My attempts to keep a food journal came screeching to a halt when the Christmas parties started.  Not because I blew my diet; I actually did better than ever this year.  But it’s impossible to know the nutritional values of everything you eat when you’re eating lots of homemade stuff prepared by other people.  I know I kept my carbs low enough not to trigger any high blood sugar symptoms or cravings (but not low enough to lose any weight).  That’s pretty good, for this time of year.

Our Lard Bucket

In general, though, if you go to the trouble to keep a food journal, it’d be nice if it were accurate.  Even when you prepare your own meals, that can be tricky.  Most mornings for breakfast, I fry a few eggs in lard, usually with some bacon or sausage.  Fitday has an entry for “fried egg,” but does that mean fried in butter, margarine, Pam, or what?  Was it fried in just enough grease to keep it from sticking, or more?  I bet it wasn’t fried in ¼-inch of lard like mine usually are.  So I was wondering: how much lard should I record as part of my diet to make it as accurate as possible?  Lard doesn’t contain any carbs, so it doesn’t matter for that, but I like to know that I’m keeping my fat intake high enough.

I decided to do a little experiment and find out how much lard my eggs soak up. I started by measuring out a generous amount of lard. The skillet was too heavy for the scale, so I put the lard in a plastic container, and together they weighed 9 ounces. (This isn’t going to be terribly accurate, but it’s just for fun.)

Weighing the Lard Before

I put that in the skillet, let it get hot, and cracked four eggs into it. I don’t know how well it shows in the picture, but the eggs are practically submerged. I wanted to make sure they could soak up as much as possible.

Eggs Swimming in Lard

I broke the yolks, flipped them, and cooked them over-easy. When they were finished, I sprinkled a little cheese on them, plus salt and pepper. Time to eat!

Fried Eggs with Cheese

Then I poured the remaining lard back into the container, being careful to get every drop I could out of the skillet. It weighed 8.4 ounces, so my eggs soaked up .6 ounces, or .15 ounces per egg. According to Fitday, that equals 38 calories each, from 4.3 grams of fat.

Weighing the Lard After

So, now I know to add .15 ounces of lard per egg whenever I enter fried eggs on Fitday.  I’ll also have to start recording the eggs as poached, since I don’t know how much fat they’re already including in their numbers.

Whew.  I sure am glad I don’t count calories and have to worry about this stuff all the time!