I still don't understand how to calculate calories per serving in a crockpot dish
houghtalingdavid1278
Posts: 19 Member
I can weight everything going in and then weigh it afterwards but how do I know what a serving size is? like I don't know how many servings there will be in a crockpot dish until its all finished. And then how do I know what the macro breakdown will be per portion? Seems so confusing
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All right. So you know how many total calories are in there because you weighed all those ingredients and tallied them up. You can choose to dish out reasonable looking portions, count how many and divide your total by the number of containers. Or you can decide how many calories is reasonable in a portion and divide your total by that to find out how many containers you need.
If you use the recipe builder tool it will give you your macro breakdown.4 -
what I do is create the recipe in myfitnesspal and then I start it off with say 4 servings. I then cook the meal and portion out all the food into containers (some get frozen/stored in fridge). Now i know the # of portions and I update the recipe. This also makes for super easy leftovers. Will every portion size be identical? no, however over the course of a few days you'll end up eating all the portions and get the full benefit of the macros in it. So it all works out over time.3
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You can weigh the final result, so the entire amount of food you cooked, and make that the number of servings there are. Then when you go to eat some, weigh out your portion and log that as your serving size. Example: your cooked food weighs 1500 grams all together, put that as your number of servings in the recipe feature. Now you go to eat some and put it in a bowl and weigh it out, which is 345 grams. Log the number of servings as 345 and you're good to go.6
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knightmagic wrote: »what I do is create the recipe in myfitnesspal and then I start it off with say 4 servings. I then cook the meal and portion out all the food into containers (some get frozen/stored in fridge). Now i know the # of portions and I update the recipe. This also makes for super easy leftovers. Will every portion size be identical? no, however over the course of a few days you'll end up eating all the portions and get the full benefit of the macros in it. So it all works out over time.
That works if you're the only one eating the food. But when there are other people in the household eating from it as well, it's necessary to weigh the entire cooked dish AND the individual portions you eat.
It just takes a bit of calculating. Weight of the individual portion divided by the total weight of the dish and you know how much of the total dish you are eating and have to log.
Some people choose the weight of the total dish as number of servings, and then you can log the weight of your individual portion as the number of servings you eat for that meal.0 -
Count the calories that go in. Everything. When the dish is done weigh it. Save the weight in grams as one serving per gram. So if it weights 2 pounds, you have 908 servings. If it was 2000 calories total, it is 2.2 calories per gram. Then when you eat it, you weigh it and the weight in grams is the number of servings you had. If you eat 300 grams it will automatically calculate that at 2.2 cal/gram and log 660 calories.5
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For how many people is the dish? Just for your or for more people? That makes a difference on how to deal with this.1
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ok all of your answers are way over my head and make absolutely no sense. Its in a crockpot- when its done its still in the crockpot - I cant weight it again unless I take the whole thing out and put it into something and then weigh it but that is totally unrealistic. I basically serve right out of crockpot and there is a huge disparity of the weight after cooking than before so I dont understand what people are saying to weigh after and divide by a pre-determined serving amount because that doesnt work because that weight is post cooking.1
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Ok, you weigh everything raw and log it before you put it in the pot. cooking it doesn't change the amount of calories. At all. Even if the amount might look less. That's likely due to water inside the ingredients that cooks away. Thus say you have 2000 total calories in that pot.
Before you start cooking you weigh the pot empty. Then you know how heavy the pot is. Lets just say 2kg (I have no idea how heavy such thing is)
When you're done with cooking you put the pot with ingredients on your scale again. With ingredients it might be 3kg (I'm just saying something, ok?) Now you know that you have food worth 2000 calories in that pot that is 1kg.
Now you take a serving of it and weigh it (or just the whole pot again). You see that your serving is 250 grams. 250 grams is one quarter of 1kg. One quarter of 2000 calories is 500 calories. Thus your serving is approximately 500 calories.
You can also do it easier if you're the only person eating this dish. You know you have 2000 calories worth inside that pot. You want to eat 4 times from it. You do that. You simply log 500 calories each day. Ok, on some days you'll have a bit more, on others a bit less. But it will even out after 4 days as there's not more than 2000 calories inside that pot.2 -
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wilson10102018 wrote: »Count the calories that go in. Everything. When the dish is done weigh it. Save the weight in grams as one serving per gram. So if it weights 2 pounds, you have 908 servings. If it was 2000 calories total, it is 2.2 calories per gram. Then when you eat it, you weigh it and the weight in grams is the number of servings you had. If you eat 300 grams it will automatically calculate that at 2.2 cal/gram and log 660 calories.
