Do I have to actually weigh my food?

truelygreat

I'm planning on losing we and i heard all i have to do is eat the calories that MFP gives me. I'm going to log my food in but do i have to actually weigh it?

Asher_Ethan

Yes. I promise, it's worth the tune and effort.

jenilla1

You don't have to do anything, but if you weigh your food, logging your calorie intake will be more accurate. If you just "guesstimate" it could be way off and slow or halt your progress. Most people are really bad at estimating. Good luck!

middlehaitch

You don't have to weigh it but you will get much better results weighing rather than guessing what and how much you are eating.
It is a little tedious at first but once you have something entered it is easy to re use that item again as it is stored in your recent foods etc.
Try to use correct entries and refer to the USDA when looking for an item. Ie-: skinless boneless chicken breast USDA - then check the nutritional info against the data base. If you are in doubt it's best to go for a higher calorie entry rather than lower.

Cheers, h.

amusedmonkey

You could start off by not weighing, and if you feel you aren't losing the way you are supposed to you could then start implementing more accurate methods. Weighing is actually easier than spoons and cups (to me) because it does not generate extra dishes. All you need to do is put something on your plate and tare for the next thing.

malibu927

Do you have to? No, but for the most accuracy in your logging it's a good idea.

Wynterbourne

If you don't weigh your food you're basically just guessing. Guessing can lead to you accidentally imbibing more calories and not losing or underestimating and not eating all that you could.

callsitlikeiseeit

You dont HAVE to but the first time you post youre not losing weight, that will be the first question asked.

I've been doing this for 2 years now. I weighed EVERYTHING for the first year and a half. Now, I am still losing and eyeball and estimate and dont log my food. I'm still losing. HOWEVER .... like I said, I weighed for a LONG time. And if my weight stalls out ... I know where to start to look and what to do.

Alatariel75

How else will you measure it?

scoii

If you guess then you go one of 2 ways. You either overestimate everything so you eat so little that your lean muscle gets consumed as well as other negative medical impacts.

Or more likely, you look at a pack of rice and it says 150 calories a portion, so you record that for dinner. In reality your eating 400 calories of rice as you and the manufacturers have a completely different idea of what constitutes a portion.

You can spend 6 months guessing and getting nowhere with weight loss, but after 3 months of using a scale you teach yourself what is OK, then you can test your estimating skills.

WatchJoshLift

Only if you want an accurate count of calories that you're consuming.

snowflake930

You do not have to weigh your food.
I just used standard measuring cups/spoons, and got very good at estimating.
I had no problems losing weight. I lost over 1/2 of my current body weight, and have maintained the loss for over 2-1/2 years now.
If you are not losing weight, measuring and/or weighing your food is pretty crucial to make sure your calories consumed are less than calories burned, which is required for weight loss.

RonanByrne

I do not know what 35 grams of dry pasta looks like, but I know that's what I can afford to eat with dinner tonight. I don't see any other way that I could ensure I am eating what I want to eat.

sijomial

No of course you don't have to.
If you are successful over time then it's the results that matter - if you don't get expected results then food logging inaccuracy is probably the first thing to check.

It is very educational though for portion sizes and calorie density of different items.

Jams009

You don't have to weigh food in order to lose weight, but it's the best way to ensure you're being as accurate as possible with your diet, otherwise it's just guesswork and very easy to get wrong.

auddii

amusedmonkey wrote: »

You could start off by not weighing, and if you feel you aren't losing the way you are supposed to you could then start implementing more accurate methods. Weighing is actually easier than spoons and cups (to me) because it does not generate extra dishes. All you need to do is put something on your plate and tare for the next thing.

This. Try it. If you're not losing after 4-6 weeks, weighing could give you a more accurate lookat what you're eating.

ashleyminnich1

I don't, and I've lost 40 pounds. However, I almost never eat all the way to 0 calories left. Leaving a few gives me wiggle room if something is inaccurate.

