Cup vs ounces, volume vs weight, help!

jal43

Hi all, I need some help with measurements and my food portions to make sure my tracking is accurate.

I put Purdue shortcuts on my salad sometimes. The serving size is 1cup. I then weigh the chicken of 2oz and in my food diary, I track 1/4 of a cup, but not sure this is right.

Does a cup mean 8oz of chicken or how much chicken fits in a measuring cup, which probably won't weigh as much as 8oz.???

Thanks everyone!

macgurlnet

Look through the database for an entry that has ounces (or, ideally, grams) and use that one. Do you have the packaging handy? Compare the database entry with the packaging. If you don't find one with ounces/grams, just enter in your own.

You may have to comb through for a while to find one with the right info but, once you do, it's in your diary for good so you can re-use it!

~Lyssa

Francl27

Solids = use weight. Ideally, grams.
Liquids = use volume.

Always.

malibu927

Next to the 1 cup on the nutrition label it should give a weight that would correspond to the serving

rumijs

8 oz is half a pound (16 oz is a lb). I'd suggest getting a food scale because that is more accurate than using fluid measurements for solids. Yes, 8 oz = 1 cup = a portion that fits in a cup...if you want to think of it in LOOSE/INACCURATE TERMS. Think of it this way...if you really tried, you could fit more than "8 oz or half pound" of a solid in a cup (like if you were to chop it very small, or if it is a really dense food). For best results/most accuracy, you want to measure fluids in volume measurements (oz) and solids in weight measurements as mentioned above.

Francl27

rumijs wrote: »

8 oz is half a pound (16 oz is a lb). I'd suggest getting a food scale because that is more accurate than using fluid measurements for solids. Yes, 8 oz = 1 cup = a portion that fits in a cup...if you want to think of it in LOOSE/INACCURATE TERMS. Think of it this way...if you really tried, you could fit more than "8 oz or half pound" of a solid in a cup (like if you were to chop it very small, or if it is a really dense food). For best results/most accuracy, you want to measure fluids in volume measurements (oz) and solids in weight measurements as mentioned above.

No... there are solid and fluid ounces. It's not the same at all...

3dogsrunning

1 cup is 8 fluid ounces. That is not the same as ounces, as in weight.

From their website for one of the products (you can search for the one you use), the info says a serving is 1/2 cup or 71 g.
http://www.perdue.com/products/details.asp?id=221&title=perdue®%20short%20cuts®%20carved%20chicken%20breast,%20original%20roasted%20(9%20oz.)

71 g is 2.5 ounces.

You can't translate cups into weight.

ana3067

Your chicken will tell you how much that "1 cup" is actually supposed to be in oz/grams. Use that.

2loosegoose

Spend the money and buy a digital scale. Weigh as much as possible if you want to be accurate!

queenliz99

Have you read this?

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

3dogsrunning

2loosegoose wrote: »

Spend the money and buy a digital scale. Weigh as much as possible if you want to be accurate!

I don't think the issue here is the scale. OP is weighing but the information they have is for volume, not weight.

autumnblade75

Francl27 wrote: »

rumijs wrote: »

8 oz is half a pound (16 oz is a lb). I'd suggest getting a food scale because that is more accurate than using fluid measurements for solids. Yes, 8 oz = 1 cup = a portion that fits in a cup...if you want to think of it in LOOSE/INACCURATE TERMS. Think of it this way...if you really tried, you could fit more than "8 oz or half pound" of a solid in a cup (like if you were to chop it very small, or if it is a really dense food). For best results/most accuracy, you want to measure fluids in volume measurements (oz) and solids in weight measurements as mentioned above.

No... there are solid and fluid ounces. It's not the same at all...

Actually, a fluid oz. of water weighs the same as an ounce of whatever solid. Exactly the same. But you can't make a solid behave like a liquid - you can't measure weight by volume in a measuring cup unless you're measuring water. I was going to say "liquid" instead of "water" but I'm not entirely clear on how much density milk solids actually add. I suspect it's close enough for my calorie counts. For that matter, my milk carton wants me to measure in mL, and I'm uneasy about considering mL and g to be equivalent. I do it, after all, if I'm pouring milk over cereal - tare out the bowl with cereal and add the milk - but I'm not certain that it is 100% as accurate as possible. And then I tell myself that I am being OCD about it, and log it. Would anyone care to address that?

rileysowner

8 fluid ounces, what a cup measures, is not the same as 8 solid ounces. Get a digital scale to measure the chicken.

