Weighing food help

sunshineblue1

Hi how does the weighing food thing work? I will buy some scales but what am I aiming for? I am looking around the internet to some advice and I haven't come across anything clear and explains step by stem how/what I should be doing

I really need to step it up, I am doing exercising 5/7 and cutting out bad food, but still not loosing and I need a new strategy

janejellyroll

There are two different ways to use the scale:

1. Determine portion size. Example: I know I want to eat 1 serving of peanut butter, which is about 30 grams. I weigh out 30 grams so I know I hit my goal exactly.

2. Determine what I'm actually eating. Example: I just want to slap some peanut butter on my toast until it looks right. I put my toast on a plate, put it on the scale, and zero it out. I then put peanut butter on my toast, see how much weight the scale registers, and log that amount.

Either will work. I usually do the first (decide how much I'm going to eat and then weigh out that amount), but many people do the second.

mkakids

Well at work, you can either bring all food and pre weigh and log it....or you can weigh it on on the spot.. exactly the same way you would weight it at home. Put the plate on the scale. Hit tare. Add 1 ingredient to find its weight. Hit tare. Add the second ingredient to find its weight. Hit tar.....etc... until everything has been weighed.

girlviernes

Get a digital scale with a tare function (I think all digital scales will have this). $10-20 range is fine. It's useful if it can switch units between oz and grams.

In case you like to cook, here is how I handle when I'm making something with several ingredients

Get a pad of paper and write down all the ingredients I will use
Get out my food scale and a bowl
Put bowl on food scale and turn on
Weigh first ingredient, write down the grams on the ingredients list
Tare the scale (zero out)
Weigh next ingredient, write down the grams
Etc.
Sometimes I'll use more than one bowl... sometimes I'll start cooking before a complete mise en place
Then when I'm done there are two options, I can split into portions (for example, make 4 servings). If I cook quite a lot of one thing, I'll usually weigh the entire end product and then in the recipe I'll do 1 serving for every 100g (so if I had 1,250g of end product I would put 12.5 servings). Then I can just weight out portions just like I would do for a regular item that has a 100g option.
I use this information to create a recipe on mfp. In the future I can follow the same recipe or edit it to match differences in how I cook.

dianak6

Sorry, didn't mean to flag this just wanted to save it!!!!

dianak6

Great advise, thank you!!!

tcaley4

Here is the one that I purchased from Amazon. Less than 12.00 plus shipping.



And here is a link to it:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004164SRA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

lizwooshy

I got my scale from amazon for $8 and it works great. The point of weighing your food is to ensure you are logging accurately. Before my scale, I was guessing cooked chicken portions and overestimating by at least an ounce every day. That adds up.

diannethegeek

dianak6 wrote: »

Sorry, didn't mean to flag this just wanted to save it!!!!

FYI, you can retract the flag by going to the post and "reflagging" it. Should remove the flag.

BekahC1980

girlviernes wrote: »

Get a digital scale with a tare function (I think all digital scales will have this). $10-20 range is fine. It's useful if it can switch units between oz and grams.

In case you like to cook, here is how I handle when I'm making something with several ingredients

Get a pad of paper and write down all the ingredients I will use
Get out my food scale and a bowl
Put bowl on food scale and turn on
Weigh first ingredient, write down the grams on the ingredients list
Tare the scale (zero out)
Weigh next ingredient, write down the grams
Etc.
Sometimes I'll use more than one bowl... sometimes I'll start cooking before a complete mise en place
Then when I'm done there are two options, I can split into portions (for example, make 4 servings). If I cook quite a lot of one thing, I'll usually weigh the entire end product and then in the recipe I'll do 1 serving for every 100g (so if I had 1,250g of end product I would put 12.5 servings). Then I can just weight out portions just like I would do for a regular item that has a 100g option.
I use this information to create a recipe on mfp. In the future I can follow the same recipe or edit it to match differences in how I cook.

