srufus wrote: »

First, how do you all manage to log your home cooked meals accurately ? I make breakfast, lunch and dinner fresh everyday. Breakfast is easier to log, just a few choices. But when it gets to lunch and dinner, I just cook instictively . Till I started UAC I have never measured anything I cook. Even if I am making the same dish again, quantities are different and the calories vary. Now that I am measuring, I find that I am spending much more time in the kitchen. I haven't found a way out of this yet.

Second, I go over the sodium limit very easily, even if I don't go over it I am almost at the limit. I had no idea I was eating this much salt. So this week's goal is to actually reduce my salt intake.

I kind of track the ingredients. I have the same breakfast mostly everyday. My oatmeal is measured, 1/3 of a cup, raisins, 1/3 cup, yogurt, 1 cup.

I guess I don't really cook instinctively that much. Bean pizza, I read the label and try to approximate a serving size. The flatbreads have labeled calories, shedded cheese, I am not perfectly meticulous but I bet I am within 50 cals or so for a prepared meal. I am not real meticulous when it comes to condiments. If it is going to be mayonaise or sour cream I look for a serving size and either multiply or divide.

But I kind of leave it to MFP to know what kind of sodium is in there. Things I don't eat because of sodium. Canned soup and canned vegtable juice and a lot of canned vegtables. I used to think that stuff was healthy. Well maybe it is for young guys that don't have to care about sodium.

I don't really like preparing fresh vegtables. Chopping and peeling. I buy frozen. I often make a stir fry out of frozen. Put some chicken nuggets in for protein(frozen). That stuff is all nutrition labelled. Chicken nuggets ain't exactly health food but it ain't like I switched to unsalted butter and considered that the mainstay of my dietary improvement.

I am sometimes kind of an instinctive cook. But I also kind of instinctively know what I am putting in my meals. I also try to not prepare more than a meal or serving size. Leftovers are kind of a weakness for me. If I make a full size pizza can I stop eating when I get to a serving size? Not really. That is why I make individuals pizzas out of flat breads.

Chicken nuggets ... I count them. I usually get 4. They aren't they same size so the measuring of that isn't going to be perfect. I don't use a gram scale or anything. I think my tracking is pretty close. 25 oz Foster beer hasn't got a nutrition label on it but MFP knows how many cals are in it.

I eat a lot of pitas. I get these chicken of the sea salmon envelopes. My wife don't like them because they are a dollar each. But I make a salmon pita sandwich and I know right off the top it is 70 for the pita and 90 for the salmon. That is one of my mainstays. Salmon = protein, pita = carb. I can have 2 easy, more if I been burning.

For a snack sometimes I will slice tomatoes into my pita and or cucumber. If I put sour cream I count it.

Oh yeah, and grilled cheese pitas. Grab a pita, peel it open. Grab a pinch of shredded cheese (1/3 cup). Stick it in the pita. Stick the pita in the toaster and walla! Grilled cheese sandwich. (1/4 cup Cheese = 160 cal)

I used to make a lot of bread in the bread machine. That didn't pan out. It is too good. I gained weight. That is 4 cups of flour. I would eat that in like a day. If I was lucky I would have help from my wife but really it was too much for the both of us. How many cals in a cup of flour? 500? Bread sneaks up on you.

Cold cuts have a lot of sodium and fat. I eat them sparingly. They are also my weakness. If I got cold cuts I eat them too fast. I don't buy them very often.

Anyway, here is me talking like I know more than I do.

Cheers.

Pass day#2.

I made it .. Yes x 3

@pribud.. Thank you! Right back at ya!

Pass #1