Logging Accurately..step by step guide

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  • abnadx
    abnadx Posts: 1 Member
    My only problems are when you eat at non-chain restaurants that don't have websites with detailed nutritional information or buy products that don't come with nutritional labels, like yummy yummy homemade burgers from my local butcher.

    In these cases, I tend to search for the general item description (e.g. "deep fried chicken wings no batter" or "beef burger") and then browse a dozen or more options and see what kind of caloric spread there is and see if there is maybe a description that matches a little better or if there is what appears to be a fairly consistent value. And then I err on the side of caution and pick something with more calories than most.

    Does anyone else have a better approach in these kinds of instances?
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    abnadx wrote: »
    My only problems are when you eat at non-chain restaurants that don't have websites with detailed nutritional information or buy products that don't come with nutritional labels, like yummy yummy homemade burgers from my local butcher.

    In these cases, I tend to search for the general item description (e.g. "deep fried chicken wings no batter" or "beef burger") and then browse a dozen or more options and see what kind of caloric spread there is and see if there is maybe a description that matches a little better or if there is what appears to be a fairly consistent value. And then I err on the side of caution and pick something with more calories than most.

    Does anyone else have a better approach in these kinds of instances?

    I often eat at non chains. I give it my best guess typically based on knowledge of logging.

    As for the burgers that should be easy...you know the grind (90/10 or 80/20) etc and the weight right?

    Search for Ground beef USDA with the % in it
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    Nice post. Too bad MFP won't let us go back and delete old entries--that would make it so much easier to ensure we are saving the correct ones.
  • californiajuls
    californiajuls Posts: 198 Member
    Bump and thanks!
  • retirehappy
    retirehappy Posts: 4,757 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    abnadx wrote: »
    My only problems are when you eat at non-chain restaurants that don't have websites with detailed nutritional information or buy products that don't come with nutritional labels, like yummy yummy homemade burgers from my local butcher.

    In these cases, I tend to search for the general item description (e.g. "deep fried chicken wings no batter" or "beef burger") and then browse a dozen or more options and see what kind of caloric spread there is and see if there is maybe a description that matches a little better or if there is what appears to be a fairly consistent value. And then I err on the side of caution and pick something with more calories than most.

    Does anyone else have a better approach in these kinds of instances?

    I often eat at non chains. I give it my best guess typically based on knowledge of logging.

    As for the burgers that should be easy...you know the grind (90/10 or 80/20) etc and the weight right?

    Search for Ground beef USDA with the % in it

    I look for recipes that are as similar as possible to what I eat at the ethnic places I love. I can tell when they have additional fats or sugars pretty easily. Then base my logging on the recipe with any additional add ons I think might have been in the meal. I am a regular at a Mexican place and happily make adjustments when I ask them to, like no added beans/onions/white tortillas.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Hasn't been bumped in a while.
  • ChristinBuss
    ChristinBuss Posts: 16 Member
    Not everyone's food scale weighs in grams.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,615 Member
    ChristinBuss wrote: »
    Not everyone's food scale weighs in grams.

    You should be able to change it to metric.

    I occasionally accidentally change mine to imperial if I'm not paying attention and press the wrong button and then have to readjust it back to grams.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    ChristinBuss wrote: »
    Not everyone's food scale weighs in grams.

    but for those wishing to log accurately they do...

    grams are the best way to measure as they are one of the smallest units.
  • retirehappy
    retirehappy Posts: 4,757 Member
    ChristinBuss wrote: »
    Not everyone's food scale weighs in grams.

    Check your scale almost all the models for sale in the USA will switch to grams. If you don't have one that does they are super inexpensive on Amazon.
  • arizona1gal319
    arizona1gal319 Posts: 5 Member
    I still don't see where you can "edit". Will you please expound on this. Thx
  • stephanne13
    stephanne13 Posts: 212 Member
    Commenting to appear in "My Topics".
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    arizona1gal319 wrote: »
    I still don't see where you can "edit". Will you please expound on this. Thx

    @arizona1gal319 when you click nutritional information and "no" to it being correct there is a choice to edit it if you want.
  • Verity1111
    Verity1111 Posts: 3,309 Member
    I assume this is meant for people who aren't losing and keep asking why, but don't log their mayonnaise?
  • juliet3455
    juliet3455 Posts: 3,015 Member
    stephanne13 wrote: »
    Commenting to appear in "My Topics".
    @stephanne13 If you go to the Top of any Forum post ( PC not sure about Apps ) - above the Magnifying glass ( search feature ) on the right hand side is a STAR = Bookmark which will put it in your Bookmarked Posts so it's always easy to find.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Verity1111 wrote: »
    I assume this is meant for people who aren't losing and keep asking why, but don't log their mayonnaise?

    nope this is for people who need help logging accurately and for those who are unaware of some of the features it allows for.

