I don't weight my food
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I didn't weigh my food for a long time and lost weight because I was either estimating pretty correctly or overestimating. When I started weighing I actually found that I got to eat a lot more.0
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I also see no point in weighing my food. To me it really doesn't even matter how good you are at estimating portions as long as you're consistent and you adjust once you see how your weight loss is going.
For example, you might think you're eating 2,000 calories and not losing....so cut back some and think you're eating 1,700 and find that then you are losing the pound a week you were shooting for. Does it really matter if you are really eating 2,100 when you think you're eating 1,700? Not at all. Your "calories out" are estimated so you'll have to use trial and error to get to the right "calories in" anyway. Just be consistent in how you estimate both calories in and calories out and use trial and error to find the right balance.0 -
Some people wear never-weighing as a badge of honour, why?! How does it make you superior? I don't get that. It's about what works for you as an individual.
Personally, I weigh things like pasta that I'm really bad at eyeballing but not veg, fruit, bread slices, proteins. I used to weigh cheese portions until I could fairly accurately eyeball.0 -
Would you care to take a stab at quantifying this effect? How much less does, say, my peanut butter weigh today than the day it left the production line a month ago?TimothyFish wrote: »yopeeps025 wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »I've lost about 50lbs and I don't weigh my food. I believe people who weigh their food have a false sense of accuracy.
On the other hand, I guess you could say that I weigh my food once a week. I step on the bathroom scale every Saturday morning and if the scale has moved in the right direction, great. If it hasn't, then I need to adjust my food intake.
How can you talk about something that you do not do? False sense of accuracy? What?
One doesn't have to weigh one's food to know that food loses weight (but not calories) the longer it sits on the shelf. That is just the general nature of food.
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Didn't weigh, lost weight. Weighed food, lost weight.
I like weighing my food, I don't think it's an underlying OCD as someone mentioned, it's more about knowing how accurate the food I'm eating is, because what my eyes think is 4oz of chicken is probably 6. I understand I am not an accurate judge of my food, but my food scale is an unbiased judge.
I don't weigh everything, like that 1/2tbl of peanut butter, but I weigh almost all my food, so I know exactly what I'm eating. If weighing food scares someone off, then logging their food might have been a pretty big trial to them already. And it can be a hassle, when I'm running around in the morning I have to remember to weigh out my cereal, don't just throw it in a bag. But I get into the habit of it, and when I'm portioning out food, I weigh it, then slap a notecard or post it note on it to remind me how much it is.0 -
I don't weigh my food. I feel like I would have to commit to weighing it forever which I'm not willing to do. Plus, for me at least, I find that the more I measure and really dig down into portion size for exactness, the more I start to obsess over my food. I really am trying to move to the "food is fuel" viewpoint than the "food makes me feel good" since I love food and struggle with stress eating.0
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Lol I'm not saying you eat a pound of lettuce for a meal. I'm giving an example that there are many foods (especially veggies) that are low in calories, even at a large weight/amount. Moreover, the nutrients are definitely a plus. As for peanut butter, I just use tablespoons to scoop it because it's the serving size (sometimes more if post-workout). Again, hasn't affected me. You can use other things to measure or compare food portions as well (fist, tennis ball, golf ball, deck of cards, etc.)DeguelloTex wrote: »
My typical meal isn't a pound of lettuce. Water has no calories, so any weight from it above what your body normally holds would be transitory. I don't understand the relevance of your water intake at all.Childfree1991 wrote: »I see no point in weighing food. I thought people were more concerned with health and calories. Take lettuce for example. It's healthy and one pound of it is only 77 calories. If someone is counting calories I see no purpose in weighing food (though I lost weight and bf without counting or weighing anything). I drink over half a gallon of water per day (which is around 5-6 pounds of water per day). Hasn't affected me.
My purpose in weighing food when I count calories is to get a more accurate idea of the calories involved. How many calories are in that chicken breast? In that hunk of ribeye? In that peanut butter? If you can get close enough by looking, good for you. Many people can't.
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
Would you care to take a stab at quantifying this effect? How much less does, say, my peanut butter weigh today than the day it left the production line a month ago?TimothyFish wrote: »yopeeps025 wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »I've lost about 50lbs and I don't weigh my food. I believe people who weigh their food have a false sense of accuracy.
