dumb question about weighing fruit
cariduttry
Posts: 210 Member
how do you measure fruit? for example, i'm sitting here at my desk eating a fuji apple. the label says it's 154 grams for 80 calories. i weighed it before i left for work and it's 140 grams...with the core. is that what i use or should i be coring it and weighing it? same for oranges and bananas. are the gram weights used including the skins or should i be peeling and weighing? thanks in advance!!
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Replies
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Weigh the parts you eat. Obviously there won't be a label for every single fruit that shows it's actual weight.4
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I weigh it before I leave home. I then take the core or peel home with me and weigh that, subtracting the second number from the first.7
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I like to eat my apples sliced so I usually just slice them at home and then weigh. Then I know exactly how many grams I'm actually eating.3
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I weigh/log when I pack my lunch in the am. I refuse to be so obsessive as to take trash home with me, so I just log the total with the core/peel. I have enough total calories each day that the few extra I'm logging because of the core/peel aren't causing me to otherwise go over my daily calorie allotment.6
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I think weighing it would be a little extreme. Just log it as a regular apple or whatever. The calorie difference will be so minimal. Or just weigh it the one time, then you know for future refernece.0
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thanks everyone!
@jemhh, i like that idea because i don't like to have my apples turn brown.
@treegirl97, i was thinking that, but do you do anything to keep them from turning brown?
i'm trying to be obsessive right now because i'm just beginning to weigh food and want to keep it honest. as time goes on and i get good at it, i agree @gobonas99 that i probably won't need to be so ocd about it.
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If I can, I cut it up and weigh only the part I eat. If not I weigh the whole thing and just include it in my total... I figure being off a little bit, by saying I ate more than I actually did from time to time, will only assist me in my weight loss/maintenance efforts.2
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I'd just log it as 140g and at least then you're not over in calories, but a little under. I couldn't be bothered fathing about saving the core to take home & weigh.0
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hassankarimi82 wrote: »I think weighing it would be a little extreme. Just log it as a regular apple or whatever. The calorie difference will be so minimal. Or just weigh it the one time, then you know for future refernece.
There can be big differences!!! I know this from having weighed all my food for (almost) every meal for over a year...
The only thing I don't weigh is what I can't, like when we go out to dinner.
If I buy food and bring it home, even if it's tacos from Taco Bell, for example, I weigh it...
So yeah the calorie difference is not "minimal"... Just sayin'2 -
DoreenaV1975 wrote: »hassankarimi82 wrote: »I think weighing it would be a little extreme. Just log it as a regular apple or whatever. The calorie difference will be so minimal. Or just weigh it the one time, then you know for future refernece.
There can be big differences!!! I know this from having weighed all my food for (almost) every meal for over a year...
The only thing I don't weigh is what I can't, like when we go out to dinner.
If I buy food and bring it home, even if it's tacos from Taco Bell, for example, I weigh it...
So yeah the calorie difference is not "minimal"... Just sayin'
At least the calorie difference will be lower, not higher, maybe 50 cals if that.0 -
When I first started calorie counting, I worried about these little details. After years of maintenance and mindfully eating without logging, I realized that these types of worries are mostly unfounded. Even a 140g apple is only 75 calories, so why make it harder than it has to be? Saving the core to weigh later would be more than I would be willing to do. I figure I make 100-200 calorie errors daily - even when I do my very best to use my digital food scale. Sometimes I err over and sometimes I err under, and it all works out. As long as I'm weighing myself, adjustments can be made.
The bigger problem for me would be the anxiety of trying to be perfect and get every gram logged per the USDA database. Been there. Worried about that. Not going back there.3 -
DoreenaV1975 wrote: »hassankarimi82 wrote: »I think weighing it would be a little extreme. Just log it as a regular apple or whatever. The calorie difference will be so minimal. Or just weigh it the one time, then you know for future refernece.
There can be big differences!!! I know this from having weighed all my food for (almost) every meal for over a year...
