How do you use MFP in terms of portioin and recipes?

[cilantromapuche]

I don't eat a lot of processed foods so I keep falling off the MFP wagon because it becomes too difficult to measure, figure out etc. Does anyone have tips on how to do that effectively? Is there a way to put a recipe in? Do you portion all your food before you eat it?
It seems like so much work and yet I need to do it because I am yo-yoing too much. Argh!

[vtmom]

We don't eat processed foods either so I found myself in the same boat at first. It does get easier as you input a lot of foods you eat regularly and MFP remembers them and brings them up as you are making a new entry. I search for a food in the MFP database and if it doesn't seem right, I look it up online then enter what I find if it's much different or use an MFP entry that seems more in line with what my "research" found. I measure everything, but portion control is a big part of the reason I am using MFP. I eat healthy, just too much healthy. My measuring cups and spoons have taken up permanent residence on my counter top the past two months. There are ways to put recipes in. I found it easier to do on my desktop than from the app, but I also discovered that a lot of recipes I am making have already been figured out by someone else when I google them so I just enter the calories. Hope that helps.

[specialp]

I switched from MFP because of that. I cook pretty much everything we eat and everything is low carb so there aren't a lot of similar recipes I can get from MFP. calorie count (caloriecount.about.com I think) has a recipe analyzer so we switched to that. It isn't perfect, not by a long shot. Lots of things I wish it was better at, but I can copy and paste a recipe in there, put in how many servings it makes for us, it analyzes it and saves it.

[specialp]

As far as portioning, I do portion out our food (DH watches his food as well) prior to eating most of the time when, like now, we feel like we've gotten a little heavy handed with the portions and are trying to lose a few lbs. Certain dishes, like a low carb shepherd's pie, I actually measure out & bake in ramekins so the portion is there and set rather than do one big casserole. But it is a lot more work than just serving yourself up.

[pastrygirl]

I had the same problem and quit a few times because of it. Last year I just finally decided to commit. I enter the recipe that I'm making and then weigh the whole cooked thing before serving, and figure out the # of servings (4oz or 8oz, usually), and put the # oz in as part of the title so I know for the future what a "serving" was. I weigh almost everything before I eat.

[cilantromapuche]

Thanks for your answers. it is so hard because between kids and work I don't need one more thing but i know that I need something to keep me accountable!

[specialp]

I know it is hard. One thing that helps is to enter what I plan to eat the night before so I'm not playing catch up all the day because I don't have the time to do it (both places have apps though and it does help). It's boring for some people, but it also helps me to eat the same breakfast & lunch a week at a time. I will change it up from week to week, but having those things set for a busy weekday frees me up from having to think about/measure/calculate much more than dinner and a snack.