Things I have learned from weighing my food

QueenofHearts023
QueenofHearts023 Posts: 421 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've learned that I seriously OVERESTIMATE the amount I eat. I would think I'm eating 100g of chicken when I'm actually eating 50g.

I've been trying to get back in the weight loss zone for a while now, and each time I'm just too hungry and I end up eating at maintenance and not losing anything.

And all along I've been eating way less than I think I am.

Lesson : Weigh everything! You'll be surprised at how screwed up your portion control can be.
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Replies

  • Whitezombiegirl
    Whitezombiegirl Posts: 1,042 Member
    I did the same thing too.
  • emmaprocopiou
    emmaprocopiou Posts: 246 Member
    Definitely .
    I would then be starving and in the end blow it by over eating. If I'd just weighed it out in the first place I would have been satisfied.
    That saying some foods that I love like cheese I would underestimate until I weighed it.
    It's now become a game I play guess the weight to see how good I'm getting at eyeballing a portion when weighing out lunch etc.
    I usually lose
  • melonaulait
    melonaulait Posts: 769 Member
    I overestimate a lot too. Especially with fruit, since I can't be bothered to weigh the cores or skins every day of my life... But it balances out for the times when I might log 100g too little.
  • ktekc
    ktekc Posts: 879 Member
    I've learned that a serving of peanut butter makes me sad...but PB2 mixed into my overnight oats or smoothies makes me happy again...lol
  • Pawsforme
    Pawsforme Posts: 645 Member
    Excellent post. Although the common wisdom on here is that most dieters under estimate how much they eat, I also found that w/o careful weighing I substantially over estimate. Weighing allows me to eat significantly more.
  • tracefan
    tracefan Posts: 382 Member
    It's amazing when you actually count calories check the labels. And weigh food. However I can't weigh every single thing I eat and I don't want to. I too overestimate but I'm ok with that.
  • QueenofHearts023
    QueenofHearts023 Posts: 421 Member
    tracefan wrote: »
    It's amazing when you actually count calories check the labels. And weigh food. However I can't weigh every single thing I eat and I don't want to. I too overestimate but I'm ok with that.

    I've done it for a year before so this time it was really easy for me to get back into it. Takes maybe 10 minutes extra of my time. Besides, I don't want to eat less than 1600 if I don't have to. :) I can fit a lot of yummy food in there.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Yeah. It's really for my state of mind.. overestimating 'just in case' sucks because if you end up hungry later, you don't know what to do (one of the reasons I dislike eating out now). By weighing everything, I know exactly where I stand and don't feel bad about eating an extra snack if I get hungry.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    I agree...I underestimate some things and overestimate others. While it's not strictly related to weighing food, I had the same issue when I began using MFP. I thought I was eating like 3 servings of cereal and it turned out my portion was dead-on for the correct amount of 1 serving. I thought I would only be able to have 1/3 of my usual portion for pasta, but it turned out I'd been eating the correct portion size all along and 2 oz. of any pasta is really way more than I would have guessed.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    I also learned that I tend to overestimate most foods, especially pasta.

    And I learned that weighing all my food is not for me.
  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,741 Member
    I have the opposite problem. I over estimate EVERYTHING (because I want all the food) and that hasn't changed in however many years I've been at this so I'll be weighing forever and ever.
  • QueenofHearts023
    QueenofHearts023 Posts: 421 Member
    It's kind of funny, I use to underestimate the first time I used MFP to lose weight (like most, I was eating more than I thought), now that I'm in to lose the last pounds the second time, I have the opposite problem. How times change. :wink:
  • QueenofHearts023
    QueenofHearts023 Posts: 421 Member
    Even more funny - is the fact that I have maintained my weight for 2 years without weighing anything...yet everytime I try to lose, I ate too little. You'd think if I can maintain without weighing I'd be able to lose at a reasonable rate without it as well. Haha
  • tara_means_star
    tara_means_star Posts: 957 Member
    I feel like this is a dumb question but I want to ask anyway :lol: My scale only weighs in ounces for foods, not grams. Still accurate?
  • tincanonastring
    tincanonastring Posts: 3,944 Member
    I learned that cereal serving sizes are a cruel mockery.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I found that I underestimate some things and overestimate others. I also learned that I was eating far fewer calories when I started than I had thought (I wasn't counting calories before, just trying to lose by eating lower calorie meals) and that allowed me to add in some calories (and have more varied meals) before I got bored/hungry, which was a help.

