Logging Accurately..step by step guide

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  • skiextrm
    skiextrm Posts: 144 Member
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    Thank you so much for taking the time to write this!! Great timing for me since I got my first food scale yesterday.
  • eluna72
    eluna72 Posts: 13 Member
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    Thanks so much! I am guilty of using the "homemade" ones but I will stop doing so and make sure my input is accurate!
  • raggiemom
    raggiemom Posts: 139 Member
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    good info here...thanks for sharing it.
  • iTStaRTsN0W
    iTStaRTsN0W Posts: 106
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    ***
  • MsJourno
    MsJourno Posts: 33 Member
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    Bump, Thanks for this!
  • kethry70
    kethry70 Posts: 404 Member
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    Also, while I think your post is wonderful and informative, there is one other exception I will point out. One of my few exceptions to "accurate logging" is shredded cheese. I log it as cups, but I do weigh it out, simply because on the nutrition label it states: 1/4 cup (28 g). I will weight out 28 grams, but log it as a quarter cup. The calories are exactly the same either way, but it is easier to find the 1/4 cup entries than search for one with grams. To use your words, it might look like a duck and quack like a duck, but I'm pretty sure it's not a duck ;) Other than that, I enjoyed your post and agree fully.

    This is me too. Jelly, jam, peanut butter, ice cream, etc all list 2 measurements for a serving. I ALWAYS weigh out the serving in grams but usually log in the equal tbs,cup measurement.

    I also build my own recipes. They aren't normally marked homemade but they may look pretty generic despite the weighing and calculating that went into them. The only recipe I use a generic for is a middle eastern dish called kibbeh. It gets made in such large quantities at a time and with hand-trimmed meat, and is then split between 3 households that I just can't bear the thought of trying to do the calculations each time. So I just deal with knowing that one item might be off. Gotta live dangerously once in a while LOL

    ETA: great post overall. Thanks for taking the time - it should help a lot of the newer folks :)
  • morethenjustmum
    morethenjustmum Posts: 170 Member
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    BUMP
    I thought i was getting more accurate by the day.. But i have been schooled learned 4 new things.

    Thank You
  • Ely82010
    Ely82010 Posts: 1,998 Member
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    Thanks so much! I am guilty of using the "homemade" ones but I will stop doing so and make sure my input is accurate!

    Nothing wrong with "homemade" entries if they were really made in your kitchen. Most of my recipes are logged as homemade, because that is what they are.

    Read my posting in page 2.
  • Tiernan1212
    Tiernan1212 Posts: 797 Member
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    Thanks for the info, great post! :smile:

    The biggest gripe I have is the way some things will look in my diary. I use the barcode scanner A LOT. What bugs me is I will weigh out my 14g serving of Country Crock, and then when I scan it, it comes up as tbsp. So someone looking at my diary might think I'm not weighing my food. I have come across quite a few of those. I guess I just have to realize that I know I'm weighing, regardless of what others looking at my diary might think.
  • kitlynnJ
    kitlynnJ Posts: 78 Member
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    . I don’t enter my recipes in the MFP database, but I keep them in my Recipe builder for further use (I wish I could edit it without deleting and adding ingredients all over again). So sometimes “homemade” it is really something made at home by the user.

    You can edit individual ingredients even after a recipe has been entered into MFP. I do it all the time if I make a recipe again but need to make a substitution. It is annoying though that you can't change the number of servings once it has been entered. I am too lazy to add and remove though, so I do the math for the new serving size and just keep it in my notebook for the few days until I have eaten all whatever it was.
  • Ely82010
    Ely82010 Posts: 1,998 Member
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    . I don’t enter my recipes in the MFP database, but I keep them in my Recipe builder for further use (I wish I could edit it without deleting and adding ingredients all over again). So sometimes “homemade” it is really something made at home by the user.

    You can edit individual ingredients even after a recipe has been entered into MFP. I do it all the time if I make a recipe again but need to make a substitution. It is annoying though that you can't change the number of servings once it has been entered. I am too lazy to add and remove though, so I do the math for the new serving size and just keep it in my notebook for the few days until I have eaten all whatever it was.

    I am glad that that system works for you, but it would not work for me. All my recipes are for 2 people (my husband and I), so trying to adjust the serving size would not be convenient or something that I am willing to do. So I just delete and change the ingredients or their new weight, as needed. I keep hoping that the request to individually edit ingredients in the recipe section will be granted by MFP, one of these days.
  • ticribbs
    ticribbs Posts: 120 Member
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    bump - to read later :)
  • ravenmiss
    ravenmiss Posts: 384 Member
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    This is very helpful, thank you!
  • harribeau2012
    harribeau2012 Posts: 644 Member
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    I found this really helpful, thank you....now off to see whether there is an accurate listing for chorizo that has had the fat cooked out!
  • katsiano
    katsiano Posts: 11 Member
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    tagging for reference!
  • ittybittybadonkadonk
    ittybittybadonkadonk Posts: 11,634 Member
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    great post ...very helpful ...thanks
  • Linnaea27
    Linnaea27 Posts: 639 Member
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    Thank you for this post! I didn't know there was a way to edit a previously entered food. I will have to pay more attention to this from now on!

    I'm very particular about weighing some foods that I know I generally eat too much of given the chance-- cheese and bread, mostly. :) But sometimes, I do end up using entries in the database that may or may not be accurate. . . usually only if I've had restaurant food (from a restaurant that doesn't have online calorie info. . . I rarely go out to eat) or if I'm eating someone else's homemade food and I don't have access to a recipe!

    I guess I am guilty of using cups/spoons measurements too often. I'll weigh instead if I can! I do wish it was possible to search for foods in the database that are entered by weight rather than volume-- maybe I'll suggest that in the site ideas board.

    Oh, and while I have a lot of my own homemade stuff, I never share it with the database because it's such a pain to enter!
  • Sherrington737
    Sherrington737 Posts: 9 Member
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    If you go to settings - my foods and exercises - my recipes, you can click on the one you want to edit, and change weights or delete individual ingredients. Works in the app anyway.
  • kitlynnJ
    kitlynnJ Posts: 78 Member
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    . I don’t enter my recipes in the MFP database, but I keep them in my Recipe builder for further use (I wish I could edit it without deleting and adding ingredients all over again). So sometimes “homemade” it is really something made at home by the user.

    You can edit individual ingredients even after a recipe has been entered into MFP. I do it all the time if I make a recipe again but need to make a substitution. It is annoying though that you can't change the number of servings once it has been entered. I am too lazy to add and remove though, so I do the math for the new serving size and just keep it in my notebook for the few days until I have eaten all whatever it was.

    And today I discovered you can change the serving number as well. I swear I tried that before and it didn't work. Much happier with the recipe thingy now :)
  • MomTo3Lovez
    MomTo3Lovez Posts: 800 Member
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    bump...so I can read after work at home :)

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