The only thing I don't weigh is what I can't, like when we go out to dinner.
If I buy food and bring it home, even if it's tacos from Taco Bell, for example, I weigh it...
So yeah the calorie difference is not "minimal"... Just sayin'
Eating an apple that has a weight of 154g on the label, not eating the core which is about what 1/5 of the apple which is about 30g? That is like 20kcals! That is minimal, just saying.1 -
hassankarimi82 wrote: »I think weighing it would be a little extreme. Just log it as a regular apple or whatever. The calorie difference will be so minimal. Or just weigh it the one time, then you know for future refernece.
Weighing it is the best way to ensure you know how much you're actually eating. If you eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, you can be off by hundreds of calories if you're logging everything as "regular."2 -
Weighing everything out to a T is border line eating disorder and isn't 'healthy'. When its concerning fruit and vegetables, an estimation is sufficient. When it comes to CAKE, then yes, weigh it.1
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What does everyone do, it they log all the ingredients they use to make a meal, and then don't finish it all? Separate all the ingredients weight them and then subtract them? Yeh it's probably minimal calories, but so it the OP's apple.0
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helenrosec0 wrote: »What does everyone do, it they log all the ingredients they use to make a meal, and then don't finish it all? Separate all the ingredients weight them and then subtract them? Yeh it's probably minimal calories, but so it the OP's apple.
Make it into a recipe and then put in how much I actually ate.
While I agree that the calories in an apple is "minimal", they do add up if you're eating several throughout the day. It's not as though they are devoid of calories and they can, in fact, make a huge difference in someone's numbers.1 -
If you don't want your apple to turn brown after cutting, slice it and dip the slices in lemon juice or in some powdered citric acid (usually available in the spice aisle or near canning supplies) that you have dissolved in water. Fair warning, the lemon juice makes Granny Smith apples kind of unbearable (waaaay too tart) but most other varieties are fine.2
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hassankarimi82 wrote: »Weighing everything out to a T is border line eating disorder and isn't 'healthy'. When its concerning fruit and vegetables, an estimation is sufficient. When it comes to CAKE, then yes, weigh it.
I disagree. Weighing everything to a T ensures that I am 100% accurate on the amount of calories that I'm consuming. "Eyeballing" and "guessing" at serving sizes is what made me gain weight in the first place.4 -
hassankarimi82 wrote: »Weighing everything out to a T is border line eating disorder and isn't 'healthy'. When its concerning fruit and vegetables, an estimation is sufficient. When it comes to CAKE, then yes, weigh it.
A scale is a tool to obtain accurate information about calories consumed. It can be used in an unhealthy way -- most tools can. But wanting to understand how many calories I'm actually eating in fruits and vegetables (some of which can be pretty calorie-dense) isn't unhealthy for *me* and it isn't unhealthy for many others.
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helenrosec0 wrote: »What does everyone do, it they log all the ingredients they use to make a meal, and then don't finish it all? Separate all the ingredients weight them and then subtract them? Yeh it's probably minimal calories, but so it the OP's apple.
I have 2 methods, depending on how feasible this is for the particular dish.
1. Make the recipe with each ingredient. When finished, weigh the entire finished product of food. Go back and edit the recipe serving size based on weight. So if the finished product is 800g, then the recipe has 800 servings. When I log the food, if I ate 40g, then I log 40 "servings" of that recipe.
2. This method is less precise, but is because sometimes it is difficult to transfer food to a large enough container or a container that won't transfer heat and melt my scale. It also won't work if more than 1 person is eating it... definitely not the preferred method. But this method is to record all of the ingredients when you cook it and eat the first part. Don't record when you eat left-overs. I did this Fri. and was nearly 1,300 calories over for the day. But then I ate leftovers Sat. and Sun. and was under calories. For the week, I think I was pretty close to right on.
