Weighing food

Mersie1

Hi all. I just started weighing my food. I went back and looked through old logs. Where I put for example 1 c quinoa, MFP added (6.5 oz a I hadn't weighed it though) and calculated it as 222 calories, yesterday I logged the quinoa in oz, 3 oz was 321 calories. I know a weighed amount is going to be more Calories and more correct than a measured (i.e. Cups,) but why is that if MFP is guessing an oz amount for my cup entry. Hope this makes sense.

avskk

MFP entries are based on package labels and/or USDA data. If the package for the quinoa you used states that a serving is "1 cup (6.5oz)," for example, then when you logged one cup it also included the ounce estimate. Food producers estimate the volume of a given weight of their products, but volume varies in countless ways. It can be affected by altitude, humidity, nonstandard measuring tools, imprecise leveling, and much more.

This is why it's so important to weigh your solid foods -- although a package may say a serving is one cup, or a quarter-cup dry, or whatever, those measurements are actually weight analogs. If you serve yourself a measured cup that weighs more, you're taking in more calories even though the volume measurement matches. MFP wasn't doing the estimating, here; it was just reporting what the package label or USDA data says for the food you chose.

Mersie1

Got it- thanks! Weighing is def more precise! I was shocked by how much!! Thanks for your help!