Have you tried GLP1 medications and found it didn't work for you? We'd like to hear about your experiences, what you tried, why it didn't work and how you're doing now. Click here to tell us your story
No scale, is there another weigh to be accurate about calories.
Replies
-
I would do it one of two ways:MoiAussi93 wrote: »If I wanted to use a scale, I have to weight the carrots, then remove them from the scale. Then measure and weigh the cottage cheese. Then remove it. Then weigh the hummus, etc. It is just a major hassle. And do you use a clean dish for each thing you weigh? You must to be accurate, otherwise cottage cheese residue with throw off your hummus weight and then the world will come to an end! And what do I do when I go out to have a nice dinner at a restaurant? Panic? Bring my scale and sit there weighing my steak? Demand to speak to the chef and find out exactly how much butter or oil he used? No...I just estimate like I do at home by eyeballing it and making a guess on oils and things.
1. I would put the plate on the scale and hit the tare button to zero out the scale. Add the carrots to the plate until I get the weight that I want, log it, then hit the tare button. Add the cottage cheese, log, hit the tare button. Add the hummus, log it.
2. Put the bag of carrots on the scale, tare the scale, remove the carrots that I want, put the bag back on the scale to see the negative number for how many grams I've removed, log it. Put the cottage cheese container on the scale, tare the scale, remove the cottage cheese that I want, put the container back on the scale to see how many grams I've removed, log it. Put the hummus container on the scale, tare the scale, remove the cottage cheese that I want, put the container back on the scale to see how many grams I've removed, log it.
Weighing is still an estimate but it's a closer estimate than measuring cups/spoons and both of those are a closer estimate than eyeballing. If eyeballing gets the job done for you on a consistent basis, that's awesome.
It took practice but using the scale doesn't take much more time than eyeballing after I've used it for so long now and takes me less time than breaking out the measuring cups/spoons. When I'm away from my scale, I estimate. When my scale is handy, I use it.
It sounds like you found the method that works well for you and doesn't seem like a hassle. That's great...I would never try to convince you to stop doing what is working for you to do it my way.
We have different methods and are both successful and happy using them. That's what matters. As the old saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat.1 -
Everything @MoiAussi93 said plus I literally carry my measuring spoons and cups with me.0
-
MoiAussi93 wrote: »
I would do it one of two ways:MoiAussi93 wrote: »If I wanted to use a scale, I have to weight the carrots, then remove them from the scale. Then measure and weigh the cottage cheese. Then remove it. Then weigh the hummus, etc. It is just a major hassle. And do you use a clean dish for each thing you weigh? You must to be accurate, otherwise cottage cheese residue with throw off your hummus weight and then the world will come to an end! And what do I do when I go out to have a nice dinner at a restaurant? Panic? Bring my scale and sit there weighing my steak? Demand to speak to the chef and find out exactly how much butter or oil he used? No...I just estimate like I do at home by eyeballing it and making a guess on oils and things.
1. I would put the plate on the scale and hit the tare button to zero out the scale. Add the carrots to the plate until I get the weight that I want, log it, then hit the tare button. Add the cottage cheese, log, hit the tare button. Add the hummus, log it.
2. Put the bag of carrots on the scale, tare the scale, remove the carrots that I want, put the bag back on the scale to see the negative number for how many grams I've removed, log it. Put the cottage cheese container on the scale, tare the scale, remove the cottage cheese that I want, put the container back on the scale to see how many grams I've removed, log it. Put the hummus container on the scale, tare the scale, remove the cottage cheese that I want, put the container back on the scale to see how many grams I've removed, log it.
Weighing is still an estimate but it's a closer estimate than measuring cups/spoons and both of those are a closer estimate than eyeballing. If eyeballing gets the job done for you on a consistent basis, that's awesome.
It took practice but using the scale doesn't take much more time than eyeballing after I've used it for so long now and takes me less time than breaking out the measuring cups/spoons. When I'm away from my scale, I estimate. When my scale is handy, I use it.
It sounds like you found the method that works well for you and doesn't seem like a hassle. That's great...I would never try to convince you to stop doing what is working for you to do it my way.
We have different methods and are both successful and happy using them. That's what matters. As the old saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat.
But we know that OP's method (estimating and eyeballing) *isn't* working for him right now. That's the subject of his previous thread. I'm glad this works well for you, but I'm not sure how relevant it is to OP's specific concerns.
