
  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
    How do you figure out servings in one pot meals like that? and how can I make sure they are accurate on my plate? I can't weigh my food since I don't know how much one portion should weigh or how much the whole thing weighs?

    Weigh the empty pot. Write it down somewhere.
    Enter all ingredients into recipe builder.
    Weigh full pot after. Write it down.
    Subtract empty pot weight from full pot weight. Now you have the total amount of ounces or grams of the total meal.
    Divide by however many servings you want it to have (4, 6, 8, whatever)
    This will give you the amount that you should serve yourself.

    Thank you. This was very helpful. I am sure it will annoy my husband that I have to weigh his meals, but this will make me feel better about how much I am getting instead of 1/4 of the pot or whatever. I am just getting my first food scale anyway so I will make good habits!

    YW. I had to have my husband help me figure it out at first honestly, as I really really suck at anything remotely math related but I've got a good thing going now :)
  • richardositosanchez
    richardositosanchez Posts: 260 Member
    When I make homemade meals I just measure and count everything, so that I know exactly what the caloric value is.
  • EreborsPrincess
    EreborsPrincess Posts: 139
    Pretty much everything we eat is made at home. It's usually cheaper and I know exactly what's in it. Plus my husband is allergic to a couple of commonly used preservatives (sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate) that make it difficult to buy ready-made foods.
  • sobriquet84
    sobriquet84 Posts: 607 Member
    i pretty much only do homemade because that way i control exactly what's in it. homemade doesn't have to mean a billion ingredients. just measure and count everything, and use the recipe builder if that helps.
  • sarahertzberger
    sarahertzberger Posts: 534 Member
    I've found that when I make my own food not only is it healthier but for the most part, it's lower in calories or I at least get a much bigger serving than I do with store bought meals. If you're worried about how to figure out making a meal for everyone in your family, it does take a bit of patience, but you just add it in to your recipes and find out how many servings you've got once you get into doing it, it's not that hard, or for some meals you could just separate all the food and measure/weigh it all separately.
  • lunamare
    lunamare Posts: 569 Member
    To the OP I totally understand what you're saying. When I did WW I ate mostly stuff that came in a package that I could easily figure out how many points it was. It was my safety net. I was nervous about using the recipe builders etc to figure out my own points. I also found when I was trying to stay to an unrealistically low calorie intake that I could eat more "stuff" but it wasn't always the healthiest. Use the packaged items to get an idea of sizes, etc and slowly work up your confidence with making your own food. A good scale is a godsend when it comes to managing portion sizes. Don't be afraid to throw that rice in a measuring cup before you toss it on your plate to see what 1/2 a cup looks like. I found it easier to do these things when I was alone. DH teased me if he was around. You'll get used to it. Good luck and keep up the good work!
  • goldhammer
    goldhammer Posts: 2
    It can be frustrating, but I often just estimate. My approach is that I'm gonna be pretty close and homemade food is so much healthier and better for us to have made it than bought it already made, that it is well worth it. It would really defeat the purpose of this program to only eat prepared foods in order to count the calories!:tongue:
  • alyjb1121
    alyjb1121 Posts: 186 Member
    I use the recipe builder. I scan all ingrediants, build a recipe and then figure out what serving size of the recipe I ate. For example, If all the ingrediants in my low carb version of pizza equal 350 calories, and I only ate half of it, I put .50 for the serving and it adds it for the entire recipe rather than doing it for each ingrediant and trying to guess. I measure everything though, but it has helped me out a lot!
  • vkk123
    vkk123 Posts: 6 Member
    I'm the queen of lean cuisine. I want to know exact calories.And even if it's not exact, it's already portioned out.
  • verymissk
    verymissk Posts: 262 Member
    Heaven forbid you have to actually put some effort in to weight loss... Take the five minutes to estimate the calories in your meals and enjoy home-cooked goodness. Calorie counting is not an exact science, so even with the calories printed right on a box, you may not have an exact number. Why not have an estimated calorie count on something with less preservatives and fillers?
  • jellybeanhed313
    jellybeanhed313 Posts: 344 Member
    I make mostly all homemade meals. Use the recipe builder. It can take time to enter all the ingredients, but once it's in there, it's saved. The only thing I don't like about it, is you can't edit amounts. If you need to change something, you need to delete it, then re-enter it. Other then then that I love it,

