calorie counting on this site - hard!

Hi there,

 I decided to try adding the foods I've eaten to the 'daily caloric intake' function... and it's not easy.

I added pasta, but when I tried to add the olive oil, it only gave me the option of adding '1 cup'.  hullo?

any tips?

plus, i don't know how many grams of banana bread i ate... argh.

 

You should have the option of changing the unit of measurement for olive oil - I add teaspoons and tablespoons with no problem.  There should be a drop down selection where you see the "cup" unit of measurement.

As for banana bread, it really depends on how "dense" it is.  Try to find something that's a similar consistancy that you know the weight of, and "guesstimate."  Ie:  One of those big Otis Spunkmeyer muffins is about  4 ounces.

Keep asking for advice and you'll get the hang of it!  :-)

 

How do you add servings of brands of food? So you dont have to punch in every number. I want to use the calorie counter thing. But I find it very diffcult and time consuming.

When I first joined the site, I found it difficult and confusing as well.  Just keep using it and it will click.

I found that I will eat certain brands of foods over and over.  When I couldn't find it in the data base, I went to my recipes and added it there and tagged it so it would be easier to find next time.

Also, I started cooking at home more.  I would make sure to measure what I was using and put it into the recipe analyzer and then save it and tag it.  I even did this with my Ice Tea.  Try counting how many teaspoons of sugar are in 2 cups!  LOL.

Good luck.

The CC database already has information on a lot of brand name foods (just use the search bar at the top with "food" highlighted - enter brand, or food description.  If it's not there, the site does allow you to enter information based off the nutritional label, if available.  When the log is displayed, there should be this option:

 "2 If you know the calorie content for a particular food, add it here using a small form. "

(the "add it here" will be a link to the form) You only have to enter the information once, then "tag" it, and it's then in your list of tagged items to enter whenever you have that item again.  And, you don't always have to enter the information - a lot of times I just use an available equivalent or the generic entry in the database(ie:  there's not a lot of difference between brand A and brand B brown rice).

Hi - I just started here on cc and I try to cook a lot at home, also the restaurants I usually eat in aren't listed here (they're unique to this area, independently owned etc) and I don't really eat much "brand name" food. Do you just estimate things that sound like the ones in the food list in that case? and with cooking, do you have to add every single ingredient you put in individually? how do you do it if you're making a recipe? enter all the ingreds singly then divide the end product by the number of servings? is there a function I'm missing that makes this easier? Thanks- Melanie

is there a way to add from your tagged food list other than one at a time? I eat salad almost every day & am entering each ingredient I tagged EVERY TIME (and of course there are a few steps to each). I was hoping there's a way you can "check" the items from your tagged list & add them all together ... for things you eat often. Also, do you have to delete & readd the item if you get the serving wrong? or is there a way to go back in and modify the serving from your food log itself once it's in there? thanks - trying to learn how to use this site, and I agree it's not too user friendly so far :(

Struzzi,

Yeah, if I can't find the item specifically in the database, or I don't have a nutritional label from the item, I choose a generic item in the database that I figure is close.

For recipes, and combos of foods I eat often, I use the recipe analyzer feature.  There should be link to the recipe analyzer from the recipe browser (located under the "foods" tab). 

For instance,  most of the time I have the same thing for breakfast (cereal, milk, banana, coffee, creamer).  I enter all these in the recipe analyzer (serving size = 1), save it, and I have a fast way of putting "breakfast" into my log without having to add 5 items separately.   This function works the same for regular recipes, only you have to note the numbers of servings in the whole recipe. 

As for the tagged item thing, I haven't found a way to enter multiple or fractions of a serving for things I've had to enter.  That's been suggested to the site owners multiple times, and they say they're going to make the modification, but I haven't seen it yet.  What I do is input the data for my tagged items in multiples of the servings I'm most likely to use (1/4 cup, 1/2 cup, etc.)  It may be a little bit of work up front, but it saves me time in the long run.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is a way to "correct" serving sizes for items already added to the log.  So, yes, you have to delete them and and then add them into the log again.

Thanks, Santonacci! I didn't know about the recipe analyzer feature, and it's good to know I'm not missing an easier way to do the other things! :)