Not logging salad okay??
Katie_Y89
Posts: 330 Member
We have been makingour own salad at home for a few weeks now containing: lettuce (duh lol), red/purple onion, cucumbers and shredded carrots.
I have no idea the caloric value. I don't measure before I make it. Figured because its basically "raw salad" it's caloric value isn't that high so I don't log it, only the dressing I put on it.
Is thay a good idea or should I measure and determine calories next time I make one??
I have no idea the caloric value. I don't measure before I make it. Figured because its basically "raw salad" it's caloric value isn't that high so I don't log it, only the dressing I put on it.
Is thay a good idea or should I measure and determine calories next time I make one??
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Replies
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Depends on what your goals are. Do you want to loose weight? Log everything.0
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We have been makingour own salad at home for a few weeks now containing: lettuce (duh lol), red/purple onion, cucumbers and shredded carrots.
I have no idea the caloric value. I don't measure before I make it. Figured because its basically "raw salad" it's caloric value isn't that high so I don't log it, only the dressing I put on it.
Is thay a good idea or should I measure and determine calories next time I make one??
You could. It's probably 60-70 calories or something. Carrots have some calories, especially. It depnds on how strict you need to be with logging.0 -
We have been makingour own salad at home for a few weeks now containing: lettuce (duh lol), red/purple onion, cucumbers and shredded carrots.
I have no idea the caloric value. I don't measure before I make it. Figured because its basically "raw salad" it's caloric value isn't that high so I don't log it, only the dressing I put on it.
Is thay a good idea or should I measure and determine calories next time I make one??
It's not a lot of cals, but I track fiber and sugar, which those contain.
Also the more veggies I eat with my meals the better I do if I'm dropping off fat, so I weigh them in grams and track them.0 -
If you're losing weight at a rate that works for you it's probably ok to not be exact with non starchy veggies. But, it would be best to at least just estimate something, or if you generally make it the same way you could weigh it out once and then log it the same way every time. However, as you get closer to goal and/or if you feel like you're not losing the way you think you should be, definitely tighten things up and start logging everything exactly.0
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An entire head of romaine is about 100 calories. An entire cup of shredded carrot is around 50 calories, 1 red onion is around 40 calories, 1 cucumber is around 50 calories. So assuming you use all of it, you are around 250 calories (before dressing) for a salad that can easily feed 6, that makes it around 40 calories per person. So, if you're just counting calories, I wouldn't bother(since you already track dressing), but that is just me. If you are also tracking your macros, then it might not be a bad idea.
Also....do you make the salad for each meal, or one large batch then just use it up? If you make a large batch, it would be easy to record what you used, to get a more accurate idea.0 -
log every single thing you eat. Good habits...0
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EVERYTHING that you eat and drink should be logged
Vegetable calories do add up I had a normal size veg portion it was 60 calories if that was ignored that's 420 over a week0 -
just log it. it's not that time consuming and if you stall in the future it will be useful to know that your logging was accurate when trying to work out what changes to make.0
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Do the right thing.0
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We have been makingour own salad at home for a few weeks now containing: lettuce (duh lol), red/purple onion, cucumbers and shredded carrots.
I have no idea the caloric value. I don't measure before I make it. Figured because its basically "raw salad" it's caloric value isn't that high so I don't log it, only the dressing I put on it.
Is thay a good idea or should I measure and determine calories next time I make one??
It isn't a great idea but probably isn't too big a deal to not log some low calorie vegetables.
When you are not losing weight the way you want then you will need to log everything as accurately as you can including salad.
You could enter it as a recipe once or save it as a meal once so you can log your salad quickly in future if you always make it the same.0 -
What I do with my veggies is I cut them up and weigh them when I buy them, then I'll divide the weight by 5/7 and log them in for my next week evenly each day. I may not eat the same amount each day, but it works out over the whole week so long as I make sure they're gone
, I find that's been really working for me because it feels like too much work to weigh them as I prepare them for 50 calories of peppers, but this weigh it's quick, easy and painless, I get the nutritional information I need from them and I don't have to think about them all week. 0 -
I also look at my macro and micro-nutrients so not logging my salad would skew that.0
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Its fine not to log small servings of raw vegetables.
I have a salad everyday for lunch at work. I log the lettuce (baby spinach in my case) the olives, turkey pepperoni, and other proteins I may add and of course the dressing. On occasion, I may add tomatoes, carrots, onions, etc--the amount typically added to a salad for these items are insignificant when it comes to calories and I do not bother to weight them. I only log the spinach because of the nutritional information, not so much the calories.
But if I starting not losing, I would tighten up my logging in areas like this.0 -
I made a "recipe" for a standard salad...2 cups of lettuce, 8 grape tomatoes, half a cucumber, 1/4 red pepper or something. It's like 60 calories or something. Since it's a recipe I don't have to weigh and log it every time. I don't worry too much about if I have 7 or 9 tomatoes or if my pepper is larger or smaller than average.0
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I log gum lol I log EVERYTHING. If I start not logging this or that, where does the madness end?
Log it all.. everything. every iota that goes into your mouth. Log log log!0 -
I generally guestimate with my salad veggies, and just try to be accurate with the cheese, dressing and fixings. I do like the idea of creating a standard salad recipe. I think I'll do that too.0
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I made a "recipe" for a standard salad...2 cups of lettuce, 8 grape tomatoes, half a cucumber, 1/4 red pepper or something. It's like 60 calories or something. Since it's a recipe I don't have to weigh and log it every time. I don't worry too much about if I have 7 or 9 tomatoes or if my pepper is larger or smaller than average.
