This is just your friendly Friday reminder....

breefoshee

...to weigh your food. Seriously, weigh it.


The past 3 weeks, I decided.. meh.. I don't feel like weighing my foods. So I just eyeballed everything. "yea.. that looks like 4oz of chicken." I'm trying to lose roughly 1lb a week.. which is more or less a 500 calorie deficit for me.

I haven't lost weight for the past 2/3 weeks.. and I just kept saying.. "well its probably just water. I'm about to get my next big "whoosh"... it's coming.. I swear."

Last night, I was meal prepping for the next 2 weeks (freezer meals and whatnot) so I weighed everything and entered it all in MFP this morning.

The amount of chicken that I'd been logging as 250 calories in MFP was actually 450 calories- and I might eat that for lunch and supper.
My protein pancakes that I thought couldn't be more than about 150 calories per pancake was actually 234 calories.

So lets do the math:

1134 (Calories I actually ate) - 650 (calories I thought I ate) =484 calories

That's basically my deficit and doesn't even include my ENTIRE day of eating and not weighing. By not taking the time to weigh my food because I thought it was a waste of time, I actually ending up wasting like 3 weeks of my time.


TL; DR Weigh your food.

breefoshee

I'm bumping this because I think more people should see it.

jillby6666

Good advice! A real eye opener. Thanks for this.

Francl27

Amen. My one tablespoon of almond butter this morning weighed in close to one serving (which is supposedly 2 tbsp). That's 90 calories right there...

diannethegeek

Useful links for anyone who wanders in here and is just getting started:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1290491/how-and-why-to-use-a-digital-food-scale
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide

Good post. Thanks for the Friday reminder!

breefoshee

diannethegeek wrote: »

Useful links for anyone who wanders in here and is just getting started:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1290491/how-and-why-to-use-a-digital-food-scale
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide

Good post. Thanks for the Friday reminder!

Great posts, with great info!

Thelinna

Definitely good advice. I've been starting to weigh my food more often and it's definitely eye opening!

tiffanylacourse

Great advice - couldn't agree more! :flowerforyou:

MrsKGrady

I weigh my food occasionally and have found that with the majority of things, I'm pretty close. Then, I found with some things that I'm so worried about getting it right that I'm actually not putting enough on my plate (for instance, I'll put 3oz of fish on my plate, but log 4oz). I just make sure I spot check to make sure I'm getting things right and that's what works for me.

EmilyJackCO

Also, measure your liquids, and double check your labels periodically. The coffee creamer I was logging as 1.5tbls was closer to 3. As in over. And then I accidentally bought the same creamer I always do, only to find that I didn't check close enough and it was the full sugar version, not the sugar-free, and I only realized it when I scanned the barcode. So I was logging the same 2 tbls, but of the 200% increased cal version. >.<

Even with larger allowances, this makes a huge difference. Math is your friend.

michellemybelll

yep. food scales are incredibly helpful, if not necessary.

fat2strongbeth

Thanks for the great reminders!

LandyBreigh

Thank you! It is so important to weigh and measure foods.

CObluegrass

totally agreed. Plus sometimes I get more when I weigh something than when I eyeball it or use a measuring cup so I want to be sure I actually get what I logged.

Christine_72

I was dead set against weighing food at one time. I was obsessed as it was just counting calories. But the good people here drummed it into me to weigh and measure everything. So now I'm doing it, it's not that difficult

SuggaD

I never weighed a thing. But I guess some people need to. I'm really good at eyeballing things. I do, however, measure most liquids.

callyart

I think it is important for high calorie foods. Sometimes I guess salad and veg because I don't have time to weigh absolutely everything out (especially when I am cooking 2 seperate meals at the same time!) But always weigh things like cheese, sauces, nuts etc because I know I would end up having a lot more.

breefoshee

SuggaD wrote: »

I never weighed a thing. But I guess some people need to. I'm really good at eyeballing things. I do, however, measure most liquids.

When I was larger, I could get away with not weighing things... but the more weight I've lost, the thinner the line I can walk. I don't plan on weighing things til I die, butttt at least until I can become better at "eyeballing"-- which apparently I totally fail at now lol.

paulawatkins1974

I have had people laugh at me for being obsessive. They're like "That's a bit extreme & unneccesary isn't it?" I'm like "Well, I could just stay fat.." I used to think it was obsessive too. Maybe it is. If being obsessive is what it takes for ME to reach my goals, so be it.

zyxst

I'm getting ready to eat at a -250 deficit and I have to get really nitpicky about weighing my food. I'm weighing things I never did before, like my 2 Oreo cookies and pre-sliced Swiss cheese.

If you're wondering why you aren't losing weight, check your logging.

callyart

zyxst wrote: »

I'm getting ready to eat at a -250 deficit and I have to get really nitpicky about weighing my food. I'm weighing things I never did before, like my 2 Oreo cookies and pre-sliced Swiss cheese.

If you're wondering why you aren't losing weight, check your logging.

I was wondering about this yes. Sometimes when I check things to log on here they are out by about 20-40% sometimes. I logged a pack of crisps a couple of weeks ago that said 90 something calories but when checking the bag they were 120 something. You need to check your packaging and work it out correctly as well instead of going with what someone else has logged on here. God knows why they log them incorrectly!

Jruzer

As others have said, useful but not necessary. Especially useful for energy-dense foods.

I find with my current lifestyle that I just can't weigh and measure everything, especially at dinner. Mrs Jruzer makes the dinner and I eat reasonable portions of it. Sometimes I have a recipe and make an educated guess as to what fraction of it I ate (1/8? 1/10?) Sometimes I eyeball -- there's no way I'm weighing ground beef for tacos at dinner, f'rinstance.

But it works for me -- when I'm cutting I actually cut faster than predicted. I can tell it doesn't work for everyone.

So when posters claim they can't lose weight, the advice to weigh everything is absolutely correct.

JoRocka

*cosign*