Calculating salad at Jack's Urban Eats

Hi ~ I am just beginning to track again and I had lunch at Jack's Urban Eats. Mixed Greens, Balsamic Dressing, baked tofu, edamame, marinated mushrooms, pickled onion/cuke mix, broccoli and apples. I have no idea how to calculate the volume of any of this, especially dressing. Any ideas? Thank you!!

Replies

  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    If you didn't prepare the food then I don't think there's much you can do but best guess at the ingredients and log as close as you can. Some places will have nutrition info on their website that might act as a guide

    Generally if I eat out I'll search the database for something that's pretty close to what I've eaten and then pick something from the search results that's towards the higher end to be on the safe side.

    One meal isn't going to blow you out of the water though so don't stress too much. It's what you do day in day out that matters rather than the exceptions. Just like having the occasional low calorie meal effective for reducing your weight. The one or two higher calorie meals every so often will have the same minimal effect in the opposite direction.
  • momochris
    momochris Posts: 11 Member
    Thank you for your response ~ you make very good points! I like your idea of picking something similar on the higher end as opposed to throwing the whole day out, which is what usually will send me down a slippery slope! :)
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
    Why can't you guesstimate based on the size of the salad? You know all of the ingredients and you can probably put together a workable estimate.

    A conservative estimate for non-creamy salad dressings would be something like 50 calories per tablespoon. Creamy dressings will go for 75 calories per tablespoon or so. Assuming you used about 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup), that would be something like 200-300 calories.

    Tofu is about 25 calories per ounce. Assume 6 ounces for 150 calories.

    Edamame is about 100 calories per half cup. Assume half a cup in your salad for 100 calories.

    Calories in vegetables are negligible, and you likely didn't use enough fruit to move the needle too much. Assume all of the veg and fruit is about 100 calories.

    Oil/sugars in marinades or pickling brine will be negligible. Call it another 50 calories just for good measure.

    All in, without knowing anything about your salad I'd guess it at 500-600 calories. This doesn't sound terribly unreasonable for an entree sized portion but you can obviously adjust since only you have an idea of the portion sizes.