Can't tell the calories in food?!

What do you guys do when you have absolutely no idea how many calories there are in something you eat? My mom cooks most of my food for me (Indian food) and I sometimes have no idea how many calories are in some of these foods. When I'm in a situation like this, what should I do? Should I try to overestimate the calories or something? What do you people do when you have no idea how many calories there are in something?

The longer you count calories, the easier it gets to "guesstimate" the calories of what you are eating.  When I am at home, I input complicated dishes (like curries) in the new recipe tool, this allows me to be pretty accurate about exactly what I am eating.  But, when I am out, I just do the best I can.  One way I approach it is to try to have half of my plate be vegetables with little or no fat added, a quarter of my plate be rice or whatever starch is being served, and a quarter of my plate is meat or "high calorie" ingredient foods.  This is harder to do with curries and other complex foods, but it helps me to feel I am eating well when I am away from home.

Sometimes it's easier to find the approx. calories for the ingredients rather than the whole dish together.  If your mom is ok with it, ask her for the recipe...or talk with her about what she uses to make those dishes for you.  You can then figure it out by typing in the amount of each ingredient and adding it up.  Make sure you account for your serving size and don't count the whole recipe in your calories....It does take some basic math, but it is all pretty much an estimate anyway.  Then you can tag the items in your food log to use for next time you eat it.  It definitely takes more work to count calories of food that you do not make yourself.  You can also Google "calories in Curry" and other foods you eat to....not an exact science...but there are some interesting sites out there that can give you a calorie range. 

Good luck.

Thanks for the responses, I'll try searching for similar recipes on the internet and if I find them, that would be great and if not, I'll try adding up the calories of the ingredients. I'm just scared that the numbers might be way off and if that turns out to be the case I might be eating too much or too less. Guess I'll get it through trial and error.

Hello, 

If you are eating beans or lentils, a serving is about 3/4 cup and rice is 1/2 cup.

I use to stay away from cooking certain recipes until just recently. Here on CC, if you look under the "Foods" tab, then under "New Recipe", you can actually put in a recipe. You have to put in the number of servings and it will calculate how many calories. Lets say the recipe makes about 6 cups of food. You can call it 6 servings. That way you will know how much you should be eating. I use this recipe calculator all the time. Get your mother to give you the recipe. You will love this calculator. You can save and tag the recipe so that everytime you eat it, you can put it into your food log.

I also use the recipe calculator for adjusting my recipes and making lower calorie versions too. I am back into cooking again and I love it. Maybe you can help your mom in the kitchen. Learn how to make these foods and start to learn how to make them into lower calorie versions. It can be quite enjoyable and you never know what you might come up with.

Thanks mskarenmr, the recipe calculator will definitely be useful to me!

Hello, xikro...may I ask if you are Indian?  I am myself, and I actually understand the problem with estimating.  Curry turns out how one makes it, and when I ask my own mother for a recipe she will say put "some oil" in a pan...add some tomatoes...whatever looks right.  I would suggest that when you come over, ask her to cook with less oil, and skip the potatoes in curry.  Have one or two small pieces of any meat/fish/paneer, and take less of the gravy, because that's where the oil goes.  Have more vegetable curries--despite how they're made, they're generally still healthier.  Hope this works for you!

I have the same problem every day. My husband does all of the cooking, and he doesn't go by recipes. So, I put in the basic idea, sometimes overestimating so I am safe calorie-wise. I am never spot-on accurate, but unless you eat strictly out of a box it's hard to be. I try to pay attention to what I am eating each week, and if I lose weight that week, I know my estimates are working. Unfortunately, it's not an exact science. Good luck!

I think I'm just going to estimate the recipe and calories to the best of my ability, and maybe add a little more, just to be on the safe side. (and yes foodietootie, I'm Indian). It's kind of tough having to count as accurately as possible, I hope it's worth it in the end! (The good thing is, that if it's something you eat often, you only have to do it once and then tag it)