If someone was estimating and eyeballing and it wasn't working for them, what would you suggest?3 -
I don't use a scale. I use measuring cups or I go off of what's in the package. Or just pick the closest thing in the database. Like I bought hot dogs from the farmers market, no nutritional label on them. So I looked up "pork hot dogs" in the MFP database and chose the one with the highest calories.
I almost always pick the option that has the most calories (if there isn't a label to read). Having that "buffer" makes me feel secure about not needing to weigh food. I've been losing weight consistently, so apparently it's working.3 -
Yes, we've each found what works for us. The OP is still investigating to try to find what works for them. Our answers about different methods should give the OP some ideas for experimentation to try to find a way that works for them.MoiAussi93 wrote: »
I would do it one of two ways:MoiAussi93 wrote: »If I wanted to use a scale, I have to weight the carrots, then remove them from the scale. Then measure and weigh the cottage cheese. Then remove it. Then weigh the hummus, etc. It is just a major hassle. And do you use a clean dish for each thing you weigh? You must to be accurate, otherwise cottage cheese residue with throw off your hummus weight and then the world will come to an end! And what do I do when I go out to have a nice dinner at a restaurant? Panic? Bring my scale and sit there weighing my steak? Demand to speak to the chef and find out exactly how much butter or oil he used? No...I just estimate like I do at home by eyeballing it and making a guess on oils and things.
1. I would put the plate on the scale and hit the tare button to zero out the scale. Add the carrots to the plate until I get the weight that I want, log it, then hit the tare button. Add the cottage cheese, log, hit the tare button. Add the hummus, log it.
2. Put the bag of carrots on the scale, tare the scale, remove the carrots that I want, put the bag back on the scale to see the negative number for how many grams I've removed, log it. Put the cottage cheese container on the scale, tare the scale, remove the cottage cheese that I want, put the container back on the scale to see how many grams I've removed, log it. Put the hummus container on the scale, tare the scale, remove the cottage cheese that I want, put the container back on the scale to see how many grams I've removed, log it.
Weighing is still an estimate but it's a closer estimate than measuring cups/spoons and both of those are a closer estimate than eyeballing. If eyeballing gets the job done for you on a consistent basis, that's awesome.
It took practice but using the scale doesn't take much more time than eyeballing after I've used it for so long now and takes me less time than breaking out the measuring cups/spoons. When I'm away from my scale, I estimate. When my scale is handy, I use it.
It sounds like you found the method that works well for you and doesn't seem like a hassle. That's great...I would never try to convince you to stop doing what is working for you to do it my way.
We have different methods and are both successful and happy using them. That's what matters. As the old saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat.4 -
The scale is best but measuring cups are better than nothing.
Confession: I think I'm one of the only people of MFP who doesn't weigh out packaged food. If I eat a tortilla, I'm not checking the weight of it and I'm logging it as one tortilla even if in reality it may be +/- 10% of the serving size weight. I've been losing weight just fine doing it this way, so a little inaccuracy (emphasis on little) won't wreck your weight loss.
However, most people are really, really bad at eyeballing. So for non-prepackaged foods, say sprinkling some shredded cheese on your baked potato, you really need to use measuring cups if you don't have a food scale. If you've never measured it before, 1 ounce or 1/4 cup is probably way less than you would guess.
So if you absolutely cannot get a food scale, measuring cups are better than nothing. Track your weight loss and if you're losing more than your MFP goal, you are underestimating your calories. If you're losing less than your MFP, you're overestimating your calories. Adjust from there.
This^
Back in the day measuring cups were more the norm I think. If you are in the U.S. get a cheap set of measuring cups, 1 liquid measuring cup & a set of measuring spoons at the dollar store....$3.00+tax
Don't eyeball......unless you are a very experienced baker/cook you will not be very good at this anyway. Some things are just awful in measuring cups but they are still an improvement over what you are doing now.
A tare function on a digital scale makes lots of things very convenient to weigh. Cleaning cups & spoons....instead of just tossing everything on the scale. Different strokes.0 -
A basic scale is an essential kitchen tool. You don't need it for everything but in some cases there is no substitute.
