Figuring out the calories for food bought at hole in the walls?

akawiki
akawiki Posts: 3 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I had a family member that picked up a mozzarella and tomato pizza from a local little Italian place and I was wondering: How the hell do you record that? I put in one slice of homemade mozzarella and tomato pizza but it seems low? But the brand ones seem very high?

Replies

  • harper16
    harper16 Posts: 2,564 Member
    I'd log the higher slice, or log a slice somewhere between the two.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    Unfortunately pizzeria pizza is a crapshoot. Some of the ingredients are calorie dense and it can be super hard to estimate how much cheese or oil especially you're getting. Plus size of pie and size of slices. I found an entry for a pizzeria slice at around 300 cals I think and I go with that.

    Now that I've been logging and learning for awhile, I can have a couple of slices every once and awhile and plan my day to deal with the calorie uncertainty, but in the begining it was tough!
  • Redordeadhead
    Redordeadhead Posts: 1,188 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    Unfortunately pizzeria pizza is a crapshoot. Some of the ingredients are calorie dense and it can be super hard to estimate how much cheese or oil especially you're getting. Plus size of pie and size of slices. I found an entry for a pizzeria slice at around 300 cals I think and I go with that.

    Now that I've been logging and learning for awhile, I can have a couple of slices every once and awhile and plan my day to deal with the calorie uncertainty, but in the begining it was tough!

    Agree, and I also wouldn't use a "homemade" entry for anything bought from a restaurant or take out place, as they tend to use way more oil,/butter/salt etc. Homemade really implies you made it in your kitchen.
  • gininthegym
    gininthegym Posts: 47 Member
    It is very difficult to guesstimate what's in a pizza shop pizza. As already mentioned the amount of oil, butter, cheese and salt will be way higher than you'd use at home - makes it so much tastier. I'd aim for a higher figure than you would think and call it done. As long as this isn't every day then it won't impact upon your weightloss/health goals.

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    I weigh it and then use an entry for similar style of pizza that has a weight.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Estimate based on a similar item. Just so you don’t do that “all” the time you’ll be fine. If you have to do it frequently, estimate high to be on the safe side.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,091 Member
    USDA nutrient database has entries for cheese pizza (which I use for veggie as well) and meat topped pizza, for thin, medium/regular, and thick crust, by weight, so you don't have to worry about the size of the pizza and number of slices.

    https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-search

    I search the "survey" database only for "restaurant, pizza"
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    If its similar in size/shape to a chain place: I'd use the chain menu entry to estimate. Such as if its a 14" pizza cut in 8 slices (which would be a large @ Papa Johns, Dominos, etc.) then I'd log a large handtossed or thin (depending on what is appropriate) chain pizza with extra cheese. I figure logging as extra cheese covers it if they are heavy handed on the cheese.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    edited September 2020
    I always, always refer to Harper16 when it comes to the math. :)


  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    I said defer but I meant refer. My uncle says recline for decline. They asked him to be the president of the Elk's Club and he told them he was sorry but he would have to recline. :p

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