logging when you don't have measurements or nutritional information?
RedheadedPrincess14
Posts: 415 Member
So I had a wonderful day out with my family at a vegan Asian cafe and had a bunch of amazing food. I had such a great time and obviously have no regret for going over my caloric goal as it's something I only do every so often
When I went to log it though, I realized that this was probably the most guessing I've had to do when logging a meal lol. Being that we share the meal and the nutritional information is not available online, I pretty much guessed with similar entries. Like I said, this didn't stress me because it's a very once in a while thing. It did get me wondering how other people deal with these situations though, merely out of curiosity. In a similar situation, would you guess like me, just log a random number of calories, forgo logging all together or some other method? How does everyone else deal with these times when there's just no way to know how much you really ate! xoxo
When I went to log it though, I realized that this was probably the most guessing I've had to do when logging a meal lol. Being that we share the meal and the nutritional information is not available online, I pretty much guessed with similar entries. Like I said, this didn't stress me because it's a very once in a while thing. It did get me wondering how other people deal with these situations though, merely out of curiosity. In a similar situation, would you guess like me, just log a random number of calories, forgo logging all together or some other method? How does everyone else deal with these times when there's just no way to know how much you really ate! xoxo
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I usually find a similar recipe online and log that.
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I'd log as best as I good based on the database and chose one of the higher calorie counts. That way if anything I'm over what I ate.2
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I deal with the situation exactly as you did. Found a similar entry and guess the quantity. If it doesn't happen all the time you won't notice any difference long term. Just a little extra weight for a day or two because of extra food in your system with a higher than normal salt content.
There is no way any diet should impact on quality time with family and friends. Those positive memories stay with you forever. That tiny possible weight gain will be gone in a matter of days.4 -
In the past, I would not log that meal. In the future, I plan to find something in the database that seems close and log that. I'm getting into the habit of writing what I'm eating on a piece of paper so that I can log it when I spend time at the computer. That should help.2
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Lillymoo01 wrote: »I deal with the situation exactly as you did. Found a similar entry and guess the quantity. If it doesn't happen all the time you won't notice any difference long term. Just a little extra weight for a day or two because of extra food in your system with a higher than normal salt content.
There is no way any diet should impact on quality time with family and friends. Those positive memories stay with you forever. That tiny possible weight gain will be gone in a matter of days.
I agree 100%. I am at goal weight now any way and focusing on recomp but either way, some quality memories with family is totally worth it especially when the rest of your life is generally balanced and Heath promoting
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I created an entry called "ate out this meal" with 0 cals. It just served as a reminder why that day might look wacky when reviewing my diary.5
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I usually look at a bunch of different database entries and recipes for similar items to try to get an idea, and then choose one of the higher entries.2
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Ditto to not even stressing out over the attempt - just a note in the diary - though I think I'd prefer method above of 0 cal meal named something unique - could use that frequently.
Bad data can be more useless than no data.
You enjoyed the day and the food (hopefully), likely didn't have a deficit today perhaps, perhaps effected the weekly deficit - but big whoop in the scheme of things.
Just don't weigh self within probably a week unless you like seeing inflated water weight invalid figure there too.2 -
RedheadedPrincess14 wrote: »So I had a wonderful day out with my family at a vegan Asian cafe and had a bunch of amazing food. I had such a great time and obviously have no regret for going over my caloric goal as it's something I only do every so often
When I went to log it though, I realized that this was probably the most guessing I've had to do when logging a meal lol. Being that we share the meal and the nutritional information is not available online, I pretty much guessed with similar entries. Like I said, this didn't stress me because it's a very once in a while thing. It did get me wondering how other people deal with these situations though, merely out of curiosity. In a similar situation, would you guess like me, just log a random number of calories, forgo logging all together or some other method? How does everyone else deal with these times when there's just no way to know how much you really ate! xoxo
there comes a time where you have fun with friends and fam and they invite you some tacos.....posole....enchiladas..... you just get back on your calorie burning horse the next day and tell em NOT TODAY cause yesterday was a day....just a nuclear calorie day
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I would not even sweat it and just not log anything. There are 365 days in a year and an occasional missed day is not gonna matter.1
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I have had a very occasional day like this also, which I agree is well worth it. We need to enjoy life and finding that balance is important. I would do exactly the same as you have done. Since starting back on MFP 19 months ago, I find estimated logging, as accurately as possible, is what helps me the best, in situations like this. This way of tracking and logging, everything accurately, no matter what, helps keep me focused. Looking at the bigger picture and a balanced lifestyle. This has helped keep me focused in the present and means my data is as accurate as possible, for future reference and reflection.
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I try and log every day, even the bad ones, or it's too easy to dodge the personal accountability and get into the habit of just not logging when I go off the rails a bit.
