How to know how many calories in food.

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Scylermcf
Scylermcf Posts: 25 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So I want to start measuring food out but need to get a scale. But how do I know how many calories is in 100g or whatever when I make something? Like lets say I make spaghetti how do I know how many calories is in it for 100g? Or how ever much I want to be eating.

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  • Scylermcf
    Scylermcf Posts: 25 Member
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    Anyoneee?
  • Scylermcf
    Scylermcf Posts: 25 Member
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    What about if you add ground beef and sauce and all that. I know it says how many calories for noodles and stuff but once you mix it all together idk how to tell.
  • Walter__
    Walter__ Posts: 518 Member
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    What about if you add ground beef and sauce and all that. I know it says how many calories for noodles and stuff but once you mix it all together idk how to tell.

    Same thing. Read the nutrition label on the beef and sauce and add it all up.
  • MaggieTor3
    MaggieTor3 Posts: 49 Member
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    If you're having food that's made up of several different things, like spaghetti with meat sauce, you just put in the individual parts - so much spaghetti, so much tomato sauce, so much meat, so much mushroom or onion.

    If you make the same things over and over, then create a recipe. I've done that with some stews (easy to make in the slow cooker) and chowder. When you create the recipe you divide it into servings, and then when you're filling in your food diary you enter that you've had 1 serving of the recipe. The program adds up the nutritional info on the individual food entries and then it divides all of that into the number of servings.

    It's not hard - give it a try, that makes it easy to keep track - and good luck!
  • Scylermcf
    Scylermcf Posts: 25 Member
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    If you're having food that's made up of several different things, like spaghetti with meat sauce, you just put in the individual parts - so much spaghetti, so much tomato sauce, so much meat, so much mushroom or onion.

    If you make the same things over and over, then create a recipe. I've done that with some stews (easy to make in the slow cooker) and chowder. When you create the recipe you divide it into servings, and then when you're filling in your food diary you enter that you've had 1 serving of the recipe. The program adds up the nutritional info on the individual food entries and then it divides all of that into the number of servings.

    It's not hard - give it a try, that makes it easy to keep track - and good luck!

    Alright so thats what I thought lol. Just trying to make sure. *First time doing this* Soo once you have all the stuff mixed and know the total of everything, how do you know how much a serving is? Or does the site have something that says how much a serving should be. Like is it half a cup a full cup 250g all that jazz. Or do you just make your own? Like if somethings say 2000 calories and you only want 200 calories of it how would you know how much to take.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    You just make your own serving size and quantity. And you can always change your mind down the line. For instance , for a beans recipe and also a chicken one, I increased the quantity in one serving (by saying the entire batch makes 4 servings instead of 8, for instance), in order to increase protein consumption.

    Also some people weigh the entire batch of food, then they can be sure how much they're getting each time. I do this sometimes. With beans for some reason I want to be really accurate, because I can, I guess, but with chicken I just say okay the batch has three servings and each time I deduct a couple pieces just log it so long as the total number of servings logged when the container is empty = 3
  • Scylermcf
    Scylermcf Posts: 25 Member
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    You just make your own serving size and quantity. And you can always change your mind down the line. For instance , for a beans recipe and also a chicken one, I increased the quantity in one serving (by saying the entire batch makes 4 servings instead of 8, for instance), in order to increase protein consumption.

    Also some people weigh the entire batch of food, then they can be sure how much they're getting each time. I do this sometimes. With beans for some reason I want to be really accurate, because I can, I guess, but with chicken I just say okay the batch has three servings and each time I deduct a couple pieces just log it so long as the total number of servings logged when the container is empty = 3

    Honestly I still dont understand :x Im sure its simple but its just not clicking. Someone give it to me in terms a child would understand lol.
  • fificrazy
    fificrazy Posts: 234
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    By logging it here...
  • AsaThorsWoman
    AsaThorsWoman Posts: 2,303 Member
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    This is what I do.

    Place empty plate on scale. 0 it out.

    Add lettuce. Note the weight, 0 it out.

    Add meat. Note the weight, 0 it out.

    Add cheese. Note the weight, 0 it out.

    Add sour cream, Note the weight, 0 it out.

    You can do this with any combination of food.

    Sometimes I have a little paper and pen next to scale so I can write it down.

    Than I carry that **** to the table and eat with my family.

    BAM!

    :bigsmile:
  • AsaThorsWoman
    AsaThorsWoman Posts: 2,303 Member
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    You'll give up on spaghetti most likely. It has way too many calories.

    Good luck!
  • xplosion80
    xplosion80 Posts: 51 Member
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    You will never get the exact figures, no matter what you try.
    When making anything, you end up adding many things and the quantity and portion varies every time.

    Half Tbs of butter or just little over half Tbs make a difference. Same with all other ingredients.

