home chef & sick of logging....

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Quistadora
Quistadora Posts: 2 Member
in Motivation and Support
My biggest hurdle with using MFP to log food is the amount I COOK each week... it seems like I could spend hours a week just trying to input my very off the cuff recipes, getting anxious about my guestimations, frustrated with the slowness of the process.... How do you guys get around this? I sometimes will just try searching for something similar already in the database but that usually ends up with my eyebrows somewhere around my hairline when I see "400 Cal" for a cup of roasted broccoli... what are people PUTTING on their dang broc?

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  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,431 Member
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    weight every cooking ingredient separately. It only takes a few seconds once you've used that ingredient before. Look for entries that include USDA in the title as those are often rather correct. I cook a fair bit, though living alone usually for more than one day (rest in freezer). Logging is something I do while cooking. It's gotten a bit more complicated since I have an induction hob as everything cooks so quickly :D but no, it doesn't take a lot of time.
  • puffbrat
    puffbrat Posts: 2,806 Member
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    It can be frustrating, but it's worth it for better accuracy. If you don't want to log while cooking, write everything down on paper and log it later. I also like to create the recipes and input all the ingredients before I start cooking with guesstimates of the weights, so during cooking I just have to adjust the amounts.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    My system is to write down the ingredients, measurements, and total calories from anything with a nutrition label. When I create the recipe I log all the main caloric ingredients and then I typically "umbrella" the lower calorie items. For instance if I am making meatless chili the calories for onions may be inflated to include mushrooms or the other way around. If I use vegetable stock the calories will probably be combined with the tomato sauce.

    When you do it this way your macros and micros will be off. I really only care about protein, fat, and fiber. The fiber can be off some because I know I get more than enough each day. I do not concern myself with micros much because my blood gets tested very often, probably too often.
  • buddy352
    buddy352 Posts: 36 Member
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    Quistadora wrote: »
    My biggest hurdle with using MFP to log food is the amount I COOK each week... it seems like I could spend hours a week just trying to input my very off the cuff recipes, getting anxious about my guestimations, frustrated with the slowness of the process.... How do you guys get around this? I sometimes will just try searching for something similar already in the database but that usually ends up with my eyebrows somewhere around my hairline when I see "400 Cal" for a cup of roasted broccoli... what are people PUTTING on their dang broc?

  • buddy352
    buddy352 Posts: 36 Member
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    I'm frustrated with it as well. Try to add ham, "one slice." What the heck does that mean? Or, one portion. WTF?
  • dddankur
    dddankur Posts: 18 Member
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    I bought a kitchen scale and it helps a lot! Also, once you get the hang of it, you can just wing it. Allso, 5 grams here and there don't effect me much to be honest. I'm only human. Cheers!
  • 88olds
    88olds Posts: 4,473 Member
    edited February 2020
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    There’s a pretty long calorie counting learning curve that doesn’t get much discussion. But it gets easier. You know that thing about “knowledge is power”? It applies to weight loss and calorie counting.

    Having a repertoire of creative, and tasty plan friendly meals is an extremely valuable asset. Sure it’s time consuming, a bit tedious, and confusing at first, but consider what you can get from the process.
  • angelexperiment
    angelexperiment Posts: 1,917 Member
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    Yes I just posted something similar because I made all these recipes for the week. It took 4 hours to log them. 4 hours to make them. And the calorie counts are off from the recipe book so I guess I have to try something different next week! I will weight each ingredient and scan each item I use and then I will maybe some how mark it for me
  • amtyrell
    amtyrell Posts: 1,449 Member
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    Logging does get faster as you do it.
    Also I make it a policy to pay closer attention to the calorie dense stuff and less attention to the low calorie foods. For example i will log kale in cups but would never log butter without weighing it.
  • hlr1987
    hlr1987 Posts: 151 Member
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    Larger batch prep - so sometimes I chop all the onion I need for the week and store it chopped in the fridge, and the peppers, meat etc. And large batch cooked meals input as a recipe and then assigned portions, so the soup I made for lunches yesterday will be copy and pasted in for the next three days.
    It's easier for me now, because most of the recipes I use I have done before, I just go into the recipe section and adjust the amounts of the ingredients based on what I have this time, since most of the actual ingredients stay the same. Saves a lot of time. I agree about learning what ingredients it matters to weigh- you can wipe out a deficit with fats and proteins if you don't know the portion size, but it would be pretty hard to physically eat enough broccoli in one meal to do that unless you'd smothered it in cheese sauce.
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,183 Member
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    My solution won't work for most, but I've pretty much given up cooking entirely. It's tiresome to build the recipe, worse to import them and I'm single, so anything I cook I have to eat forEVER. Never mind the planning and shopping for it all. It's a huge time sink, especially when I'm really only in my house and awake a couple of hours a day. It's easier to just get something frozen or go out.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    This isn't the ideal solution, but I really curbed my "throw it in the pot" cooking. Now I brainstorm what I want to make, jot the details on a post-it note, and then pre-log the recipe. For me, the trade-off for more consistent results was worth it, although I can't say it would be for everyone.
  • cherys
    cherys Posts: 387 Member
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    This is a really helpful discussion. I have the same issue. Also, my husband likes to do most f the cooking and I can't control what he puts into the food in terms of oil or butter so I guesstimate very generously. But I'd love to have amore accurate reading.
  • LoKoMi
    LoKoMi Posts: 51 Member
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    Some things I weigh or measure- butter, meats, cooked rice. My daughters do MFP with me and we actually use a 1/2 cup measure as our rice serving “spoon”

    Other things I do “close enough” so that it isn’t frustrating: for a salad, I’ll add “mixed greens” and “mixed vegetables” but I will log 1 hard boiled egg, 1 oz cheese, and I also have a 1/8 cup (eq. to 2 Tbs) to measure my dressing. I do not weigh and measure every variety leaf of lettuce or separate vegetables. If I use avocado I do weigh that separately

    Some of my recipes vary slightly- I make chili with either all turkey, all beef, or 50/50 depending on who’s eating. My logged recipe is for 50/50 and I log that no matter which meat I used, as the rest is the same and it’s close enough. I log the same Mac n cheese recipe no matter what actual cheese or shape of pasta I use.

    Like someone said above, I focus my time on the calorie-dense foods, and also on the meals/recipes I use most frequently. I don’t take much time weighing plain vegetables, and I look up a “close enough” food to log if I’m eating at a friends or restaurant without calorie counts.
  • PaytraB
    PaytraB Posts: 2,360 Member
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    Like LoKoMi, I weighed and measured the recipes we eat regularily and logged them in the Recipe tab. I use that for logging whenever we have that recipe, even knowing that the weights won't match exactly; they'll be close enough.
    If your weekly meals are fairly standard, you can log the recipes one week and use that from now on. That would save you time and you'd only have to log new recipes.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    here's how i do it:
    keep a pad of paper in the kitchen
    on my scale use the prep bowl
    add all ingredients and TARE Between each one(zero is out)
    log weight of food in g

    while food is cooking i imput it into MFP

    then set serving size to total weight of cooked product in oz or 10g increments

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