You can do whatever works for you, but I log with as much precision as possible. Sometimes it doesn't always look like it in my diary (such as the big day Fri.), but I definitely am logging every drop and every bite that contains calories. The only things i don't log are things without calories (mostly water)... I log diet soda for sodium data. Just keep in mind that if you start having trouble losing weight, the first thing to change will need to be tighter logging. I disagree with the "it is close enough" logic when it is feasible to have better information.1 -
hassankarimi82 wrote: »Weighing everything out to a T is border line eating disorder and isn't 'healthy'. When its concerning fruit and vegetables, an estimation is sufficient. When it comes to CAKE, then yes, weigh it.
If you don't want to weigh everything to a T, don't. But consider the context before labeling it as eating disorder behavior. As a male, your calorie budget is likely quite a bit higher than many of the women in this thread. 20 or 30 calories may mean nothing to you. But to many others, over 3 days that's a significant difference, especially if you are a shorter/older/leaner woman.6 -
Here is what I did. I weighed apple cores a few times (when it was convenient) and the average was about 20g. Now I weigh my whole apples and subtract 20g from the weight. Alternatively you can weigh several of your apples when you get home from the grocery store and use the average as an estimate for the weight. I do this sometimes. It is ok to not be absolutely exact about weighing as long as you have realistic expectations for your weight loss. If your weight loss stalls, these estimations should be the first thing to tighten up.4
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caffeinatedcami wrote: »Here is what I did. I weighed apple cores a few times (when it was convenient) and the average was about 20g. Now I weigh my whole apples and subtract 20g from the weight. Alternatively you can weigh several of your apples when you get home from the grocery store and use the average as an estimate for the weight. I do this sometimes. It is ok to not be absolutely exact about weighing as long as you have realistic expectations for your weight loss. If your weight loss stalls, these estimations should be the first thing to tighten up.
That is a good method too. I did something similar with pasta. We always get the same kind of spaghetti noodle. I made 1 serving one time and measured it in a measuring cup. It was a generous (slightly heaping) cup of noodles. So now I just use a level 1 cup measuring cup to serve it up.2 -
I weigh my apples when sliced. Even though I only buy one kind of apples, they can be anywhere from 60-120 grams, which may only be a few calories different, but what really changes is the amount of carbs.
The lemon juice on the apple really keeps it from becoming brown. To me, it's worth it to weigh each apple because I never know how big its going to be.2 -
hassankarimi82 wrote: »Weighing everything out to a T is border line eating disorder and isn't 'healthy'. When its concerning fruit and vegetables, an estimation is sufficient. When it comes to CAKE, then yes, weigh it.
But how many of those small 20-50 cal "differences" is she missing throughout the day? Being vigilant isn't disordered.4 -
I just weigh my apple in the morning and subtract 15-20 grams depending on the starting weight. Close enough. I'm not bringing home a core to weigh it again.1
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helenrosec0 wrote: »DoreenaV1975 wrote: »hassankarimi82 wrote: »I think weighing it would be a little extreme. Just log it as a regular apple or whatever. The calorie difference will be so minimal. Or just weigh it the one time, then you know for future refernece.
There can be big differences!!! I know this from having weighed all my food for (almost) every meal for over a year...
The only thing I don't weigh is what I can't, like when we go out to dinner.
If I buy food and bring it home, even if it's tacos from Taco Bell, for example, I weigh it...
So yeah the calorie difference is not "minimal"... Just sayin'
At least the calorie difference will be lower, not higher, maybe 50 cals if that.
In some cases, yes, and that's fine, but if you don't weigh your fruit, you may not realize that that piece of fruit is actually more (in size, weight and calories) then it says and that's when it causes negative repercussions to your weight loss/maintenance efforts
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JoshuaMcAllister wrote: »DoreenaV1975 wrote: »hassankarimi82 wrote: »I think weighing it would be a little extreme. Just log it as a regular apple or whatever. The calorie difference will be so minimal. Or just weigh it the one time, then you know for future refernece.
There can be big differences!!! I know this from having weighed all my food for (almost) every meal for over a year...
