Recipe Nutritional Value wrong?

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JLeeAlton
JLeeAlton Posts: 311
in Food and Nutrition
Ok so I usually get some magazines and/or cookbooks to find new recipes. I love to cook! So I have this recipe out of a health magazine and it tells me calories, fat, carbs, protein, etc etc. usually I will look in the database to see if it is already there so I don't have to add it myself. I checked today and it was not there. Instead of just adding the food, I decided to add the recipe with the exact ingredients I use. Now recipes don't usually say the specific brand or what not, but may say low sodium, whole wheat etc etc. Anyways, I plug all my information into the recipe and the numbers for calories, fat, carbs, protein etc are WAY off.. like huge! My recipe is lower compared to the recipe added to MFP, MUCH higher. I didn't add anything, change anything, and everything is low sodium, fat free, whole wheat etc...

My point being, if you are getting recipes out of a cookbook, magazine, or from wherever and it gives you the nutritional information.. it actually might not be correct!!! This is scary for me cause I may have been over eating calories cause my recipes are wrong. So what do I do now? Everytime I make something new, create my own recipe on here just to make sure I am in check? Guess I will have too, only way I know exactly what is going in my mouth =(

Replies

  • Kminor67
    Kminor67 Posts: 900 Member
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    Everytime I make something new, create my own recipe on here just to make sure I am in check?

    That's what I do!
  • funkyspunky871
    funkyspunky871 Posts: 1,675 Member
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    Maybe the magazine divided it up into more servings?
  • JLeeAlton
    JLeeAlton Posts: 311
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    I checked the servings.. even if I cut some out.. doesn't add up.

    I am going to just add my recipes myself from now on so I know!!
  • catcrazy
    catcrazy Posts: 1,740 Member
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    Everytime I make something new, create my own recipe on here just to make sure I am in check?

    That's what I do!


    Same here, everything i make from scratch i enter. The recipe calculator is actually how I found MFP as i make 99% of my food from scratch and it was a pain in the derrière looking up, writing down, then adding up and dividing between number of portions etc. The food diary and support boards were a welcome bonus to my recipe calculator
  • sarahgrotberg
    sarahgrotberg Posts: 3
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    Good Answer!!
  • JLeeAlton
    JLeeAlton Posts: 311
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    Just checked my recipe for tomorrow's dinner.. it was less on MFP than what the cookbook stated. So either way they aren't adding up. Thanks for the responses.. I am definitely creating all my recipes on here now since I cook from scratch.
  • cardbucfan
    cardbucfan Posts: 10,427 Member
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    I had that same issue with a recipe from Cooking Light. The MFP calculations were more than what the Cooking Light recipe said. I now enter everything I make from scratch (but this is also why I don't eat back all my exercise calories!)
  • JLeeAlton
    JLeeAlton Posts: 311
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    I don't eat back all of my exercise calories either. I always try to leave a buffer, however my calorie goal is set to 1200... so I am stuck between a rock and hard place considering I have to eat them all back to get back to 1200. So far my weight loss has been consistant, I just need to closely watch my recipes now.

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