On the other hand, I guess you could say that I weigh my food once a week. I step on the bathroom scale every Saturday morning and if the scale has moved in the right direction, great. If it hasn't, then I need to adjust my food intake.
How can you talk about something that you do not do? False sense of accuracy? What?
One doesn't have to weigh one's food to know that food loses weight (but not calories) the longer it sits on the shelf. That is just the general nature of food.
That would be dependent on the humidity level of your house and how long your peanut butter has been exposed to dry air. But I can tell you this: I have some tangerines that weigh a lot less now than what they did on the day they were picked.0 -
Rockin2014 wrote: »I started my weight loss journey 10 weeks ago. In these 10 weeks I have lost 10kg (22lbs) just as planned. However, I hardly ever weigh my food. I measure with cups, spoons and my eyeballs and each and every week I have met my target. If I am eating something I've never had before and which I find impossible to figure out I will weigh it (if I'm at home).
I sometimes wonder whether the focus on weighing your food is to big on MFP and I believe it may scare many people away because they find it too much of a hassle.
Anyone else not weigh and still see great results?
I don't weight my food either. However, just as you I do use measuring cups, spoons, and eyeball. When I was using MFP prior to having my daughter two in a half years ago I lost 25pounds doing this along with daily exercise. I feel that why a lot of people can't lose weight is because they are following a high protien/low fat diet and not adding enough fiber into their diet. When I was doing this type of diet with the use of a digtal scale and measuring cup I found myself gaining weight, and constantly greating frustated with the results I was seeing on the scale due to weighting myself everyday.0 -
Of course there are alternatives. Very few foods are uniformly shaped, so I'm not sure how helpful those things are to everyone. Plus, I don't keep a golf ball in the kitchen. I do keep a scale. So...Childfree1991 wrote: »
Lol I'm not saying you eat a pound of lettuce for a meal. I'm giving an example that there are many foods (especially veggies) that are low in calories, even at a large weight/amount. Moreover, the nutrients are definitely a plus. As for peanut butter, I just use tablespoons to scoop it because it's the serving size (sometimes more if post-workout). Again, hasn't affected me. You can use other things to measure or compare food portions as well (fist, tennis ball, golf ball, deck of cards, etc.)DeguelloTex wrote: »
My typical meal isn't a pound of lettuce. Water has no calories, so any weight from it above what your body normally holds would be transitory. I don't understand the relevance of your water intake at all.Childfree1991 wrote: »I see no point in weighing food. I thought people were more concerned with health and calories. Take lettuce for example. It's healthy and one pound of it is only 77 calories. If someone is counting calories I see no purpose in weighing food (though I lost weight and bf without counting or weighing anything). I drink over half a gallon of water per day (which is around 5-6 pounds of water per day). Hasn't affected me.
My purpose in weighing food when I count calories is to get a more accurate idea of the calories involved. How many calories are in that chicken breast? In that hunk of ribeye? In that peanut butter? If you can get close enough by looking, good for you. Many people can't.
Again, if not weighing works, there's no point for you to weigh, so don't weigh. There's a reason, though, why you won't see a serving size listed as "tennis ball-sized" on many labels.
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Some people wear never-weighing as a badge of honour, why?! How does it make you superior? I don't get that. It's about what works for you as an individual.
Personally, I weigh things like pasta that I'm really bad at eyeballing but not veg, fruit, bread slices, proteins. I used to weigh cheese portions until I could fairly accurately eyeball.
I think it's likely a reaction to all of the many, many threads where the people who always weigh come off as acting superior like they know precisely how many calories they are eating each day and that's the only way to lose weight.
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Some things I weight, others I don't and rely on the nutritional information given. Pistachios I weigh. White Castle Cheeseburger Sliders I don't.
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yopeeps025 wrote: »Rockin2014 wrote: »Makes perfect sense that weighing might become more important the closer I get to my goal weight.
How much more weight do you want to lose till you get to your goal?