The only thing I don't weigh is what I can't, like when we go out to dinner.
If I buy food and bring it home, even if it's tacos from Taco Bell, for example, I weigh it...
So yeah the calorie difference is not "minimal"... Just sayin'
Eating an apple that has a weight of 154g on the label, not eating the core which is about what 1/5 of the apple which is about 30g? That is like 20kcals! That is minimal, just saying.
They're not saying the core difference isn't minimal. Hassan thinks that weighing fruit in any form isn't necessary because you can log "1 medium apple" and get an estimate. Doreena thinks that there can be very large differences between the "average apple" and the one you buy in the store, and thus weighing it can reveal significant caloric differences. This conversation has nothing to do with core/no-core.0 -
hassankarimi82 wrote: »Weighing everything out to a T is border line eating disorder and isn't 'healthy'. When its concerning fruit and vegetables, an estimation is sufficient. When it comes to CAKE, then yes, weigh it.
If you don't want to weigh everything to a T, don't. But consider the context before labeling it as eating disorder behavior. As a male, your calorie budget is likely quite a bit higher than many of the women in this thread. 20 or 30 calories may mean nothing to you. But to many others, over 3 days that's a significant difference, especially if you are a shorter/older/leaner woman.
Exactly! I'm only 5'1 and a few extra calories can make or break my weight loss/maintenance efforts.
I've been on MFP for a little over a year and have been maintaining a 28 pound (up or down 3lbs because I allow myself a 3-pound weight range) for over 6 months.
I still eat whatever I want to... and I can do this and still be successful because I weigh my food.
I never said that EVERYBODY has to do that...
do it however you want, I was just pointing out that there COULD BE differences in weight, and therefore calories, listed on a food item that can be more than just "minimal" when it comes to someone's logging...
If you don't need to worry about these things than good for you...but some of us have to.
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JoshuaMcAllister wrote: »DoreenaV1975 wrote: »hassankarimi82 wrote: »I think weighing it would be a little extreme. Just log it as a regular apple or whatever. The calorie difference will be so minimal. Or just weigh it the one time, then you know for future refernece.
There can be big differences!!! I know this from having weighed all my food for (almost) every meal for over a year...
The only thing I don't weigh is what I can't, like when we go out to dinner.
If I buy food and bring it home, even if it's tacos from Taco Bell, for example, I weigh it...
So yeah the calorie difference is not "minimal"... Just sayin'
Eating an apple that has a weight of 154g on the label, not eating the core which is about what 1/5 of the apple which is about 30g? That is like 20kcals! That is minimal, just saying.
They're not saying the core difference isn't minimal. Hassan thinks that weighing fruit in any form isn't necessary because you can log "1 medium apple" and get an estimate. Doreena thinks that there can be very large differences between the "average apple" and the one you buy in the store, and thus weighing it can reveal significant caloric differences. This conversation has nothing to do with core/no-core.
Yes! Thank you!
A "small apple" to one person may be a 'large apple" to another...
I'm tiny...your medium apple may be a giant apple to me... LOL
So in other words, logging "1 medium apple" doesn't mean the same to every person.
That's why I weigh, by grams, and log.
Even pre-packaged items a can be "off"...
Manufacturers post what the weight should be...but when you weigh the actual item it can be higher or lower than what the package says.
Perfect example: Pure Protein Shakes..
Carton says it's 11oz = 160 cals.
I've measured and those cartons actually contain 12oz and that equals 175 calories.
Sure it's only 15 calories difference but how many other items are like that (a lot, I know because I weigh everything) and throughout the day those "minimal" difference add up to a lot!
Another more extreme example:
My husband bought a marshmallow egg that was supposed to be 250 calories.
I weighed it for him, and guess what it was way over, that egg wound up being in the OVER 300 calorie range (I can't remember exactly because it was a while ago)! It was eye-opening to him; He still hasn't eaten it, LOL!
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