Weighing Food Takes Too Long And is OBSESSIVE!
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Do you know what agony is? It is accidentally taring your scale as you put your hamburger on top of your already-measured-out spaghetti and sauce.19
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ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »These kinds of threads are annoying because it's just bait to get people in then the poster switches to what we all already know and agree with.
Considering how many "Why can't I lose weight when I'm eating so little?!?!?!" threads we see, I'd guess that NOT everyone knows and/or agrees with this.
It's great advice at this time of year with all the enthusiastic newcomers around. The title is likely to attract those who wonder why so many people seem to recommend it, especially if they're thinking the same thing, and hopefully they'll read it and understand why it's suggested so often. Nice work, @AnnPT77 !
If someone is not using a food scale and they're still losing weight, then that's great! Some people are just really good at eyeballing portions, others have enough weight to lose that any inaccuracies don't matter for a while. But I would hope that anyone who stopped losing weight and wondered why, would try accurately weighing their food first before they assume some other issue is the cause.
I weigh most of my food, but I know I can sometimes be a bit slapdash with it. So that would be the first thing I'd tighten up if I had a problem with losing.
(P.S. @middlehaitch I didn't realise you were a Brit in Canada too! I hate using cups for baking, it's weird... I'm used to recipes having weights. I weigh my ingredients and write the weight of a "cup of flour" or whatever on the recipe so that I can make it the same way next time!)10 -
marieamethyst wrote: »Eh, to each their own. I tried it for a week - just wasn't worth the hassle. I got to goal just estimating and was happy with the result. Some people need it, some people don't. Definitely worth a try though if you find yourself stalling for some reason.
I don't weigh my food and as of now, 11 weeks into this journey, I don't foresee having to weigh my food. I have weighed my food in the past, but I've been at this weight loss game so long (yo-yo dieting for well over a decade) I know what a serving looks like.
I am sure I am underestimating some foods and overestimating others but it doesn't bother me and it's working for me. Almost 20 lbs down since 10/23.
I believe weighing food is a good tool for those who can't eyeball though or eat a lot of calorie dense foods.
I hope not weighing is working for you. I've yo-yoed for about 40 years and it wasn't til I went through the process of weighing and measuring every bite that I was able to break that cycle. I think more than the accuracy of the calories, it gave me focus. I'm not as meticulous as I was since reaching my goal, but I know I still have to be careful. Down 50 pounds since 1/5/16, 60# total after a little up and down since 2013.
As of now it is. The first time I ever lost weight (some 14 years ago) I didn't even know weighing your food on a food scale was a thing and managed to lose 80lbs and reach a healthy BMI.
I maintained that weight loss for years until I became less active, stopped weighing myself regularly, and honestly, went back to old habits of overeating and just not monitoring my intake.
Over the past eight years or so I've gone on more than few diets where I would be super restrictive and lose 20 lbs or 30 lbs but eventually cave and binge.
About two years ago I read about using a food scale and decided to implement it. I used it consistently for about six months, but I was never far off what I thought a serving was. Just seemed like an extra step for me.
I lost my food scale in my move last year and when I started this journey I just couldn't be bothered to buy another one when I felt I didn't really need it.
I started off 11 weeks ago needing to lose 61 lbs to reach a healthy BMI. I need to lose 41 lbs now to reach that goal so I'm about a third of the way there. Weight loss has not stalled so far nor have I ever recorded a gain in my 11 weeks.
If anything changes, I will use a food scale, but based on my previous weight loss attempts and my current weight loss I don't believe I need to use one at this time.7 -
marieamethyst wrote: »Eh, to each their own. I tried it for a week - just wasn't worth the hassle. I got to goal just estimating and was happy with the result. Some people need it, some people don't. Definitely worth a try though if you find yourself stalling for some reason.
I don't weigh my food and as of now, 11 weeks into this journey, I don't foresee having to weigh my food. I have weighed my food in the past, but I've been at this weight loss game so long (yo-yo dieting for well over a decade) I know what a serving looks like.
I am sure I am underestimating some foods and overestimating others but it doesn't bother me and it's working for me. Almost 20 lbs down since 10/23.
