Correct Calorie Count in imported recipes

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kitkatgreen1
kitkatgreen1 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
When I import recipes MyFitnessPal is logging them at a much higher calorie count then what the recipe says it should be. Is there a way to modify imported recipes within MyFitnessPal to show the correct count? Appreciate any help

Replies

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
    edited January 2019
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    I had so many issues with the importer that I went back to using the old recipe calculator https://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator but you should be able to Edit Recipe and fix each item individually, yes?
  • meems251
    meems251 Posts: 84 Member
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    After you import the recipe it let's you check the ingredients and change them. You really need to check each item. Almost everytime I import a recipe the garlic powder entry that the recipe importer chooses is over 1000 cals for 1tsp. You can also go into your recipes and click on the recipe you want to change. There is an edit button at the top. The calories listed on recipes online arent always correct either so yours may come out different depending on ingredients used and serving sizes.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    check all entries and make sure they are correct- but at the same time realize/acknowledge that the calories giving on a recipe website are specific to the bands of ingredients etc that they used and what you have access to may be different
  • girlwithcurls2
    girlwithcurls2 Posts: 2,273 Member
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    meems251 wrote: »
    After you import the recipe it let's you check the ingredients and change them. You really need to check each item. Almost everytime I import a recipe the garlic powder entry that the recipe importer chooses is over 1000 cals for 1tsp. You can also go into your recipes and click on the recipe you want to change. There is an edit button at the top. The calories listed on recipes online arent always correct either so yours may come out different depending on ingredients used and serving sizes.

    So much this. I just imported a recipe yesterday. I about had a stroke when I saw that one serving of naan was almost 600 calories. Whaaaaat??? Well, somehow ingredients that weren't in the recipe suddenly appeared. Also, it was set for 4 servings, when the recipe makes 12. Whew. Order restored. Check ingredients, amounts, and number of servings.
  • LizzyinWA
    LizzyinWA Posts: 52 Member
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    Glad I'm not the only one having issues with the recipe importer. All over the charts as to whether or not the calories are correct. Every skinnyms recipe I've imported has been WAY above what the website states. With all the other technical issues I see after importing recipes, I'm inclined to believe that MFP will not be accurate. Ugh.
  • gallicinvasion
    gallicinvasion Posts: 1,015 Member
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    I don’t import because the way the ingredients are worded in the recipes are not the way to get the most accurate entry in MFP. I always manually type in the ingredients in the recipe builder. If the recipe says “1 lb ground turkey” I type “1 lb ground turkey raw 99% lean USDA” because I know that when MFP searches for entries, that wording will find a more accurate entry. I always end up changing the entries after making the recipe anyway, because I will have weighed all the ingredients and have to update the amounts (switching “1 green pepper” to “240 g bell pepper, green”, for example).
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,009 Member
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    gallicinvasion wrote: »
    I don’t import because the way the ingredients are worded in the recipes are not the way to get the most accurate entry in MFP. I always manually type in the ingredients in the recipe builder. If the recipe says “1 lb ground turkey” I type “1 lb ground turkey raw 99% lean USDA” because I know that when MFP searches for entries, that wording will find a more accurate entry. I always end up changing the entries after making the recipe anyway, because I will have weighed all the ingredients and have to update the amounts (switching “1 green pepper” to “240 g bell pepper, green”, for example).

    It's also better to leave the amount (e.g., 1 lb) out of what you type when you search, as only user-created entries include a serving size in the string that MFP is searching on. Choose the amount by changing the serving number field after you find a good database entry. So just type "turkey, ground, raw" (plus xx% lean or xx% fat).
  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
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    The database is a total mess, really. Every recipe entry, whether imported or put in manually, has to be double checked for accuracy which is a royal pain and is leading me to look beyond MFP to streamline my calories-in data collection.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,081 Member
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    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    gallicinvasion wrote: »
    I don’t import because the way the ingredients are worded in the recipes are not the way to get the most accurate entry in MFP. I always manually type in the ingredients in the recipe builder. If the recipe says “1 lb ground turkey” I type “1 lb ground turkey raw 99% lean USDA” because I know that when MFP searches for entries, that wording will find a more accurate entry. I always end up changing the entries after making the recipe anyway, because I will have weighed all the ingredients and have to update the amounts (switching “1 green pepper” to “240 g bell pepper, green”, for example).

    It's also better to leave the amount (e.g., 1 lb) out of what you type when you search, as only user-created entries include a serving size in the string that MFP is searching on. Choose the amount by changing the serving number field after you find a good database entry. So just type "turkey, ground, raw" (plus xx% lean or xx% fat).

    I agree. Leave the weight off. Also, the entries with "USDA" in the titles are not the Admin-created entries. If it says USDA in it, it's user-entered/beware/check.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
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    To find admin created entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP.

    For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    There are so many incorrect entries for basic foods that its rare that MFP correctly identifies most of the ingredients. (The biggest problem I have is that people are adding entries to the database rather than figure out how to convert portions from grams to fluid ounces or volume measurements, and they don't understand how to denote the standard package/serving size, so you wind up with six dozen variants that all *say* they can be sized but cannot).

    I do try importing things, but I generally have to delete and replace 2-3-4 ingredients.

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