How do you log when you've had takeaway food?

ajc1309
ajc1309 Posts: 255 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Tonight I ordered an 8oz chicken burger (not really like a burger though, more like two small chicken breasts with some sort of coating), with mayo and a side of cheesy fries. I'm fine with eating like crap tonight because I haven't eaten much all day. But I was wondering how would I log this food? How do you log when you don't know how many cals are in your takeaway?

Replies

  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    edited February 2016
    When you log food, search for, for example, "Burger King Whopper", and you will probably find it in the database. 3 days ago my wife wanted to dine out at a casual dining restaurant. I surveyed the menu and selected a dish that didn't seem to be too high calorie, and had that. I avoided the bread and we had no desert. When I got to my computer and searched the MFP database for "Romano's Macaroni Grill Pollo Caprese", it was in the database at 720 calories and I adjusted the remainder of the day accordingly and finished the day 1000+ calories below my MFP goal.
  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
    If the restaurant doesn't have their own nutrition data, I search for another restaurant's similar food and log that as a close estimation.
  • Ruatine
    Ruatine Posts: 3,424 Member
    If it's a chain, you can usually either find it in the MFP database already or on the restaurant's website. If it's a local/small place, it becomes more difficult. Like Lasmartchika I search for a similar restaurant that does have nutritional info and use that to estimate. I always estimate high when logging calories eaten from a restaurant.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    ajc1309 wrote: »
    Tonight I ordered an 8oz chicken burger (not really like a burger though, more like two small chicken breasts with some sort of coating), with mayo and a side of cheesy fries. I'm fine with eating like crap tonight because I haven't eaten much all day. But I was wondering how would I log this food? How do you log when you don't know how many cals are in your takeaway?

    If the restaurant doesn't post calories, I approximate. For example, if I get a bacon cheeseburger from a local restaurant, I look up a bacon cheeseburger from a large chain restaurant to get at least a ballpark figure. If I can't even do that, in your example I'd want to log an 8oz piece of fried chicken, a large white hamburger bun, 1-2tbsp of mayo (depending on how much I think they might have glopped on), a fries entry I eyeball to be a similar size from a fast-food place that posts calories (~400 if they came in a paper sleeve, much more if it was a whole takeout container box full), and then cheese (not worrying about the sauce part as cheese is so calorie dense anyway, I'd say 4oz or 8oz or whatever depending on size and how covered they were, etc.) It's not an exact science, obviously, but it lets me have an idea of what I've done.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    Ruatine wrote: »
    If it's a chain, you can usually either find it in the MFP database already or on the restaurant's website. If it's a local/small place, it becomes more difficult. Like Lasmartchika I search for a similar restaurant that does have nutritional info and use that to estimate. I always estimate high when logging calories eaten from a restaurant.

    that.

    i eat out all the time- rarely a chain. like 4 or more days a week (usually lunch). find something similar, with a higher calorie count (dont choose the lowest one, EVER)

    restaurants i go to all the time, and who know me, are usually super sweet and will give me the basic recipe with weights of stuff if i ask real sweet (and i tend to be a generous tipper, so im sure that helps). ive even had cooks and servers go out of their way to find a nutrition label (like from bread) to give me a number. i always tell them WHY so they dont think im trying to run off with the recipes ;) i've never had a problem but i live in a small community and everyone pretty much knows me, anyways ;)
  • CassidyScaglione
    CassidyScaglione Posts: 673 Member
    Most chain restaurants have nutrition data available online, some even have booklets in store. For smaller places, you may have to ask.
  • zdyb23456
    zdyb23456 Posts: 1,706 Member
    I try to find something similar in the database or if I'm being lazy I'll quick add 1000 calories for a 'plate' of food. If it's Chinese takeout I'll quick add 1500 per plate. Sushi I quick add 400 calories per specialty roll.

    I know it's not that accurate, but it's better than not logging anything.
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