Some Days I Feel Too Lazy to Measure Food - What to do?

GunnarHamundarson

If I skip a day of measuring food, I feel like I did not do my best. I start, again, only to feel like one of those who does not have to measure. How to you keep motivated to measure all the time? Some days, I just go to the gym and eat the meals that I know the values already. When I reach my goals, do I still measure? Ugghh.

malibu927

It just becomes a habit, like brushing your teeth.

Everyone handles maintenance differently...some will still weigh their food, others have taken the time to learn what a proper portion looks like.

zoeysasha37

So are you losing weight consistently even though you aren't measuring?
Have you noticed that your portions that you've eyeballed are larger then when you weigh them out?
I keep motivated to weigh my food because I know that eyeballing portions isn't as accurate. Once I thought that I poured two servings of Cheerios. I rethought it and weighed it. It was actually closer to 4 servings! That was double the calories then I thought when eyeballing it. So that's what keeps me weighing still.

Alatariel75

Sometimes I don't feel motivated to go to work, clean my house or scoop the poop from my cats litter tray. But i do it because that's the life of an adult and if I don't do it, my quality of life decreases. I put weighing food in the same basket. I could choose not to do it, but it would have the consequence of making my life less pleasant in the long run.

triciab79

We all have to do things that we don't feel like doing. That is just being an adult. Sometimes you will even be called upon to do things you don't think are possible for you. Until you can consistently fight the impulse to excuse yourself from life's normal troubles you don't stand a very good chance at success at anything.

atypicalsmith

I have no intention of measuring once I meet my goal weight! I will, however, weigh myself every day and if I have more than about a three-pound weight gain, then I'll slash my caloric intake and hit the gym twice as hard until it's gone. I don't always measure everything even now that I'm losing, but I will overestimate to cover myself. Such as using MFP's calories for a large banana instead of a medium one. Also, I eat a lot of the same foods which don't have to be measured, such as Greek yogurt which provides the nutritional information. Best of luck to you!

FitForL1fe

such is life, gotta suck it up

SLLRunner

Weigh it instead. Measurements aren't accurate anyway.

atypicalsmith

SLLRunner wrote: »

Weigh it instead. Measurements aren't accurate anyway.

Weight is a form of measurement.

trulycrazed

Though it's obviously not practical for all foods, you could always buy bowls and cups that hold specific amounts. For example I have cereal bowl that holds exactly 1 cup when filled to the decorative line and a soup bowl that holds 1.5 cups. If you get to know your dishware, it does the measuring for you!

rmcloughlin22

On the days you're feeling motivated, weigh out additional portions for the week of foods you frequently eat. Then store them in Ziploc bags or tupperwares for later. Ziplocs are nice because you can write on the bag with a shapie, i.e. "40 grams of oats, 140 calories." Then you don't have to worry about weighing/measuring when you don't feel like it.

Francl27

So don't. A lot of people don't weigh their food. If you stop losing, reconsider.

Asher_Ethan

I had an overweight friend over and I was weighing and measuring all my food that I ate and she told me, "I would rather be fat than to weigh everything I eat like you do." So I guess you have a choice... Do you want to still have a strong weight loss.... Or do you want to slow it down or even stop it?

girlviernes

Notice your "only if" statements, e.g., I will weigh my food only if I feel like it

Try on some "even if" statements, e.g., I will weigh my food even if I don't feel like it

Docbanana2002

I suppose you could just guesstimate and see how that works. Maybe you are fairly accurate. If your loss stalls then you will have to tighten up! As for me, I just weigh carefully the things that are higher calorie and that I'm prone to overestimate. Like nuts, peanut butter, cereal...those I measure to the last gram! For things that I rarely get wrong, I eyeball it. My knowledge that I rarely get them wrong is based on data from a past time when I carefully weighed everything and realized I wasn't having a portion distortion problem with some foods (or that the calories were so low that a little distortion wouldn't matter..like with spinach)

When I weigh and the resulting portion looks ridiculously small... That means I have a portion distortion problem! I keep weighing that stuff.

Also, it isn't that much work to weigh and measure if you integrate it into what you are doing. Like if I want to make a PBJ sandwich on a plate, I gotta set the plate and bread down somewhere. So I set my plate/bread on the scale and zero it out. I add the PBJ and look at the weight. Zero it out. Add the jelly and look at the weight. I'm not doing anything that is extra other than monitor the number. I usually put my PB and jelly in standard portions (16 grams, 32 grams) so I don't even have to remember the number. I just remember I had a serving of PB and a serving of jelly and log it the next time I log.

Same with cereal...I have to set the bowl down, so do it on the scale. I have to pour and at some point stop pouring my cereal. I let the number I'm seeing guide when to stop pouring.

