Help - how to find out calories?

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amaline
amaline Posts: 84
in Food and Nutrition
HI everyone. I am new to MFP and so far finding it really helpful except for one thing . . . I struggle to make sure the calories I am logging are correct. I am working in China at the moment and as there are no local gyms and I have no exercise buddy I have bought some fitness DVD's and joined this site. The problem is that a lot of the food I eat is not listed on the site and I don't know how to calculate the calories? I have been picking the closest thing I can find but I want to make sure I am getting it right as I seem to be able to eat an awful lot more than I think I should! None of the food I eat is processed or labelled so even if I could read chinese I can't just read the packing. I have never counted calories before in my life so don't have a clue where to start. Any suggestions would be appreciated :)

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  • bgeeke
    bgeeke Posts: 9
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    If I can't find the item then I'll enter each ingrediant seperately into MFP.
  • mskellyw
    mskellyw Posts: 111
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    I usually just google something like "[name of food] calories" or "[name of food] nutrition information". I eat a lot of ethnic foods and am always surprised at how many things I can find nutrition info for in this way. If all else fails, just try to find nutrition info for a similar type of food. It's impossible to know exactly how many calories you're eating each day, especially if you're eating out a lot. Just remember that some attempt at keeping track of what you're eating, even if it's an imperfect one, is better that nothing!

    You say that nothing is processed or labeled--is that because you're eating it in a restaurant or because you're cooking from scratch? If you're cooking yourself you can always enter in ingredients yourself.

    What types of foods are you having difficulty finding nutrition info for? I've spent some time in Asia and am familiar with some Asian foods. If you want to post some examples of the types of things you're looking for, I or someone else on this site might be able to help.
  • astridfeline
    astridfeline Posts: 1,200 Member
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    I too google items I can't find on MFP. Kudos to trying to do this when you can't even read what labels there are!!
  • amaline
    amaline Posts: 84
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    Thanks Guys I hadn't even thought of googling it - duh! I am finding that tracking everything I eat is helping me make healthier choices so I guess that is the main thing. Have never counted calories before so I am just not sure how accurate I really need to be to see results. I guess I will find out just as soon as I figure out where I can buy a set of scales :laugh:
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    www.calorieking.com works for me. Dunno how many Chinese versions are on it but, give it a shot.

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