Weighing food is the most accurate - was I overestimating before?

Options
mdnorthside
mdnorthside Posts: 48 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everyone! I've been tracking my calories for about a month now. Just yesterday I got a food scale, which had been my plan since the beginning. I was nervous to use it assuming that I had been underestimating the calories in my food (people usually do). But it seems that is not the case. I just measured out my whole last meal (grilled chicken and Brussels sprouts, toasted ciabatta, and a little tomato soup) and it turned out to be LESS calories than I was expecting! Only about 600 calories, including butter and olive oil. And now that I've finished I'm completely stuffed. I find it hard to believe that this new measure is more accurate, but I have no evidence to the contrary. Has anyone else had this experience?

Replies

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Options
    It's entirely possible that you were overestimating. Most people underestimate without practice (and often with practice) but certainly not all people.
  • Sara1791
    Sara1791 Posts: 760 Member
    edited February 2017
    Options
    Yes, that happened to me. I was underestimating most things and on the money for others. I still spot check with the scale periodically to make sure there's no "creep" and for things I'm unfamiliar with.

    ETA: I think it's because I learned about portion sizes years ago and was still going by that. You know the old deck of cards for a serving of meat? a thumb joint for cheese? That sort of thing.
  • TheBrocheter
    TheBrocheter Posts: 13 Member
    Options
    I overestimated by a lot when I didn't have a food scale. I didn't want to be someone who ate a dozen cookies and called it 100 calories.
  • lightenup2016
    lightenup2016 Posts: 1,055 Member
    Options
    I've also found that I was over estimating some things (mostly vegetables and fruit), but at the same time I was under estimating some of the higher calorie items like nut butters. I guess for me it all evens out, but I like knowing that I'm using accurate numbers now.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    Options
    A food scale will accurately tell you how much your food weighs. Nothing more, nothing less.
  • butcher206
    butcher206 Posts: 61 Member
    Options
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    A food scale will accurately tell you how much your food weighs. Nothing more, nothing less.

    Which is why it's important to learn how to log with the most accurate data available. Especially for high calorie things like meat
  • mdnorthside
    mdnorthside Posts: 48 Member
    Options
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    mdnorthside wrote: »
    Hey everyone! I've been tracking my calories for about a month now. Just yesterday I got a food scale, which had been my plan since the beginning. I was nervous to use it assuming that I had been underestimating the calories in my food (people usually do). But it seems that is not the case. I just measured out my whole last meal (grilled chicken and Brussels sprouts, toasted ciabatta, and a little tomato soup) and it turned out to be LESS calories than I was expecting! Only about 600 calories, including butter and olive oil. And now that I've finished I'm completely stuffed. I find it hard to believe that this new measure is more accurate, but I have no evidence to the contrary. Has anyone else had this experience?

    You find it hard to believe that weighing out 6 ounces of chicken and then logging 6 ounces of chicken is more accurate than just throwing some chicken on your plate and logging whatever?

    No... I'm surprised because I *know* it's much more accurate, and yet it turns out to be less calories than I'd suspected. Most people underestimate, so when I didn't have a scale with me (I had one before I moved so I'm familiar with the process) I assumed that's what I was doing. I felt very full for the number of calories I'd eaten. So I was surprised.
  • mdnorthside
    mdnorthside Posts: 48 Member
    Options
    butcher206 wrote: »
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    A food scale will accurately tell you how much your food weighs. Nothing more, nothing less.

    Which is why it's important to learn how to log with the most accurate data available. Especially for high calorie things like meat

    I've been using only entries with the green check mark indicating the nutritional information has been confirmed. I know that doesn't guarantee they're correct because it's based on how I describe/define what I'm putting in, but I'm doing all I can :)
  • mdnorthside
    mdnorthside Posts: 48 Member
    Options
    Thanks for the comments/advice everyone ^_^
    Very helpful all in all.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
    Options
    you could have been overestimating (i will deliberately do that on some items when i KNOW im in the right and being lazy)

    on the other hand, you could have selected inaccurate database entries on MFP (easy to do, especially if you are new to doing it)

    i can tell you for me a grilled cheese sandwich with butter and campbells tomato soup (made with 2% milk) runs around 500-600 cals, depending on weights of cheese, butter, type of bread, etc
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
    Options
    It's possible to make the mistake in either direction. Just don't assume that because that one meal was fewer calories than expected, that that means you are overestimating all your calories. You may find you underestimate other things.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Options
    Just keep weighing, I'm sure some things will surprise you.