I don't know why people want to complicate this. Just do this ^^^
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Ok, you weigh everything raw and log it before you put it in the pot. cooking it doesn't change the amount of calories. At all. Even if the amount might look less. That's likely due to water inside the ingredients that cooks away. Thus say you have 2000 total calories in that pot.
Before you start cooking you weigh the pot empty. Then you know how heavy the pot is. Lets just say 2kg (I have no idea how heavy such thing is)
When you're done with cooking you put the pot with ingredients on your scale again. With ingredients it might be 3kg (I'm just saying something, ok?) Now you know that you have food worth 2000 calories in that pot that is 1kg.
Now you take a serving of it and weigh it (or just the whole pot again). You see that your serving is 250 grams. 250 grams is one quarter of 1kg. One quarter of 2000 calories is 500 calories. Thus your serving is approximately 500 calories.
You can also do it easier if you're the only person eating this dish. You know you have 2000 calories worth inside that pot. You want to eat 4 times from it. You do that. You simply log 500 calories each day. Ok, on some days you'll have a bit more, on others a bit less. But it will even out after 4 days as there's not more than 2000 calories inside that pot.
I didn't mean the caloric value changes I meant that 6oz raw is not 6oz cooked of the same caloric value, its more like 4oz cooked.
Now than 500 calories that you just mentioned pre-cooked- what is that made up of? protein carbs and fats is what Im asking0 -
wilson10102018 wrote: »wilson10102018 wrote: »Count the calories that go in. Everything. When the dish is done weigh it. Save the weight in grams as one serving per gram. So if it weights 2 pounds, you have 908 servings. If it was 2000 calories total, it is 2.2 calories per gram. Then when you eat it, you weigh it and the weight in grams is the number of servings you had. If you eat 300 grams it will automatically calculate that at 2.2 cal/gram and log 660 calories.
I don't know why people want to complicate this. Just do this ^^^
I like this answer but I am still confused and maybe I need an example. SO right now I am making turkey chili tonight. So its two pounds of 93/7 turkey, some beans (2-3cans), sauce, and crushed tomatos and spices. So now I have all that. Do I create a "my foods" and put in the package details for each item into the food that I am creating?
When you say "save the weight in grams as one serving per gram" what do you mean by that. Let's say its 4000 grams total. Do you mean one serving = 4000 grams?
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And when I weigh something afterwards its going to be a lot less so how do I know the difference in the percentage lost? do I calculate the percentage lost so say its 15%. Do I just add the serving afterward and add back 15% to it to get the raw version amount?0
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I think I am getting tripped up not by the weight and total calories but more how to break down the macros since every item has a different macro set up0
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But when you add food to a recipe, it takes all the numbers from the database entries for those foods (including the macros) and combines them into your recipe. Your dish will have a certain proportion of macros. The portion size doesn't influence the macro proportions, only the absolute numbers.0
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houghtalingdavid1278 wrote: »I think I am getting tripped up not by the weight and total calories but more how to break down the macros since every item has a different macro set up
Yes, it has. And pretty much every food item also contains a certain amount of water. Which vanishes when you cook this item. Meat or vegetables for example. Other items take up water from cooking, rice and pasta for example. How much water evaporates or gets taken up is very different and depends on type and duration of cooking and other things. Whatever happens to that fooditems, the calories of it don't change. The natural water content is taken into account when you weight an uncooked item. That's why you should always weigh uncooked.2 -
But when you add food to a recipe, it takes all the numbers from the database entries for those foods (including the macros) and combines them into your recipe. Your dish will have a certain proportion of macros. The portion size doesn't influence the macro proportions, only the absolute numbers.
Maybe I dont understand how to do this then. When I create a recipe it doesnt let me put in different food and macros. When I create a food it lets me put down total calories but asks me calories per serving and I have no idea thats what Im saying.0 -
houghtalingdavid1278 wrote: »I think I am getting tripped up not by the weight and total calories but more how to break down the macros since every item has a different macro set up
Yes, it has. And pretty much every food item also contains a certain amount of water. Which vanishes when you cook this item. Meat or vegetables for example. Other items take up water from cooking, rice and pasta for example. How much water evaporates or gets taken up is very different and depends on type and duration of cooking and other things. Whatever happens to that fooditems, the calories of it don't change. The natural water content is taken into account when you weight an uncooked item. That's why you should always weigh uncooked.
not understanding what you are responding to. I am not arguing this fact at all0 -
houghtalingdavid1278 wrote: »But when you add food to a recipe, it takes all the numbers from the database entries for those foods (including the macros) and combines them into your recipe. Your dish will have a certain proportion of macros. The portion size doesn't influence the macro proportions, only the absolute numbers.