    I normally search the MFP. e.g homemade chicken pizza. And select the generic result that MFP returns me.
    At the end of day, if I feel, I add adhoc 100 to 200 calories.

    Hope this helps.
  • FranceyPants
    FranceyPants Posts: 98 Member
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    You just make your own serving size and quantity. And you can always change your mind down the line. For instance , for a beans recipe and also a chicken one, I increased the quantity in one serving (by saying the entire batch makes 4 servings instead of 8, for instance), in order to increase protein consumption.

    Also some people weigh the entire batch of food, then they can be sure how much they're getting each time. I do this sometimes. With beans for some reason I want to be really accurate, because I can, I guess, but with chicken I just say okay the batch has three servings and each time I deduct a couple pieces just log it so long as the total number of servings logged when the container is empty = 3

    Honestly I still dont understand :x Im sure its simple but its just not clicking. Someone give it to me in terms a child would understand lol.

    OK, say you create a recipe and the whole batch is 2000 calories.

    If you divide the batch into 8 equal portions, each portion will be approximately (2000 ÷ 8 =) 250 calories. Each portion won't be perfect - as in it won't be exactly 250 calories - but it will all add up in the end
  • Iwuvmy4kds
    Iwuvmy4kds Posts: 5 Member
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    when you are cooking the spaghetti or whatever you are cooking look at the label and it has a list of carbs,calories in a serving use that and that helps out. It will say how much a total serving is. That is what I do until I get a scale and more measuring cups I hope that helps
  • raggiemom
    raggiemom Posts: 139 Member
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    After you have entered all the ingredients into the recipe builder, fill in the little with the number of servings you think the pot holds. For example, a 5 quart pot has x number of cups. If you want the calorie count for a two cup serving, divide the total number of cups in the pot by 2. The answer is the number of servings you enter in the box. MFP then does the calculations for you. Hope that helps.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
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    You just make your own serving size and quantity. And you can always change your mind down the line. For instance , for a beans recipe and also a chicken one, I increased the quantity in one serving (by saying the entire batch makes 4 servings instead of 8, for instance), in order to increase protein consumption.

    Also some people weigh the entire batch of food, then they can be sure how much they're getting each time. I do this sometimes. With beans for some reason I want to be really accurate, because I can, I guess, but with chicken I just say okay the batch has three servings and each time I deduct a couple pieces just log it so long as the total number of servings logged when the container is empty = 3

    Honestly I still dont understand :x Im sure its simple but its just not clicking. Someone give it to me in terms a child would understand lol.

    You've been here for almost two years?
  • Scylermcf
    Scylermcf Posts: 25 Member
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    You just make your own serving size and quantity. And you can always change your mind down the line. For instance , for a beans recipe and also a chicken one, I increased the quantity in one serving (by saying the entire batch makes 4 servings instead of 8, for instance), in order to increase protein consumption.

    Also some people weigh the entire batch of food, then they can be sure how much they're getting each time. I do this sometimes. With beans for some reason I want to be really accurate, because I can, I guess, but with chicken I just say okay the batch has three servings and each time I deduct a couple pieces just log it so long as the total number of servings logged when the container is empty = 3
    I made an account and then never used it. Im using it now.

    Honestly I still dont understand :x Im sure its simple but its just not clicking. Someone give it to me in terms a child would understand lol.

    You've been here for almost two years?

    I made an account and didnt use it till now.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    Options
    You just make your own serving size and quantity. And you can always change your mind down the line. For instance , for a beans recipe and also a chicken one, I increased the quantity in one serving (by saying the entire batch makes 4 servings instead of 8, for instance), in order to increase protein consumption.

    Also some people weigh the entire batch of food, then they can be sure how much they're getting each time. I do this sometimes. With beans for some reason I want to be really accurate, because I can, I guess, but with chicken I just say okay the batch has three servings and each time I deduct a couple pieces just log it so long as the total number of servings logged when the container is empty = 3
    I made an account and then never used it. Im using it now.

    Honestly I still dont understand :x Im sure its simple but its just not clicking. Someone give it to me in terms a child would understand lol.

    You've been here for almost two years?

    I made an account and didnt use it till now.

    Ok. Well, consider the thing that is 2000 cals. You only want 200. 2000/200 is 10. That means that if you cut the 2000 calorie cake in about 10 pieces each piece would be 200 cals. You can do this with a food scale or at least guesstimate a tenth of something.
  • Galatea_Stone
    Galatea_Stone Posts: 2,037 Member
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    If you are making dinner for 4, weigh out spaghetti for 4 people (take the box serving size, multiply by 4, measure that). then get the ground beef and write down the weight of the beef from the package. Then the jar of sauce. Let's say your family likes it saucy and wants all 5 servings, multiply the servings by 5, then divide by 4).

    When it is all cooked, get 4 bowls and measure equal portions of everything. If your kids eat less, then take some out of their bowls.

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