A lesson learned on the importance of the food scale -

mnfarmgal

I learned something yesterday - although I think after reading so many threads on MFP it may have been hovering in the back of my mind waiting for me to acknowledge it.
I felt i was doing pretty well using my food scale.. heck, leagues ahead of those that don't own one! I weigh my meat, my vegetables and my fruit. - I weigh my condiments and my peanut butter.
But here's my light bulb moment.. I'm using MFP food scanner on packages that let me.. like bread.. My bread says: 1 slice - 28 grams - 70 calories.. so I scan the label for my peanut butter toast.. tap the little check mark to add it to my diary.. than proceed to put it on my scale to zero it out so i can weigh my peanut butter... here's the problem... i discovered my bread slice weighs AT LEAST 32 grams.. more commonly 34 grams.. (after weighing about 8 slices of bread). Maybe this doesn't mean as much to anyone else.. but it really was a light bulb moment.. so i put the single brat on my scale at supper to see if it really was 87g, like the label said a serving is.. NOOOO!! it's 108g.... that's like 25% more.. IN MY MEAT SERVING... This could be a hundred or maybe several hundred calories in a day.. WHAT??
Lesson learned.. now I have my food scale and a calculator in my kitchen/dining room..

jaga13

Interesting! I use the scanner a lot, too. I don't weigh single-containers of yogurt and I just assume the calories on the label are correct, but I guess it could very well not be correct.

ptsmiles

I've noticed the same thing myself. Certainly eye openeing.

jaga13

I never thought to do this before, but I guess I could place my bowl on the food scale and zero it out. Then add my oatmeal to measure it. Zero it out again (?) and THEN add my peanut butter (or whatever else I'm adding)? Can I use this method to measure everything in one bowl, so I don't have to dump everything onto the scale?

WickedPineapple

I had the same experience. I've noticed the most discrepancy with breads and cereals. A roll I eat pretty often is labelled as 85g. When I started weighing them, they vary between 103-127g. However, some breads have been dead on or slightly under. Certain companies seem to be more accurate than others, and grocery bakeries tend to be the worst. I just started weighing everything as I make it. [I.E., put plate on scale (tare), weigh bread (tare), weigh meat (tare), weigh cheese... etc.] It's been rather enlightening. This is why people on here say to weigh everything.

jaga13

WickedPineapple wrote: »

I had the same experience. I've noticed the most discrepancy with breads and cereals. A roll I eat pretty often is labelled as 85g. When I started weighing them, they vary between 103-127g. However, some breads have been dead on or slightly under. Certain companies seem to be more accurate than others, and grocery bakeries tend to be the worst. I just started weighing everything as I make it. [I.E., put plate on scale (tare), weigh bread (tare), weigh meat (tare), weigh cheese... etc.] It's been rather enlightening. This is why people on here say to weigh everything.

Good to know! I can't believe I've been wiping my food scale clean after every use, duh.

moribunny

jaga13 wrote: »

I never thought to do this before, but I guess I could place my bowl on the food scale and zero it out. Then add my oatmeal to measure it. Zero it out again (?) and THEN add my peanut butter (or whatever else I'm adding)? Can I use this method to measure everything in one bowl, so I don't have to dump everything onto the scale?

Yes, you can, you'll just have to make sure to subtract the previous weight of whatever was in the bowl beforehand to find individual weights of ingredients if you don't zero it out every time ^^

evileen99

jaga13 wrote: »

I never thought to do this before, but I guess I could place my bowl on the food scale and zero it out. Then add my oatmeal to measure it. Zero it out again (?) and THEN add my peanut butter (or whatever else I'm adding)? Can I use this method to measure everything in one bowl, so I don't have to dump everything onto the scale?

Yes, this is how I do it.

csofled

jaga13 wrote: »

I never thought to do this before, but I guess I could place my bowl on the food scale and zero it out. Then add my oatmeal to measure it. Zero it out again (?) and THEN add my peanut butter (or whatever else I'm adding)? Can I use this method to measure everything in one bowl, so I don't have to dump everything onto the scale?

