Do You Weigh Pre-Packaged Food, Like a Slice of Bread?

13

Replies

  • getup25
    getup25 Posts: 119 Member
    bpetrosky wrote: »
    Yes.

    You can take a few slices of bread from a loaf and weigh each one and find a significant variance. Sliced cheese or meats can vary a fair bit, too.

    Some packaged foods are more variable than others, and sometimes it's just some testing to figure out what tends to vary a little or a lot.

    Also, individually wrapped snacks. My Clif bar today was about 5 grams heavier than the serving size, for about a 30 calorie difference than labeled.

    I found bread to be a big culprit of not being the weight that it says on the package. Most of the slices were over the weight on the label. It has stated as a selling feature - 90 calories per slice and I was annoyed. Yes I did call them - poor quality control.
  • elkhunter7x6
    elkhunter7x6 Posts: 88 Member
    ariamythe wrote: »
    I have neither the time nor the motivation for weighing all prepackaged/premeasured food. As with others, I'm okay with the variance. When I was in my long-term weight loss period, I dropped 70+ lbs over the course of a year without weighing such things, so it never became something that concerned me.

    ^^^this

  • mburgess458
    mburgess458 Posts: 480 Member
    So you weighers totally trust the companies to be 100% accurate on the calories per gram calculation but doubt their ability to weigh their product.
  • DeterminedFee201426
    DeterminedFee201426 Posts: 859 Member
    Yes even prepackaged food.. they be off as well .. especially bread in my experience
    EX:Serving size 1 slice of bread =23g
    When weighed it's always either 25g-30g! and this is why weighing everything is important..
    I really think you should weigh that bread hahahaha.
  • CurlyCockney
    CurlyCockney Posts: 1,394 Member
    mburgess458 wrote: »
    So you weighers totally trust the companies to be 100% accurate on the calories per gram calculation but doubt their ability to weigh their product.

    I don't necessarily trust whoever puts the information onto MFP to put the data that I need. Most bread companies in the UK make different sizes of the same loaf, and those different sizes usually (Kingsmill Little Big Loaf being one exception that springs to mind) have different size slices.
  • elkhunter7x6
    elkhunter7x6 Posts: 88 Member
    Look this is not an exact science here. So for me weighing every single thing, such as prepackaged items, is a total waste of time and obsessive. If I am losing too much weight I simply add calories to my goals and likewise if I am not losing fast enough then I remove some calories from my goals. This is my second time to diet and try and lose weight and I have been successful with this method both times.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    I weigh most things (including bread) that I eat/make at home. The bread I typically use is supposed to be 42 g a serving (2 slices) and I've had 2 slices weigh up to 50 g.
  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
    mburgess458 wrote: »
    So you weighers totally trust the companies to be 100% accurate on the calories per gram calculation but doubt their ability to weigh their product.

    Actually no. I do not. In the US, nutrition labels are allowed to be as much as 20% variable, which is actually sensible given that no agriculturally based product could be guaranteed to be exactly what's on the label.

    But, when you add another error related to individual item weights, some variance in the blade pitch used to slice bread, or any other number of variances in the creation of packaged foods, a 20% error can be compounded to 40-50%.

    Weighing is simply a way of reducing the errors, they can't be eliminated.
  • Emilia777
    Emilia777 Posts: 978 Member
    bpetrosky wrote: »
    mburgess458 wrote: »
    So you weighers totally trust the companies to be 100% accurate on the calories per gram calculation but doubt their ability to weigh their product.

    Actually no. I do not. In the US, nutrition labels are allowed to be as much as 20% variable, which is actually sensible given that no agriculturally based product could be guaranteed to be exactly what's on the label.

    But, when you add another error related to individual item weights, some variance in the blade pitch used to slice bread, or any other number of variances in the creation of packaged foods, a 20% error can be compounded to 40-50%.

    Weighing is simply a way of reducing the errors, they can't be eliminated.

