how do I log burgers?

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Legit_Parchment
Legit_Parchment Posts: 1 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I always make homemade burgers but I try to log them and it says it’s only 300 cals, I’m 100% that’s not right because of the buns condiments and sauce. I don’t want to ruin my progress but I love eating them and I have still been losing weight, but just in case I wanna know how to log them.

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  • Redordeadhead
    Redordeadhead Posts: 1,188 Member
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    Lietchi wrote: »
    I just weigh and log the individual ingredients used (buns, meat, etc). Not sure how else you can log homemade hamburgers?

    This, you need to log the mince (ideally in grams) and anything else you put in the party, then log the bun, log the cheese, log the ketchup, mayo, etc. If you just search for "burger", you have no idea what is included and in what quantity.
  • penguinmama87
    penguinmama87 Posts: 1,158 Member
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    Just to add to the above, for the beef I use this database to make sure I'm getting decently accurate information: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-search

    I search "ground beef patty" and pick the appropriate fat content option under "SR Legacy Foods." These entries have been pulled into the MFP database so you can search the exact phrasing to find the item you want, e.g. "Beef, ground, 75% lean meat / 25% fat, patty, cooked, broiled." If you eat burgers regularly, you can save it with the buns and other condiments you typically use as a meal, to quickly add to your diary in the future. You would then just adjust any individual amounts that you need to on the day you eat it. :)
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    Are you pulling up someone's generic entry for "hamburger"? If so, I'd recommend not doing that. You don't know how big their patty is, what the patty was made of, what condiments were used, what the bun was, etc. You'll want to log the individual ingredients (by weight for the most accurate count). A burger can be way more than 300 calories, so if you're having them often an accurate calorie count will be relevant.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,522 Member
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    Let me say that ground beef and cheese are a calorie density foods that should be weighed until your eyeballs are well calibrated. The bun usually comes in a package with a calorie estimate. It's easy to measure catsup with a tablespoon. Ignore lettuce, tomato, dill pickle, onion, mustard, etc. Now you have an accurate estimate.

    If you make burgers a lot, just weigh them a few times until you can estimate the portion well enough.
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    edited July 2021
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    First you have to know if it is generic hamburger (which can be up to 30% fat, 90/10 or 80/20. then if you are not drinking the fat after cooking, you need to find calories per gram, cooked (grilled) and weigh it cooked. Sorry, its the only way. Raw burger comes out vastlly different depending on how well done you like the burger. Then, 120 calories for the bun. 100 calories for the cheese but weigh it to be sure. Weigh the pickle tomato for discipline of it.
  • IllustriousBee
    IllustriousBee Posts: 70 Member
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    If you don't have a food scale (you should look into getting one, they're very helpful), you can divide up the meat equally and then log that in ounces. One pound is 16 ounces, so if I make four burgers that are the same size I know that each one is 4 ounces. When you look up the meat, make sure you are getting the correct leanness. I use 96% lean beef, so I make sure that is what I'm logging. Then log the bun and any condiments that have anything to log. If you use mayo or some similar high fat condiment, you'd want to log it, but if it's just mustard and pickles, then you don't need to bother unless you're watching sodium. Hope this helps, but using a food scale would obviously be the MOST accurate way to log it.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    Legit_Parchment wrote: »
    I always make homemade burgers but I try to log them and it says it’s only 300 cals, I’m 100% that’s not right because of the buns condiments and sauce. I don’t want to ruin my progress but I love eating them and I have still been losing weight, but just in case I wanna know how to log them.

    You would log all of the individual items including your meat by weight.

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