SamanthaLouiseMence

You don't have to weigh out your food, I didn't to start with and lost 1 stone, but now I've got one and I am measuring out and I've noticed I was eating more on some foods than I thought and not as much as I thought with other foods
It'll help you log more accurately and hopefully help you lose a bit more each week
But you don't have todo anything you don't want to, it's entirely your choice

Francl27

You don't have to. I just found that it was much easier for my peace of mind than guessing (and it turns out I was HORRIBLE at guessing).

katharineshalia

I used to always underestimated and was missing out on those sweet calories. No wonder I was miserable. Weighing in grams has been a game changer because I'm not depriving myself and i can eat exactly what I have entered and not have to worry because the math takes care of itself. Now if I have a week of not losing I don't stress because I know my body will eventually catch up to the math (cico).

allenpriest

You're an adult. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do.

But that's the wrong question.

PaulaWallaDingDong

It's a good idea to weigh. I didn't for a very long time and never had trouble losing. I started once I had to knock another 200 calories off my goal and want to make sure I'm as accurate as I can be. Anyway, it's not hard. Food you're going to put on a napkin or in a dish anyway, just put the napkin or dish on the scale and hit "tare." Weighing sounds tedious but it's barely any extra work.

lthames0810

I resisted the idea of weighing food for a long time. I posted a question like yours, too. My reasoning was that every part of the equation is a gross estimate, so how much real difference could it make to tighten up only one component. Also, I felt like it was obsessive and what would my husband think if he caught me weighing my food?

I was never fully convinced but I got a scale anyway just to see what would change. I found that I had been overestimating food intake and so I could actually eat more than I had been. That was welcome news. And my husband never questioned it...at least to me.

If you are satisfied with your progress then maybe you don't want to fix what isn't broken. You can always try weighing food later on if that ever changes.

RoxieDawn

OP you do not HAVE to do anything you choose not to.. But I can say that it is possible after about 4 weeks if you are not loosing at the rate you have selected, or you have not lost anything, you will be starting a thread that asks "Why am I not Losing Weight". The first thing we will ask is are you weighing all of your food.

godlikepoetyes

I have never weighed my food. I do sometimes measure things I use often, like butter or milk, to be sure I'm staying consistent. This has worked for me, but I've read many posts here from folks who aren't losing because they don't log accurately. When I started MFP I was very educated and aware of calories in foods. Lots of people aren't. It depends on the person.

Mike02209

I try to weigh/measure everything, just curious what people do to measure peanut butter without making a sticky mess. I have been estimating 2 tablespoons, but that is subject to error.

malibu927

Mike02209 wrote: »

I try to weigh/measure everything, just curious what people do to measure peanut butter without making a sticky mess. I have been estimating 2 tablespoons, but that is subject to error.

Put the jar on the scale and scoop it out. I used to just weigh it going on whatever I was putting it on, but that wasn't accounting for what was left on the knife (and if you're like me, you lick the knife afterwards).

RoxieDawn

Mike02209 wrote: »

I try to weigh/measure everything, just curious what people do to measure peanut butter without making a sticky mess. I have been estimating 2 tablespoons, but that is subject to error.

weigh the entire peanut butter jar in grams and take out the amount you want and then subtract from the total weight..

RoxieDawn

IF you have a lot of weight to loose estimating will work short term. The more you loose and less calories you need, the more it will get harder to use estimating to loose weight.

arditarose

No, but if you aren't losing at the weight you wish, it's definitely beneficial to start. If you start right away, you'll be off to the most accurate calorie counting you can do, but you don't have to if it seems like too much.

Of_Monsters_and_Meat

You don't have to, and there are some tricks to get around some of the weighing. Although all of this is about accuracy. Can I build a shed without measuring boards? yup, will it be "great" probably not.


Take a crock pot meal for example. I figure out the entire pot. It is fairly easy if most things are predetermined and I only have to worry about vegetables. (chicken says how much it weighs on the package).

Then I make the whole pot a meal in mfp. Split it up into say 5 containers. Then I just log 0.2 of my meal every time I have one. Everything is then evened out in the end.

same thing like with milk. There are 16 cups in a gallon of milk. As long as you get 16 "cups" out of the gallon it doesn't matter if some were more and some were less. (if other people are drinking it, kinda doesn't work so well).