    But yeah, some people are just much more naturally 'gifted' at estimating than others.

    And also make sure that you're using accurate entries. I'm guessing it must have been a pretty small piece of chicken and bread, and only a little tomato soup, to be under 600 calories (but for what it's worth, I made two tacos from scratch yesterday and it ended up only 310 calories for 2, which I had estimated at 500 the night before, so yeah, it's easy to overestimate too!).
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    Options
    mdnorthside wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    mdnorthside wrote: »
    Hey everyone! I've been tracking my calories for about a month now. Just yesterday I got a food scale, which had been my plan since the beginning. I was nervous to use it assuming that I had been underestimating the calories in my food (people usually do). But it seems that is not the case. I just measured out my whole last meal (grilled chicken and Brussels sprouts, toasted ciabatta, and a little tomato soup) and it turned out to be LESS calories than I was expecting! Only about 600 calories, including butter and olive oil. And now that I've finished I'm completely stuffed. I find it hard to believe that this new measure is more accurate, but I have no evidence to the contrary. Has anyone else had this experience?

    You find it hard to believe that weighing out 6 ounces of chicken and then logging 6 ounces of chicken is more accurate than just throwing some chicken on your plate and logging whatever?

    No... I'm surprised because I *know* it's much more accurate, and yet it turns out to be less calories than I'd suspected. Most people underestimate, so when I didn't have a scale with me (I had one before I moved so I'm familiar with the process) I assumed that's what I was doing. I felt very full for the number of calories I'd eaten. So I was surprised.

    There's no reason to be surprised. If our bodies weren't designed to give us cues on how much we should be eating then we would either starve or stuff ourselves so full that we would suffocate. Instead, we tend to stay at about the same weight but gain about a pound per year. It is a little harder when we are trying to lose weight because the cue for that is that we are hungry, but not too hungry. Still, we have a pretty good idea of what we need to eat. People rely on a food scale because they don't trust their natural cues. But it's like a fence. If you build a fence people will go right to the edge, trusting that the fence will keep them from going over. Without the fence people stand back from the danger.
  • Mini_Medic
    Mini_Medic Posts: 343 Member
    Options
    I did this frequently. I am a creature of habit and I eat the same meals often. Same orders when I go out to eat, that sort of thing. I lost 40lbs 4 years ago and didn't use a scale, only labels and guesses. Went back to bad habits of overeating. Last year I lost the 40 again and have maintained over 6 months, this time with a food scale to keep myself honest and in check. Turns out I'm very close now after so much experience but I definitely overestimated when I started!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,981 Member
    Options
    mdnorthside wrote: »
    butcher206 wrote: »
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    A food scale will accurately tell you how much your food weighs. Nothing more, nothing less.

    Which is why it's important to learn how to log with the most accurate data available. Especially for high calorie things like meat

    I've been using only entries with the green check mark indicating the nutritional information has been confirmed. I know that doesn't guarantee they're correct because it's based on how I describe/define what I'm putting in, but I'm doing all I can :)

    Unfortunately, the green check marks are used for both user-created entries and system entries. To find system entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and plug that into MFP.

    For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP.
  • CMNVA
    CMNVA Posts: 733 Member
    Options
    I posted several weeks ago that sometimes using a food scale works to your benefit. I know there's a lot of advice given on here to people who aren't losing weight and maybe it's because they aren't weighing? For the most part, I do believe that people underestimate what their portion sizes are; however, when I started weighing things like canned soup, I ended up getting a lot more soup for the grams that if I measured it out by "cup."

    But I do know, for me at least, that when I try to guess how much chicken breast I am eating, I'm usually way off. I'd put in 3-4 ounces but I was probably eating 5-6 ounces.

Categories