If you build things, you need a good tape measure.3 -
I have a scale, but I don't use it for most things. There's no question that measuring cups and trusting the portion size listed on the package is inaccurate. But I have yet to find anyone who can prove that using a kitchen scale is accurate. When you combine that with the fact that calorie burn calculations are also inaccurate, it makes more sense to me to just assume that weighing your food also provides an inaccurate measure. In this whole mess, the only thing that is accurate is the reading on the bathroom scale. If the bathroom scale is staying the same then I know that my calories in equals my calories out. If it is moving one way or the other than I know that one of the two is higher than the other and I need to adjust accordingly.3
-
TimothyFish wrote: »I have a scale, but I don't use it for most things. There's no question that measuring cups and trusting the portion size listed on the package is inaccurate. But I have yet to find anyone who can prove that using a kitchen scale is accurate. When you combine that with the fact that calorie burn calculations are also inaccurate, it makes more sense to me to just assume that weighing your food also provides an inaccurate measure. In this whole mess, the only thing that is accurate is the reading on the bathroom scale. If the bathroom scale is staying the same then I know that my calories in equals my calories out. If it is moving one way or the other than I know that one of the two is higher than the other and I need to adjust accordingly.
If you have decided to reject all forms of measurement beyond your bathroom scale, how do you adjust?
And why would a scale be inaccurate just because it is smaller and in my kitchen?2 -
janejellyroll wrote: »MoiAussi93 wrote: »
I would do it one of two ways:MoiAussi93 wrote: »If I wanted to use a scale, I have to weight the carrots, then remove them from the scale. Then measure and weigh the cottage cheese. Then remove it. Then weigh the hummus, etc. It is just a major hassle. And do you use a clean dish for each thing you weigh? You must to be accurate, otherwise cottage cheese residue with throw off your hummus weight and then the world will come to an end! And what do I do when I go out to have a nice dinner at a restaurant? Panic? Bring my scale and sit there weighing my steak? Demand to speak to the chef and find out exactly how much butter or oil he used? No...I just estimate like I do at home by eyeballing it and making a guess on oils and things.
1. I would put the plate on the scale and hit the tare button to zero out the scale. Add the carrots to the plate until I get the weight that I want, log it, then hit the tare button. Add the cottage cheese, log, hit the tare button. Add the hummus, log it.
2. Put the bag of carrots on the scale, tare the scale, remove the carrots that I want, put the bag back on the scale to see the negative number for how many grams I've removed, log it. Put the cottage cheese container on the scale, tare the scale, remove the cottage cheese that I want, put the container back on the scale to see how many grams I've removed, log it. Put the hummus container on the scale, tare the scale, remove the cottage cheese that I want, put the container back on the scale to see how many grams I've removed, log it.
Weighing is still an estimate but it's a closer estimate than measuring cups/spoons and both of those are a closer estimate than eyeballing. If eyeballing gets the job done for you on a consistent basis, that's awesome.
It took practice but using the scale doesn't take much more time than eyeballing after I've used it for so long now and takes me less time than breaking out the measuring cups/spoons. When I'm away from my scale, I estimate. When my scale is handy, I use it.
It sounds like you found the method that works well for you and doesn't seem like a hassle. That's great...I would never try to convince you to stop doing what is working for you to do it my way.
We have different methods and are both successful and happy using them. That's what matters. As the old saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat.
But we know that OP's method (estimating and eyeballing) *isn't* working for him right now. That's the subject of his previous thread. I'm glad this works well for you, but I'm not sure how relevant it is to OP's specific concerns.
If someone was estimating and eyeballing and it wasn't working for them, what would you suggest?
I didn't see his/her previous thread, so my response was relevant to this one.
If somebody isn't losing (after a month or so, so that we know it isn't water fluctuations or other temporary issues) then it could either be that they are 1) underestimating what they eat, 2) overestimating how many calories their body burns a day at rest (these online calculators are estimates...there is significant individual variation), or 3) overestimating how much they are burning through exercise. There is no way to know which issue it is, or if it is all of them. And it frankly does not matter. The ONLY thing you do know is that as a result of one or more of the three possibilities I listed, you are not burning more than you eat. This means you need to either burn more or eat less...or a combination of the two. Stated another way, you can't easily change your BMR, so you either add exercise or cut food.