30-40lbs0 -
I don't weigh or measure or count calories. However, I lost 30 pounds! I only had to cut my arm off.0
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50% humidity and the peanut butter has been stored in a closed container for 32 days. How much difference?TimothyFish wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
Would you care to take a stab at quantifying this effect? How much less does, say, my peanut butter weigh today than the day it left the production line a month ago?TimothyFish wrote: »yopeeps025 wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »I've lost about 50lbs and I don't weigh my food. I believe people who weigh their food have a false sense of accuracy.
On the other hand, I guess you could say that I weigh my food once a week. I step on the bathroom scale every Saturday morning and if the scale has moved in the right direction, great. If it hasn't, then I need to adjust my food intake.
How can you talk about something that you do not do? False sense of accuracy? What?
One doesn't have to weigh one's food to know that food loses weight (but not calories) the longer it sits on the shelf. That is just the general nature of food.
That would be dependent on the humidity level of your house and how long your peanut butter has been exposed to dry air. But I can tell you this: I have some tangerines that weigh a lot less now than what they did on the day they were picked.
How much weight do you think a tangerine loses in a typical home in, say, a week?
Honestly, I think the idea that weighing food gives a false sense of accuracy because of some degree of water loss is borderline delusional, all the more so because most foods aren't going to lose much volume from that water loss, so eyeballing the portions suffers from exactly the same issue. Unless, of course, your eye is keen enough to discern the weight difference between a grilled chicken breast that's a day old versus one that's three days old.
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Rockin2014 wrote: »yopeeps025 wrote: »Rockin2014 wrote: »Makes perfect sense that weighing might become more important the closer I get to my goal weight.
How much more weight do you want to lose till you get to your goal?
30-40lbs
Well lets see when that goal hits say 10-20 or 5-10 pounds if you are still not weighing your food out.
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mburgess458 wrote: »Some people wear never-weighing as a badge of honour, why?! How does it make you superior? I don't get that. It's about what works for you as an individual.
Personally, I weigh things like pasta that I'm really bad at eyeballing but not veg, fruit, bread slices, proteins. I used to weigh cheese portions until I could fairly accurately eyeball.
I think it's likely a reaction to all of the many, many threads where the people who always weigh come off as acting superior like they know precisely how many calories they are eating each day and that's the only way to lose weight.
Is it more precise to use known values, rather than estimates, in an equation? Which is repeatable?
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TimothyFish wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
Would you care to take a stab at quantifying this effect? How much less does, say, my peanut butter weigh today than the day it left the production line a month ago?TimothyFish wrote: »yopeeps025 wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »I've lost about 50lbs and I don't weigh my food. I believe people who weigh their food have a false sense of accuracy.
On the other hand, I guess you could say that I weigh my food once a week. I step on the bathroom scale every Saturday morning and if the scale has moved in the right direction, great. If it hasn't, then I need to adjust my food intake.
How can you talk about something that you do not do? False sense of accuracy? What?
One doesn't have to weigh one's food to know that food loses weight (but not calories) the longer it sits on the shelf. That is just the general nature of food.
That would be dependent on the humidity level of your house and how long your peanut butter has been exposed to dry air. But I can tell you this: I have some tangerines that weigh a lot less now than what they did on the day they were picked.
So you saying that eyeballing would have more accuracy because of this? This explanation you gave actually hurts the non weighers I think.
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mburgess458 wrote: »Some people wear never-weighing as a badge of honour, why?! How does it make you superior? I don't get that. It's about what works for you as an individual.
Personally, I weigh things like pasta that I'm really bad at eyeballing but not veg, fruit, bread slices, proteins. I used to weigh cheese portions until I could fairly accurately eyeball.
I think it's likely a reaction to all of the many, many threads where the people who always weigh come off as acting superior like they know precisely how many calories they are eating each day and that's the only way to lose weight.
I tend to agree. There are some people whose answer to everything is "Are you using a food scale to weigh your food?" While I agree that a food scale can help people identify a serving size, I don't think it is a good idea for people to be dependent on it. The implication is that people have to quit doing anything that would keep them from using a food scale or they will gain weight. No more eating at restaurants. No more sitting down with the family and passing the dishes around the table. For long term maintenance, it seems like it would be better to know how to use an approach that allows a person to live life normally.0
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