success without a food scale

lalainap19

I have been on a deficit for 37 days and I do not weigh my food I have lost weight and inches but part of me thinks I can be losing more but I just feel like weighing food will be time consuming and just flat out annoying. Any people successful without a scale or weigh your food religiously without it feeling like you are spending too much time doing so?

juggernaut1974

I've never owned or used a food scale. I guess I'm a good estimator.

That said, if ever my results weren't matching up with my expectations, becoming more accurate in my measurements would be the first place I would start.

kxbrown27

It takes more time to change the battery in the scale than it does to weigh everything I eat, so no. Not spending too much time doing it.

accidentalpancake

No scale. Minimize packaged and fast foods and cook 95% of meals at home.

Weighing may be helpful, but you'll know you can maintain for life when you don't have to.

williamwj2014

I've lost weight without a scale but having a scale just helps with meeting macros...hated doing it also but It really doesn't take that long.

lalainap19

Yes makes sense I've been successful without weighing food I estimate pretty accurate and I don't eat fast food.

Ready2Rock206

Weighing food is so much faster than using measuring cups and results in a lot less dirty dishes which equals more time saved. So if you're using measuring cups it will be a time saver to use a scale. If you're just completely estimating then yep you'll need to decide if the 30 seconds or so it takes to use the food scale is worth it for better results.

slaite1

I started off without a food scale and can lose without one. I'm a decent estimator and would also spend time portioning out my food.

But I LOVE having a good scale, and it actually saves me time. I never have to stress about how much I'm eating. "Does that look like half?" "Wait-how many serving of yogurt have I had?" And so on. Plus now I eat whatever I want and can be confident I am tracking correctly-which makes it super easy to add or subtract foods as necessary.

Much like using MFP-it just takes some getting used to. It now takes me all of 20 seconds who weigh and log a meal. I'm a convert

tomatoey

I lost 50 lbs using measuring cups. I did buy a scale, but it broke. So did another one. I feel like the cups are easy to use, in that you can just treat them like you do other kitchen tools (ie use them to serve portions). They are NOT easy to use when it comes to certain food items (like meat that isn't chopped). For that and some other things, I go by the package weight and do math to divide it out.

It is not as accurate as a scale, but if you fill the cups just to the level or just under it, it's ok, especially if you have a lot to lose. Like don't go filling them right to or over the top.

williamwj2014

accidentalpancake wrote: »

No scale. Minimize packaged and fast foods and cook 95% of meals at home.

Weighing may be helpful, but you'll know you can maintain for life when you don't have to.

Eh, I feel having a scale helps measure out portion sizes if there is no scale around so it has helped me see what a portion size looks like so it does help you "maintain for life"

ermand

It takes me on average 40 seconds to weigh my food per meal. That includes measuring each type of food i'm putting on my plate. I don't understand why people think it is time consuming.

lalainap19

Yes I definitely hate all the dirty measuring cups I just use so many ingredients when I cook so I hate the thought of weighing all the veggies

mantium999

accidentalpancake wrote: »

No scale. Minimize packaged and fast foods and cook 95% of meals at home.

Weighing may be helpful, but you'll know you can maintain for life when you don't have to.

Are the calorie estimates on packaged foods worse than guessing the weight of your steak or fruit or veggies? If it's all guesswork anyway, for the sake of making life easier, would it not be easier to estimate consumption by barcode scanning if you aren't going to weigh?

tomatoey

lalainap19 wrote: »

Yes I definitely hate all the dirty measuring cups I just use so many ingredients when I cook so I hate the thought of weighing all the veggies

Lol - yeah it's annoying. I have 2 sets of cups so I'm never out, and rinse them out AS SOON AS i use them.

WBB55

ermand wrote: »

It takes me on average 40 seconds to weigh my food per meal. That includes measuring each type of food i'm putting on my plate. I don't understand why people think it is time consuming.

Yeah, I get confused by this, too. Put plate on scale, turn scale on. Add food. It doesn't take any extra time than putting food on the plate without the scale. Well, MAYBE like 1 second.

slaite1

lalainap19 wrote: »

Yes I definitely hate all the dirty measuring cups I just use so many ingredients when I cook so I hate the thought of weighing all the veggies

You just "tare" the scale as you go. For me, it's quicker than measuring.

lalainap19

I guess just the thought of it but u never know until you give it a go. But like I said I have lost but I feel I can lose more. Think I'm going to get a scale

BWBTrish

When you start out, you can indeed do it without weighing. But the smaller your deficit gets ( because you lose weight) the harder it become.
I maintained my weight for over 20 years without weighing, and lost without out too. No problem at all.
I ate everything, was very active and kept it off.