    Well put. I view things the same way - why not eliminate/minimize the error(s) that we can?

    Anyway, I recently starting weighing slices of bread and I do find that there is variation in slice weight, as would be expected since they’re different sizes. If the weight of the entire loaf is as stated, though, it should all even out if you eat the entire loaf (i.e. even the tiny ends!) and log each slice.

    If the loaf itself is heavier though... I don’t even know how to deal with that, because it puts into question the nutrition/gram as stated on the package, depending on how the manufacturer calculated the nutritional value. Oh well.
  • WinterSkies
    WinterSkies Posts: 940 Member
    edited July 2015
    I don't bother to weigh pre-packaged items at the moment, as I usually don't eat right up to my calorie goal, and I don't eat back any exercise calories unless I've had a really intense workout. I'm only a few weeks in, but it seems to be working so far. As other posters have said, if I stopped hitting my targets, I would definitely tighten up my logging.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    No because it evens out over the whole loaf and tbh im not that bssessed with sleight calorie variations as I burn plenty of calories through exercise.
  • MysticRealm
    MysticRealm Posts: 1,264 Member
    Thanks for the replies. I'm having decent weight loss (40 pounds since January eating an average of 1700 Cals a day) so I think I will continue to not weigh that stuff unless my weight comes to a stand still.
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
    Yes, but only since starting recomp a few months ago. Way too little wiggle room and now those variations do make a difference.
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,254 Member
    No. I did a few times and the discrepancy was just 3-4 grams., which is basically the same weight to me. I don't even weigh peanut butter, I use a tablespoon (carefully measured). I weighed it once and the calories were spot on. If I wasn't losing I might worry about every gram, but I don't have time to weigh EVERYTHING.
  • karyabc
    karyabc Posts: 830 Member
    MysticRealm wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies. I'm having decent weight loss (40 pounds since January eating an average of 1700 Cals a day) so I think I will continue to not weigh that stuff unless my weight comes to a stand still.

  • slaite1
    slaite1 Posts: 1,307 Member
    bpetrosky wrote: »
    mburgess458 wrote: »
    So you weighers totally trust the companies to be 100% accurate on the calories per gram calculation but doubt their ability to weigh their product.

    Actually no. I do not. In the US, nutrition labels are allowed to be as much as 20% variable, which is actually sensible given that no agriculturally based product could be guaranteed to be exactly what's on the label.

    But, when you add another error related to individual item weights, some variance in the blade pitch used to slice bread, or any other number of variances in the creation of packaged foods, a 20% error can be compounded to 40-50%.

    Weighing is simply a way of reducing the errors, they can't be eliminated.

    Said perfectly-as always
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
    I don't know what kind of bread y'all are buying, but I've weighed mine a few times and it's always come out to the exact serving size listed on the package. Not worth my time.
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    I do however get a minor thrill when it comes to the end of the sliced loaf and I get to eat the crust for the same calorie logging

    Note to self: get a life

    I get the same thrill when my 130 g of black beans is more than a half cup. :smiley:
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    PaulaWallaDingDong wrote: »
    I don't know what kind of bread y'all are buying, but I've weighed mine a few times and it's always come out to the exact serving size listed on the package. Not worth my time.

    As I said upthread, I rarely eat bread because I have celiac disease, but one time I was feeling poorly and had my husband pick me up a loaf of gluten free bread to make toast. It was tea and toast kind of poorly. I weighed a slice of that for kicks and giggles and cue my surprise... it was off by 20 grams. I couldn't believe how far off it was.

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
    PaulaWallaDingDong wrote: »
    I don't know what kind of bread y'all are buying, but I've weighed mine a few times and it's always come out to the exact serving size listed on the package. Not worth my time.

    Mine are always heavier unless it's the end of the loaf.. Pepperidge Farm, Nature's Own, Wegmans bread... all of them.

    Thomas English muffins are always heavier too.

Categories