Maybe I dont understand how to do this then. When I create a recipe it doesnt let me put in different food and macros. When I create a food it lets me put down total calories but asks me calories per serving and I have no idea thats what Im saying.
I think you are talking about creating new foods, not new recipes. Recipes are made up of different foods (foods already in the database or foods you create yourself).
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ok I added everything to "my recipe"- but I still dont know "how many servings per container". I have no way of knowing this so IdK...ugh0
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These are my ingredients: 2 containers of Jennie-O ground turkey, two cans of tomato sauce, 1 big can of crushed tomatos, 1 tsp vegetable oil, 3 cans of beans. When it asks for servings...this is where I get tripped up0
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knightmagic wrote: »what I do is create the recipe in myfitnesspal and then I start it off with say 4 servings. I then cook the meal and portion out all the food into containers (some get frozen/stored in fridge). Now i know the # of portions and I update the recipe. This also makes for super easy leftovers. Will every portion size be identical? no, however over the course of a few days you'll end up eating all the portions and get the full benefit of the macros in it. So it all works out over time.
That works if you're the only one eating the food. But when there are other people in the household eating from it as well, it's necessary to weigh the entire cooked dish AND the individual portions you eat.
It just takes a bit of calculating. Weight of the individual portion divided by the total weight of the dish and you know how much of the total dish you are eating and have to log.
Some people choose the weight of the total dish as number of servings, and then you can log the weight of your individual portion as the number of servings you eat for that meal.
yea but I am putting the items in the recipe builder as RAW. If I weigh the food after its done, the weight of 6 oz cooked is like 8 oz raw so its now accurate. How am I putting in items in the recipe builder cooked?0 -
wilson10102018 wrote: »Count the calories that go in. Everything. When the dish is done weigh it. Save the weight in grams as one serving per gram. So if it weights 2 pounds, you have 908 servings. If it was 2000 calories total, it is 2.2 calories per gram. Then when you eat it, you weigh it and the weight in grams is the number of servings you had. If you eat 300 grams it will automatically calculate that at 2.2 cal/gram and log 660 calories.
I think it just hit me! thanks!0 -
houghtalingdavid1278 wrote: »ok all of your answers are way over my head and make absolutely no sense. Its in a crockpot- when its done its still in the crockpot - I cant weight it again unless I take the whole thing out and put it into something and then weigh it but that is totally unrealistic. I basically serve right out of crockpot and there is a huge disparity of the weight after cooking than before so I dont understand what people are saying to weigh after and divide by a pre-determined serving amount because that doesnt work because that weight is post cooking.
Weigh the empty crockpot, if your scale goes that high. Then weigh the crockpot, plus all of the food in it. Do the math, just subtract the weight of the empty crockpot.
Then, weigh your bowl, plate, whatever. Weigh it again with food on it. Subtract. There you have the weight of just your food.
It's just a few extra steps.0 -
I'm so glad. It is so easy once you understand it and stop trying to estimate the number of servings. Just make the serving number equal the total weight of the finished dish in grams and then when you eat it, you just weigh it instead of trying to guess as to how many servings you are having.houghtalingdavid1278 wrote: »wilson10102018 wrote: »Count the calories that go in. Everything. When the dish is done weigh it. Save the weight in grams as one serving per gram. So if it weights 2 pounds, you have 908 servings. If it was 2000 calories total, it is 2.2 calories per gram. Then when you eat it, you weigh it and the weight in grams is the number of servings you had. If you eat 300 grams it will automatically calculate that at 2.2 cal/gram and log 660 calories.
I think it just hit me! thanks!
And, yes. If the final contents equals 4000 grams you have 4000 servings. And, if you eat 300 grams you have eaten 300 servings.
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When I first enter recipe I set it as 1 serving total; once cooked then I edit it to my preferred serving size (I use 10g as mine)
For weighing - weigh your crockpot empty and note it and then when cooked - subtract the empty crockpot weight - that is your final cooked value0 -
one thing I did too, is weight my crock pot on my own scales - ie the ones I weigh myself with.
Not my kitchen scales.
Just found it easier weighing a large pot on a flat surface than balancing on my kitchen scale which is small and on a sort of pedestal stand.
also you only need to weight the empty pot once - watever recipe you make in it obviously doesnt change the pot weight.
and record it somewhere for future reference.
I wrote on bottom of my crockpot in permanant texta.1
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