So...you CAN use a scale...which may or may not help on its own. Do that if you like the idea of weighing. If you don't... you can just cut 200 calories a day from your target. If you continue to estimate the same way, this will at least partially solve the problem. Or you could eat the same and add more exercise, or do both. If, in a few weeks you still aren't losing, repeat! All of these things are estimates...pick the method you prefer to tweak your estimates until you get results that are what you want.3 -
TimothyFish wrote: »I have a scale, but I don't use it for most things. There's no question that measuring cups and trusting the portion size listed on the package is inaccurate. But I have yet to find anyone who can prove that using a kitchen scale is accurate. When you combine that with the fact that calorie burn calculations are also inaccurate, it makes more sense to me to just assume that weighing your food also provides an inaccurate measure. In this whole mess, the only thing that is accurate is the reading on the bathroom scale. If the bathroom scale is staying the same then I know that my calories in equals my calories out. If it is moving one way or the other than I know that one of the two is higher than the other and I need to adjust accordingly.
Bake a cake using 3 measuring cups of flour.....then make a second one (same recipe) using 360 grams of flour. Big difference! Hint - the measuring cup one is dry and heavy. But maybe that's the texture that the recipe intended.
1 -
MoiAussi93 wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »MoiAussi93 wrote: »
I would do it one of two ways:MoiAussi93 wrote: »If I wanted to use a scale, I have to weight the carrots, then remove them from the scale. Then measure and weigh the cottage cheese. Then remove it. Then weigh the hummus, etc. It is just a major hassle. And do you use a clean dish for each thing you weigh? You must to be accurate, otherwise cottage cheese residue with throw off your hummus weight and then the world will come to an end! And what do I do when I go out to have a nice dinner at a restaurant? Panic? Bring my scale and sit there weighing my steak? Demand to speak to the chef and find out exactly how much butter or oil he used? No...I just estimate like I do at home by eyeballing it and making a guess on oils and things.
1. I would put the plate on the scale and hit the tare button to zero out the scale. Add the carrots to the plate until I get the weight that I want, log it, then hit the tare button. Add the cottage cheese, log, hit the tare button. Add the hummus, log it.
2. Put the bag of carrots on the scale, tare the scale, remove the carrots that I want, put the bag back on the scale to see the negative number for how many grams I've removed, log it. Put the cottage cheese container on the scale, tare the scale, remove the cottage cheese that I want, put the container back on the scale to see how many grams I've removed, log it. Put the hummus container on the scale, tare the scale, remove the cottage cheese that I want, put the container back on the scale to see how many grams I've removed, log it.
Weighing is still an estimate but it's a closer estimate than measuring cups/spoons and both of those are a closer estimate than eyeballing. If eyeballing gets the job done for you on a consistent basis, that's awesome.
It took practice but using the scale doesn't take much more time than eyeballing after I've used it for so long now and takes me less time than breaking out the measuring cups/spoons. When I'm away from my scale, I estimate. When my scale is handy, I use it.
It sounds like you found the method that works well for you and doesn't seem like a hassle. That's great...I would never try to convince you to stop doing what is working for you to do it my way.
We have different methods and are both successful and happy using them. That's what matters. As the old saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat.
But we know that OP's method (estimating and eyeballing) *isn't* working for him right now. That's the subject of his previous thread. I'm glad this works well for you, but I'm not sure how relevant it is to OP's specific concerns.
If someone was estimating and eyeballing and it wasn't working for them, what would you suggest?
I didn't see his/her previous thread, so my response was relevant to this one.
If somebody isn't losing (after a month or so, so that we know it isn't water fluctuations or other temporary issues) then it could either be that they are 1) underestimating what they eat, 2) overestimating how many calories their body burns a day at rest (these online calculators are estimates...there is significant individual variation), or 3) overestimating how much they are burning through exercise. There is no way to know which issue it is, or if it is all of them. And it frankly does not matter. The ONLY thing you do know is that as a result of one or more of the three possibilities I listed, you are not burning more than you eat. This means you need to either burn more or eat less...or a combination of the two. Stated another way, you can't easily change your BMR, so you either add exercise or cut food.
So...you CAN use a scale...which may or may not help on its own. Do that if you like the idea of weighing. If you don't... you can just cut 200 calories a day from your target. If you continue to estimate the same way, this will at least partially solve the problem. Or you could eat the same and add more exercise, or do both. If, in a few weeks you still aren't losing, repeat! All of these things are estimates...pick the method you prefer to tweak your estimates until you get results that are what you want.
I realize many people here didn't see the earlier thread. That is why I was trying to provide context.
OP is already, on paper, at the lowest calorie goal recommended for a man and he isn't eating back exercise calories. This is why I personally think helping him understand what he is actually consuming will be more helpful than just cutting 200 calories. If he's truly way off on his calorie counting (and on the information he's provided I think he is), cutting 200 calories until he begins losing weight is going to give him a very low goal on paper and make it difficult for him to figure out what he can actually eat.
