Weighing food

rrhood78

i am on the right track with my diet and exercise, but I don't feel I am getting realistic food measurements. I want to buy a scale and start doing it that way but I'm stuck. Which scale to buy and how do you measure. Oatmeal dry measured or cooked? Pasta dry or cooked? Do I weigh everything including liquids like milk and juice or do I only do dry goods? What about meat?

81Katz

Get a digital scale with a tare feature. I bought one at Walmart, less than $20 I think, probably more like $15.

Weight all foods (when you can) RAW/DRY. Pasta, Oatmeal, Meat, Poultry, vegetables, fruit, etc. Although the food data base does have listings for COOKED measurements, so if you need to use a cooked weight, look for that instead of raw.

Use a measuring cup that's either ounces or ML for liquids such as milk, juice, etc.

Hope this helps! You'll be surprised by how much more accurate your food portions are, sometimes you even end up getting to eat MORE weighed vs. a measuring cup/spoon.

How I weigh food. I turn it on, set to whatever value I want (g or oz) and put said item (on a plate, put the plate on the scale before you turn the scale on) then I weigh it. Or use a bowl for dry pasta or oatmeal, whatever you prefer. for example you would weigh a banana minus the skin (anything you won't eat, I don't weigh, but that's just me) You can eat an apple then measure the core after that way too.

mccindy72

rrhood78 wrote: »

i am on the right track with my diet and exercise, but I don't feel I am getting realistic food measurements. I want to buy a scale and start doing it that way but I'm stuck. Which scale to buy and how do you measure. Oatmeal dry measured or cooked? Pasta dry or cooked? Do I weigh everything including liquids like milk and juice or do I only do dry goods? What about meat?

All solid foods, weigh on the scale. The nutrition panel should give you an idea as to what measurement to use. Amazon has a good one that will give you the option to weigh in grams, oz, etc. and tare out your plate or bowl. Liquids, measure in a cup. Measure dry goods like rice, oatmeal and pasta precooked, and meat as well. Measure things like cooking oils.

jenniferinfl

Weigh prior to cooking, because some things soak up more or less water depending on how long they were cooked.
I have an offbrand digital scale and it works just fine. All you want is to be able to weight in ounces AND grams and to be able to tare so you can exclude the weight of the bowl or plate you are weighing the food item on.
I measure liquids, weigh the other stuff.
Oh yeah, it can be helpful to have one that runs on batteries. If you eat on the go, it may even be helpful to have two, the car scale and the house scale.. lol
Anyhow, I just have the one as I pack my lunches now, much easier.

mulecanter

My scale doesn't have tare weight. I live in the dark ages!!!

diannethegeek

I really like these two posts on how to weigh food and how to log food on here:

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

As for which scale to buy, you don't really need anything fancy. A digital scale with a tare function and the ability to change from grams to ounces will be good enough for most people. If you're cheap (like me) you can usually find one on Amazon or eBay for less than $10. Some of the more expensive scales have neat features, but I can't really comment on them since I've never used them.

JeepJeep87

I'm fairly new to this as well and was having the same issue as you. Finally yesterday I went out and just bought a scale and so far I love having it! It takes all of the guesswork out of this. I went to wal mart and bought a scale for $14.98 plus tax and the brand was Mainstays. It takes up very little room on my counter and has a tare weight option as well. Definitely go get yourself one!

rrhood78

Got one today going to start using it tomorrow. Will update.

moto450

Weigh everything. Except water.

rrhood78

It's taking some getting used to.