How do I measure a serving?

A serving for a recipe is how much you actually consume. So if you baked a ziti, you can weigh how much you ate vs how much was made. Or simply divide the amount you consumed vs amount made.

So just to keep it simple- let's say the entire recipe is 1000 cals. If you cut it in 4 equally, each serving is 250 cals.

So one serving in mfp would be 1000 cals. .25 (or 1/4th) serving would be 250.

micki274 wrote: »

963Nitro wrote: »

So just to keep it simple- let's say the entire recipe is 1000 cals. If you cut it in 4 equally, each serving is 250 cals.

So one serving in mfp would be 1000 cals. .25 (or 1/4th) serving would be 250.

I'm not sure I follow. You said if you cut it into 4 then 1 serving is 250 calories; but then said 1 serving would be 1000 calories. Sorry, I'm still confused.

If you don't change it, the default on the recipe builder is 1 serving (sometimes it will figure it out if you copy from another website, but I recommend always checking). So when the recipe says "1 serving" means 1000 calories, it's because 1 serving is the entire pan. My preference would be to edit the recipe and set it as 4 servings of 250 calories each, but really you can do it however works best for you.

I am slowly adapting to doing my recipes by weight, which feels very strange right now but will help me get more accurate calorie counts.

goal06082021 wrote: »

I usually weigh my entire finished dish and enter the recipe per gram (or 10g/100g, if it's a round number). So if I make 2563 grams of chili, I put in my chili recipe as having 2563 servings (of one gram each), then log my portion, which I have also weighed out in grams, accordingly. It's a little weird to put "600 servings" of something in the diary at first, but the math checks out.

Edit to add: If I make something with a clear number of discrete servings, I'll use that number for the MFP number of servings, and do my best to make sure the servings are more or less identical. For example, earlier last month I batch-prepped 20 Salisbury steak patties, so I logged that recipe as having 20 servings.

That's what I've been doing too. Works for me.

SunnyBunBun79 wrote: »

goal06082021 wrote: »

I usually weigh my entire finished dish and enter the recipe per gram (or 10g/100g, if it's a round number). So if I make 2563 grams of chili, I put in my chili recipe as having 2563 servings (of one gram each), then log my portion, which I have also weighed out in grams, accordingly. It's a little weird to put "600 servings" of something in the diary at first, but the math checks out.

Edit to add: If I make something with a clear number of discrete servings, I'll use that number for the MFP number of servings, and do my best to make sure the servings are more or less identical. For example, earlier last month I batch-prepped 20 Salisbury steak patties, so I logged that recipe as having 20 servings.

This sounds so simple and easy! How would I figure the carbs/protein/fats in this? Also If you log 600g of Chili, how does that convert to calories to make sure I stay under my cals for the day? ( sorry very confused but want to learn!)

I use a similar method, so for me I make sure that the entries for ingredients I'm using in the recipe builder are thorough and accurate. It should break down the same way it would for any other recipe or food entry for macros.

When I enter in a new recipe I've never logged before, I will use the typical number of servings as a placeholder while I'm entering it in, which will give me a rough idea of how many calories to expect. I then edit the recipe and update the number of servings to the total weight, and then adjust my entry for the day to the specific weight I actually ended up eating. To me that seems to work since I both prelog and weigh everything. But if it's a recipe I've used before, the adjustment is going to be small.