Does this mean I think he's required to weigh forever? No (I don't think anyone is, necessarily). But when someone is way off, we can reasonably conclude that their ability to estimate is currently compromised and a scale can be a useful educational tool to help them calibrate against reality.2 -
I'm not sure that having two cakes on hand is going to help.Bake a cake using 3 measuring cups of flour.....then make a second one (same recipe) using 360 grams of flour. Big difference! Hint - the measuring cup one is dry and heavy. But maybe that's the texture that the recipe intended.
j/k
6 -
janejellyroll wrote: »
But we know that OP's method (estimating and eyeballing) *isn't* working for him right now. That's the subject of his previous thread. I'm glad this works well for you, but I'm not sure how relevant it is to OP's specific concerns.
If someone was estimating and eyeballing and it wasn't working for them, what would you suggest?
Well I would not suggest my way or the highway, that's for certain. Please keep in mind, I wasn't responding to the other thread.
There are pros/cons to each method. I was clear that no scale/more-estimating means more wait-n-see.0 -
brznhabits wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »
But we know that OP's method (estimating and eyeballing) *isn't* working for him right now. That's the subject of his previous thread. I'm glad this works well for you, but I'm not sure how relevant it is to OP's specific concerns.
If someone was estimating and eyeballing and it wasn't working for them, what would you suggest?
Well I would not suggest my way or the highway, that's for certain. Please keep in mind, I wasn't responding to the other thread.
There are pros/cons to each method. I was clear that no scale/more-estimating means more wait-n-see.
I was just trying to share some context around OP's situation. I consider the generic pros and cons less important than OP's current real world situation, that he is estimating and not seeing the results that he wants. That said, if he's fine with waiting and seeing, he can continue on his current path.1 -
I do not weigh with a scale. Never have. But I use measuring cups (and under fill them a bit for dry ingredients). Or a good eyeballing of size. I have had no problem losing.
If you are not losing, I do suggest weighing out foods so you get an idea of what a correct serving looks like.1 -
amyrebeccah wrote: »
No, I use the tare function like other people have described. If you don't like weighing for some reason, that's fine, but pretending that it's more work than it actually is is either hyperbole designed to make your point or a misunderstanding of the way scales work. Which is fine for you, but can mislead others who are reading this thread.MoiAussi93 wrote: »If I wanted to use a scale, I have to weight the everything separately. It is just a major hassle. And do you use a clean dish for each thing you weigh?
Well, you certainly don't bring your measuring cups and spoons to the restaurant, either. You seem very attached to your system, but I don't see why you need to completely mischaracterize what other people are recommending in order to defend your point. I've not had your journey, I've never been overweight, but occasionally I do want to lose 5 or 10 vanity pounds. That leaves me with less room for error than you had. So my method may work better for me, and yours for you. But I'm not going to go around claiming that your method requires you to spend hours and hours washing measuring cups as they fill your sink and take over your kitchen in order to make my point.You must to be accurate, otherwise cottage cheese residue with throw off your hummus weight and then the world will come to an end! How do you account for the sauce on the chicken since you can't separate it from the chicken to weigh separately? And what do I do when I go out to have a nice dinner at a restaurant? Panic? Bring my scale and sit there weighing my steak? Demand to speak to the chef and find out exactly how much butter or oil he used? No...I just estimate like I do at home by eyeballing it and making a guess on oils and things.
I'm not saying EVERYBODY should do things my way. But I lost 100 pounds and went from obese to a normal weight with no scale or stress, and millions of people in human history have done the same. You don't NEED a scale. If you like weighting, WONDERFUL! I'm happy for you. It's just not my thing.
And when I choose to eat the last serving of cottage cheese straight from the container because I don't want to dirty a dish for no reason, how does tarc work then? Or am I supposed to weigh the entire thing, find some paper and write down what it weighs, then weigh the empty container again after I eat and find the difference? Or when I eat of tablespoon of peanut butter directly from the spoon as a snack, as I often do, what exactly am I supposed to weigh?
And I don't need to take cups and spoons to a restaurant because I have done it enough previously to trust my eyes. I rarely even use measuring cups at home at all anymore because after you look at a cup of broccoli a couple of dozen times you pretty much can eyeball it. At this point, unless we are talking about very calorie dense foods like olive oil or butter, I don't bother much with even using the cup. Again, this works perfectly for me...but it doesn't sound like it would suit you.
