I hate measuring

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  • misheri90
    misheri90 Posts: 17 Member
    edited March 2015
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    Sometimes I hate it because there are some foods that I really have to spend a lot of time on the internet searching calorie information for (my work lunches since they are provided for me and don't know the weights of and can only really guess the servings I eat, as well as goods from the bakery that can really vary from shop to shop. Add in the factor that I live in a non-English speaking country so spend a lot of time searching in a second language that I'm still mediocre at). Mostly though, it's really convenient and keeps me on track.

    That said, I lost the majority of my weight without mfp or calorie counting. I actually joined this site to get my head in the game when I started having binges, followed by bouts of overeating for an ongoing period, rather than just treating myself with a big day now and again. It helps me manage my emotional eating issues when I have information to take in, though weightloss is definitely achievable without logging and calorie counting, I think it all depends on the person.
  • YalithKBK
    YalithKBK Posts: 317 Member
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    I measure just because I follow a lot of recipes when I cook. I do not weigh though. I'm still losing weight too!
  • Tabithas_Transformation
    Tabithas_Transformation Posts: 93 Member
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    Personally, I don't see how you can log your food without weighing it but that's probably because I just can't stand to be wrong/inaccurate when it comes to data :) I get a kick out of statistics and trends but not everyone does so I can sympathise with your position. The most important key to losing weight is to find something that works for you long-term so that you can lose the weight and maintain the loss.

    I will be weighing and logging food for the rest of my life because I love the sense of control and the 38lbs I've lost doing it so far.
  • karenrich77
    karenrich77 Posts: 292 Member
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    I love it :)
  • Tedebearduff
    Tedebearduff Posts: 1,155 Member
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    nesian_twin wrote: »
    Will count calories in here but to weigh and measure every single morsel that goes onto my plate is so damn boring, anyone else feel the same? Plus I think its obsessive. Still managing to lose the weight without it though :) Usually measure portions by hand.

    No but hey if it works for you then do whatever you want.
  • scottacular
    scottacular Posts: 597 Member
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    Measuring and weighing comes naturally to me now, takes seconds out of my day to do it. As opposed to judging portion sizes by guessing, eating too much and then gradually putting weight on and having to take weeks to lose it all again. I get that it feels a bit over the top and a hassle. And when I get to a point where I've cut all I want to cut, gained all I want to gain and can comfortably maintain - I'd like to get back to eating without needing MFP. But until then, precise goals require precise portion sizing. This is all worth it, as I said, it's a few seconds for so much reward.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    i lost a lot of weight measuring by hand, eyeball and general estimation, so for a long time i didn't need to be super exact. but then my weight stayed pretty stagnant. then i started being super accurate, measuring and weighing as much as i could. i even have measuring cups and a food scale at work now. i've leaned out a lot.
  • Hippychick5983
    Hippychick5983 Posts: 130 Member
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    Right now I am eyeballing everything because I don't have a scale. It should be here in a day or too. I am kinda looking forward to measuring. :) I also need to really get in the habit of planning ahead. These are all great tips! Thank you everyone!
  • jessiruthica
    jessiruthica Posts: 412 Member
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    Yeah, I don't weigh or measure anything except very occasionally to check myself. That's not something I'm willing to do forever so I don't want to rely on it now. I've lost 50lbs so far from 230 to 180 and have only brought out the scale maybe 5 times.

    Having said that, as others have said, I imagine that as I get closer to my goal I'll have to tighten up my diary and that will involve some weighing and measuring to eke out the 250 calorie deficit. I'm not looking forward to that stage, tbh, but am committed to getting to my goal.
  • katalinax87
    katalinax87 Posts: 146 Member
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    I lost 14lbs with eyeballing but hit a plateau so out comes the scale. It's not my favourite thing in the world and I have a manual scale which goes up in 25 gram increments so I know I could be getting it a tad wrong but will get a digital scale if it doesn't work.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    Ravachu wrote: »
    Personally, I don't see how you can log your food without weighing it but that's probably because I just can't stand to be wrong/inaccurate when it comes to data :) I get a kick out of statistics and trends but not everyone does so I can sympathise with your position. The most important key to losing weight is to find something that works for you long-term so that you can lose the weight and maintain the loss.

    I will be weighing and logging food for the rest of my life because I love the sense of control and the 38lbs I've lost doing it so far.

    I suspect that is why a lot of people do it. To each his own. For me, if I'm going to be accurate, I want everything to be accurate. I want all the math to work out perfectly, so that I know how many calories I ate and how many calories I burned and I want my calorie deficit equal my weight loss. But it doesn't work that way. No matter how accurately I measure portion sizes, the calories won't match what the package says. No matter how accurately I record my activity, I won't know exactly how much I burned. And when I step on the scales, I might weigh more or less than I expect because I might have a little extra water in my system. The more accurate I try to be, the less in control I feel. So, I eyeball things and use measuring cups that may be a little more or less than level.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    Onlythetruth wrote: »
    So let's say you are 50 lbs. overweight and are trying to lose weight for the first time. You start counting calories. Great! One year later you have lost the 50 lbs. Great!