Yes you can by doing exactly as you said with the zeroing out between each addition. I do this when making a garden salad. Those extra calories do add up if you are not careful!

mnfarmgal

WickedPineapple wrote: »

I had the same experience. I've noticed the most discrepancy with breads and cereals. A roll I eat pretty often is labelled as 85g. When I started weighing them, they vary between 103-127g. However, some breads have been dead on or slightly under. Certain companies seem to be more accurate than others, and grocery bakeries tend to be the worst. I just started weighing everything as I make it. [I.E., put plate on scale (tare), weigh bread (tare), weigh meat (tare), weigh cheese... etc.] It's been rather enlightening. This is why people on here say to weigh everything.

This exactly... at 127g - with a serving being 85g - that's eating nearly 1.5 rolls without realizing it.

TimothyFish

If the accuracy of the weight of your food worries you so much that you use a scale, then it only makes sense to use a scale for everything. Personally, I use a scale for almost nothing. I figure, as long as my weight loss is about what I would expect, then the calories are all working out in the end.

KBmoments

jaga13 wrote: »

I never thought to do this before, but I guess I could place my bowl on the food scale and zero it out. Then add my oatmeal to measure it. Zero it out again (?) and THEN add my peanut butter (or whatever else I'm adding)? Can I use this method to measure everything in one bowl, so I don't have to dump everything onto the scale?

I do this, too. I always add the bowl first, zero out, add food... and keep zero-ing out if I add more. Easy peasy.

SueInAz

TimothyFish wrote: »

If the accuracy of the weight of your food worries you so much that you use a scale, then it only makes sense to use a scale for everything. Personally, I use a scale for almost nothing. I figure, as long as my weight loss is about what I would expect, then the calories are all working out in the end.

As long as you aren't having problems, there's no need. But what we see here a lot are people who are having problems, aren't losing weight, and can't figure out why. Using a kitchen scale can often pinpoint problems in serving sizes especially if it's calorie-dense foods the person eats often.

mnfarmgal

I NEVER expected upwards of a 25% discrepancy in a serving.. to me that's very eye opening.. and i will be weighing everything for a while - 100 calories a day does make a difference.. It adds up to an entire snack.

snickerscharlie

I find that most serving-proportioned foods (like an individually packaged cup of yogurt, for example) to be pretty bang on, weight-wise. However, with things like one slice of bread, the weights can be dramatically different from what the label says. The only way to be sure is to weigh. And for a lot of people, a 100 calories here-and-there can add up to a whole unwanted pile of unintended extras.

SuggaD

I refuse to get that obsessive about my food. I lost all the weight I wanted without weighing a single item and have been keeping it off without. It can be done.

snickerscharlie

SuggaD wrote: »

I refuse to get that obsessive about my food. I lost all the weight I wanted without weighing a single item and have been keeping it off without. It can be done.

I don't think anyone is saying it *can't* be done. But especially as you get closer to your ideal weight, the margin for error gets smaller and smaller. It's why so many times we get threads here about people 'eating right' and even weighing their food but not getting the weight loss they'd expect. This would be one of the reasons why that could be happening to them.

mnfarmgal

SuggaD wrote: »

I refuse to get that obsessive about my food. I lost all the weight I wanted without weighing a single item and have been keeping it off without. It can be done.

I'm glad you have no issues with your serving size and have been able to get to your goal without the food scale.. Great for you.. but just as you don't need or want to use a food scale.. I have found it to be very enlightening and educational.

WickedPineapple

SuggaD wrote: »

I refuse to get that obsessive about my food. I lost all the weight I wanted without weighing a single item and have been keeping it off without. It can be done.

Food tracking or calorie counting at all is considered "obsessive" to many people. Also, no one on this thread has said that a food scale is an absolute necessity for weight loss.

I have lost the majority of my weight (~45/60 lbs) without using a food scale. Not everyone needs to use it (and why would you if you're successful without it?). Personally, I need it. Eventually I set MFP to lost 0.5 lbs per week, so my deficit was only 250 calories per day. You can easily eat that away with inaccuracy. My first major plateau was broken by starting to use a food scale.