I believe weighing food is a good tool for those who can't eyeball though or eat a lot of calorie dense foods.
I hope not weighing is working for you. I've yo-yoed for about 40 years and it wasn't til I went through the process of weighing and measuring every bite that I was able to break that cycle. I think more than the accuracy of the calories, it gave me focus. I'm not as meticulous as I was since reaching my goal, but I know I still have to be careful. Down 50 pounds since 1/5/16, 60# total after a little up and down since 2013.
As of now it is. The first time I ever lost weight (some 14 years ago) I didn't even know weighing your food on a food scale was a thing and managed to lose 80lbs and reach a healthy BMI.
I maintained that weight loss for years until I became less active, stopped weighing myself regularly, and honestly, went back to old habits of overeating and just not monitoring my intake.
Over the past eight years or so I've gone on more than few diets where I would be super restrictive and lose 20 lbs or 30 lbs but eventually cave and binge.
About two years ago I read about using a food scale and decided to implement it. I used it consistently for about six months, but I was never far off what I thought a serving was. Just seemed like an extra step for me.
I lost my food scale in my move last year and when I started this journey I just couldn't be bothered to buy another one when I felt I didn't really need it.
I started off 11 weeks ago needing to lose 61 lbs to reach a healthy BMI. I need to lose 41 lbs now to reach that goal so I'm about a third of the way there. Weight loss has not stalled so far nor have I ever recorded a gain in my 11 weeks.
If anything changes, I will use a food scale, but based on my previous weight loss attempts and my current weight loss I don't believe I need to use one at this time.
That's awesome. I may get to a point where I'm comfortable without my scale, but right now it's still my best buddy along with my dog and my hiking shoes. I chuckle when I think of my attempts in the past to lose weight, I didn't have a freakin' clue, but I did have a little bitty paperback book (printed in the 70's) that listed the calorie content of common foods. No help whatsoever because I was clueless and so was the book.1 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »Saw the thread title.
Saw who the OP was.
Knew this would not be a train wreck in spite of BuzzFeed nature of title.
Fear not. There's still time.
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I just discovered USDA listings for mom & pop no name Chinese restaurants. I feel much better with those listings than choosing the generic ones. They have the food listed in grams instead of "half order, cup, per item", etc. I know they're still not perfect but it's better than nothing.5
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WinoGelato wrote: »
Lol. I've been there. I've been afraid to comment in that one.2 -
Scale is a lifesaver for me, oh lawdy I do testify. I can see how people who are good at estimating don't need it and consider it a bother but I'm not one of those people. A "handful" of raw broccoli and a "handful" of kettle corn apparently are 2 vastly different volumes of material if I let my brain do the estimating.8
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WinoGelato wrote: »
I can believe that thread is still going on...
I read a couple of pages...I just can't bring myself to read hundreds of posts about POP TARTS!2 -
Alatariel75 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Verity1111 wrote: »It is also unnecessary for a lot of people. I'm a total grazer AND I also don't weigh my food anymore although I have in the past.... I still lose, and quickly. The key is setting my goals low so I have wiggle room. xD Less stressful.
Conversely, if I graze, I easily overeat because I will literally put something in my mouth every 5 minutes.
Same, it's amazing how good I am at lying to myself about how many calories could possibly be in that mouthful of stuff I just stuck in my headhole!
Oh lordy, don't I know this one! I'd been stuck for awhile. I've been around here enough to know I was eating too much, but the voice of denial was strong. It said "you've lost 90 pounds, you know what you're doing, there's no way you're eating too much!" So I decided I was going to PROVE that I really was a special snowflake and weigh every crumb! I KNEW I was eating WAY under my TDEE and those little bits of granola and handfuls of blueberries were nothing! I hit 200 calories in nibbles by noon. Voice of denial beaten into submission. Snowflake status cancelled.16 -
WinoGelato wrote: »
I can believe that thread is still going on...
I read a couple of pages...I just can't bring myself to read hundreds of posts about POP TARTS!