This is not hyperbole...a scale does not fit my lifestyle. It's great that it fits yours, but perhaps you should just let other people do what works for them instead of flinging accusations of mischaracterization and hyperbole. Don't be so sensitive. I have no problem with how you choose to eat...please don't take the fact that I choose to do something differently and, when asked for more detail, gave it, as an attack on your personal choices. It's really quite silly.2 -
MoiAussi93 wrote: »amyrebeccah wrote: »
No, I use the tare function like other people have described. If you don't like weighing for some reason, that's fine, but pretending that it's more work than it actually is is either hyperbole designed to make your point or a misunderstanding of the way scales work. Which is fine for you, but can mislead others who are reading this thread.MoiAussi93 wrote: »If I wanted to use a scale, I have to weight the everything separately. It is just a major hassle. And do you use a clean dish for each thing you weigh?
Well, you certainly don't bring your measuring cups and spoons to the restaurant, either. You seem very attached to your system, but I don't see why you need to completely mischaracterize what other people are recommending in order to defend your point. I've not had your journey, I've never been overweight, but occasionally I do want to lose 5 or 10 vanity pounds. That leaves me with less room for error than you had. So my method may work better for me, and yours for you. But I'm not going to go around claiming that your method requires you to spend hours and hours washing measuring cups as they fill your sink and take over your kitchen in order to make my point.You must to be accurate, otherwise cottage cheese residue with throw off your hummus weight and then the world will come to an end! How do you account for the sauce on the chicken since you can't separate it from the chicken to weigh separately? And what do I do when I go out to have a nice dinner at a restaurant? Panic? Bring my scale and sit there weighing my steak? Demand to speak to the chef and find out exactly how much butter or oil he used? No...I just estimate like I do at home by eyeballing it and making a guess on oils and things.
I'm not saying EVERYBODY should do things my way. But I lost 100 pounds and went from obese to a normal weight with no scale or stress, and millions of people in human history have done the same. You don't NEED a scale. If you like weighting, WONDERFUL! I'm happy for you. It's just not my thing.
And when I choose to eat the last serving of cottage cheese straight from the container because I don't want to dirty a dish for no reason, how does tarc work then? Or am I supposed to weigh the entire thing, find some paper and write down what it weighs, then weigh the empty container again after I eat and find the difference?
You put the container on the scale before you start eating, hit tare, remove the container, eat the cottage cheese from the container, and put the container back on the scale (hitting the power button first if it's turned itself off while you were eating). The scale will have retained the tare setting, and the negative number you see when you put the empty container on the scale will be what you ate. No math required. No paper required. Not that complicated. For people using volume measurements instead of a scale who haven't developed the perfect eyeballing skills you apparently have, it's not a viable option to eat the last serving of cottage cheese straight from the container, because they've got to dump it into a measuring cup (which they now have to wash).Or when I eat of tablespoon of peanut butter directly from the spoon as a snack, as I often do, what exactly am I supposed to weigh?
Weigh the jar before you put the spoon in. Tare the scale. Go spoon out as much of the calorie-dense peanut butter as you like. Bring jar back to scale (turn power back on before placing jar on scale), and for most people (not you, obviously, because your eye-balling skills are well above average) the knowledge that they have just eaten 400+ calories of peanut butter will be astonishing.And I don't need to take cups and spoons to a restaurant because I have done it enough previously to trust my eyes. I rarely even use measuring cups at home at all anymore because after you look at a cup of broccoli a couple of dozen times you pretty much can eyeball it. At this point, unless we are talking about very calorie dense foods like olive oil or butter, I don't bother much with even using the cup. Again, this works perfectly for me...but it doesn't sound like it would suit you.
I don't bring a scale to a restaurant either. I eyeball it, which, as you say, after you've measured various foods (whether by weight or volume) enough times, your eyeballing skills improve.This is not hyperbole...a scale does not fit my lifestyle. It's great that it fits yours, but perhaps you should just let other people do what works for them instead of flinging accusations of mischaracterization and hyperbole. Don't be so sensitive. I have no problem with how you choose to eat...please don't take the fact that I choose to do something differently and, when asked for more detail, gave it, as an attack on your personal choices. It's really quite silly.