FreshStartForMyself

True dat.
Just a few weeks ago I bought donuts at Walmart, so I checked the nutritional information and it read "1 donut (40 grams) - 133 calories". I thought it was a great treat, a delicious, decent sized glazed donut for only 133 calories. I weighed one before eating it, just out of curiosity, and it weighed 75 grams. Bummer, almost twice as many calories as the information on the box!
So boo hoo, shame on you, Walmart

ndj1979

SuggaD wrote: »

I refuse to get that obsessive about my food. I lost all the weight I wanted without weighing a single item and have been keeping it off without. It can be done.

that has nothing to do with thread, thanks for de-railing.

mnfarmgal

FreshStartForMyself wrote: »

True dat.
Just a few weeks ago I bought donuts at Walmart, so I checked the nutritional information and it read "1 donut (40 grams) - 133 calories". I thought it was a great treat, a delicious, decent sized glazed donut for only 133 calories. I weighed one before eating it, just out of curiosity, and it weighed 75 grams. Bummer, almost twice as many calories as the information on the box!
So boo hoo, shame on you, Walmart

I'm just happy you caught it before you ate it so you could make the decision!!

ndj1979

OP - I agree that you have to be careful with these things. My personally, I never weigh out individual bread slices for my sandwiches as I figure it will balance out over time. However, I do weight out all my individual servings of meats and what not.

PrizePopple

On bread I sort of figure it evens out when I end up eating the stupid heels because my children refuse. I don't typically eat that much bread anyhow, so it's not one of the things I really stress about. Though the PB I had on my sandwich I totally weighed by putting my bread on the scale and going from there. :P

I weigh block/shredded cheese, cereal, gelato, yogurt ... things I know I cannot eyeball to save my life. Some things I guess on like the sliced black olives I'll put on my shredded chicken tonight for dinner, or lettuce on a sandwich.

girlviernes

When you use tare it usually isn't much more work to actually weigh the thing. I don't worry about being obsessive because it's not a part of my personality to overdo things in that way. It actually helps me to maintain focus.

It also helps to make your own entry that puts the servings in grams, e.g., if the package says serving = 0.5 cups (58g), you would make an entry with the serving as 58g (0.5 cups), then it is easy to adjust by selecting the 1g option and you don't need a calculator. Bonus, those entries will show up first without an asterisk so you can easily find it the next time you have that food.

SueInAz

PrizePopple wrote: »

On bread I sort of figure it evens out when I end up eating the stupid heels because my children refuse. I don't typically eat that much bread anyhow, so it's not one of the things I really stress about. Though the PB I had on my sandwich I totally weighed by putting my bread on the scale and going from there. :P

I weigh block/shredded cheese, cereal, gelato, yogurt ... things I know I cannot eyeball to save my life. Some things I guess on like the sliced black olives I'll put on my shredded chicken tonight for dinner, or lettuce on a sandwich.

It's definitely more important for things that have more calories. Weighing lettuce? You could but for a + or - 5 calories why bother? Weighing oils, salad dressing and peanut butter? Definitely! Not only can a small misjudgement equal a big calorie difference, it's not easy to eyeball an exact 2 tablespoons.

mnfarmgal

I don't expect to always weigh my breads - I was shocked.. and considering I have been packing sandwiches for my lunch the last week.. it was kind of an "oh damn" moment.. Normally - breakfast is when I have bread.. I like peanut butter toast - and one piece of bread being off won't derail me.. But that Bratwurst I weighed.. NEVER again.. on the scale it goes..

To be honest I'm frustrated with myself for assuming that one bratwurst = one serving (87g). Now I will weigh it and calculate it.

arditarose

Yeah. Bacon be like that too.

debsdoingthis

janisfrancis90 wrote: »

I NEVER expected upwards of a 25% discrepancy in a serving.. to me that's very eye opening.. and i will be weighing everything for a while - 100 calories a day does make a difference.. It adds up to an entire snack.

100 cal x 35 days =1 lb, potential to gain about 10 lbs a year without even thinking about it

mnfarmgal

arditarose wrote: »

Yeah. Bacon be like that too.

mmm.. Bacon

mnfarmgal

debsdoingthis wrote: »

janisfrancis90 wrote: »

I NEVER expected upwards of a 25% discrepancy in a serving.. to me that's very eye opening.. and i will be weighing everything for a while - 100 calories a day does make a difference.. It adds up to an entire snack.

100 cal x 35 days =1 lb, potential to gain about 10 lbs a year without even thinking about it

Exactly!! Watch your pennies and your dollars take care of themselves... Maybe we can change it.. Watch your calories and your pounds will take care of themselves..