Fresh Food.... Hard to Calorie Count??

chels1605
chels1605 Posts: 206 Member
edited September 27 in Food and Nutrition
I've found myself eating LESS fresh food (for example home made stir fry.... I will buy the veg pre cut up in a container) so I can calorie count more accurately.... Is this bad???

I still have fresh veg, fresh salad etc etc for every lunch and dinner time though.... but I will buy a low cal Shepards Pie instead of home making it....

any advice would be good!!

Replies

  • GemmieNoWobbles
    GemmieNoWobbles Posts: 398 Member
    You can build your own recipes on here, so you basically add all the raw ingredients together and it'll tell you how much a portion of your shepherds pie (for example) would be!

    I have done this for all the things I regularly cook so I know what I am getting calorie wise when making my own food rather than buying premade stuff!

    Hope this helps!?

    Gemma
  • 00trayn
    00trayn Posts: 1,849 Member
    I honestly find myself doing the same. I LOVE food where I'm not guessing the calorie content. But one of the best investments I made was a little food scale from Bed Bath and Beyond (used a 20% coupon). That way I can weigh things like meat and veggies or even a container of peanut butter before I scoop some out and after to get how much I used. It takes a lot of the guesswork out. And it's really small, it just sits on my counter. Those and a good set of measuring cup should help. And you'll get better at eyeballing once you weight/measure food a few times.
  • jbug100
    jbug100 Posts: 406 Member
    I'd say you are better off buying fresh. The clean food is important to weight loss. If you are not sure about cals, just estimate. I really don't worry to much about veggie cals. Also, a food scale is helpful.
  • dlaplume2
    dlaplume2 Posts: 1,658 Member
    I use the recipe builder. It seems to be accurate. I do buy frozen veggies instead of canned or fresh. I believe frozen are better and cheaper (just my opinion) I use the fozen veggies for stir fry too.
  • baderis07
    baderis07 Posts: 35
    Fresh is best but sometimes our busy lives just don't allow the time to completely prepare our own dishes. I would just be on the look out for high sodium and really watch the serving size vs. calories on the containers you buy.

    I second Gemma though on using the site to build your own recipes. Even if you just do one or two recipe additions a week soon it'll add up and you won't find yourself needing to buy the pre-made stuff.
  • TrainerRobin
    TrainerRobin Posts: 509 Member
    Don't give up on the fresh fruits and veggies. You'll get the hang of it and it'll be just as easy. Here are some tips:
    1) Try the site caloriegallery.com. Here, you can measure in grams or ounces and although they don't have every food on there, they are solid on fresh fruits and veggie and their numbers are more accurate than any other site I've seen.
    2) Once you find the MFP entry that's accurate (and/or enter it into MFP so you know the "right" one ... I sometimes add "calorie gallery" to the label so I know it's right on!), enter it in a way that you'll recognize instantly so you needn't peruse 17 entries for grapes to find the one that's correct.
    3) Create a "serving" that you want (not necessarily a proper serving size). For instance, if it's grapes you want to eat and you have a favorite bowl to have them in, make that your "grapes bowl" and weigh the grapes. Once that's entered into your food diary, use the quick tools to save the grapes (in THAT amount, in THAT bowl) as a "meal" so you don't need to measure next time. Just fill the bowl up with grapes, go to enter your food, pick that serving that you saved a a meal and enter. Quick!
    4) Use a digital scale and just "tare" before you add. For instance, I'll put a plate on the digital kitchen scale, and pile a bunch of lettuce on there (not measuring!) and when I see how many grams, I'll enter that, and hit "tare" so the scale says zero. Then I'll add a bunch of chopped tomatoes, enter the amount, hit tare and continue until I have a monster salad. No measuring or restricting yourself to serving sizes, just tracking what you are eating.

    Hope those tips help just a little!!! Keep up the fresh food, girl. You'll be glad you did!!
  • Xaspar
    Xaspar Posts: 726 Member
    I love, love love my food scale ... I bought one from Walmart for a reasonable price and it has come in so handy!
    I have put recipes together, added it to my food/recipes section and portioned it out for number of calories per serving... If I make something that has a total calorie content, and I only eat 1/4 then I just log it as 1/4 of the whole recipe.
    I also LOVE frozen vegetables ... There is nothing added to the plain veggies and I can be assured that I am getting as close to fresh as I can get (considering 'fresh' fruits and vegetables here are rarely in the best marketable condition).
    I think though the scale has been the most important factor in tracking calories for me.
    ~Namaste
  • chels1605
    chels1605 Posts: 206 Member
    Thanks guys

    I do weigh everything and have made my own meals on here like Tuna Pasta (which I used to live on in the summer)

    I think i need to put more work into my counting and stop doing the lazy thing by just buying packet things!! I just know my Shepards pie (which is amazing!!) will be full of calories!!!

    eek!
  • smuehlbauer
    smuehlbauer Posts: 1,041 Member
    I cook fresh almost every night and for the most part three meals a day on the weekends. I don't have any issues counting the calories. You just need to be more creative when you look in the data base.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories