MEAL PREP ideas ... how do you count cals
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standy73
Posts: 26 Member
Afternoon guys,
Some of you may see my struggle of working out calories & counting, ive lost weight many times B4, eating healthy is not an issue for me BUT meal prep & how to count all the ingredients??
What are your recipes & methods?
Please share🙏🏼🙏🏼 :-D:-D
Some of you may see my struggle of working out calories & counting, ive lost weight many times B4, eating healthy is not an issue for me BUT meal prep & how to count all the ingredients??
What are your recipes & methods?
Please share🙏🏼🙏🏼 :-D:-D
0
Replies
-
buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!5 -
First part of the advice above is great.
But no need to avoid processed foods, as long as your diet is balanced (and that's for health, for weight loss it doesn't matter). Sodium is a concern for high BP mostly (and not all processed foods are high sodium). And nothing wrong with carbs at all.
For logging recipes:
- use the recipe builder
- weigh and enter the individual ingredients
- weigh the finished dish
- enter the number of servings sizes in the recipe (if it's more than one serving):
* If you're the only one eating that dish, just put the number of times you will eat from that dish
* if it's a shared meal, put the weight of the dish (not including the pot/pan) as the number of servings (for example 1500g =1500 servings). And then weigh the portion you eat and enter that as your number of servings to add to your diary (for example 400g -> enter 400 'servings' to your diary).6 -
buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
You realize your diary is public, right? LOL.6 -
I placed my diary as public today but how do you see ppls diaries??0
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I placed my diary as public today but how do you see ppls diaries??
Click on their username: a window pops up.
Click on their username again and you're taken to their profile. You'll see a green "view diary" button if their diary is public.
This only works on a desktop computer by the way, or desktop view on a mobile device.3 -
buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
Where is the recipe calculator? I often wondered if they had one?1 -
buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
Where is the recipe calculator? I often wondered if they had one?
https://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe_parser
how do i count calories?
a food scale.First part of the advice above is great.
But no need to avoid processed foods, as long as your diet is balanced (and that's for health, for weight loss it doesn't matter). Sodium is a concern for high BP mostly (and not all processed foods are high sodium). And nothing wrong with carbs at all.
For logging recipes:
- use the recipe builder
- weigh and enter the individual ingredients
- weigh the finished dish
- enter the number of servings sizes in the recipe (if it's more than one serving):
* If you're the only one eating that dish, just put the number of times you will eat from that dish
* if it's a shared meal, put the weight of the dish (not including the pot/pan) as the number of servings (for example 1500g =1500 servings). And then weigh the portion you eat and enter that as your number of servings to add to your diary (for example 400g -> enter 400 'servings' to your diary).
This is how I do all of my recipes, at least anything that is made in a batch or intended to serve my family. I had to look back a few days for the most recent example, but Wednesday's dinner was a crock pot meal done like that. If you look at last nights dinner, it was a sheet pan recipe where I had simply divided the ban I baked it on, and one side had my food (all weighed out in individual ingredients) and the other the portion for my husband and son.
2 -
buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
You realize your diary is public, right? LOL.
oh, I know and I have days like everyone else, lol.
The thing is the week before last was my 16th wedding anniversary so my hubby and I spurlged and we had some leftovers into the following week or so.
So we have been trying to get rid of them
we don't eat processed foods all that often, just once in a while as a treat and we still pretty closely stay into our calorie goals.
Even though my diary says I am a bit over on some days my Fitbit tells me I am UNDER on a lot of days and I am not meeting my macros but I am still losing about 2-4lbs a week
3 -
tacolover10231989 wrote: »buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
You realize your diary is public, right? LOL.
oh, I know and I have days like everyone else, lol.
The thing is the week before last was my 16th wedding anniversary so my hubby and I spurlged and we had some leftovers into the following week or so.
So we have been trying to get rid of them
we don't eat processed foods all that often, just once in a while as a treat and we still pretty closely stay into our calorie goals.
Even though my diary says I am a bit over on some days my Fitbit tells me I am UNDER on a lot of days and I am not meeting my macros but I am still losing about 2-4lbs a week
Then why tell OP to limit processed foods? Nothing wrong with them. As far back as I looked your diet is mainly heavily processed foods.
As of the last bit yes because Feb was our anniversary month.
But it's not normally like that what so ever
I usually make homemade ramen and other stuff but I got lazy this last bit when I went to the Asian market
But if you actually go back to when I was actually eating less processed foods I was under 2500 or 2000mg of sodium a day ;p
Plus my doctor always says to stay away from processed foods and I usually do for the most part and if I do have them I usually do pretty good staying under the sodium limit
it just hasn't been that way in the last bit =p
Now go pick on someone else unless you're that bored
1 -
Co-signing everything that's been said about the recipe builder so far.
As far as meal planning - at the beginning of the year I sat down and picked six recipes to prep for lunches for the week. Mid-February I evaluated that list, made some swaps, and set up another six weeks. My original six-week rotation was as follows, with notes and links to the recipes I used as appropriate. My preps are 10 servings (5 each for 2 people).