Well that certainly didn't disappoint
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Alatariel75 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Verity1111 wrote: »It is also unnecessary for a lot of people. I'm a total grazer AND I also don't weigh my food anymore although I have in the past.... I still lose, and quickly. The key is setting my goals low so I have wiggle room. xD Less stressful.
Conversely, if I graze, I easily overeat because I will literally put something in my mouth every 5 minutes.
Same, it's amazing how good I am at lying to myself about how many calories could possibly be in that mouthful of stuff I just stuck in my headhole!
Oh lordy, don't I know this one! I'd been stuck for awhile. I've been around here enough to know I was eating too much, but the voice of denial was strong. It said "you've lost 90 pounds, you know what you're doing, there's no way you're eating too much!" So I decided I was going to PROVE that I really was a special snowflake and weigh every crumb! I KNEW I was eating WAY under my TDEE and those little bits of granola and handfuls of blueberries were nothing! I hit 200 calories in nibbles by noon. Voice of denial beaten into submission. Snowflake status cancelled.
Especially with things like nuts! WOW! Measure out a 1/4 cup serving for 200 calories and then imagine how many handfuls I can grab throughout the day. I'd easily tack on 600 hundred calories and wonder why I wasn't losing weight.7 -
I agree with the title. At least for me.2
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When I first moved out on my own I kept meticulous records of my spending. I had spending and savings goals and every night I sat at the computer and entered my receipts into the old Microsoft Money. I did this daily for several years and eventually got to a point to where it was "in my blood". Only when I experience big shifts in goals or income is it necessary to go back to basics, and even then it isn't intense. Spending is more or less intuitive at this point. When I've shared this with people they sometimes act surprised that I had such a keen interest in personal finance goals as an 18 year old, but nobody has ever said it was wrong, obsessive, or unhealthy thing to do. How many people take the "intuitive" approach to money but don't have the priorities, habits, self-awareness, honesty, and knowledge to be successful at it? A lot, and they have plenty of debt and lack of retirement savings to show for it.
So, why is it admirable to learn to follow a financial spending plan, but unhealthy and obsessive to do the same with food? In both cases I think most people can achieve a functional level of intuitive "spending," but the pieces have to be in place for that to happen sustainably. For those people who only lack the knowledge piece, I can understand why it would seem unnecessary and potentially unhealthy to track calories. What they don't see is that the other person might have had the knowledge long before them, but they're still working on the habits, self-awareness, support systems, or emotional skills.15 -
Verity1111 wrote: »It is also unnecessary for a lot of people. I'm a total grazer AND I also don't weigh my food anymore although I have in the past.... I still lose, and quickly. The key is setting my goals low so I have wiggle room. xD Less stressful.
Totally agree with OP but I agree with this too!
People just got to figure what works for them. I think what most people who are in favor of weighing are trying to say though is that if overestimating/having a low calorie goal doesn't work for someone, it's really not such a hassle to weigh food.
I didn't weigh at first, but I wasn't eating back exercise calories. That worked too. I just decided to try to be more accurate (so I could fit in treats, not gonna lie, because you really don't want to underestimate the high calorie stuff) after a couple months.1 -
Bumping this for any new folks who are thinking that it's just too tedious and time consuming to weigh their food.
Yes, it can be tedious and time consuming - at the start. Once you get the hang of it, it doesn't take long at all. If you're going to take the time to log your food, you might as well take an extra minute or two to make sure you're logging it accurately!
My scale is my best friend. (Okay, second best...) The battery died the other day. I was devastated! Now I have a spare one ready for the next time.
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I have friends who have just started logging (so excited for them!) but they don't weigh. I've looked at their log and I think they are probably underestimating their food by quite a bit... but they also have a low goal, so I don't want to pester them about it.1
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Verity1111 wrote: »It is also unnecessary for a lot of people. I'm a total grazer AND I also don't weigh my food anymore although I have in the past.... I still lose, and quickly. The key is setting my goals low so I have wiggle room. xD Less stressful.
Totally agree with OP but I agree with this too!
People just got to figure what works for them. I think what most people who are in favor of weighing are trying to say though is that if overestimating/having a low calorie goal doesn't work for someone, it's really not such a hassle to weigh food.
