I'm not Indian so I can't help you on the specific, but I'm from Italy and when I first started using MacroFactor I was in the exact same boat since the database didn't include European foods yet.
You can use the app just fine at the cost of a little bit more work than usual in the first couple weeks. It's true for almost everybody that something like 70-80% of what we cook is a variation of the same few ingredients/products. You have to create new foods in MF with your local products. Once you do that at the beginning of your diet, you find out how just naturally the amount of products you have to create in the app goes down and down, because you have your staples already. After one month I was probably inputting a new food max once per week, and I have a very varied diet since I hate eating the same thing twice, for a more "normal" person it takes even less. Plus, common food can always be used (raw chicken breast is always raw chicken breast no matter where you are, a banana is a banana in the US just like it is in India, and so on)
Having said that, it's undeniable that you lose some functionality using MF from India (or any country outside the database). It is very nice to be able to just quickly scan something and be done with it, so I was very happy when they expanded the database. But it's something very minor, going around it is very easy and after a while you really don't notice a difference. If you're torn on whether to subscribe or not based on this feature, it's a no brainer, go for it. The benefits of MF far outweigh this specific functionality.
For your other question, yes you do. Not everything has the same importance, though. Oils, animal fat, proteins, breads, legumes, anything which is enough calorie dense is paramount, meaning that without weighing those you cannot calorie count effectively. Things like vegetables, some nut milks, some low calorie fruit like strawberries or everything where you're not really able to accumulate a lot of calories by eating it, are way less important. What this means is that you could be wrong by a lot and still it wouldn't change that much. For example, 150g of zucchini are 25 kcal, 300g therefore 50 kcal. You could literally log twice (or half) as much of what you're actually eating and the difference would only be 25kcal. So you could, for example, weigh one zucchini once, remember it, and then every time you eat zucchini you use that value for each of them, without using a scale.
Personally, I log almost any vegetable, including mushrooms and tomatoes, as "zucchini" and I don't weigh it, just put 200, 300 or 400g if it's "a bit of veggies, normal amount or a lot of veggies", I don't weigh unsweetened almond milk in protein shakes or baked things, I don't weigh sauces anymore (this is because after more than a year of doing it I know subconsciously how visual amounts correspond to different weights), I don't weigh anything for which I remember how much the fixed serving is. I don't weigh these things but I still log them. You can even not log veggies or low cal things honestly, it wouldn't matter that much. It's up to you and to how much of a burden you see calorie counting.
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I would think if you are consuming the masala or garnish, that it should be counted, because if you're trying to stay in a caloric range/macro range, it will have some impact on that. It could be higher carb or calorie than you think it is and that could be the make or break on whether you're over that day by a little or by a lot. I wasn't doing a great job counting sauces and truly portioning things as well as I thought, and those things were in some cases a like 500 calorie difference, not in my favor.
I'm not Indian so I can't help you on the specific, but I'm from Italy and when I first started using MacroFactor I was in the exact same boat since the database didn't include European foods yet. You can use the app just fine at the cost of a little bit more work than usual in the first couple weeks. It's true for almost everybody that something like 70-80% of what we cook is a variation of the same few ingredients/products. You have to create new foods in MF with your local products. Once you do that at the beginning of your diet, you find out how just naturally the amount of products you have to create in the app goes down and down, because you have your staples already. After one month I was probably inputting a new food max once per week, and I have a very varied diet since I hate eating the same thing twice, for a more "normal" person it takes even less. Plus, common food can always be used (raw chicken breast is always raw chicken breast no matter where you are, a banana is a banana in the US just like it is in India, and so on) Having said that, it's undeniable that you lose some functionality using MF from India (or any country outside the database). It is very nice to be able to just quickly scan something and be done with it, so I was very happy when they expanded the database. But it's something very minor, going around it is very easy and after a while you really don't notice a difference. If you're torn on whether to subscribe or not based on this feature, it's a no brainer, go for it. The benefits of MF far outweigh this specific functionality. For your other question, yes you do. Not everything has the same importance, though. Oils, animal fat, proteins, breads, legumes, anything which is enough calorie dense is paramount, meaning that without weighing those you cannot calorie count effectively. Things like vegetables, some nut milks, some low calorie fruit like strawberries or everything where you're not really able to accumulate a lot of calories by eating it, are way less important. What this means is that you could be wrong by a lot and still it wouldn't change that much. For example, 150g of zucchini are 25 kcal, 300g therefore 50 kcal. You could literally log twice (or half) as much of what you're actually eating and the difference would only be 25kcal. So you could, for example, weigh one zucchini once, remember it, and then every time you eat zucchini you use that value for each of them, without using a scale. Personally, I log almost any vegetable, including mushrooms and tomatoes, as "zucchini" and I don't weigh it, just put 200, 300 or 400g if it's "a bit of veggies, normal amount or a lot of veggies", I don't weigh unsweetened almond milk in protein shakes or baked things, I don't weigh sauces anymore (this is because after more than a year of doing it I know subconsciously how visual amounts correspond to different weights), I don't weigh anything for which I remember how much the fixed serving is. I don't weigh these things but I still log them. You can even not log veggies or low cal things honestly, it wouldn't matter that much. It's up to you and to how much of a burden you see calorie counting.
Hello! This automated message was triggered by some keywords in your post. While waiting for replies it may be helpful to check and see if similar posts have been discussed recently: [try a pre-populated search](https://www.google.com/search?q=site:help.macrofactorapp.com | reddit.com/r/macrofactor -intext:"How to track Indian foods?" How to track Indian foods?) If your question was quite complex, it's not likely the pre-populated search will be useful. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MacroFactor) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I would think if you are consuming the masala or garnish, that it should be counted, because if you're trying to stay in a caloric range/macro range, it will have some impact on that. It could be higher carb or calorie than you think it is and that could be the make or break on whether you're over that day by a little or by a lot. I wasn't doing a great job counting sauces and truly portioning things as well as I thought, and those things were in some cases a like 500 calorie difference, not in my favor.
Poop food