help menu

Join us on the Community Forums!

  • Community Guidelines

    The Fitbit Community is a gathering place for real people who wish to exchange ideas, solutions, tips, techniques, and insight about the Fitbit products and services they love. By joining our Community, you agree to uphold these guidelines, so please take a moment to look them over.

  • Learn the Basics

    Check out our Frequently Asked Questions page for information on Community features, and tips to make the most of your time here.

  • Join the Community!

    Join an existing conversation, or start a new thread to ask your question. Creating your account is completely free, and takes about a minute.

Not finding your answer on the Community Forums?

Cancel
Turn on suggestions
Auto-suggest helps you quickly narrow down your search results by suggesting possible matches as you type.
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Logging Calories for Recipes

‎05-18-2015 03:38

‎05-18-2015 03:38

Hi,

 

I'm completely new to fitbit - just got mine yesterday.  How do you log calories for foods that you cook from a recipe when there are no calorie counts at the end of the recipe or serving suggestions?

Best Answer
6 REPLIES 6

‎05-18-2015 09:33

‎05-18-2015 09:33

Hey there. A lot tougher this way, but you can definitely do it.  I bought myself a food scale (about $15 at Walmart) and it has been a lifesaver. I found that I was completely off on most estimates! Also, get some good measuring cups---from the teeniest teaspoon to the big more-than-a-cup containers. 

MyFitnessPal is great about having basic ingredients. Then I just pick the best one and log it. I've also started using the Recipes portion on MFP so when I make the same dish again, I won't have to find everything all over again. 

Everything is a basic estimation. A fact that I've had to come to terms with because I'm a super-OCD-analytical freak when it comes to this stuff. So just use your best judgment and keep on cookin'! 

 

Good luck with your Fitbit journey! 

Best Answer
0 Votes

‎05-18-2015 21:57

‎05-18-2015 21:57

I use myfitnesspal to track all food and link it to my fitbit account. It lets you enter your own recipes and those found on the web. It has a much better food database as well.
Best Answer
0 Votes

‎05-19-2015 03:28

In response to Shortsbysummer

‎05-19-2015 03:28

How do you link it to your fit bit account?

 

Best Answer
0 Votes

‎09-29-2018 07:22

In response to Shortsbysummer

‎09-29-2018 07:22

how do you link myfitnesspal to fitbit

 

Best Answer
0 Votes

‎09-30-2018 02:15

‎09-30-2018 02:15

I have this issue as well - I do most of my cooking from scratch.

Best Answer
0 Votes

‎09-30-2018 02:35

In response to DblGee

‎09-30-2018 02:35

Yeah, the native food tracker is very limited and biased to people who eat single discrete foods or prepackaged things.

 

What I do is enter the recipe in as a "meal" on the website. Then I open another tab/window and put in the basic nutrition info (calories, fat, protein, carbs, fiber, sodium) as a custom food with a serving of "1 recipe" or another suitable unit, and the name "(Name of food) (date)"; e.g. "Pesto pizza 9-21-18".  Then when I log the food I just choose the amount that I eat.

 

The next time I make the food I update the "meal" (because the amount of some ingredients, especially meat, may vary from one time to the next) and add another custom food with the updated information and date.

 

It's a kludgy way of doing it, but I don't want to mess with another app.  It would be nice if Fitbit developers were more customer-focused instead of imitating Microsoft, Google, and Apple in the
"we're designing our app around how we think people ought to use it rather than how they want and need to" attitude.

Best Answer
0 Votes