Quote:
Originally Posted by Su-Bee
The one that I find particularly tricky is when I make turkey or chicken soup - you know, throwing in all the leftover bones & carcass bits, simmering them w/ veggies until the meat falls off, then removing the bones & skimming the fat. I have NO IDEA how to count that, b/c I never really know how much turkey/chicken is still on there, plus I just sort of keep adding water until the consistency is right, so don't even really know how many servings I end up with!
Any ideas on this?
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I have two ideas:
- Weigh all the chicken, bones, etc. before you put it into the pot, then weigh all the bones that you take out. This will tell you about how much chicken stayed in the pot, which you could then figure out the calories for. It will probably be a little high because you are skimming off some of the fat (you could also weigh the fat you skim off, but you're probably getting water with it, so the weight will be more than just fat), but I always figure it is better to be high than low (it makes up for all the times I "accidentally" err on the low side
). In terms of figuring out how many servings you end up with, you could pour it into a container that includes measurements (e.g., a gallon pitcher with measurements on the side)--that would tell you how many cups of soup you ended up with. Or just divide it into single serving containers.
- Estimate based on the calories in store-bought broth. Fat free or low fat broth can be anywhere from 5 to 15 calories per cup--again, I'd probably estimate on the high side at 15 calories per cup. Your broth can't possible be that far off.
Quote:
Originally Posted by willow650
But when you don't measure or weigh your raw veggies, you cant really count them.
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Sure you can! Like Mandalinn said, if you are cutting them up, measure them using a measuring cup. If you aren't cutting them up, go by the general descriptions of large/medium/small. I think calorieking.com usually provides the measurements of what it considers large/med/small. When in doubt, estimate high. I have a digital scale now, but didn't buy it until a year into my diet. I lost most of my weight in that first year, without a food scale. So I think it is completely doable to estimate calories based on volume or size and successfully lose weight--and not just veggies, I also used these methods to estimate the calories in meat. Having the digital scale does make things easier, particularly when it comes to figuring out the calories in meat, but it's not essential.
