A lesson learned on the importance of the food scale -

2

Replies

  • mnfarmgal
    mnfarmgal Posts: 35 Member
    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 :disappointed:

    I'm just happy you caught it before you ate it so you could make the decision!!
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    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
    PrizePopple Posts: 3,133 Member
    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
    girlviernes Posts: 2,402 Member
    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
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    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
    mnfarmgal Posts: 35 Member
    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
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Yeah. Bacon be like that too.
  • debsdoingthis
    debsdoingthis Posts: 454 Member
    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
    mnfarmgal Posts: 35 Member
    arditarose wrote: »
    Yeah. Bacon be like that too.

    mmm.. Bacon
  • mnfarmgal
    mnfarmgal Posts: 35 Member
    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..
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    My daughter is cooking bacon right this minute to make an egg, bacon and cheese wrap. It smells AWESOME!
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    snickerscharlie wrote: »
    My daughter is cooking bacon right this minute to make an egg, bacon and cheese wrap. It smells AWESOME!

    So good! I got tired of trying to figure out how many dang calories were in it, I haven't had it in awhile.
  • Kst76
    Kst76 Posts: 935 Member
    I noticed this too but reversed.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    karintalley wrote: »
    I noticed this too but reversed.

    Yeah, that can happen. I notice it with sliced bread. Some are under, some are over. I stopped weighing that because I figured by the time I'm through with the package it will have evened out. Seems less likely with sausage, bacon, hotdogs or the like though.
  • jaga13
    jaga13 Posts: 1,149 Member
    Like others, I don't bother with lettuce, cucumbers, low calorie items. But I was shocked at how much I underestimated pb. And meat...I have no clue so I can't even make an educated guess without weighing it.

    Still can't believe I've been putting pb right on the scale when I could have zero'd out the plate/bowl first. Mind. Blown.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    Lol! Live and learn. ;)
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,053 Member
    jaga13 wrote: »
    Like others, I don't bother with lettuce, cucumbers, low calorie items. But I was shocked at how much I underestimated pb. And meat...I have no clue so I can't even make an educated guess without weighing it.

    Still can't believe I've been putting pb right on the scale when I could have zero'd out the plate/bowl first. Mind. Blown.

    Yes, I love love love the ability to zero out a digital scale :)

    I found I was dead on with tablespoons of peanut butter using an actual tablespoon, but when I eyeballed it using a fork I was off by almost double.

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,053 Member
    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.

    Yup, lost weight many times myself without counting calories or weighing. When I'm just cooking for me losing weight is easy. But when I'm cooking for other people (currently my fiance and his mother, my massage therapist and her family, and sometimes my mother and brother) I need to be more careful. Being obsessive is working for me these days.

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    edited June 2015
    That's why I weigh everything. It's ridiculous sometimes. Graze flapjacks are often 60 to 80 more calories than what the package says... it definitely adds up. Taco shells are often 25% heavier too... bread also (Pepperidge Farm swirl bread, or some English muffin brand with muffins that weighed 65g instead of 57g). Granola bars make me nuts. They're high calories but I like them for the nuts (I don't like nuts otherwise), and often my 150 calorie bar ends up 180 calories and it makes me sad.

    Some sausages are typically 20% heavier too, and it totally messes up my pre-logging. I log 1.5 sausage and end up eating one because otherwise it would be 1.1 sausage and it's just dumb.

    I remember Waffle Waffle brand waffles (yes, it's real), before they changed their product. It was like 130 calories for half a waffle, and it said a serving was 30g, but when you weighed them they were 87g or something... 370 calories waffle. Now they're 'only' 260 calories or so, the weight is still way off, and they are very sad waffles (they made them lower fat).

    I admit I don't bother weighing yogurt cups though (the time I did, it was less, so I figured it wasn't worth the trouble).

    I don't find it obsessive though... I have a small deficit, and I work off TDEE so exercise is included. 100 calories is a big deal. For most people who don't even eat back exercise calories, I can see how it wouldn't be a huge deal at all though.
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
    I weigh everything! Spices & herbs, serving sizes or not i dont care i weigh it.
    And i have been laughed at, scolded and called obsessive lol

    But i dont care. When i see people posting here i advice weigh your food. ALL your food.
    Most of the time they say, yes i weigh my food. But when you ask a bit further, they dont.
    They log 1 medium apple, or one serving of ham ( 3 slices) etc etc
    Had a cheese cake last time (1 serving was 1 piece of 46 gram was 210 calories according to the label) My piece was more than 46 gram and ended up as 253 calories instead of 210.....43 calories right there!

    When you have a smaller deficit it does matter. All these errors in your logging adds up. Sometimes to hundreds a day
    For example i can easily eat around 80 calories in herbs & spices a day. Add to that some errors of 50 calories and you have 130 calories not accounted for....not much you say...sure its not much But over a week it is 910 Calories!!!!

    Now add to that your overestimating your burns and errors. And walla you have a much smaller deficit than you think you had.

    I see a lot of people using cups and spoons or not doing their low calorie vegetables.....It has calories. It does matter!
    And what does it matter to weigh all your food it just takes a couple of seconds to do so.

    For most people weighing everything is much more important then they think. And most of them also eat more then they log because they dont weigh everything correctly.

    Only for some weighing everything is less important because they create a big deficit by training. So their inaccuracy is not really important/noticeable. And good for them. Hope to be in that position one day too.
    But when you are losing weight and your deficit is depending on your food intake and a couple of hundred burned calories, then it is better to weigh everything that has calories.


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