Who *actually* measures and weighs everything?

NakeshiaBeard

How many of you *actually* measure and weigh everything you eat?

I'm just curious. I haven't really weighed anything properly for a long time. I spend many years working in restaurants and bakeries so I became really good at judging weight by sight. Also, a fitness/weight loss program I took part in for 36 weeks provided me with many recipes that are set at 300-350 calories per serve (of course, I still weight and measure the ingredients for the recipes), although over time my serving sizes have relaxed, which I think could be a reason why I've stopped losing weight.

LabAgility

*waves* I do.

Chief_Rocka

I don't now, but I used to.

I think it's important for people to do it in the beginning, just to get a sense of things. After that, some people can get good at estimating other can't.

Also, your total calorie intake is a huge factor in how much error you can tolerate. I maintain at 3,000 cals a day. If I estimate a meal at a restaurant and I'm off by 300 cals, that's 10% of my calorie intake, no huge deal. But, if I was eating 1500 calories, now you're talking about being off by 20% of my intake, that could be a lot bigger problem depending on how frequently it happened. With a lower calorie intake, you have less "leeway."

mike_ny

I did for the first few weeks to find out what portions sizes should be. Then for those foods, I could eyeball it, and would only weight/measure new foods I didn't have a good feel for. Once you get good at it, it comes naturally. I can grab an ounce of nuts out of a jar with my hand or cut an ounce of cheese and I'm pretty much right on (maybe a tad over or under, but definitely close enough for a good guesstimate).

It's a real eye opener. Most people are guessing way under in what they're putting on their plates.

Ninkyou

I do. Every single day. The only thing I don't weigh is when I go out to eat at a restaurant/fast food/other person's house. Other than that, I weigh and log pretty much everything (heh, except all my Halloween candy :O )

ana3067

Ninkyou wrote: »

I do. Every single day. The only thing I don't weigh is when I go out to eat at a restaurant/fast food/other person's house. Other than that, I weigh and log pretty much everything (heh, except all my Halloween candy :O )

same, although if I'm eating at another's house I'm likely to just try to estimate the weight of food.

apparations

I don't, for the same reason that I spent a very long time working in restaurants, so I have a good idea of how much things weigh by looking at it. But it is NOT foolproof, the only thing holding you accountable is yourself, and if you're not careful you can relax as you say and eat more than you realize. This happened to me and I did not lose for about 6 weeks, so I had to force myself to be much more honest when logging. The good thing about weighing food is that scale does not lie, eyeballing will always be a little less accurate no matter what.

Liftng4Lis

I absolutely do, because I don't have much to lose and at this stage being as close to exact is imperative.

segacs

I do weigh and measure pretty much everything when I'm at home. I'm really bad at estimating portions visually, as it turns out. Which could be why previous efforts failed.

When I'm out and about, it's another story. I do my best to estimate. But I'm not bringing out the food scale in public.

NakeshiaBeard

apparations wrote: »

I don't, for the same reason that I spent a very long time working in restaurants, so I have a good idea of how much things weigh by looking at it. But it is NOT foolproof, the only thing holding you accountable is yourself, and if you're not careful you can relax as you say and eat more than you realize. This happened to me and I did not lose for about 6 weeks, so I had to force myself to be much more honest when logging. The good thing about weighing food is that scale does not lie, eyeballing will always be a little less accurate no matter what.

So true!

UmmSqueaky

If I am preparing food at home, I do. Just finished a big pot of kale sausage lentil stew. Weighed each ingredient as it went in. Weighed individualized portions, and now have 10 ready to eat 303 calorie bowls of soup in the freezer. It took maybe an extra 5 minutes of my time. Been doing it for 11 months and having great success, so why mess with what works?