    Now perhaps to celebrate, you can finally stop counting calories (unless you really really enjoy counting calories).

    I mean after one entire year, you should have learned how much you can eat and how much you can't eat, without the need to count.

    if that were TRUE.... regaining the weight wouldnt occur as often as it DOES ;) which is why (from what ive heard, anyways) maintenance is more difficult than actually losing weight.
  • terar21
    terar21 Posts: 523 Member
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    I both weigh and estimate. It works for me. It mainly works for me because I'm very passive about weight loss at this point. If I do more estimating one week and have a lower loss, my attitude is "oh well! Could've been off in my estimating. Moving onto the next week." I have very little angst over a .25 loss rather than a .5 loss one week. I'm within the range I want to be and already reached my initial goal. I might tighten up at the beginning of maintenance just to be sure because I'm really bad about overestimating and I don't want to be below maintenance when my goal is recomp through lifting.

    Now I DO prefer to weigh at food out at least once to see what it looks like. I'd like to know what an ounce of beef jerky looks like so I'm not just blind guessing. After weighing peanut butter endlessly because I LOVE my peanut butter on ritz crackers, I have a special skill of being able to pull out exactly half a tablespoon of peanut butter to the gram. I can do the same thing with a tablespoon of country crock butter. Just call me a savant with a damn good visual memory. Ounces or cups...I'm not so good with. But grams/tablespoons, I'm a fantastic estimator lol.

    So I do think everyone would benefit from seeing the things they eat weighed out because it's easy to assume wrong when you've never seen it.
  • LoosingMyLast15
    LoosingMyLast15 Posts: 1,457 Member
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    nesian_twin wrote: »
    Will count calories in here but to weigh and measure every single morsel that goes onto my plate is so damn boring, anyone else feel the same? Plus I think its obsessive. Still managing to lose the weight without it though :) Usually measure portions by hand.

    measuring helps you better gauge what a portion size truly looks like over time you won't need to measure because you'll just know what say 30g of peanut butter looks like
  • runnrchic
    runnrchic Posts: 130 Member
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    callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »
    Onlythetruth wrote: »
    So let's say you are 50 lbs. overweight and are trying to lose weight for the first time. You start counting calories. Great! One year later you have lost the 50 lbs. Great!

    Now perhaps to celebrate, you can finally stop counting calories (unless you really really enjoy counting calories).

    I mean after one entire year, you should have learned how much you can eat and how much you can't eat, without the need to count.

    if that were TRUE.... regaining the weight wouldnt occur as often as it DOES ;) which is why (from what ive heard, anyways) maintenance is more difficult than actually losing weight.

    I wish this were true for me. In 2010 I realized I was at my highest weight, 136 5'6". I started counting calories in a notebook (yes a paper one!) and got down to 114 (this was actually too low but I run a lot of miles). I stopped counting in January 2012 because cmon, I knew what I could eat, I got this! My weight crept up to 138 by mid 2013. Before I got to 140 I knew I had to start counting again. Good habits slowly turned into bad ones with no accountability. This time I used MFP and 15 months later I am 119, 17% bf and have lots of muscle. It works and I'm not going back to being a non-counter.
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
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    callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »
    jt880 wrote: »
    Actually taxes are totally voluntary there is no law on the books that says you have to look it up.

    yeah, thats why the state took $300 out of my bank account. for not paying that ' voluntary' tax.... :/
    SergeantSausage wrote: »
    jt880 wrote: »
    Actually taxes are totally voluntary there is no law on the books that says you have to look it up.


    Yer funny.

    Educate yourself, or go to prison for your ignorance. You can claim "no law" all you want as they slap on the cuffs, seize all of your assets, and put you on the bus to prison.

    It doesn't matter to me - I'm laughing either way, right?

    Laugh.gif

    BTW - I cite my source: Straight from irs.gov.

    Your "look it up" is Argumentum ad Ignorantum of the highest order, Bro.

    **

    You don't have to pay the taxes, but you do have to suffer the consequences of not paying your taxes.

    then its not REALLY voluntary, is it? I mean, I could rob a bank, but there are consequences.....

    thatsthepoint.jpg

  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    For me It's not just a matter of getting my portions correct, I also keep an eye on my macros. I follow my protein, fat and fibre, vitC and A numbers. If I'm off with the weight of my my food, those numbers could be way off too.
  • SherryTeach
    SherryTeach Posts: 2,836 Member
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    And maintenance makes weighing even more important. I am the first one to be in denial about portion size, particularly of high calorie foods. Potato chips is a problem for me. And Nutella. Weighing that has been valuable in my maintaining.

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