When I eat out like that, I just log what I can based on what's in the database, and then add like a tablespoon of oil to the log as sort of contingency!
If it's bad, it's bad, and that's ok with me as well, but I prefer to have the bad day logged.3 -
This is how I do it. My average at home dinners are about 597 calories so when I'm out and can't find an entry I think is reasonable I quick add 717 calories (the extra 220 calories is to account for the extra oils, sugar and fat etc that restaurants seem to use. It's kind of an arbitrary amount but it seems to work for me since I'm losing at the rate I'm supposed to be so far.)0
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For occasional dining out, I'll generally try to pre-estimate, and then exaggerate/round up.
One meal in 2 or 3 months isn't going to affect your trend.0 -
I would try to find something similar in the database. If that failed, I'd do a quick add based on how full I felt. I know how my stomach feels after 400, 600, 800 calories, etc.
Of course, this won't be spot on accurate, but it will be close enough for rare occasions.0 -
I first try to break it down into its components and guesstimate some measurements. I try to round up so if I think something looks like half a cup of polenta, I log 3/4 of a cup. Sometimes I google the name of whatever I ate and see if I can find a recipe. Then I add a few hundred calories for oil and sauce.
The only place I really have no clue is desserts.2 -
I usually pick a similar meal from a similar chain restaurant and use that info. It's good enough for me based on how much/little I care about logging numbers.1
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Asian restaurants can be amazingly difficult to guesstimate calories for. Part of the difficulty is that a nearly invisible tablespoon of cooking oil adds 120 calories to anything eaten. It took experience with cooking similar food to get a feel for how much oil was used in preparation from the look and mouth feel.
Studies have shown that people are terrible at guesstimating calories anyway - so my only advice is to log what you think it was, then add additional for any fats that may have been added.
If this is a once-in-a-while treat, it won't make much of a difference in the long run, so don't sweat it too much.0 -
If it's a place that has a dish similar to a chain place where I am familiar with the food and serving portion, I will use that information for the estimate. However, many places I go that do not have a chain restaurant equivalent (Vietnamese/Korean/Japanese/Thai/Indian). In these cases, I use recipes that look similar to what I ate and build it as a recipe in MFP or log the separate ingredients. This was a dinner at a Vietnamese (pho) restaurant.
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While we're on Vietnamese, my nearest one does full nutritionals:
http://www.phocafe.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Pho-Nutritional-Guidelines-2017_web.pdf
I can't vouch for them being right for other restaurants too, but might be vaguely helpful.
I try and have a look for other restaurants that do publish nutritionals if the one I go to doesn't... Sometimes easier to go through restaurant websites rather than the MFP database!0 -
Yeah that's basically what I did lol! Sure it's a pretty big variance from one place to the next but since you the only on occasion, I agree- good enough for meI usually pick a similar meal from a similar chain restaurant and use that info. It's good enough for me based on how much/little I care about logging numbers.
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While we're on Vietnamese, my nearest one does full nutritionals:
http://www.phocafe.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Pho-Nutritional-Guidelines-2017_web.pdf
I can't vouch for them being right for other restaurants too, but might be vaguely helpful.
I try and have a look for other restaurants that do publish nutritionals if the one I go to doesn't... Sometimes easier to go through restaurant websites rather than the MFP database!
The portion sizes must be smaller compared to what I see at the typical places in my area in the United States. The "small" portions still have giant bowls that have 5-7 cups worth of pho in them (or 1.2-1.5L of soup for you folks in the civilized world). I usually get around ~700 calories per bowl for my estimates, but it's quite a lot of food given that calorie count.
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The_Enginerd wrote: »If it's a place that has a dish similar to a chain place where I am familiar with the food and serving portion, I will use that information for the estimate. However, many places I go that do not have a chain restaurant equivalent (Vietnamese/Korean/Japanese/Thai/Indian). In these cases, I use recipes that look similar to what I ate and build it as a recipe in MFP or log the separate ingredients. This was a dinner at a Vietnamese (pho) restaurant.
Lol yeah that's basically what I did but faaaaar less intensively than you did. I've done this with salad bars and burrito bowls before though. Way to go on this one!0 -
When I'm trying to log regularly and so logging is important just to keep up the habit, I deal with situations like that by estimating calories (I estimate a bit high). When I first started logging and probably some months into my weight loss I would actually break it down into ingredients and log them (again high) and then add extra butter or olive oil. I never liked the "log similar dishes" approach since there aren't really similar dishes I found trustworthy for the places I go to, and things vary too much. (The one exception to this is pizza, where I use a local thin crust place as my model even though it's not where I normally get pizza.) After a while, that approach got way too annoying, and I switched to what I'm currently doing.0
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