Alatariel75

I weigh and measure everything except my vegies. I'm guilty of picking a random entry for my veg anbd just logging that. On the occasions I've checked, I've been wildly over or under but I think it's a hangover from my Weight Watchers days where they were 'free'. I do weigh the starchy/higher calorie ones.

janicejean1953

I weight everything (except for when I eat out of course, then I estimate). I have to in order to be sure I do not go over my daily caloric count. I'm too "new" to this weighting and measuring so I don't want to "estimate" or I may find myself in trouble.

segacs

Hey, sometimes weighing and measuring can be a pleasant surprise. Like when I weighed that maki roll that was portioned at 350g (and that I'd been entering as such) and found out it was only 188g. So I went ahead and got more sushi. Score!

jgled

Absolutely my only way to stay honest with myself. Keeping a food diary really is,a commitment.

fobs13

I do when I can as find it very useful to do so. My husband is very supportive and as he does the majority of the cooking he weighs everything for me so I can log my meals successfully. It's been am eyeopener to me how many calories in meals and I used to eat bigger portions than now.

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AOdell79

I don't have a food scale but I measure everything that can be measured and count out servings for nuts, crackers, stuff like that.

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AOdell79

Well I went from a size 10 to a size 2 so it seems to be working ok.

JazzFischer1989

I definitely don't lol. But I think I'm pretty good at estimating since whatever weight goals I set for myself, I'm able to accomplish within the time frame that I want. Also helps to stick to serving sizes on packaged foods.

lemurcat12

I weigh everything I cook myself except, sometimes, greens, where I might estimate the number of cups. I do this because I find it easier to use the scale as a step in cooking than to estimate or mess with cups. I basically weigh when I'm chopping.

Francl27

I do. Hard enough to stick to my deficit lately without having to guess. Obviously only at home though, but I eat there most of the time.

mram3582

I do, and I add my recipes to the recipe and meal sections for quick reference.

50sFit

NakeshiaBeard wrote: »

How many of you *actually* measure and weigh everything you eat?

I'm just curious. I haven't really weighed anything properly for a long time. I spend many years working in restaurants and bakeries so I became really good at judging weight by sight. Also, a fitness/weight loss program I took part in for 36 weeks provided me with many recipes that are set at 300-350 calories per serve (of course, I still weight and measure the ingredients for the recipes), although over time my serving sizes have relaxed, which I think could be a reason why I've stopped losing weight.

I do not.
Starting out I just kept guessing through trial and error which got me close enough.
These days I can look at something and estimate calories and macro breakdown and weigh it against exercise calorie burn.
Practice makes perfect...or at least good enough for government work.

arditarose

I do...When I'm home. I DON'T have a digital scale though, I'll admit.

merisaOct3

AOdell79 wrote: »

Well I went from a size 10 to a size 2 so it seems to be working ok.

+1

I get where the comment about weighing was coming from. I love my scale and it's especially helpful for protein (meat) sizes. But, literally counting out crackers or nuts is still portion control, even if you're slightly off with exact calories.

MamaRiss

I weigh about 90% of my foods. I usually don't weigh condiments, after a few months learned that I almost always use less than the listed serving size, and the ones I do go over on I'm still under two servings, but no matter what I always round up when I log. Veggies pre-sliced bread and single serve packaged foods I don't usually weigh (unless I can see that the size is off from the norm). I plan on continueing to weigh for at least a few months into maintenance, until I get used eating at that level of calories

terar21

merisaOct3 wrote: »

AOdell79 wrote: »

Well I went from a size 10 to a size 2 so it seems to be working ok.

+1

I get where the comment about weighing was coming from. I love my scale and it's especially helpful for protein (meat) sizes. But, literally counting out crackers or nuts is still portion control, even if you're slightly off with exact calories.

This. I'm going to weigh meat. I will measure liquids. But I'm not going to weigh my 100 calorie pack of almonds lol. If I'm a couple calories off, I'll live. I figure we'll all off a little anyway because our exercise calories burned are just estimates anyway.

segacs

Also worth noting that by law, the packaging information can be off by a certain percentage too. I measure and weigh for consistency over time more than for absolute accuracy.

Daniloveshockey94

i do!! not everything but i do with a lotta things! it keeps me going