I didn't weigh at first, but I wasn't eating back exercise calories. That worked too. I just decided to try to be more accurate (so I could fit in treats, not gonna lie, because you really don't want to underestimate the high calorie stuff) after a couple months.
Plus I think some of us (ahem, me) really suck at estimating, lol. It's easy to see why I wasn't losing weight or was gaining weight for so long. I was WAY off.0 -
I have friends who have just started logging (so excited for them!) but they don't weigh. I've looked at their log and I think they are probably underestimating their food by quite a bit... but they also have a low goal, so I don't want to pester them about it.
Yes. Estimating works great, until it doesn't. If it works forever, wonderful!
I joined MFP when estimating was already failing for me (after about 28 pounds lost) and I'd decided I needed to log more accurately.
If folks are successful without logging, or successful without weighing food, more power to them. I applaud them!
(P.S. Some who replied here seem to think I - I'm OP - believe logging is a religious necessity. I don't. Many people, though not all, need it as a tool. Some of those who need it, avoid it because they think it's time-consuming or obsessive, even though they may be using cups/spoons to measure stuff regularly, which is actually more time-consuming than weighing, and just as obsessive.
I just wanted to share tips for weighing food efficiently (and title it in a way that would get people to read it ). 6 -
I have friends who have just started logging (so excited for them!) but they don't weigh. I've looked at their log and I think they are probably underestimating their food by quite a bit... but they also have a low goal, so I don't want to pester them about it.
Yes. Estimating works great, until it doesn't. If it works forever, wonderful!
I joined MFP when estimating was already failing for me (after about 28 pounds lost) and I'd decided I needed to log more accurately.
If folks are successful without logging, or successful without weighing food, more power to them. I applaud them!
(P.S. Some who replied here seem to think I - I'm OP - believe logging is a religious necessity. I don't. Many people, though not all, need it as a tool. Some of those who need it, avoid it because they think it's time-consuming or obsessive, even though they may be using cups/spoons to measure stuff regularly, which is actually more time-consuming than weighing, and just as obsessive. I just wanted to share tips for weighing food efficiently (and title it in a way that would get people to read it ).
I'm with you... using cups and spoons boggles my mind a little because it's more work and less accurate. However, I believe that they're pretty useful when you have to estimate - it's probably easier to estimate how much broccoli you have by volume than by weight when you don't have a scale available (although I'm always shocked at how small a cup really is).3 -
I have friends who have just started logging (so excited for them!) but they don't weigh. I've looked at their log and I think they are probably underestimating their food by quite a bit... but they also have a low goal, so I don't want to pester them about it.
Yes. Estimating works great, until it doesn't. If it works forever, wonderful!
I joined MFP when estimating was already failing for me (after about 28 pounds lost) and I'd decided I needed to log more accurately.
If folks are successful without logging, or successful without weighing food, more power to them. I applaud them!
(P.S. Some who replied here seem to think I - I'm OP - believe logging is a religious necessity. I don't. Many people, though not all, need it as a tool. Some of those who need it, avoid it because they think it's time-consuming or obsessive, even though they may be using cups/spoons to measure stuff regularly, which is actually more time-consuming than weighing, and just as obsessive. I just wanted to share tips for weighing food efficiently (and title it in a way that would get people to read it ).
I'm with you... using cups and spoons boggles my mind a little because it's more work and less accurate. However, I believe that they're pretty useful when you have to estimate - it's probably easier to estimate how much broccoli you have by volume than by weight when you don't have a scale available (although I'm always shocked at how small a cup really is).
No argument from me on that point. I also often try to estimate the weight of something before I look at its scale weight, to sharpen my estimating skills with near-zero time investment.2 -
I have friends who have just started logging (so excited for them!) but they don't weigh. I've looked at their log and I think they are probably underestimating their food by quite a bit... but they also have a low goal, so I don't want to pester them about it.
Yeah, I guess sometimes you don't want to put people off, too! If they get stuck and wonder why, that would be a good time to bring up the idea of weighing.0 -
I've never weighed or measured my food in my entire life. I've also never been obese or even significantly overweight, and I've never had trouble losing ten or fifteen pounds when I needed to.
