Fruit/meats - serving sizes?

ssfirst19 · March 2015

Hi - I'm new to Mfp and any food tracker for that matter. This may be a dumb question but how do you enter fruits/deli meat or any items that do not necessarily have a nutrition label. For example for lunch today I made a turkey wrap with spinach/ half an avocado and 3 slices of a green pepper. I have no clue what the serving sizes are in order to enter them in? Any help would be great - thanks so much :-).

Ready2Rock206 · March 2015

Buy a food scale - weigh what you eat - log it.

ssfirst19 · March 2015

Ahhh thank you - see I didn't even know that - very NEW at this :-). Have lost 10 lbs on my own but hAve hit a big plateau...Ugh!!! Thanks again! Any recommendations on a scale?

Ready2Rock206 · March 2015

Any scale that is digital, can do grams and ounces and has the tare feature will be good. Doesn't have to be fancy or expensive. Makes things so much easier to log!

crystalewhite · March 2015

I love this one, it has taken such a beating from me and it's still going!
http://www.amazon.com/EatSmart-Precision-Digital-Kitchen-Silver/dp/B001N07KUE/ref=sr_1_32?ie=UTF8&qid=1425930828&sr=8-32&keywords=digital+scale

Welcome!

MKEgal · March 2015

If you have a smart phone, you can scan the bar code on packaged goods (like the tortilla for the wrap).
The rest of it, search the database for entries with USDA. For example, [USDA spinach raw] or [USDA avocado].
Usually it goes by grams. So either get a scale (recommended) or learn to estimate weight / volume.

Here's a calculator that tells you how many servings you'd need to eat, and the size of those servings:
https://www.bcm.edu/cnrc-apps/healthyeatingcalculator/eatingCal.html

And this should help you get an idea for visual measurements of serving sizes.
https://www.udel.edu/wellness/ambassador/Serving%20Size%20Visuals.pdf

futuremanda · March 2015

ssfirst19 wrote: »

Ahhh thank you - see I didn't even know that - very NEW at this :-). Have lost 10 lbs on my own but hAve hit a big plateau...Ugh!!! Thanks again! Any recommendations on a scale?

Yes, scale!

In the meantime: Search the database for items separately. Like "avocado" and then there's a dropdown to help you choose serving. So 0.5 of 1 avocado, if that's an option. It's less accurate, but it's better to guesstimate until you get the scale than to wait to start logging.

diannethegeek · March 2015

It looks like you're getting pretty good advice already. Just to add on, these are two posts that I think are a really great help with food logging:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1290491/how-and-why-to-use-a-digital-food-scale

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide

hesn92 · March 2015

Just type in what you're eating. A green pepper has an entry. If you don't have a scale you can just guesstimate. One bell pepper, or half a bell pepper. Although I always use a scale for my meat. Weigh it before cooking. I don't usually weigh my veggies that much because the calories are so low anyway.

Fruit/meats - serving sizes?

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