    If you go on the app, you can edit quanities in the recipe builder. On my app anyway. I have an android.
  • goldhammer
    goldhammer Posts: 2
    Ya, Lunamare. Plus you'll be surprised how big a half cup of frozen yogurt is!!! Tip here, try Chapman's, the rocky road is very good and he 97% fat free vanilla is too and way fewer calories than ice cream and alot less fat (D'oh). The thing about ice cream is that unless it is the good stuff it's not worth it and the good stuff is made with CREAM!!! :love:
  • weather_nerd
    weather_nerd Posts: 93
    Homemade food is much more healthier.

    Honestly, I would rather eat homemade butter than a "low calorie" frozen meal that is packed with preservatives and sodium.
  • shipleyd
    shipleyd Posts: 94 Member
    I also noticed that I can edit the recipe builder on both my iPhone and iPad, just not online. Love the recipe builder and use it ALL the time.
  • DeliriumCanBeFun
    DeliriumCanBeFun Posts: 313 Member
    I avoid bar code items as much as possible anyway and have always cooked at home a lot for health and financial reasons. But the one bad thing with using MFP and counting calories for me is that I'm more apprehensive to eat at local or smaller restaurants than I am at bigger franchise ones that have websites with the nutritional counts listed. I don't eat out much, but I love that so many places are even starting to put calorie and nutrition counts on their menus. So many items that seem healthy can actually be way higher in calories than you would think.
  • PippiNe
    PippiNe Posts: 283 Member
    I think OP means when other people make the food... In that case I am a little hesitant to indulge because I don't usually have all the info. I just practice moderation and use my best judgement when logging it. As for my own homemade food, I use the recipe builder with no problems.
    Exactly what I was thinking when I read the original post. There are many times when I'd like to have eaten a homemade treat but opted for something I could log more accurately. It seems silly, but for me, that uncertainty can throw off an entire day of eating. Too much of a perfectionist I guess. That said, if I do eat something I do not have the nutrition facts on, I consider the source (does the person who made it eat healthy?) and try my best to guess what went into it.
  • christmre
    christmre Posts: 109 Member
    I actually prefer homemade food, as I can measure ingredients and know they are accurate. It has been shown that the prepackaged foods are often wrong on calories counts up to 100-200 calories per meal. They also have a lot of preservatives, artificial dyes, and high sodium counts.
  • mailroomclerk
    mailroomclerk Posts: 70
    I hear you but hear me!

    Stay with MFP, pay close attention to serving measurements and track all your foods (building recipes on here helps as well). After a while you will develop a psychic power that can eyeball calories pretty damn close.

    One day you'll be at a school fair and go, well I know a pack of jelly belly's has about 200 a pack and fits into 1 cup. That jar looks like it holds about 6 cups so I bet it has around 1,200 in it... When you win the estimate you can enjoy your jelly beans by having what fits in your daily allowance then throw the rest out and watch the children cry.

    It's got it's perks ;)




    But for real, the more you become a nutrition wizard the more home cooked meals you will eat. I'm talking raising cattle and milking cows every morning for your wheat grass cereal, just kidding. But making your own lunch (tailored to your specific needs) is a realllly good habit if it's an option available to you with work or what not.
    .
  • DeliriumCanBeFun
    DeliriumCanBeFun Posts: 313 Member
    I also noticed that I can edit the recipe builder on both my iPhone and iPad, just not online. Love the recipe builder and use it ALL the time.
    And this is exactly why the site and the app are each better for certain things. I find it easier to use the site when I'm first building a recipe. I use my laptop right there in the kitchen while I'm cooking to save time. But using the app on my BB allows me to edit ingredients easily.
  • aribugg
    aribugg Posts: 164 Member
    wow.. i didnt even know there was a recipe builder O.o (havent been here long enough i guess lol)
    Things just got a lot easier for me! I was doing the same, avoiding cooked meals or just making simple things.
  • alyjb1121
    alyjb1121 Posts: 186 Member
    Plus making it homemade leaves out many preservatives! Like homade coffee creamer versus store bought, i noticed a huge difference.

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