my fitness pal question

When i search for a food so many options come up with different calorie counts. How do you know which are accurate?

my fitness pal question

I use same app. When search results come up most are brand names or restaurant brands. I make a lot of my food from scratch so I look for "homemade" type. This is all just an approximate so if your off by 10 calories or so I wouldn't worry too much.
I scan most of the foods I eat and that's so much easier.

Re: my fitness pal question

Thanks. Even for coffee with 1% milkna whole bunch of options with different measurements and calories came up.

Tonight i made the teriyaki noodle bowl that was posted on the food board and had to estimate.

1200 calories is VERY hard! Even if the food is somewhat clean and healthy.

my fitness pal question

I do 1300 and its tricky. I would enter the coffee (ex: 8oz) and milk (ex: 1/4 cup) that would be more accurate. This is how I do it.
There is a recipe tab in app add ingredients & # of servings & it will give calories.

Re: my fitness pal question

I use the barcode scanner as much as possible and for anything I can't scan, I look at a range of options and take the average.

my fitness pal question

I make my own "recipe"

Re: my fitness pal question

Yes 1200 calories a day is hard, i have had days where my food has tallied 1500 and I feel guilty when the scale goes up by a half pound or more. The app has too many calorie choices, I usually err on the choice that has the most (ie I ate a Ceasar salad from the Bagel Factory in Farmingdale but put it down as a more fattening Ceasar salad from Panera Bread because I have no clue how much dressing or croutons were thrown in).

Another trick I do is beef up on fruits and veggies..if I have 200 -400 calories between Breakfast and Lunch (banana, apple, egg whites, veggie soup) that gives me 800-1000 calories to play with for dinner. Celery sticks are a great snack and keep hunger pangs at bay.

Re: my fitness pal question

I exercise every day and try to get up to 300 calories- then I spend half of those calories in more food- because 1200 calories is REALLY REALLY hard.. and that's with me replacing to meals a day with a 240 cal shake.