Logging question

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I have a question which I have been struggling with for some time. When I'm trying to log a food and I'm just looking to get a decent approximation, if the food comes up in cups but I prefer to weigh the food in ounces, how do you log this?

For example, my wife made a shrimp and broccoli alfredo pasta last night so I typed in "shrimp broccoli alfredo pasta" and got many options. I weighed my plate and had 10 ounces on the plate, but I couldn't figure out how to log it. Any help would be appreciated.

Replies

  • Cheryllynnhagen
    Cheryllynnhagen Posts: 51 Member
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    I would break everything down into shrimps, broccoli, pasta and the sauce. I find this to be more accurate. To convert ounces to cups, 8 oz equal a cup.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    8oz in one cup. You could just do the math.

    Grams are more accurate, though.

    The best way to do it is to weigh every ingredient and total that up, then divide by how much you eat. When you split with others, it'll be harder. Is it possible to weigh out all the portions to find out what percentage of the total you eat?

    I divide my food up into containers and then log .25 (or .2 or however many containers there are) each time I have one. Even if I eat more or less at different times, over the course of the week, I still eat it all, so it evens out.

    This has to be so much harder for people who split with others! But you can still come close.
  • GeorgeL583
    GeorgeL583 Posts: 34 Member
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    You could just do the recipe thing, add the ingredients manually, the severing total ect. It will search the ingredients for you and tell you cals. ect.
  • Sparlingo
    Sparlingo Posts: 938 Member
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    I'd break it down to ingredients to log it (creating a recipe, as GeorgeL583 mentioned). Or, just pick something in the database that roughly approximates the calories you'd expect (just this once) and make a mental note to actually log the ingredients separately while cooking this food next time. Especially if you eat it repeatedly - if you make it the same way each time, it's worth having it measured out in your myfitnesspal log.

    For similar problems down the road you could try a specific food item weight to volume calculator (like this one).

    Weight does not convert evenly to volume for every food. So the 8 oz = 1 cup thing doesn't work across the board. So be careful with that.

    Consider cheese for example:

    Cheddar
    1 cup shredded= 4 oz (113g/3.99oz)
    1 cup diced = 4.65 oz (132g)
    1 cup melted = 8.6 oz (244g)
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Grams will be more accurate and easier. You can divide your portion by the serving size and enter that number into servings. With ounces however, you would have to weigh it, convert (multiply by 28), then log.
  • Macstraw
    Macstraw Posts: 896 Member
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    The 8 oz. to a cup thing is for liquid measurements, not the weight of solids. I also add the recipe, I log the entire recipe in total & designate how many it serves. Then when I have a serving, MFP does the math. If I have more than a serving I estimate if it's 1.5 servings, 2 servings, etc. & MFP again does the math. This way I don't have to try to figure it out each & every time I have that particular recipe, especially if my servings aren't always the same size.....
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Keep looking until you find the ounce, there is always one there. Cups are for liquids.
  • golfbrew_matt
    golfbrew_matt Posts: 240 Member
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    Thanks all for the advice!