1. Salisbury Steak with mashed potatoes and broccoli - I doubled the Salisbury steak recipe and made 20 small patties; raw, they were about 2" across and a bit less than 1/2" thick. I used a food scale to make sure they were all the same weight (about 160g IIRC). I also weighed out the gravy and put that in as a separate recipe; when logging it in my diary, I added 10g of gravy on top of what I measured into my prep containers to account for the amount clinging to the patties post-braise. I made mashed potatoes the standard way - cut up some taters, boil 'em, mash 'em, add milk and butter and salt, weighing everything of course. I bought frozen steam-in-bag broccoli for simplicity's sake, since the Salisbury steak was kind of involved.
2. Egg Roll in a Bowl - link to Reddit comment, I tripled this recipe since I was making 10 servings instead of 3. I also shredded my own cabbage and carrots rather than using bagged slaw mix, since I was making so much. My husband and I weren't super-impressed with this as a standalone lunch - it really needed some kind of carby substrate, like chips to scoop it up and eat it with, or I could have just made egg rolls (I would have baked them instead of frying, probably). It's tasty, though! Really benefits from a dollop of duck sauce and a hit of sriracha. For the second round I replaced this with cabbage rolls.
3. Kielbasa Pasta Primavera - same Reddit post as above. I just remade this for lunches this week - I oven-roasted the potatoes, broccoli, and zucchini; added mushrooms; and cooked the onions and peppers on the stovetop to caramelize them a little. Originally I tried to do it all on the stove, and since I was making 10 servings there was too much to get any good browning on anything, so everything just kind of steamed. It tasted OK, but it could have been better. I also did try chickpea penne for this and honestly I can't recommend it - I don't know if I overcooked it or undercooked it or if I just got crappy chickpea pasta but it didn't taste very good. This week I went a little heavy on the potatoes so I skipped the pasta, I guess it's just Kielbasa Primavera now?
4. Greek chicken and orzo - the recipe is the third image in the album, and I had to modify it some. I skipped the potatoes, since the pilaf was already doubling up on carbs with rice AND orzo, though I'm sure they're divine. This is up for a repeat next week and I think I'm going to use chicken thighs rather than chicken legs; I'm not sure if it's the ones I bought or if chicken legs are just Like That, but my husband and I found them unpleasantly gristly for this. The marinade was awesome and they baked up beautifully, though. Instead of the salad in the OP I served this with some Greek-style green beans - 45 oz of green beans is insane for a side dish, I had a pound (16 oz) and that still made way too many g-d green beans, you can safely halve or third this recipe and still feed the whole family.
5. Poor Man's Charcuterie/Adult Lunchables - no recipe here, it's very freeform. Good for getting the kids involved! I kinda freestyle this one depending on what I can find at the grocery. Most recently I did deli ham (cut into roughly 1" squares, ended up with 8 squares per box), cracker-cut gouda slices (4 per box), hummus and carrots (1oz spicy red pepper hummus and 4-5 baby carrots - I put the hummus in the bottom of a silicone muffin cup and stood the carrots up in it, lasted all week in the fridge no problem), and hard-boiled eggs (1 per box). In the past I've done chorizo, cheddar cubes, fancy crackers and bread and butter pickles; deli ham and turkey, cheddar and pepper-jack slices, cucumber-yogurt salad (love those silicone muffin cups for this).
6. Japanese curry and rice - my understanding is that this stuff is basically equivalent to Kraft Dinner in Japan - like, an easy weeknight dinner that comes together in half an hour and kids love it. There's different spiciness levels for different preferences. It also makes a good weekday lunch. I used chicken and added some shredded cabbage to my last batch in addition to the called-for onion, carrot, and potato; it's very flexible like that, you can use any protein you like or none at all, and use whatever vegetables tickle your fancy. I cooked the rice in chicken broth, to add that little extra bit of flavor, although the rice does soak up the curry sauce over time while it sits in the fridge waiting to be eaten so flavoring the rice in this way isn't strictly necessary.2 -
buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
You realize your diary is public, right? LOL.
oh, I know and I have days like everyone else, lol.
The thing is the week before last was my 16th wedding anniversary so my hubby and I spurlged and we had some leftovers into the following week or so.
So we have been trying to get rid of them
we don't eat processed foods all that often, just once in a while as a treat and we still pretty closely stay into our calorie goals.
Even though my diary says I am a bit over on some days my Fitbit tells me I am UNDER on a lot of days and I am not meeting my macros but I am still losing about 2-4lbs a week
LOL. Ok. I went back a few days and I was like, "Wth? 3/4ths of this food is processed!"
But what you said about staying away from it, sodium, and carbs is completely wrong. Unless the person is allergic or has another medical reason to stay away from the above, it's CICO that's going to get that weight off.
Also, doctors don't usually get a lot of training in diet and nutrition....6 -
I'm an "estimator" when it comes to planning.But, I weigh everything.
I'm aimng for 500 calories. So I will say, salmon tonight that is about 6 oz so it will come in at 250 calories, so I'll have baked french fries with it usually around 120 cal plus ketchup, and maybe some pickled beets or a green salad with balsamic.
