Hart to count calories
 

How do you tell how much calories is in something if you just make a big pot of it? I don't know how to tell how much calories my supper has because I try to cook several different things, like stuff I put together. How do you count the calories? Add up all the ingredients you put in it and then divide it into servings or something? I hope I am not overestimating or underestimating. Help!:stir:

Usually when I serve more than one, which is often, I just add all the ingredients I used, and divide them up. For example, yesterday I made cheese and chicken penne. I calculated 1 cup of half & half, 2 tbsp of light butter, 4oz Parmesan, and 2 servings of noodles. Since that served two, I divided all the ingredients in half. Then added a 4oz chicken breast, and there ya go. It's painstaking, but worth it for an accurate number.

That's what I do too but then I write it down on the recipe so I don't forget next time. If I make up a recipe I wirte the whole thing down including the calorie count per serving. As Winter says it does take time but it's worth it. Otherwise I would start guesstimating everything.

I pretty much do the same thing. I add up all the ingredients that go into the entire meal and then divide by servings. But sometimes (like if I make Chili) It's hard to know how much the pot will serve (so I know what to divide by). In that case, I'll serve it out of my measuring cup (for everyone) and then I know what to divide by afterwards. Then I write it down so I know ahead of time next time. We really tend to eat the same stuff.

I don't know about other places, but I know on thedailyplate.com you can make meals so once you do it, you don't have to add it all up again the next time you eat it.

calorie-count.com has a place to figure the recipes on it.

If it's something like soup or chili that I make a big pot of and don't really know how many it will serve, I enter everything in fitday, then pour the soup into a big bowl that will measure 16 cups. I note how many cups there were, then I dish myself up a cup at a time. That way no one else has to measure theirs, unless they want to, and I'll know how many calories I have consumed. It only adds about 5 minutes to my time (I've gotten really quick at entering things on fitday) and is well worth it.

Last night I made our "family spaghetti" for the first time since starting this program, and I used www.spark recipes.com with my spark people account. I was able to add the ingredients and then decide how many servings. Then, it gave me a nutritional breakdown for each serving. It was pretty cool! (And I was able to show my husband we could actually have our family pasta even though he is low carb!)