What to do when you can’t calorie count?
82EC
Posts: 123 Member
Just wondering how you guys log foods where you don’t know what the calorie count is - eg food homemade by somebody else, food eaten at a cafe (where there are no calorie values given on the menu) etc
Now that i am getting closer to my goal (well 17kg to go but closer than I was) my logging needs to be more accurate or else I don’t lose weight and yet i don’t want to give up my social life altogether!
Thank you!
Now that i am getting closer to my goal (well 17kg to go but closer than I was) my logging needs to be more accurate or else I don’t lose weight and yet i don’t want to give up my social life altogether!
Thank you!
3
Replies
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I estimate. I try to find what is closest in the database to what I ate. Also I
am honest with myself and plan ahead. If I know I am going out on both Friday and Saturday I pick one to have a treat at, but not both. Sometimes it just isn't possible to be accurate, but I have yet to gain weight by estimating calories (as long as I keep serving sizes small)8 -
You've been logging and weighing at home so that has given you some idea about various portion sizes.... take a picture and then deconstruct what was on your plate. Sanity check your results against how full you felt as compared to other times.8
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I estimate. How I do that depends on what I ate. If it was a meal with identifiable quantities (like a chicken breast with vegetables) I estimate the amount of everything and log it. If it is something where everything is mixed up (like spaghetti, a salad, or a stew) I search the database for an entry that makes sense. The longer you weigh your food at home, the better you are at estimating when eating out or at someone else's house.
One thing I found out is that restaurants frequently use meats they purchase from a vendor that has standard portions. Even if they don't put calorie counts on the menu or website you can often find out the size of the main portion of a meal just by asking the server to check with the kitchen. For example: my regular Monday night pub uses 6 oz raw weight chicken breasts for things like their salads. Their burgers are either 5.3 oz or 8 oz raw weight ground beef (give or take a couple of grams). I can find a bun similar in the database so I feel I am reasonably close when I log a burger.
In the end, do the best you can. One day here and there that is less than perfect is not going to totally derail all your efforts.8 -
I estimate. I try to find what is closest in the database to what I ate. Also I
am honest with myself and plan ahead. If I know I am going out on both Friday and Saturday I pick one to have a treat at, but not both. Sometimes it just isn't possible to be accurate, but I have yet to gain weight by estimating calories (as long as I keep serving sizes small)
So, the default guidelines in this chart assumes that a woman is sedentary or short, and thus should consume minimal calories (1200 to 1500), but the default for a man seems to assume average height and moderately active (2300 to 3000 cals). Just another part of the message encouraging women too undereat.23 -
I mentally deconstruct the meal if I can (X amount of meat, veg, etc., plus a brat guess at added fat) or log something similar from a restaurant that I'm familiar with so I know whether it's really similar in preparation and amount.
Edited because the stupid app posted before I was finished writing.2 -
I estimate. I try to find what is closest in the database to what I ate. Also I
am honest with myself and plan ahead. If I know I am going out on both Friday and Saturday I pick one to have a treat at, but not both. Sometimes it just isn't possible to be accurate, but I have yet to gain weight by estimating calories (as long as I keep serving sizes small)
In addition to the really skewed calorie recommendations already mentioned, people obviously don't have the same size hands. The creators of this graphic seem to think they do. I am a woman under 5 feet tall; many men's hands are twice the size of mine.
Additionally, a "serving" is pretty meaningless in terms of weight management, even if we're using the same person's hand to estimate for multiple foods. A pile of peas the size of my fist is going to have a lot more calories than a fist full of lettuce, even though both are vegetables. A palm-sized piece of tofu and a palm-sized piece of pork are not going to have similar calorie counts, even though they're both protein.
OP, when you eat food that you didn't cook yourself, just estimate the best you can, using the knowledge you've already gained from logging. An occasional day of somewhat inaccurate logging isn't going to have much effect on your long term weight loss. It might cause a temporary slowdown in weight loss, nothing more. People tend to start running into problems when they frequently estimate instead of logging accurately.14 -
ITS AN ESTIMATION...I meant this for the circumstances THIS PERSON LISTED...no ability to measure etc and they wanted to know what I do to estimate. This is what I do, and I answered her question. I never said it was a perfect and scientific method for measuring on the go.
As for under eating, the original poster asked for how to measure food away from home and estimate, doing this for a meal once a WEEK won't make you under eat!6 -
Just wondering how you guys log foods where you don’t know what the calorie count is - eg food homemade by somebody else, food eaten at a cafe (where there are no calorie values given on the menu) etc
Now that i am getting closer to my goal (well 17kg to go but closer than I was) my logging needs to be more accurate or else I don’t lose weight and yet i don’t want to give up my social life altogether!
