How do you log chinese?

mmccloy12
mmccloy12 Posts: 151 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there, I had a meeting at a chinese buffet today...ugggh. I tried really hard to make good choices. I can't eat lettuce or some salad items because it tears my stomach up, so I had to chose something else. I chose what they call a chicken stick, some of the spinach (had cheese in it) and took some mushrooms from the chicken and mushrooms, and had a crabmeat stuffed mushroom. So how in the world do I log this?

Replies

  • mmccloy12
    mmccloy12 Posts: 151 Member
    Ok, thank you! I searched for chinese buffet and some of the items were comical...lol. But I did my best to plug in similar items, thank you! A walk and lots of water to help with all that sodium is in order:)
  • 150poundsofme
    150poundsofme Posts: 523 Member
    I do not know but I think you made great choices.
  • mmccloy12
    mmccloy12 Posts: 151 Member
    Thanks! I was proud of myself, because I always over do it at buffets!
  • __TMac__
    __TMac__ Posts: 1,669 Member
    Chinese buffet is one of those things I can't do much anymore. Hard to control my intake and hard to track. Sounds like you did well!! Maybe I'll give it a try soon.
  • mmccloy12
    mmccloy12 Posts: 151 Member
    It was difficult...everything looked so good! So most likely, unless I have to, I will avoid as well!
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    Just be sure to double the sodium :)
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    I've been doing this long enough that I know what a 400 calorie meal feels like vs 600 or 800. So I look for an entry in the database that matches how full I feel. I only get Chinese once a month so no big deal.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    I look up the dishes in the database and just pick something that experience tells me is fairly reasonable. I eat Chinese quite a lot (and other take out food), hasn't hindered my losses so far so I'm doing okay with the guessing!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Pretty much anytime I go out for anything, anywhere, I just log about 1200 calories in my head.
  • everher
    everher Posts: 909 Member
    VintageFeline wrote: »
    I look up the dishes in the database and just pick something that experience tells me is fairly reasonable. I eat Chinese quite a lot (and other take out food), hasn't hindered my losses so far so I'm doing okay with the guessing!

    This is what I do. There's a Chinese buffet near my house that I like. I don't go all the time, but when I do go it hasn't hindered my weight loss. A lot of sodium, to be sure, but typically, the water weight is gone by my next 'official' weigh in day.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,131 Member
    I usually just use entries from Panda Express and guess the best I can.
  • mmccloy12
    mmccloy12 Posts: 151 Member
    Cool! This site is awesome!
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
    I estimate each dish or components as best I can. I try to overestimate and rarely go.
  • aelunyu
    aelunyu Posts: 486 Member
    Hahaha being Chinese, this post caught my eye. Don't you dare try to log us =D

    But in all seriousness. I usually log raw materials used in cooking (which sort of requires you to know how it's cooked), and then I add about a tablespoon of oil to all of them. Restaurants are notorious for having a heavy hand with oil.

    Chicken on a stick (per stick)

    2oz chicken thigh
    5 gram corn starch
    5 gram sugar
    1 teaspoon of vegetable oil

    Spinach al a cheese?

    I'd log this as being pretty damn close to spinach artichoke dip. (Which you can find on here)

    As to the crabmeat stuffed mushrooms. They're mostly mushroom and starch binding agent (usually corn starch and cheese and very little actual crab...sometimes no crab as they use imitation crab). Honestly. we can break things down to the quarter ounce, but there's no point. They were probably just about 50-70 a pop depending on their size.

    Add to that the 2 tbsp of oil. Because honestly, Chinese buffet.

    You did real good! I would have bee-lined it for the chicken wings.









  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
    I look up USDA Chinese restaurant listings. They come out very reasonable.
  • markrgeary1
    markrgeary1 Posts: 853 Member
    Chinese? UNICODE of course.
  • catgerm
    catgerm Posts: 44 Member
    I feel like there was a generic listing in mfp for "Chinese food plate" or something for like 800-900 cals. I just logged it as that. Seemed to be about right!
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
    Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »
    Generic listings of "chinese food plate" could be anything... how do you know what they ate? how does that compare to what you ate? a plate of food for one person could be double in size for someone else. I can fit 3-4 egg rolls on my plate... maybe the one listed only had 1... if i ate 3 plus everything else i wanted.. i dont think 800-900 calories would be anywhere close to being right.

    Agreed. Better to itemize your foods.
  • kcj1023
    kcj1023 Posts: 2 Member
    If it's not at a restaurant and it's packaged Chinese food, you can use the app's barcode scanner which is incredibly convenient.
  • kermax39
    kermax39 Posts: 149 Member
    Like someone else said if I cant possibly get accurate calories at a resturaunt I try to guess by how full I feel and I do a quick add entry.....I know when iv eaten a big 1000 cal meal versus 500. If its deep fried, added cream, oil or butter or with added fries I know its gonni be be nearer 1000....I usually do a quick add of 700 if im at a party buffet....prob not accurate but it doesnt happen too often.
  • mmccloy12
    mmccloy12 Posts: 151 Member
    All great suggestions! Thank you...I went with logging things that were similar. I think it was a fair estimate of what I ate. I didn't over due it for once!

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