calorie calculator?

[Lizabeth]

Is there a way to enter a recipe and have the calories per serving calculated?

[damurray · Accepted solution]

Hi Lizabeth,

You have to setup the initial calories per serving and then when logging food the calories will be calculated based on your initial settings< servings, oz, grams... etc>.  But it won't calculated calories based solely on the food you enter for the recipe.  That is up to you to determine.

[DarleneM]

I used my FitBit "Meals" tab and entered all the ingredients for a receipe that I was wanting to make. Then I temporarily entered it as a meal and then divided it by the number of servings (6) that the entire meal was supposed to be. I copied all the numbers and then re-adjusted the ingredient amount for servings size of 6 but when I entered what I ate, I put ONE serving. It seemed to work ok since the total was way up over a thousand calories and a single serving size was around 300 calories. This also opened my eyes as to how many calories I had BEEN eating up until now.

Since I live alone, what I have been doing is making one dish and before I even eat, I separate the dish into the number of servings and freeze the rest. This helps a lot with portion control and it is great for when you want something but don't want to cook all day, especially if the dish freezes well.  If it is one that just needs to keep in the fridge, I end up eating it over a period of days and sometimes I get tired of the same dish three days in a row. Just a thought but this works for me really well sometimes.  I'll make vegetable soup or stews on a weekend and freeze portions in freezer bags for later. After a couple of weekends of doing this, I end up with several week's worth of frozen entrees I can choose from. Crock pot stews work well like this too. I'll cook some lean meat and veggies in a crock pot and freeze portions for later. If you use freezer bags and you know the portion size and calories, write it on the bag! 

I also buy fresh fruit in season and clean/measure out portions and freeze what I can for later. I even freeze fresh seedless grapes and they are great frozen!  When I have fresh corn, I make up small portions in freezer bags and freeze them for later. Most foods freeze well like this.

I like to use freezer bags when/where I can because they don't take up as much space as containers and you can remove almost all the air from the bag. If the freezer bag can lay somewhat flat, freeze it flat and later you can stand it up vertical to save space and organize better. Hope these tips help someone, I've been doing this for years.

[Lizabeth]

Thanks a lot Darlene!

[DarleneM]

You're welcome! 

Today I fixed steamed cabbage and ham, which is one of my favorite low calorie meals. I just put part in the fridge and some in the freezer. One serving size is about 200-300 calories or less!

Super easy to fix:  I take on "ham steak" and trim the fat. It can be cut up in to pieces or cooked whole... Put that in the bottom of a large stock pot. Set heat to Medium/High for a few minutes. The ham has some water IN it and it will start cooking easily. Cover pot with a lid. Next take one large head of cabbage and cut the center part out; cut up the rest in about 1-2" pieces, it doesn't have to be exact. Put the cut up cabbage on top of the ham and add about two tablespoons of water, to create steam. COVER the pot and let it cook on Medium heat for about 15 minutes, stir and cover again. Leave it covered, the steam cooks the cabbage and it will wilt down to cover the ham. It takes about 30-45 minutes for the cabbage to be done. Cabbage is good for you and very low in calories. Sausage can be substituted but may up the calorie content. I prefer a small lean ham steak to flavor the dish.  It's filling but low cal and really good stuff, It freezes very well and will keep in the fridge for several days easily.  A cup of steamed cabbage is 33 calories and a serving of the ham is 80! I know some may say "EWWW" but don't knock it til you try it!

[Austintatious]

I use the recipe analyzer on Calorie Count which is super easy.  All you do is type in the ingredients, indicate the number of servings, and click on the analyze recipe button.  Not only does it give you the calories per serving, it provides the nutritional data and the serving size in grams.  Since my eyes are much bigger than my stomach, I am totally addicted to weighing my food; so this feature is definitely a plus for me.

Here is the link: http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php

[Gingerbreadmomm]

Anyone can go to the dieticians of Canada EATRACKER - it's free to set up an account and you can enter a recipe there, as well as the number of servings and it will give you the nutritional information per serving.

here is the link:  https://www.eatracker.ca/

[HelenaFitbit]

That recipe sounds yummy @DarleneM ! I might try that with some italian sausage 

[HelenaFitbit]

Hey there @Lizabeth ! I linked my Fitbit Profile to MyFitnessPal since they have a worldwide database, including barcode scanner and recipe builder.

They are supported both through a computer as well as through most Smartphones. You can get more information on this page.