This^
Make a standard recipe.....once. Then you will always have it available.0 -
Its fine not to log small servings of raw vegetables.
I have a salad everyday for lunch at work. I log the lettuce (baby spinach in my case) the olives, turkey pepperoni, and other proteins I may add and of course the dressing. On occasion, I may add tomatoes, carrots, onions, etc--the amount typically added to a salad for these items are insignificant when it comes to calories and I do not bother to weight them. I only log the spinach because of the nutritional information, not so much the calories.
But if I starting not losing, I would tighten up my logging in areas like this.
This. It's fine until it stops working for you.0 -
Every bite every day. Log it. Make it a recipe as advised above and then you can just choose it and you're done with the weighing. Why would you want to leave something healthy that you ate out of your diary? Get the whole picture.0
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Its fine not to log small servings of raw vegetables.
I have a salad everyday for lunch at work. I log the lettuce (baby spinach in my case) the olives, turkey pepperoni, and other proteins I may add and of course the dressing. On occasion, I may add tomatoes, carrots, onions, etc--the amount typically added to a salad for these items are insignificant when it comes to calories and I do not bother to weight them. I only log the spinach because of the nutritional information, not so much the calories.
But if I starting not losing, I would tighten up my logging in areas like this.
Totally agree with the above. At least for me, estimating only worked for so long. Once weight loss stops, you'll probably have to tighten up logging of items like this.0 -
I prepare a similar salad, I log it.0
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My lunch salads are 450-515 calories, so I definitely log them! Just create the meal as others have suggested.0
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Here's an idea ... make a recipe on MFP of your basic salad ingredients. You only need to weigh/measure the basics once for the recipe. The recipe builder does not allow multiple choices for servings ... like 1 cup, so, if you made a salad that came to 6 cups total, that might be 6 servings. Then when you have the salad, you can use your recipe to log it and just add on whatever else you put in, like the salad dressing and any extra's like cheee, meat, nuts or seeds.
This way it's quick to do and you will get a better count of your nutrition and fiber. That's what I've been doing with my soups, salads, and breakfast porridges because they are usually the same from one cooking session to another.0 -
tincanonastring wrote: »My lunch salads are 450-515 calories, so I definitely log them! Just create the meal as others have suggested.
Yeah my salads are 480 cals. I always log it.
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I no longer log lettuce, onions, raw tomatoes, carrots nor cucumbers. Last time I weighed lettuce for a salad it was 2 calories.0
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tincanonastring wrote: »My lunch salads are 450-515 calories, so I definitely log them! Just create the meal as others have suggested.
Yeah my salads are 480 cals. I always log it.
Of all raw vegetables????? I'm truly impressed. She said she logs her dressing separately.
My lunch salads range from about 325 to maybe 500 calories...but they usually include several ounces of meat and/or cheese, a full tablespoon of olive oil in the dressing, sometimes fruit or nuts or avocado or bacon or croutons...obviously all that stuff gets logged. And I, personally, log my vegetables in my salad as well, but I doubt my 11 calories of romaine and 7 calories of cucumbers and 4 calories of green peppers would send my efforts into the crapper if I didn't. I don't think anyone (including the OP) is disputing whether or not to log toppings, starchy vegetables, etc.0 -
Today my salad comes in at 460. It has avocado and cottage cheese in it. Among other things.0
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tincanonastring wrote: »My lunch salads are 450-515 calories, so I definitely log them! Just create the meal as others have suggested.
Yeah my salads are 480 cals. I always log it.
Of all raw vegetables????? I'm truly impressed. She said she logs her dressing separately.
My lunch salads range from about 325 to maybe 500 calories...but they usually include several ounces of meat and/or cheese, a full tablespoon of olive oil in the dressing, sometimes fruit or nuts or avocado or bacon or croutons...obviously all that stuff gets logged. And I, personally, log my vegetables in my salad as well, but I doubt my 11 calories of romaine and 7 calories of cucumbers and 4 calories of green peppers would send my efforts into the crapper if I didn't. I don't think anyone (including the OP) is disputing whether or not to log toppings, starchy vegetables, etc.
Exactly right. Everythng i put ON the salad, i log (dressing, cheese, meat, ect). I just haven't logged the veggies.
Not sure how many "servings" we make because we just dump and mix it into a giant glass bowl.
Next time it's made, I will try and track the cals the best i can
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Log everything you eat and drink.
Everything has calories and they add up.
If you are honest, log everything you eat and drink and stay within your calories for every day, you will lose.
It may save you from having to ask why you are not losing weight, a question that is asked here every day.0 -
I log it all. I've been making cobb salad for the past few days. I enter each individual ingredient (by weight) into a meal (say lunch). Then I saved it as "saved meals". The next time I made the Cobb Salad, I
- added the saved meal.
- weighed each ingredient (since I use slightly different quantities each time I make it)
- corrected the weight/serving size of each ingredient
And got an accurate calorie count without having to manually enter each ingredient and double check that it is accurate.
I haven't used "saved meals" or "my foods" much at all and definitely found this a time saver. Also felt less daunting logging 10 different salad ingredients. That said, depending on how tight your deficit is, logging raw veggies may not always need to be spot on.
My salad today broke down to:
Fresh veggies - 33 cals
Egg, avocado, and deli turkey - 269 cals
Dressing - 183 cals
Total - 485 cals
I could prob have gotten away with not really logging the fresh greens. But definitely not the heavier proteins.
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