    For example I saw an entry here for beef steak that had 46 calories and 120 grams of protein....so much wrong with that but some wouldn't be aware it was a user entered and not to use it....or that it can be changed or that you can add your own entries...etc.
  • cliiff
    cliiff Posts: 3 Member
    what does SS mean?
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Don't mind me. Just bumping some threads for the holidays.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    h9xor9ycy0ac.jpg
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Hello. Just giving this a fresh bump so more people see it.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    Hasn't been bumped in a while.
  • retirehappy
    retirehappy Posts: 4,757 Member
    Needs a bump for newbies. Great info in this thread.
  • Silentpadna
    Silentpadna Posts: 1,306 Member
    As a newbie, making this comment to put it into "My Topics"....move along...move along
  • mmmpork
    mmmpork Posts: 133 Member
    Granular weighing isn't my strategy. Instead, I under-estimate my daily target by 100 calories. To be fair I do find weighing helpful for understanding portion sizes and it's been a great tool for that. Overall I don't think people should stress out too much, they should do what works for them and creates the least amount of barriers towards their weight loss goals.
  • katzenfluff
    katzenfluff Posts: 78 Member
    Bump
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
    This thread is 3 years old, I've been on here for nearly 10 months, and this is the first time I've seen it. Already learning a few new things.

    I see everyone "bumping" it to bring it back to the top of their list. Is there a way on this site to pin a thread, or easily search for threads you've interacted with?
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    TonyB0588 wrote: »
    This thread is 3 years old, I've been on here for nearly 10 months, and this is the first time I've seen it. Already learning a few new things.

    I see everyone "bumping" it to bring it back to the top of their list. Is there a way on this site to pin a thread, or easily search for threads you've interacted with?

    At the top of the thread there's a star that if you click it it gets added to your bookmarks. You'll find your bookmarked threads in the star next to the notification bell.
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    TonyB0588 wrote: »
    This thread is 3 years old, I've been on here for nearly 10 months, and this is the first time I've seen it. Already learning a few new things.

    I see everyone "bumping" it to bring it back to the top of their list. Is there a way on this site to pin a thread, or easily search for threads you've interacted with?

    At the top of the thread there's a star that if you click it it gets added to your bookmarks. You'll find your bookmarked threads in the star next to the notification bell.

    Thanks for the pointer Malibu. Sure that will help me a lot.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    mmmpork wrote: »
    Granular weighing isn't my strategy. Instead, I under-estimate my daily target by 100 calories. To be fair I do find weighing helpful for understanding portion sizes and it's been a great tool for that. Overall I don't think people should stress out too much, they should do what works for them and creates the least amount of barriers towards their weight loss goals.

    Agreed and I don't think this post is saying you have to weigh your food...it's about logging accurately.

    If you don't want to weight or don't have to great don't...this post isn't for you.

    If you do want to weight tho this post helps you figure out how to get the accurate entries.
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    What does “Logging Accurately” mean???? *warning long post*

    I have thought long and hard about this post as there have been a lot of discussions lately over logging accurately…that well have gotten a bit “heated”…



    Checking nutritional data

    This area of the entry can be seen by clicking the blue text “nutritional data” as seen in the SS above right below the confirmations. This is the only way to ensure the entry you are using is correct. When you click that link you are brought to a page like this….

    MFPnutritionfacts_zps6f6dca50.png

    As you can see there is a drop down menu for servings, and with this entry there are multiple servings available…my personal favorites are the ones in 100g (makes entering serving size of weighed food so much easier) and here you can see the text “Is this data correct?” with buttons to confirm, deny or say you don’t know. If it is correct based on your package etc. click yes…it is important that the confirmations are done to ensure others know it’s correct too. If you know it’s not correct you can click “NO”.

    You will then see this screen.

    MFPEdit_zps99d09b22.png

    Now you can edit this entry. I do this quite frequently as I often cannot find an entry for items that do not have the words Generic and homemade or an asterisk in front of them. When you do this, it now shows up in the tab (mentioned in the first paragraph) “MY FOODS”

    Edit to Existing Entries

    After clicking “Edit” this screen pops up.

    MFPEditscreen_zps8740f2b0.png

    You can change anything you want in here. The Brand/Restaurant, Description, nutrition facts, serving size etc. so that it is correct based on what you see on the package/website. *I often will end the description with my initials SCW so I know that it is my entry when searching in the database*

    After you have done all that ensure you go to the bottom and explain the changes. I often just type per pkg. or per website, then click save.

    Strange enough, when I click NO on the Nutritional Data page, it doesn't give me a popup with ability to edit the information. What am I doing wrong?

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