I use measuring cups for rice, beans, pasta instead of a spoon or scoop (or scale) I have to use something to scoop it, why not a half cup measuring cup? I have a couple of cheap sets and keep them handy. If you don't want get picky about leveling it off, give yourself a heaping half cup and call it .75 cup. Or heaping quarter cup and call it half.

LBuehrle8

I'm super OCD so I love weighing my food knowing exactly what I'm eating and how much!

Docbanana2002

I should add that I've lost over 100 pounds and regularly check to verify that my actual weight loss rate is the same as my projected weight loss rate (calculated by my logging and Fitbit calorie burn estimates averaged over the last few months). For the last few months I've been underestimating the size of my caloric deficits by around 10% which is a slight error that is in my favor (i.e. maintenance is a smudge higher than MFP says it is) so I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. If I start seeing that I'm overestimating deficits then I will have to tighten up on my logging, not eat back all my exercise as I have been doing or tweak my Fitbit sensitivity, etc. but until that is a problem I'm going to do it this way.

mizzlarabee

Like a lot of people have said, measuring/weighing just kind of becomes second nature. Habits can be hard to form and also hard to break, depending on how long you've been doing the behaviour that contradicts the new habit. Applaud any progress and don't get down on yourself. Keep trying to incorporate consistent tracking into your daily routine and eventually you will have that habit locked down

arnoldmq

you could buy food that is kinda already measure. like for example, costco thin sliced chicken breast is about 4 ounces per pace, and u can also use measuring cups that would give u a rough estimate of the weight. is not as accurate as using a scale but is quicker and is as accurate as u can get without measuring.

SezxyStef

GunnarHamundarson wrote: »

If I skip a day of measuring food, I feel like I did not do my best. I start, again, only to feel like one of those who does not have to measure. How to you keep motivated to measure all the time? Some days, I just go to the gym and eat the meals that I know the values already. When I reach my goals, do I still measure? Ugghh.

I just do it...for example are there days you don't feel like going to work? Yup but you do it...

There are days you don't feel like getting up out of bed but you do it.

You make the choice and just do it...

I have a saying....you either want it or you don't...it's that simple.

Alligator423

I don't measure and I've lost 30+ pounds, albeit more slowly than if I were more stringent. I found that measuring every little bite made me anxious and a bit obsessive, so for me I'd rather lose slowly with a healthier mindset. And given that you are switching from measuring days to non-measuring days pretty regularly, you are probably better than most at eyeballing proportions.

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manderson27

Your choice, if you can't be bothered to put the effort in then you may not get the results out. What motivates me is that once I started measuring my food intake I started to lose weight.

atypicalsmith

arnoldmq wrote: »

you could buy food that is kinda already measure. like for example, costco thin sliced chicken breast is about 4 ounces per pace, and u can also use measuring cups that would give u a rough estimate of the weight. is not as accurate as using a scale but is quicker and is as accurate as u can get without measuring.

Huh?

Docbanana2002

arnoldmq wrote: »

you could buy food that is kinda already measure. like for example, costco thin sliced chicken breast is about 4 ounces per pace, and u can also use measuring cups that would give u a rough estimate of the weight. is not as accurate as using a scale but is quicker and is as accurate as u can get without measuring.

This is good advice. Another trick I use is making enough food for several days and carefully logging the recipe as I'm cooking. Once I know how much is in the batch and decide how many portions it would make, I don't weigh the individual portions. For example, I might know I made 1200 calories worth of red beans and rice and that I want to divide it into 4 meals, so I just call each meal 300 calories. In reality they might be 280, 320, 290, and 310 but who cares? It all evens out over the course of the week.

forgtmenot

I enjoy it. Maybe that is weird, but I enjoy figuring out my calories, punching them in my diary, balancing my macros, etc. It's like a game. It's fun.

Maybe you can try to stop looking at it like its a chore, and more like a game where your goal is to "win" the number on the scale moving down.

Queenmunchy

I cook and freeze into portions for days that I feel lazy. I already have the calorie count (on mfp) and labeled on each portion.

shadowfax_c11

Look at it this way. Weight loss is something you do for yourself. If you say ,"I don't fee like it", what you are really saying is, "I am not worth the effort".

So... do you consider yourself worth your effort?

TimothyFish

I rarely measure or weigh anything. It works for me. Ultimately, all that matters is the number on the bathroom scale. If it isn't going in the right direction, then you're probably being too generous with your portions.

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kshama2001

forgtmenot wrote: »

I enjoy it. Maybe that is weird, but I enjoy figuring out my calories, punching them in my diary, balancing my macros, etc. It's like a game. It's fun.

Maybe you can try to stop looking at it like its a chore, and more like a game where your goal is to "win" the number on the scale moving down.

Ya, I look at it as a game too - how can I make yummy, nutritious, filling meals that I enjoy and still be at a calorie deficit at the end of the day.