making serving sizes from own recipe

jessicagilb
jessicagilb Posts: 69 Member
edited November 15 in Health and Weight Loss
How do you guys do it?
My method:
Put all the ingredients in... weigh the end result.. divide that by how many servings.. then use that number for the weight of the serving.. (I use a kitchen scale)

So examle:: a whole lasagna equals 1234grams.. I divided that by 9 (9pieces) so 1 serving size would be 137 grams.

Is this at all accurate or am I crazy mad woman? I'm asking because I cook meals lot but I haven't been losing much wt in the last 2 weeks..
Thanks!

Edit:And I do weigh out the individual ingredients(if I didn't make that part clear..)

Replies

  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    That's how i do it. Or i'll make a recipe with 1 servings, and then manually select the amount i ate "i.e. 1/8th 1/4" etc.
  • crazyjerseygirl
    crazyjerseygirl Posts: 1,252 Member
    That's brilliant!
    I've just been eyeballing it and figuring that the pieces would even themselves out eventually. Why did I never think of weighing the whole damn thing?

    Facepalm
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    jessicagilb wrote: »
    How do you guys do it?
    My method:
    Put all the ingredients in... weigh the end result.. divide that by how many servings.. then use that number for the weight of the serving.. (I use a kitchen scale)

    So examle:: a whole lasagna equals 1234grams.. I divided that by 9 (9pieces) so 1 serving size would be 137 grams.

    Is this at all accurate or am I crazy mad woman? I'm asking because I cook meals lot but I haven't been losing much wt in the last 2 weeks..
    Thanks!

    You can divide it by 9 or you can enter it as 1,234 servings and then measure out however much you want by the gram. Then when you enter it in your diary, you put x number of servings (For example: eat 200 grams, enter 200 servings). This is what I do for things where I might want different amounts at different times or when I know my husband is going to dig into it and "mess up" my number of planned servings.

    If you do the second, you also don't have to try to remember how many servings are left when you open the fridge and look at leftovers. I find it much easier.
  • kcm105
    kcm105 Posts: 50 Member
    Isn't it a real pain to weigh the whole thing? You need to put it into a separate dish, right? Is there some way around this I'm not thinking of?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    kcm105 wrote: »
    Isn't it a real pain to weigh the whole thing? You need to put it into a separate dish, right? Is there some way around this I'm not thinking of?

    When I do this, I weigh the dish before cooking and just subtract it from the total.
  • DearestWinter
    DearestWinter Posts: 595 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    jessicagilb wrote: »
    How do you guys do it?
    My method:
    Put all the ingredients in... weigh the end result.. divide that by how many servings.. then use that number for the weight of the serving.. (I use a kitchen scale)

    So examle:: a whole lasagna equals 1234grams.. I divided that by 9 (9pieces) so 1 serving size would be 137 grams.

    Is this at all accurate or am I crazy mad woman? I'm asking because I cook meals lot but I haven't been losing much wt in the last 2 weeks..
    Thanks!

    You can divide it by 9 or you can enter it as 1,234 servings and then measure out however much you want by the gram. Then when you enter it in your diary, you put x number of servings (For example: eat 200 grams, enter 200 servings). This is what I do for things where I might want different amounts at different times or when I know my husband is going to dig into it and "mess up" my number of planned servings.

    If you do the second, you also don't have to try to remember how many servings are left when you open the fridge and look at leftovers. I find it much easier.

    I also enter the number of servings as the total number of grams and then weigh the food I serve myself each time. This works particularly well if I've baked something that will vary in size (e.g., can't slice exactly 60g of banana bread each time).

    Granted in my banana bread example I even went so far as to pre-slice the entire loaf, weigh each piece and label a ziplock bag with the weight, and then put them into the freezer. (I live alone, so I'm not going to eat 200 calories/slice of banana bread that often.)
  • adamitri
    adamitri Posts: 614 Member
    That's what I do, it works really well.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    Or just weigh the entire thing and then set that weight as your serving number, then weigh out however much you want and make that your serving.

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    ie 89 grams.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    kcm105 wrote: »
    Isn't it a real pain to weigh the whole thing? You need to put it into a separate dish, right? Is there some way around this I'm not thinking of?