Then when I actually make it I'll weigh and log everything OK, so my estimate was off a little1 -
callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
Where is the recipe calculator? I often wondered if they had one?
https://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe_parser
how do i count calories?
a food scale.First part of the advice above is great.
But no need to avoid processed foods, as long as your diet is balanced (and that's for health, for weight loss it doesn't matter). Sodium is a concern for high BP mostly (and not all processed foods are high sodium). And nothing wrong with carbs at all.
For logging recipes:
- use the recipe builder
- weigh and enter the individual ingredients
- weigh the finished dish
- enter the number of servings sizes in the recipe (if it's more than one serving):
* If you're the only one eating that dish, just put the number of times you will eat from that dish
* if it's a shared meal, put the weight of the dish (not including the pot/pan) as the number of servings (for example 1500g =1500 servings). And then weigh the portion you eat and enter that as your number of servings to add to your diary (for example 400g -> enter 400 'servings' to your diary).
This is how I do all of my recipes, at least anything that is made in a batch or intended to serve my family. I had to look back a few days for the most recent example, but Wednesday's dinner was a crock pot meal done like that. If you look at last nights dinner, it was a sheet pan recipe where I had simply divided the ban I baked it on, and one side had my food (all weighed out in individual ingredients) and the other the portion for my husband and son.
You can also set a determine number of grams as a serving. For example i serving = 300 grams, and take it from there.1 -
Ok guys, ive read all the above WOW...
question i think many are replying direct im pretty techy how are you that?? Yes Im on my iphone.
Recipes i think can only be seen from pc ill get that going soon.
& TNoir if their losing LBS/kg’s their doing better than i!!!
Im staying under 1500 per day & havnt dropped a kg, LBS but losing patience !!!0 -
An alternative for the recipe feature is simply logging the ingredients as a meal.
I usually choose a meal in the future where I add all the ingredients, I weigh the final dish, save the meal (with the total weight in the name).
After I've saved the meal, I delete the full dish from that future meal where I logged it, and just log the appropriate fraction when I eat a portion of the dish.
For example: the risotto I made yesterday weighed 3945gr, my portion weighed 809, so I logged 0.205 of the saved meal for my dinner.0 -
MrsMellodoggerello wrote: »whatever, haha...even if it doesn't help in losing weight it's still good advice in general to limit processed foods.& lots of experts do agree like the infamous Mark Bittman. Anyway, the easiest method, for me, is to eat the same breakfast and lunch most days and then choose from 3 or 4 dinners that I already know fits into my calorie goals .I'll switch those dinners somewhat seasonally.buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
Mark Bittman is a talented food writer. I enjoy his writing and cookbooks very much, but I think even he would agree that his writing skills don't make him a nutritional expert. Also unsure why you'd call him "infamous."0 -
BUT meal prep & how to count all the ingredients??
What are your recipes & methods?
I don't heavily meal prep. I have frozen meat in the freezer, and tend to try to think ahead to what I am likely to want in the near future so I can get the stuff out and into the refrigerator. I also always have lots of veg on hand and staples like rice and pasta and beans and lentils and so on in my pantry. I'll largely know I'm having pork chops or salmon or whatever, and then just think about what seems good with them using what I have on hand (I learned to be flexible and cook based on what's on hand when I used to get a farm share and had to use it up each week, and it's come in handy during covid as I no longer can dart into the market on my way home from work to pick up some random item). What I do instead is make enough so I will have at least one meal of leftovers, maybe two, from any dinner. Usually those become lunches.
Otherwise for lunch I cook based on what is on hand -- make a big salad or an omelet or so on. I don't currently eat breakfast, but when I did I had the same basic thing (different veg and fruit) every day.
Logging is easy when you do lots of home cooking, IME. I just log the ingredients and the either create a recipe with them or, if I am making one serving or dividing it into servings only I will eat, I might just log the ingredients. For example, when chopping I put stuff on the scale and then will at breaks enter them into the log. If making two servings of something I plan to eat the next day too, I'll log half of everything and then copy and paste the meal. If you are making meals for multiple people recipes are likely easier.1 -
tacolover10231989 wrote: »buy a scale, weigh EVERYTHING
Read the backs of all packaging while shopping to find serving sizes
enter it all into MFP
and input all your recipes into the recipe calculator here
it works! that way you can make sure you are eating enough (females 1200 min cals a day)
Also, stay away from processed foods they are the worst! = sodium is one to watch & carbs!
You realize your diary is public, right? LOL.
oh, I know and I have days like everyone else, lol.
The thing is the week before last was my 16th wedding anniversary so my hubby and I spurlged and we had some leftovers into the following week or so.
So we have been trying to get rid of them
we don't eat processed foods all that often, just once in a while as a treat and we still pretty closely stay into our calorie goals.
Even though my diary says I am a bit over on some days my Fitbit tells me I am UNDER on a lot of days and I am not meeting my macros but I am still losing about 2-4lbs a week
Then why tell OP to limit processed foods? Nothing wrong with them. As far back as I looked your diet is mainly heavily processed foods.
I often find that people who make the biggest deals about processed foods have very different understandings of what a processed food is than I do.5
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