Not knowing calorie content of food you've eaten...

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Asher213
Asher213 Posts: 46
in Food and Nutrition
Do other MFP users have this problem often? For e.g. my mum made some pasta with minced meat/onions/peppers today and as delicious as it was(!) I have no idea how many calories I must have consumed eating it. I ended up selecting "Gino D'acampo the Italian Diet Pasta With Minced Meat & Onions" from the MFP database as this was the closest match I could find in the database. I'm aware the calories of what I actually had could have been way more but I'm not sure what else I could do in this situation except put that I had more than 1 serving to be on the safe side?

I eat a lot of home cooked asian dishes that my mum makes and again, a lot of these don't have exact matches on the MFP database so I just select something similar that I think would have similar calorie content. This can be really difficult as a lot of the time I am just guessing and hoping what I have entered in my diary is fairly close to the amount of calories I have actually consumed on that day. This is the only part of using MFP that gets me down and makes me worry that my diary isn't even close to being accurate. Does anybody else have this problem a lot? How do you tend to deal with and would you have any advice for me?

The good thing is that for the most part since using MFP I have been losing weight. However I have had weeks where I have stayed within my net calorie goal for the week according to what Ive entered in the diary but not lost the 2lb expected or even anything at all. I can only assume this is because my entries have been way off for those weeks!

Replies

  • calibri
    calibri Posts: 439 Member
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    Add ingredient by ingredient. It's easier if you know how much the whole batch had, and then approximate how much of the batch you had.
  • bluepineapple
    bluepineapple Posts: 18
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    i normally just find something similar in the data base, as it seems you have been doing. but if its a problem for you, use the recipe feature and put in all the ingredients. this is probably be more accurate, although it is a little more time consuming
  • WifeMomDVM
    WifeMomDVM Posts: 1,025 Member
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    Get the recipe from your mom.... find out how many people it serves.... use the "Recipes" tab in your food diary to enter all the information and wah-lah! It will tell you EXACTLY how many calories, carbs, fat, protein, etc.... you just consumed. Especially since it's mom's and you'll be eating it again and again -it's worth saving in your recipes!
  • tiedye
    tiedye Posts: 331 Member
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    I've entered my mom's recipes into the recipe calculator, and added 1 serving. It's still not totally accurate, but it's as good as it's going to get :)
  • lilchino4af
    lilchino4af Posts: 1,292 Member
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    Get the recipe from your mom.... find out how many people it serves.... use the "Recipes" tab in your food diary to enter all the information and wah-lah! It will tell you EXACTLY how many calories, carbs, fat, protein, etc.... you just consumed. Especially since it's mom's and you'll be eating it again and again -it's worth saving in your recipes!
    Ditto! I do this for all the homemade foods I eat made from recipes, especially if there will be leftovers!
  • fallenangelloves
    fallenangelloves Posts: 601 Member
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    If she cooks the same thing alot, it's worth the time to enter the recipes in. There are programs online that you can do this on too. If I find a recipe that doesn't have the nutritional value on it I can copy and paste it and voila!

    For others I enter it into MFP's recipe maker and have it on hand for the repeat meals!
  • CashierCantin
    CashierCantin Posts: 206 Member
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    I break everything down...so for each ingredient, I guesstimate on the high side of how much I had. You can only do so much but shouldn't have to be frustrated. Just do the best you can and keep other things you do know on the low side so it balances out.
  • WifeNMama
    WifeNMama Posts: 2,876 Member
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    I try to match it in the food database as closely as possible, then add the extra ingredients if its still not close. Like if I know we put more veggies in than is counted. Or I just go ingredient by ingredient, which is annoying. My husband keeps track of what he's putting in so I can add it in. :-) he's so nice.
  • mcwright1980
    mcwright1980 Posts: 15
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    WifemomDVM said it! That's what the Recipe portion of MFP is for!
  • Asher213
    Asher213 Posts: 46
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    I'll try and give the recipe calculator a go one of these days. Would I have to start weighing ingredients and put in exactly how much of each one is being used? sounds like it could get complicated and time consuming! don't think I would want to do that each time she makes something, Ill drive myself and her crazy!
  • kpwb
    kpwb Posts: 14 Member
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    You've got lots of great suggestions already! My only addition is that I tend to assume my single portion is likely to be 1.5 - 2 times the regular allotment for a portion - that's how I got so heavy!! I like your perservenrence and wish you the best of luck!!
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    When eating at smaller restaurants that don't have info online, or someone else's homecooked meal, I usually pick something similar from a chain restaurant because unless the cook is Paula Dean, the chain restaurant option is probably the worst case scenario as far as calories and fat and sodium and all that goes.
  • carrie_eggo
    carrie_eggo Posts: 1,396 Member
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    I'll try and give the recipe calculator a go one of these days. Would I have to start weighing ingredients and put in exactly how much of each one is being used? sounds like it could get complicated and time consuming! don't think I would want to do that each time she makes something, Ill drive myself and her crazy!

    Well, that's what counting calories is all about. It isn't always easy. I would recommend, that if you know you're not exact in your calorie counting in your food diary, only eat back 0-1/2 of your exercise calories. That is, if you want to lose at the "expected" rate. :smile:
  • Asher213
    Asher213 Posts: 46
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    You've got lots of great suggestions already! My only addition is that I tend to assume my single portion is likely to be 1.5 - 2 times the regular allotment for a portion - that's how I got so heavy!! I like your perservenrence and wish you the best of luck!!

    Thanks, I do the same as you for a lot of the stuff I eat, entering 1.5 - 2 servings as I like my plate full!
  • Asher213
    Asher213 Posts: 46
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    Well, that's what counting calories is all about. It isn't always easy. I would recommend, that if you know you're not exact in your calorie counting in your food diary, only eat back 0-1/2 of your exercise calories. That is, if you want to lose at the "expected" rate. :smile:
    [/quote]

    Yeah I do have days where I don't eat back all exercise calories or have calories spare so I suppose this balances it out a bit. :smile:

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