3dogsrunning

rileysowner wrote: »

8 fluid ounces, what a cup measures, is not the same as 8 solid ounces. Get a digital scale to measure the chicken.

OP has a scale. The label told them 1 serving is 1 cup. They are trying to figure out how to measure it with the scale.

juliet3455

jal43 wrote: »

Hi all, I need some help with measurements and my food portions to make sure my tracking is accurate.

I put Purdue shortcuts on my salad sometimes. The serving size is 1cup. I then weigh the chicken of 2oz and in my food diary, I track 1/4 of a cup, but not sure this is right.

Does a cup mean 8oz of chicken or how much chicken fits in a measuring cup, which probably won't weigh as much as 8oz.???

Thanks everyone!

3dogsrunning wrote: »

I don't think the issue here is the scale. OP is weighing but the information they have is for volume, not weight.

Yes/No. @jal43 is weighing and then trying to convert weight ( 2oz ) into cups ( 1/4 ).
Weigh it and log it by the weight, don't try to cross-convert into cups.

@jal43 Go read the Logging Accurately post that was mentioned earlier by @queenliz99 and this post by me ( http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/31676636#Comment_31676636 middle of the page ) which is a compilation of posts that echo's the Logging Accurately plus provides some additional links.

I like the comments that blankiefinder placed in the same post about searching for items in the Food Database and the first reply to your question

macgurlnet wrote: »

Look through the database for an entry that has ounces (or, ideally, grams) and use that one. Do you have the packaging handy? Compare the database entry with the packaging. If you don't find one with ounces/grams, just enter in your own.

You may have to comb through for a while to find one with the right info but, once you do, it's in your diary for good so you can re-use it!

~Lyssa

Except Rather than creating a New Item in the Food Database its better to select the item that most closely match's your food item and then Edit it to add a reference in 100 grams.

3dogsrunning

juliet3455 wrote: »

jal43 wrote: »

Hi all, I need some help with measurements and my food portions to make sure my tracking is accurate.

I put Purdue shortcuts on my salad sometimes. The serving size is 1cup. I then weigh the chicken of 2oz and in my food diary, I track 1/4 of a cup, but not sure this is right.

Does a cup mean 8oz of chicken or how much chicken fits in a measuring cup, which probably won't weigh as much as 8oz.???

Thanks everyone!

3dogsrunning wrote: »

I don't think the issue here is the scale. OP is weighing but the information they have is for volume, not weight.

Yes/No. @jal43 is weighing and then trying to convert weight ( 2oz ) into cups ( 1/4 ).
Weigh it and log it by the weight, don't try to cross-convert into cups.

@jal43 Go read the Logging Accurately post that was mentioned earlier by @queenliz99 and this post by me ( http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/31676636#Comment_31676636 middle of the page ) which is a compilation of posts that echo's the Logging Accurately plus provides some additional links.

I like the comments that blankiefinder placed in the same post about searching for items in the Food Database and the first reply to your question

macgurlnet wrote: »

Look through the database for an entry that has ounces (or, ideally, grams) and use that one. Do you have the packaging handy? Compare the database entry with the packaging. If you don't find one with ounces/grams, just enter in your own.

You may have to comb through for a while to find one with the right info but, once you do, it's in your diary for good so you can re-use it!

~Lyssa

Except Rather than creating a New Item in the Food Database its better to select the item that most closely match's your food item and then Edit it to add a reference in 100 grams.

@juliet3455‌ I understand that. I told the OP the same thing and advised them to go to the website to get the weight per serving instead of the volume measurement.

The quote you took from was me responding to a person who to told the OP to go get a scale. OP has a scale. That is not the issue here.

ETA - I also checked several entries on MFP that did not provide the weight serving. They only had volume measurements available which is why I went to the Purdue website.

musicandarts

autumnblade75 wrote:

For that matter, my milk carton wants me to measure in mL, and I'm uneasy about considering mL and g to be equivalent. I do it, after all, if I'm pouring milk over cereal - tare out the bowl with cereal and add the milk - but I'm not certain that it is 100% as accurate as possible. And then I tell myself that I am being OCD about it, and log it. Would anyone care to address that?

I tare the scale as you say. But I use grams of milk using MFPs calorie information. Conversion between mg and ml is tricky. For all my foods, I use grams exclusively. In MFP, there is a difference between 100 grams of milk and 100 ml of milk, but it is too small to worry about.

juliet3455

@3dogsrunning : Yes you are right - me bad - some how I missed that your comment was directed to the posting by rileysowner and not to jal43.