The more simpler method is to use the recipe builder on mfp

diannethegeek

I really like this thread if you're looking for more tips: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1290491/how-and-why-to-use-a-digital-food-scale

girlviernes

BekahC1980 wrote: »

girlviernes wrote: »

Get a digital scale with a tare function (I think all digital scales will have this). $10-20 range is fine. It's useful if it can switch units between oz and grams.

In case you like to cook, here is how I handle when I'm making something with several ingredients

Get a pad of paper and write down all the ingredients I will use
Get out my food scale and a bowl
Put bowl on food scale and turn on
Weigh first ingredient, write down the grams on the ingredients list
Tare the scale (zero out)
Weigh next ingredient, write down the grams
Etc.
Sometimes I'll use more than one bowl... sometimes I'll start cooking before a complete mise en place
Then when I'm done there are two options, I can split into portions (for example, make 4 servings). If I cook quite a lot of one thing, I'll usually weigh the entire end product and then in the recipe I'll do 1 serving for every 100g (so if I had 1,250g of end product I would put 12.5 servings). Then I can just weight out portions just like I would do for a regular item that has a 100g option.
I use this information to create a recipe on mfp. In the future I can follow the same recipe or edit it to match differences in how I cook.

The more simpler method is to use the recipe builder on mfp

That is what I do... but you need to know how much is going into the recipe!

janejellyroll

BekahC1980 wrote: »

girlviernes wrote: »

Get a digital scale with a tare function (I think all digital scales will have this). $10-20 range is fine. It's useful if it can switch units between oz and grams.

In case you like to cook, here is how I handle when I'm making something with several ingredients

Get a pad of paper and write down all the ingredients I will use
Get out my food scale and a bowl
Put bowl on food scale and turn on
Weigh first ingredient, write down the grams on the ingredients list
Tare the scale (zero out)
Weigh next ingredient, write down the grams
Etc.
Sometimes I'll use more than one bowl... sometimes I'll start cooking before a complete mise en place
Then when I'm done there are two options, I can split into portions (for example, make 4 servings). If I cook quite a lot of one thing, I'll usually weigh the entire end product and then in the recipe I'll do 1 serving for every 100g (so if I had 1,250g of end product I would put 12.5 servings). Then I can just weight out portions just like I would do for a regular item that has a 100g option.
I use this information to create a recipe on mfp. In the future I can follow the same recipe or edit it to match differences in how I cook.

The more simpler method is to use the recipe builder on mfp

When she says she is "creating a recipe," I think she is talking about recipe builder. Using the weights of the ingredients is the most accurate way to use that tool.

BekahC1980

Why use pen and paper

girlviernes

BekahC1980 wrote: »

Why use pen and paper

Well you don't have to, but I like it especially if my recipe has a lot of ingredients. I'm often cooking with 10+ ingredients, so it's easier than trying to fiddle with my phone or computer in the middle of cooking or trying to remember amounts. Now, if I was following a pre-set recipe I would just measure out the amounts to match the recipe.

Queenmunchy

Easiest for me is loading in the ingredients in the recipe builder and making sure I have the right ones (not caring about grams, etc). Then on my smartphone I can just adjust the actual numbers as I weigh them.

oolou

sunshineblue1 wrote: »

Hi how does the weighing food thing work? I will buy some scales but what am I aiming for? I am looking around the internet to some advice and I haven't come across anything clear and explains step by stem how/what I should be doing

I really need to step it up, I am doing exercising 5/7 and cutting out bad food, but still not loosing and I need a new strategy

When you have your scales, spend a week weighing your food and logging it all into your food diary here.

How to weigh stuff? This evening I had a chicken dinner. I put my plate on the scale, zeroed it out, then added the food, making a note of the weights for each bit of the meal. At the end of the meal I weighed the chicken bones. I logged all of this into my food diary here.

Do this for a week for everything you eat. It helps you see how many calories you are eating normally and gets you in the habit of weighing your food.

Then set your goals for how much you want to lose a week. MFP will give you a daily calorie target.

Now you start to think about portion sizes and planning out your meals, using your knowledge, so you can eat the food you like, but in the quantity that will not go over your calorie goal.