    I haven't been logging much while just maintaining, but weighing and counting helped me become much better at estimating calories, and there are some things I weigh even when not logging.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    I'm really good at getting 100 g of pasta out of the package without weighing.
  • ki4eld
    ki4eld Posts: 1,213 Member
    tincanonastring wrote: »
    I learned that cereal serving sizes are a cruel mockery.

    And a single serving of nuts is a tiny bowl of sad.
  • WinterSkies
    WinterSkies Posts: 940 Member
    tara_means_star wrote: »
    I feel like this is a dumb question but I want to ask anyway :lol: My scale only weighs in ounces for foods, not grams. Still accurate?

    Yup... ounces is just an imperial measurement, and grams are metric. You can easily convert between the two, so as long as your scale was calibrated properly when it was manufactured, the numbers will be fine.
  • tara_means_star
    tara_means_star Posts: 957 Member
    thanks! I figured it was but everyone talks about weighing in grams and it made me concerned...that and I weighed out 4 ounces of brown rice and it looked a bit much....I might check to make sure it's calibrated correctly.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    tara_means_star wrote: »
    I feel like this is a dumb question but I want to ask anyway :lol: My scale only weighs in ounces for foods, not grams. Still accurate?

    Well, not as accurate as grams, but it's better than nothing I guess.
  • tara_means_star
    tara_means_star Posts: 957 Member
    why isn't it as accurate?
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
    edited February 2016
    tara_means_star wrote: »
    why isn't it as accurate?

    Ounces are a larger unit is all.

    It's like the difference in rounding off your height to the nearest foot (or meter), which won't be as accurate as using the nearest inch (or centimeter)
  • tara_means_star
    tara_means_star Posts: 957 Member
    still effective for weight loss?
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
    tara_means_star wrote: »
    still effective for weight loss?

    If you have more margin for error, probably. As your margin for error tightens, your accuracy generally needs to increase to be effective.
  • LifeNewandImproved
    LifeNewandImproved Posts: 125 Member
    I generally overestimate without a scale, with the one exception being chips, crackers, or things that tend to break up in the package before you serve them to yourself. Those are fun to weigh out :)
  • tara_means_star
    tara_means_star Posts: 957 Member
    juggernaut1974 wrote: »
    tara_means_star wrote: »
    still effective for weight loss?

    If you have more margin for error, probably. As your margin for error tightens, your accuracy generally needs to increase to be effective.

    Ok, last question. OP, so sorry to derail your thread.... :disappointed:

    I'm still 40 pounds to goal and 20 pounds overweight. Would it make since you just measure and log 4 ounces as 4 ounces until it no longer works, then weigh 3.9 or even 3.8 but log 4?
  • QueenofHearts023
    QueenofHearts023 Posts: 421 Member
    tara_means_star wrote: »
    juggernaut1974 wrote: »
    tara_means_star wrote: »
    still effective for weight loss?

    If you have more margin for error, probably. As your margin for error tightens, your accuracy generally needs to increase to be effective.

    Ok, last question. OP, so sorry to derail your thread.... :disappointed:

    All good. No worries :blush:

  • tara_means_star
    tara_means_star Posts: 957 Member
    QueenofHearts023 wrote: »
    tara_means_star wrote: »
    juggernaut1974 wrote: »
    tara_means_star wrote: »
    still effective for weight loss?

    If you have more margin for error, probably. As your margin for error tightens, your accuracy generally needs to increase to be effective.

    Ok, last question. OP, so sorry to derail your thread.... :disappointed:

    All good. No worries :blush:

    Thanks for posting about this! Reminded me how important it is to use my scale! :smile:
  • elaineamj
    elaineamj Posts: 347 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Yeah. It's really for my state of mind.. overestimating 'just in case' sucks because if you end up hungry later, you don't know what to do (one of the reasons I dislike eating out now). By weighing everything, I know exactly where I stand and don't feel bad about eating an extra snack if I get hungry.

    +1

    SO very happy I got my scale - the inaccuracy was driving me crazy! I've been eating more since I got the scale lol.

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