Do I have to actually weigh my food?

truelygreat
truelygreat Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
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?
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Replies

  • Wynterbourne
    Wynterbourne Posts: 2,225 Member
    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.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,229 Member
    How else will you measure it?
  • scoii
    scoii Posts: 160 Member
    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
    WatchJoshLift Posts: 520 Member
    Only if you want an accurate count of calories that you're consuming.
  • snowflake930
    snowflake930 Posts: 2,188 Member
    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.
  • Jams009
    Jams009 Posts: 345 Member
    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
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    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
    ashleyminnich1 Posts: 60 Member
    edited July 2016
    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
    SamanthaLouiseMence Posts: 663 Member
    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
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    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
    katharineshalia Posts: 243 Member
    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
    allenpriest Posts: 1,102 Member
    You're an adult. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do.

    But that's the wrong question.
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
    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
    lthames0810 Posts: 722 Member
    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
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited July 2016
    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
    godlikepoetyes Posts: 442 Member
    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
    Mike02209 Posts: 301 Member
    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
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    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
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    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
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    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
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    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
    Of_Monsters_and_Meat Posts: 1,022 Member
    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).

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