I don't know how to calculate calories in my food :( !

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BouchtaDouaa
BouchtaDouaa Posts: 1 Member
in Getting Started
Can someone give me a simple way ? Ty

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  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,365 Member
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    Your question is very broad. Could you be more specific? The general idea is that you weigh your food, find the corresponding entry in the food database and enter the appropriate amount in your diary. MFP will then calculate the calories (and other nutritional info) for you.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,124 Member
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    I hate to be the contrarian. Wait, I love to be the contrarian.

    Logging food is a skill. Logging food on this site is pretty easy, but it does take fiddling around with the system for a while. I just learned as I used it.

    Here's the official "Help" section with a HOW TO USE THE APP section at the top (there's a link to Help on any page) https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us

    Here's a good tutorial on the basics of logging food:
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1
  • ech9570
    ech9570 Posts: 15 Member
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    BouchtaDouaa - This is a very good question. And it's not as easy as point and click. First, you don't have to calculate the number of calories in a particular food. That's a procedure they do in a lab and it is literally the amount of energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 Gm of water 1 degree Celscius. So no. You don't have to do that!! 😅 For individual foods, just use the search function and pick the best fit. But foods that are a combination of foods - like a stew, soup, etc. - unless you can find a food on the search function, you'll need to break it down into it's individual foods. If you are the one preparing your meals, you can "build" a meal by listing each ingredient and the amount per serving, and save all these under a title for the meal. But if someone else is doing the cooking, you may have to ask for the details.

    Using the tracker looks like it should be easy but it isn't. It's a pretty steep learning curve and you have to be willing to spend some time on adding your common foods and meals before it gets to be easy. Just have patience and you'll get there.

    Good luck to you, and please message back as to how you have solved this problem.
  • laurata
    laurata Posts: 2 Member
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    I sometimes struggle with this, as I make meals from scratch, and it can be super tedious to get it all figured out, especially if I've used 20 ingredients and made a huge batch of whatever.

    I put my favorite recipes in as recipes, and give an estimate of how many servings. If I'm making a batch of something that I'm winging, (for example, 6 cans of beans, and bags of frozen corn, peas, and green beans) I'll put it all in as a dated recipe, measure the outcome, and decide how much is a reasonable serving. The scan function is super helpful for packaged foods.

    The important thing, especially if you are new to food logging, is to keep at it. Even without calories, just logging foods will add mindfulness. Take a breath, and allow yourself grace. It's a journey.
  • Hobartlemagne
    Hobartlemagne Posts: 283 Member
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    One thing Ive done- if you hate how certain ingredients appear in the database, make an entry of your own.
    A good example of mine- I regularly bake bread, and I DESPISE flour measuring by volume. There's way too much variation. Its getting better, but a few years back it was almost impossible to find All Purpose Flour by weight on the MFP ingredient database.

    I entered in "Gold Medal Better For Bread All Purpose Flour (1oz)" in the database, and I use it often. Im able to go by the weight, and I know every last nutrient is copied straight off the nutrition facts label.

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