Weighing and measuring is okay if you need it, I guess, but not everyone does.9 -
ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »These kinds of threads are annoying because it's just bait to get people in then the poster switches to what we all already know and agree with.
Sorry about that! I figured no one would read "How to Weigh Your Food".
I found this thread by looking for one that said "How to weigh your food". And I wish that people that don't want to read the thread would just not read instead of bashing it. I've never weighed before, and don't have a lot of weight to lose or anything, but I just want to get real precise for a while, it's just something I want to do. I haven't met anybody that weighs their portion that aren't exactly where they want to be. If precision wasn't proven, then a Ferrari wouldn't be worth any more than a Honda, no offense to the Honda owners.6 -
Larissa_NY wrote: »I've never weighed or measured my food in my entire life. I've also never been obese or even significantly overweight, and I've never had trouble losing ten or fifteen pounds when I needed to.
Weighing and measuring is okay if you need it, I guess, but not everyone does.
My wife is like that. And it is absolutely fine for those that it works for. Some are calling it intuitive eating. So,yes. Not everyone one does.
But a lot of us on this website are not that way, which is why we are here. I need a food scale and to learn proper portions etc.1 -
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Alatariel75 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Verity1111 wrote: »It is also unnecessary for a lot of people. I'm a total grazer AND I also don't weigh my food anymore although I have in the past.... I still lose, and quickly. The key is setting my goals low so I have wiggle room. xD Less stressful.
Conversely, if I graze, I easily overeat because I will literally put something in my mouth every 5 minutes.
Same, it's amazing how good I am at lying to myself about how many calories could possibly be in that mouthful of stuff I just stuck in my headhole!
Oh lordy, don't I know this one! I'd been stuck for awhile. I've been around here enough to know I was eating too much, but the voice of denial was strong. It said "you've lost 90 pounds, you know what you're doing, there's no way you're eating too much!" So I decided I was going to PROVE that I really was a special snowflake and weigh every crumb! I KNEW I was eating WAY under my TDEE and those little bits of granola and handfuls of blueberries were nothing! I hit 200 calories in nibbles by noon. Voice of denial beaten into submission. Snowflake status cancelled.
I have one for you. It wasn't quite this but close. I knew something was up, but wasn't sure what it was. I kept thinking maybe I just had the world's worst case of metabolic adaptation or something. My logging wasn't the best, but the only things I was lax about were things like sriracha sauce and that 5 calorie sugar free ketchup. I kept adjusting my Fitbit to give me lower calorie adjustments.
Well, I found the culprit. Me a veteran, with a 94 pound loss. I was using package info for popcorn, a food I ate daily. Had I been using a USDA entry, I'd have been recording about 200 additional calories a day.
That explained SOOOOOOOOO much about, oh, I'd say the last 6 months of 2016.4 -
I am trying to gain weight while eating on a restricted diet for health. It wasn't until I came on this site and bought a food scale to realize how much I was under eating. I know some people don't need to weigh or measure to reach their loss/gain goals - I am not one of those people. I can take the extra few minutes every day if it will improve my health in the long run.5
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I am trying to gain weight while eating on a restricted diet for health. It wasn't until I came on this site and bought a food scale to realize how much I was under eating. I know some people don't need to weigh or measure to reach their loss/gain goals - I am not one of those people. I can take the extra few minutes every day if it will improve my health in the long run.
This is a good point. I don't get the moralizing some people use about food scales. Like it's somehow superior to not use one. They're tools. If you don't want to use it, that's cool. But that doesn't make you any better or worse than someone who is choosing to use one. It's just a ... gadget. There's no moral value to a gadget that quantifies something.
There is no better or worse way to do this, and everyone has different ways of achieving their goals. If some of us choose to use a tool, I don't see why others feel the need to pass judgement on that choice.
I've said this in the past. I need my eyeglasses to see the world properly. I need my food scale to see portions properly. I wish I didn't need my eyeglasses to see the world properly, it would make running in the rain something I could do and actually see while I was doing it. I wish I could see proper food portions without a food scale. I can't. It's not a gift I possess. I can't play the guitar either. That's something else I wish I could do. Oh well.12
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