Not Being Able to Count Calories!

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idare_fitness
idare_fitness Posts: 17 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
What do you do when you are faced with the inability to count calories? For example, you're at a family dinner and there is so much food already made and spread about the table. There is no way of you knowing exactly what is in the food and how many calories is in each without looking like a weirdo.

I attend family dinners a lot and I don't want to burden the cook with a million questions about what's in the food. Should I estimate?
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Replies

  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
    edited October 2017
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    I go out to eat a couple of times a week and I usually just estimate. A lot of chain restaurants have pretty extensive menus online that you can use as a guideline. If I worry that I won't remember what I ate to estimate later, I sometimes take a picture "for Facebook." Or I just quick-add 800 calories in there and call it a meal. That last one is rare, but so freeing. I'm going on a cabin trip later this month and planning on doing all my tracking that way.
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
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    Estimate, and try not to get caught up in the abundance of food that can sometimes lead one to pig out.
  • Heather4448
    Heather4448 Posts: 908 Member
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    Estimate to the best of your ability and enjoy spending time with your family.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
    edited October 2017
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    Find the closest thing in the database and make your best guess. Try and be as accurate as you can on the things you do know the calories of to offset the guesses (like when you're at home and have the calories in front of you).
  • JaydedMiss
    JaydedMiss Posts: 4,286 Member
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    Your overthinking things. Which is good because your new :p Sometimes you just have to relax and do your best. Cant be "perfect" all the time, But you can learn to estimate and make beter choices with the sometimes worse options placed in front of you.
  • MizMareedy
    MizMareedy Posts: 148 Member
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    We are all poised to be in that situation with Holiday's approaching. I'm nervous as all get out about it. I plan on really understanding what portions look like and sticking to foods I can easily log (turkey breast / veggies).
  • cspong
    cspong Posts: 260 Member
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    I usually know what my family will be serving so I plan ahead "Okay, they'll be serving turkey, broccoli, brussels sprouts, rolls..." And I plan to load up on veggies and some meat, knowing that'll likely keep me in a comfortable calorie range.
  • kristen8000
    kristen8000 Posts: 747 Member
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    I'd practice good portion control. Estimate and have a good time.
  • jondspen
    jondspen Posts: 253 Member
    edited October 2017
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    First, learn to estimate your portions:

    A bar of soap is about the same size as 3oz of meat.
    A golf ball sized serving is about a 1/4 cup.
    Your thumb (1st joint to tip) is about a Tbsp.
    A tsp is about the size of the tip of your thumb (3 tsp = 1 Tbsp)
    A can of soda is 12 oz, so 2/3 of that is 8oz.
    Make a cup out of your hand, and that's about a cup.

    Second, while you don't know the ingredients, you know the name of the dish, so can come back here and typically find a match. Restaurant dishes are usually equal or a little higher in calories than homemade, but I've very seldom come across a food item in MFP database that didn't have a 'homemade' entry. If not, just go with restaurant. You might be off 1 or 2 hundred calories, but it's just one day, and typically just one meal.

    Finally, if you don't know what it was specifically (dinner roll - was it wheat, sourdough, potato, Kings Hawaiian, etc), I just guesstimate what I think it was. Again, might not be exact, but close enough to work.
  • erikfarrar
    erikfarrar Posts: 35 Member
    edited October 2017
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    After adding foods for a while, you'll get pretty good at estimating. When you have extra time at home, take note of what different portion sizes of things looks like. For example, take an actual tablespoon of peanut butter and see what it "looks like," scoop out an exact 1/2 cup of yogurt into a bowl, weigh 4 oz. of cooked chicken breast onto a plate and note the size, etc.

    One thing I always do when there's big mix of things, say, at a family function: snap a photo with your phone of whatever you've put on your plate. Then you can go back and reference it while adding to MFP so you don't have to do it in the moment (and you'll not have to worry about forgetting what you had).

    In the end, one meal or day of estimating won't throw off your progress. Control what you can, but don't stress too much.
  • Lean59man
    Lean59man Posts: 714 Member
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    If you know you are going to stuff yourself you could skip one of your other meals in the day before you go out to eat. Or skip one after.
  • grethere
    grethere Posts: 6 Member
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    All of they above...but also, if able, choose what food you are eating. Have a plate full of salad, fruit, veggies whatever first before having a main dish, or have the veggeis take up most of the plate so the other food, which will be higher in calories than the veggies/fruits, won't have as much room.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    happens all the time. if you cook regularly and weigh your foods, you can usually get a pretty close estimate. watch your portions. choose items that you can identify everything in and know a rough calorie count for.
  • cbelc2
    cbelc2 Posts: 762 Member
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    Try to eat the plainer foods. Estimate servings and food type and do your best with recording. Try not to use the inability to accurately count calories at a family dinner or buffet as a reason to go wild with your eating!
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,222 Member
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    Estimate and try not to splurge by only applying common sense.

    Alternatively, depending on how yummy it all is, splurge and then you'll lose it anyway next week. :)

  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,995 Member
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    I estimate as best I can. I also ask people for recipes and enter them into the recipe builder. I do this a lot with my mom and my mother in law. They often make the same foods for family gatherings so I have a better idea when I make my estimate even though I am just guessing on the exact portion size. I don't tell them I'm asking for the recipe to count the calories. Most people take it as a compliment when you ask for a recipe.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    I log and weigh every bite whenever I can so I can safely estimate whenever I can't. It takes being consistently inaccurate to compromise results, one time here or there doesn't make that much of a difference.

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