# Manual logging

> Pick an ingredient, type the grams. No AI, no estimation — arithmetic straight from the data.

When you have weighed your ingredients, there is nothing to guess. Manual
logging skips the AI entirely and computes nutrition directly from food
composition data.

## How to use it

1. **Switch to manual**

Pick manual mode in the input area.

2. **Search for the ingredient**

Type the name. Results come from the same dataset the AI path uses — the [Vietnam
National Food Composition Table 2007](https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/food_composition/documents/pdf/VTN_FCT_2007.pdf), [FAO](https://www.fao.org/food-composition/tables-and-databases/en/) and [USDA](https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/).

3. **Enter the weight**

Type the grams. Nutrition is computed from the per-100g values of the row you
picked.

4. **Add more if needed**

Repeat for each component, then save the meal.

## Picking the right row

Search results usually contain several variants of the same ingredient. Two
things are worth noticing.

**Raw or cooked state.** One row may be raw meat, another cooked. Weight changes
during cooking, so pick the row that matches what you actually put on the scale.

**Edible portion.** Some rows include inedible parts — bone, shell, stones. If
you weighed a whole fish, pick the row that accounts for waste; if you weighed
the fillet, pick the corresponding one.

> **Searching in Vietnamese**
>
> Search takes both accented and unaccented text, but accented is far more
> precise. Typing `bo` returns `bò` (beef), `bơ` (butter) and `bổ` alike; typing
> `bò` returns only beef.

## When this is the right mode

- You cooked from a recipe and weighed each part.
- You are tracking closely and want estimation error out of the picture.
- You want to log a single ingredient — one banana, one glass of milk.
- You have used your AI analyses for the day and still want to log.

## When it is not

If you ate out, manual logging is usually slower and no more accurate — you are
still guessing how much oil the kitchen used.
[Describing the meal](https://kallo.fit/en/docs/logging/describe-a-meal) fits better there.

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_Source: [https://kallo.fit/en/docs/logging/manual](https://kallo.fit/en/docs/logging/manual) · Last updated: 2026-08-03 · Kallo docs index: [https://kallo.fit/llms.txt](https://kallo.fit/llms.txt)_