Thank you!
Sometimes I find a recipe, that has nutrition data list, which is close to whatever is being served and use that.
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I find MFP's database is really really big and so I type in the item and take a look at the various calorie amounts and pick something closest to what I just ate - usually erring on the side of too many calories than too few. It's worked out fine so far.6
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Sometimes you have to just estimate - look in the data base and find an average of something similar - eg chilli con carne 1 serving.
And then I just go by eyeballing whether it is similar size or half as much again or whatever to servings I have measured before.
Obviously it isn't 100% accurate but you have to find ways to make this work in real life and estimating is part of that.2 -
Many pub chains and restaurants publish their nutrition & allergen information online so this can be a helpful resource. And if the pub you’re visiting does not, it’s still a fair assumption that say ‘gammon egg and chips’ or ‘lasagne’ in your local pub is probably relatively similar to that from Wetherspoons for example.
Not ideal but you’re unlikely to be out by more than 500cal so if it’s just one meal out a week then it shouldn’t be enough to make a difference to your weight.4 -
Just wondering how you guys log foods where you don’t know what the calorie count is - eg food homemade by somebody else, food eaten at a cafe (where there are no calorie values given on the menu) etc
Now that i am getting closer to my goal (well 17kg to go but closer than I was) my logging needs to be more accurate or else I don’t lose weight and yet i don’t want to give up my social life altogether!
Thank you!
Sometimes I find a recipe, that has nutrition data list, which is close to whatever is being served and use that.
Woo?
Someone doesn't know what woo means. 3 -
I estimate. I try to find what is closest in the database to what I ate. Also I
am honest with myself and plan ahead. If I know I am going out on both Friday and Saturday I pick one to have a treat at, but not both. Sometimes it just isn't possible to be accurate, but I have yet to gain weight by estimating calories (as long as I keep serving sizes small)
Im not sure those amounts are right. 2 cupped hands of carbs in my book would be about 100g at least Im guessing. Maybe I should test it out before saying that! Plus I thought the meat or protein weights were very light too.
I am just browsing places to go for breakfast and going through menus to see what offers me the best opportunity for things I can count and not too bad.2 -
I estimate. I try to find what is closest in the database to what I ate. Also I
am honest with myself and plan ahead. If I know I am going out on both Friday and Saturday I pick one to have a treat at, but not both. Sometimes it just isn't possible to be accurate, but I have yet to gain weight by estimating calories (as long as I keep serving sizes small)
In addition to the really skewed calorie recommendations already mentioned, people obviously don't have the same size hands. The creators of this graphic seem to think they do. I am a woman under 5 feet tall; many men's hands are twice the size of mine.
Additionally, a "serving" is pretty meaningless in terms of weight management, even if we're using the same person's hand to estimate for multiple foods. A pile of peas the size of my fist is going to have a lot more calories than a fist full of lettuce, even though both are vegetables. A palm-sized piece of tofu and a palm-sized piece of pork are not going to have similar calorie counts, even though they're both protein.
OP, when you eat food that you didn't cook yourself, just estimate the best you can, using the knowledge you've already gained from logging. An occasional day of somewhat inaccurate logging isn't going to have much effect on your long term weight loss. It might cause a temporary slowdown in weight loss, nothing more. People tend to start running into problems when they frequently estimate instead of logging accurately.
👍
My hands are larger than most other women's and larger than even a lot of men. My palm size can equal double servings of many items. I think being mindful of your hand size is important if using this method.
In situations where you cannot weigh food, then prepare ahead of time. As you weigh out various items in your day to day meals, compare your hand size then. Or take note of how much room different foods take on dinnerware.
Always assume other people are not cutting calories in food served (butter makes everything better 😊) when entertaining guests and adjust portion size down a little. If all else fails, try not to eat too much and instead focus on enjoying the company. Talk more than you chew 😉 sip water or low calorie drinks in between bites. Have a low calorie snack before you go so you aren't starving.
And have fun 🎉1 -
If you log food you make at home and use a food scale you learn portion sizes.
Yet another reason to spend that $15 on a food scale.
I can deconstruct almost any meal after having lost 70+ pounds and having used a food scale for so long. I've been maintaining my weight for many years and there are lots of meals eaten outside my own kitchen in that time. Even if I make mistakes worth 500 calories (which is doubtful) I'm still stepping on the body weight scale every day so it hasn't been a problem.
There are always two measuring control points. Food and body weight. It takes both, but the food is never perfectly logged.9
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