How good did you get with building recipes to help track honestly

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reginaswork
reginaswork Posts: 26 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So tonight I had the following. 5 oz Cod, spagetti squashwith parmesan garlic & oil, mashed cauliflower, steamed broccoli, and 2 oz French banquette. I had saved 700 calories for dinner. I used as little butter, evoo, and whipped butter as possible but did use them as all of this plain would have been too bland.
When I built the recipes I was 100% certain on the butter, evoo, and Parmesan amounts, but less so on the cup counts for spagetti squash or cauliflower, but the calories for them are pretty low right so I got close. The baquette was a whopping 200 calories but sooooo yummy. It's tough all this recipe building, but it makes the food sooooo good and way better than having seconds or just piling on the sauces or worse eating a 1/2 pizza myself!

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  • reginaswork
    reginaswork Posts: 26 Member
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    Oh and my entire meal was 586 calories!!! So I have 150 left for the day! I must have saved more than 700
  • HellYeahItsKriss
    HellYeahItsKriss Posts: 906 Member
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    I think we all need to be good at tracking calories in recipes or we would have a hard time with portion control
  • reginaswork
    reginaswork Posts: 26 Member
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    Yes I agree
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    I've been using MFP for two years and 8 months, and have only inputted one recipe using the recipe builder.

    My meals are always made differently each time.

    I just input the ingredients each meal. I've got so many foods already in the app memory, it's very quick and easy.
  • ktekc
    ktekc Posts: 879 Member
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    I only use the recipe function if its an actual recipe like a soup or casserole. If its the regular protein, starch, veggie kind of meal i log them individualy as just regular entries. like 15015, Fish, cod, Atlantic, raw and so on. I just log the oil and butter by themselves. if i use a tablespoon in the whole thing i log half that just to be safe. And yes weigh everything. If you weigh raw use a raw entry and if you weigh cooked use a cooked entry.
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
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    I use the recipe builder for all recipes that I follow and weigh all solids, measure all liquids with cups or spoons. I even add herbs and spices so I know what I put in. Each time I make it I'll edit accordingly. That way all of my recipes are in here instead of searching the web. For food combinations I eat regularly I add to my Meals instead. That way it is easy to delete, add and alter rather than add each ingredient manually. Saves me a lot of time in the long run.
  • EEAngelina
    EEAngelina Posts: 1,208 Member
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    It’s to hard to track so I stick to the same foods basically , protein shakes, fruits and veggies, tuna fish, yogurt, jello, peanut butter crackers , etc.
  • seergenius
    seergenius Posts: 2 Member
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    Yoooo this thread. Speak truth.
  • LZMiner
    LZMiner Posts: 300 Member
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    So I made a pot roast on Sunday, and instead of inputting the recipe, I just did a search on MFP and picked something that seemed close. I haven't had issues at all doing this, so whatever works!
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
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    I cook the same foods often but not to a recipe, so each time I just date it in the builder, like 12/1 beef stew. It takes no longer than logging and it's the only sensible way when cooking more than one portion.
  • OldHobo
    OldHobo Posts: 647 Member
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    Virtually never make anything exactly the same way twice. Still, it's quicker and easier to edit an existing recipe than make a new one.

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