Logging Confusion!

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Catawampous
Catawampous Posts: 447 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok my diary is open for all to see so feel free.

Here's my problem. I am trying to be as accurate as possible and everyone says to weigh your food and that's what I'm doing. But a lot of times MFP doesn't give me a way to log the food properly.

Example - Breakfast for me this morning was 1cup Rice Chex. I KNOW I'm suppose to use grams for accuracy. The box says 27grams = 1 cup. It was wrong and 1 cup was actually 29 grams for me. But I can't fix it. It gives me cups, container, milliliters (WTH), etc but not grams. If I go to edit it, it doesn't let me fix it TO grams. This same scenario goes for lunch where I'm trying to log refried beans in grams.

I've tried this on the mobile app and also on my regular computer and the same story applies. So what gives? Am I not seeing where I can actually change this stuff at?

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    When this happens to me I will either create a personalized entry under "My Foods" or I will log it in partial servings.
  • fr33sia12
    fr33sia12 Posts: 1,258 Member
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    I enter everything myself manually rather than using the database, as the database can be entered incorrectly by other people, or you have a problem finding the exact product.
  • awolf2011
    awolf2011 Posts: 265 Member
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    I agree with PP. If it's not correct I either enter it myself or do partial servings. This way you are as accurate as you can get. Great job on the weighing your food though. I found that once I did this along with measure my food for a period of time I then knew what the weights/measurements were w/out even having to actually do it. Makes it much easier.
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,931 Member
    edited August 2016
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    You can do 29/27 = 1.07 cups (or serving).
  • ryry_
    ryry_ Posts: 4,966 Member
    edited August 2016
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    Unfortunately you have to do the math and enter it in servings. I wish MFP would let you enter expressions so it would happen automatically.

    Another option for commonly consumed foods is to create your own custom entries so you can just enter the grams with no up front math required.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    Another vote for doing the math to get the actual serving. I leave a calculator open.
  • tequila5000
    tequila5000 Posts: 128 Member
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    Hi jaidann, your right sometimes it seems tough to find an entry that allows precise tracking. Here is a tip, try to search your food adding the word "gram". Using your example, I searched for " rice Chex gram" and the first one that popped up age options for a 1 gram serving so in your case you could listed 29 servings. This could get the precisision you are looking for. This tip doesn't work all the time, but any time it does, it really seems helpful to me.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    Some listings will let you change the serving size to g. Some won't. If the serving size is 27g, you could a) have 27g or b) choose to have 29g. Then since 29g/27g = 1.075 you could log 1.075 servings.
    Jaidann1962 wrote: »
    Ok my diary is open for all to see so feel free.

    Here's my problem. I am trying to be as accurate as possible and everyone says to weigh your food and that's what I'm doing. But a lot of times MFP doesn't give me a way to log the food properly.

    Example - Breakfast for me this morning was 1cup Rice Chex. I KNOW I'm suppose to use grams for accuracy. The box says 27grams = 1 cup. It was wrong and 1 cup was actually 29 grams for me. But I can't fix it. It gives me cups, container, milliliters (WTH), etc but not grams. If I go to edit it, it doesn't let me fix it TO grams. This same scenario goes for lunch where I'm trying to log refried beans in grams.

    I've tried this on the mobile app and also on my regular computer and the same story applies. So what gives? Am I not seeing where I can actually change this stuff at?

  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    There are often multiple entries for an item in the database. I look for the one that matches how I measured it.
    There is an entry for rice chex that has grams.
  • DaniCanadian
    DaniCanadian Posts: 261 Member
    edited August 2016
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    I agree with all above about doing the math. There are times where I'll also figure out how many calories per gram something I'd and then multiply it by however many grams I'm eating.

    Edit: and then log whatever serving size matches my calories
  • sllm1
    sllm1 Posts: 2,114 Member
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    Yep - if I can't find an entry with grams, I do the math. 1.07 servings.
  • amyepdx
    amyepdx Posts: 750 Member
    edited August 2016
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    Or you could just put 2 grams back in the box or don't bother with the cup and only weigh it out (that's what I do)
  • Catawampous
    Catawampous Posts: 447 Member
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    tequila5000 wrote: »
    Hi jaidann, your right sometimes it seems tough to find an entry that allows precise tracking. Here is a tip, try to search your food adding the word "gram". Using your example, I searched for " rice Chex gram" and the first one that popped up age options for a 1 gram serving so in your case you could listed 29 servings. This could get the precisision you are looking for. This tip doesn't work all the time, but any time it does, it really seems helpful to me.

    Ok who knew LOL! This worked perfectly! Thanks!

    As to doing the math, thank you all! I can do that for the ones I can't find or adjust. I just was thinking I was missing something vital. And, I've seen some threads where people's logging was brought into question because they didn't have the "proper" weights (cups vs grams, etc) so I wanted to avoid any possible future unpleasantness or me trying to explain myself.

    Appreciate the quick responses!
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    edited August 2016
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    Jaidann1962 wrote: »
    Ok my diary is open for all to see so feel free.

    Here's my problem. I am trying to be as accurate as possible and everyone says to weigh your food and that's what I'm doing. But a lot of times MFP doesn't give me a way to log the food properly.

    Example - Breakfast for me this morning was 1cup Rice Chex. I KNOW I'm suppose to use grams for accuracy. The box says 27grams = 1 cup. It was wrong and 1 cup was actually 29 grams for me. But I can't fix it. It gives me cups, container, milliliters (WTH), etc but not grams. If I go to edit it, it doesn't let me fix it TO grams. This same scenario goes for lunch where I'm trying to log refried beans in grams.

    I've tried this on the mobile app and also on my regular computer and the same story applies. So what gives? Am I not seeing where I can actually change this stuff at?

    Well, if it has 1 cup as 27 grams and you measure 29 grams then you just had 29/27 or 1.074 cups, so you can log it that way if you want to be that exact.

    ETA: just read through thread, seems like lots of others have already said the same thing. Just use math to make the correction.
  • louise5779
    louise5779 Posts: 82 Member
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    VeryKatie wrote: »
    You can do 29/27 = 1.07 cups (or serving).

    This^^

    And I use the barcode scanner on the app. I only use the database if it doesn't have a barcode and then I still google it separately as some or the database items are weird.

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