    When I do this, I weigh the dish before cooking and just subtract it from the total.

    this.
  • jessicagilb
    jessicagilb Posts: 69 Member
    Ahhh entering the serving sz as the weight is brilliant.i may adapt to that. Thanks for the reassurance everyone
  • kcm105
    kcm105 Posts: 50 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    kcm105 wrote: »
    Isn't it a real pain to weigh the whole thing? You need to put it into a separate dish, right? Is there some way around this I'm not thinking of?

    When I do this, I weigh the dish before cooking and just subtract it from the total.

    Another facepalm for this one. I am a meticulous weigher who cooks basically every night, but I always struggle with estimating the number of servings and basically just guess. I've thought about weighing every pan I own and keeping a list! This is obviously so much easier. Duh!!!!!!
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    kcm105 wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    kcm105 wrote: »
    Isn't it a real pain to weigh the whole thing? You need to put it into a separate dish, right? Is there some way around this I'm not thinking of?

    When I do this, I weigh the dish before cooking and just subtract it from the total.

    Another facepalm for this one. I am a meticulous weigher who cooks basically every night, but I always struggle with estimating the number of servings and basically just guess. I've thought about weighing every pan I own and keeping a list! This is obviously so much easier. Duh!!!!!!

    WHen I eventually move out I'll probably see if there's a way to label all my pots and dishes with their weight, because I've had times where I forgot to weigh beforehand.
  • Josalinn
    Josalinn Posts: 1,066 Member
    I weigh it and figure out the calories for the whole thing. Then I try dividing the calories by different numbers until I get one that satisfies me (for meals usually around 300) and the I divide the total weight by the number of servings.

    Example:
    Lasagna recipe ~ 7800 calories. Divide that by 24 and you get 325 calories. I have yet to make this recipe but I would then take the total weight and divide that by 24 and then I have easy portions. Now this recipe states that it only makes 8 servings, but that is close to 1000 calories a slice and I can't handle that.
  • beautifulwarrior18
    beautifulwarrior18 Posts: 914 Member
    jessicagilb wrote: »
    How do you guys do it?
    My method:
    Put all the ingredients in... weigh the end result.. divide that by how many servings.. then use that number for the weight of the serving.. (I use a kitchen scale)

    So examle:: a whole lasagna equals 1234grams.. I divided that by 9 (9pieces) so 1 serving size would be 137 grams.

    Is this at all accurate or am I crazy mad woman? I'm asking because I cook meals lot but I haven't been losing much wt in the last 2 weeks..
    Thanks!

    Edit:And I do weigh out the individual ingredients(if I didn't make that part clear..)


    I do the same thing. Although recipes are such a nightmare to add on MFP.
  • Kiku10
    Kiku10 Posts: 66 Member
    I total the individual measurements for each, ingredients then divide.
  • jessicagilb
    jessicagilb Posts: 69 Member
    @beautifulwarrior18‌ I like the websites (on the computer) set up much better than it used to be. I find it easiest to find an online recipe similar to mine- then I just copy the URL and then modify the ingredients to what I use. This is so much easier bc you can just type it all in at once in a text box versus searching for each individual ingredient.
  • T00GlaM0r0US
    T00GlaM0r0US Posts: 31 Member
    Do you use the recipe builder? I would use the old recipe builder to put in your recipe and how many servings .. maybe if you are just using the generic one on MFP then you are getting too little or too much calories?
  • Sweets1954
    Sweets1954 Posts: 507 Member
    I use the recipes under the food tab. Type in the ingredients for the entire dish, tell it how many servings, and it will give you the number of calories per serving. I think you are making this much more difficult than it has to be.
  • Gska17
    Gska17 Posts: 752 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    kcm105 wrote: »
    Isn't it a real pain to weigh the whole thing? You need to put it into a separate dish, right? Is there some way around this I'm not thinking of?

    When I do this, I weigh the dish before cooking and just subtract it from the total.

    My brain just exploded. Thank you.

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Sweets1954 wrote: »
    I use the recipes under the food tab. Type in the ingredients for the entire dish, tell it how many servings, and it will give you the number of calories per serving. I think you are making this much more difficult than it has to be.

    I believe OP is using the recipe builder. She is asking for advice on how best to determine the serving size and ensure she isn't eating more than she accounted for. Knowing how many calories a serving has isn't going to be much help if you aren't eating the same amount calculated as a serving.
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