Now that my deficit changed it is so important that i weigh. So i decided to get used to it straight away. And indeed it only takes a couple of seconds, even less than putting everything first in a cup and than on my plate.
And i am glad i did. Totally used to it now.

williamwj2014

Yeah you'll definitely benefit from having a scale. It's good that you lost without but knowing how much your putting into your body is beneficial

ASKyle

Yes, you can lose without a scale.

You'll probably want one once you're close to goal. Your deficit will be much smaller and thus your margin of error will be too.

slaite1

lalainap19 wrote: »

I guess just the thought of it but u never know until you give it a go. But like I said I have lost but I feel I can lose more. Think I'm going to get a scale

I got my first one for like $7 at aldi. I recently upgraded for a $15 scale bc I want to weigh in grams. My old one still works fine. I always thought people that weigh out all their food were obsessive or crazy. I never realized how simple it is.

Accuracy will become more important for you the closer you get to your goal, so trying it out can't hurt! Good luck

lalainap19

OK so u put the plate on the scale and then add the foods that sounds easy more than I thought glad I asked because I was probably doing things the hard way all along.

BWBTrish

yes i put my plate on the scale and just load up lol easie peasie

accidentalpancake

williamwj2014 wrote: »

accidentalpancake wrote: »

No scale. Minimize packaged and fast foods and cook 95% of meals at home.

Weighing may be helpful, but you'll know you can maintain for life when you don't have to.

Eh, I feel having a scale helps measure out portion sizes if there is no scale around so it has helped me see what a portion size looks like so it does help you "maintain for life"

I agree that it can be useful, but if it's something that you need to use forever to maintain a weight it seems like an imperfect tool.

Maybe weighing doesn't take long, but it takes longer than not weighing.

BWBTrish

Some things a way before. Like when i make a recipe here in MFP and i divede it in serving sizes
But most of the time i just put my plate on the scale
Turn it on ( it will start at zero then)
put on veggies..write down the weight and zero it out again ( TARA button) put on meat. write it down ( and zero it out) Put on potatoes, write it down and zero out etc etc done just a few seconds

CSARdiver

I did the same. When I bought a scale I discovered that in most cases I was overestimating.

Realize that there's a high degree of error in nutritional labeling ~20%, so if you're attempting to maintain a deficit, plan accordingly and err on the side of caution.

BWBTrish

and the other way around works too.
When you want butter or peanut butter or anything out of a package or jaw
Put the pot of peanut butter on the scale...put the scale on
Take a knife or spoon and take some out...the minus number now is the grams you took out

simple

accidentalpancake

mantium999 wrote: »

accidentalpancake wrote: »

No scale. Minimize packaged and fast foods and cook 95% of meals at home.

Weighing may be helpful, but you'll know you can maintain for life when you don't have to.

Are the calorie estimates on packaged foods worse than guessing the weight of your steak or fruit or veggies? If it's all guesswork anyway, for the sake of making life easier, would it not be easier to estimate consumption by barcode scanning if you aren't going to weigh?

I'm interested in the quality of the food, not just the calorie count (which is actually a distant concern).

If all you're looking for is counting calories, packaged food is just fine, I'm sure.

[Edited by MFP Staff]

AddieOverhaul

I started without but ended up getting one when weight loss stalled. It's super easy. I don't weigh everything, but when I'm home it's so easy to do so I just do it. It has helped me learn what portion sizes really are. I was underestimating how many ounces of meat I was eating and things like that. It has helped me start to lose again.

Kalikel

You don't have to weigh anything. If you are supposed to eat 1400 calories and you're guessing on amounts and not losing, you might be eating 1500-1700. Lower your goal number. Just change the goal to 1300, 1200, 1000 - whatever it takes until you do start losing. If you think you're eating 1100 calories a day, but you're really eating 1400, who cares? If weight loss is the goal and you are losing weight, yay.

If you want the most accurate estimate because the numbers are important to you, weigh the food. It will get you the best estimate. You learn a lot about food when you weigh it, too. It's a helpful tool.

But if it seems to obsessive or time-consuming, just don't. It's not necessary. People lost weight before anyone on the planet knew what a calorie was. It can be done. I lost 40 pounds without even counting calories.

There are many ways to do this.

WBB55

Honestly, the logging takes way more time than weighing. Weighing takes no time. You have to put food on the plate, just a put a scale under it first. Finding entries in the database takes longer for me. YMMV