If the business about not being able to eat anything from the container if you're using a scale, worrying about a faint film of cottage cheese on a plate before you weigh your hummus, and having to take scales to restaurants because volume measurers can eyeball things but weighers can't isn't mischaracterization or hyperbole, I don't know what else to call it.
Edited to fix a couple of typos.1 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »MoiAussi93 wrote: »amyrebeccah wrote: »
No, I use the tare function like other people have described. If you don't like weighing for some reason, that's fine, but pretending that it's more work than it actually is is either hyperbole designed to make your point or a misunderstanding of the way scales work. Which is fine for you, but can mislead others who are reading this thread.MoiAussi93 wrote: »If I wanted to use a scale, I have to weight the everything separately. It is just a major hassle. And do you use a clean dish for each thing you weigh?
Well, you certainly don't bring your measuring cups and spoons to the restaurant, either. You seem very attached to your system, but I don't see why you need to completely mischaracterize what other people are recommending in order to defend your point. I've not had your journey, I've never been overweight, but occasionally I do want to lose 5 or 10 vanity pounds. That leaves me with less room for error than you had. So my method may work better for me, and yours for you. But I'm not going to go around claiming that your method requires you to spend hours and hours washing measuring cups as they fill your sink and take over your kitchen in order to make my point.You must to be accurate, otherwise cottage cheese residue with throw off your hummus weight and then the world will come to an end! How do you account for the sauce on the chicken since you can't separate it from the chicken to weigh separately? And what do I do when I go out to have a nice dinner at a restaurant? Panic? Bring my scale and sit there weighing my steak? Demand to speak to the chef and find out exactly how much butter or oil he used? No...I just estimate like I do at home by eyeballing it and making a guess on oils and things.
I'm not saying EVERYBODY should do things my way. But I lost 100 pounds and went from obese to a normal weight with no scale or stress, and millions of people in human history have done the same. You don't NEED a scale. If you like weighting, WONDERFUL! I'm happy for you. It's just not my thing.
And when I choose to eat the last serving of cottage cheese straight from the container because I don't want to dirty a dish for no reason, how does tarc work then? Or am I supposed to weigh the entire thing, find some paper and write down what it weighs, then weigh the empty container again after I eat and find the difference?
You put the container on the scale before you start eating, hit tare, remove the container, eat the cottage cheese from the container, and put the container back on the scale (hitting the power button first if it's turned itself off while you were eating). The scale will have retained the tare setting, and the negative number you see when you put the empty container on the scale. No math required. No paper required. Not that complicated. For people using volume measurements instead of a scale who haven't developed the perfect eyeballing skills you apparently have, it's not a viable option to eat the last serving of cottage cheese straight from the container, because they've got to dump it into a measuring cup (which they now have to wash).Or when I eat of tablespoon of peanut butter directly from the spoon as a snack, as I often do, what exactly am I supposed to weigh?
Weigh the jar before you put the spoon in. Tare the scale. Go spoon out as much of the calorie-dense peanut butter as you like. Bring jar back to scale (turn power back on before placing jar on scale), and for most people (not you, obviously, because your eye-balling skills are well above average) the knowledge that they have just eat 400+ calories of peanut butter will be astonishing.And I don't need to take cups and spoons to a restaurant because I have done it enough previously to trust my eyes. I rarely even use measuring cups at home at all anymore because after you look at a cup of broccoli a couple of dozen times you pretty much can eyeball it. At this point, unless we are talking about very calorie dense foods like olive oil or butter, I don't bother much with even using the cup. Again, this works perfectly for me...but it doesn't sound like it would suit you.
I don't bring a scale to a restaurant either. I eyeball it, which, as you say, after you've measured various foods (whether by weight or volume) enough times, your eyeballing skills improve.This is not hyperbole...a scale does not fit my lifestyle. It's great that it fits yours, but perhaps you should just let other people do what works for them instead of flinging accusations of mischaracterization and hyperbole. Don't be so sensitive. I have no problem with how you choose to eat...please don't take the fact that I choose to do something differently and, when asked for more detail, gave it, as an attack on your personal choices. It's really quite silly.
If the business about not being able to eat anything from the container if you're using a scale, worrying about a faint film of cottage cheese on a plate before you weigh your hummus, and having to take scales to restaurants because volume measurers can eyeball things but weighers can't isn't mischaracterization or hyperbole, I don't know what else to call it.
You sound really defensive. I will repeat what I said earlier: Do what works for you. I'm happy for you that you found a method you like. But I will do what works for me...and that isn't the same as what you chose. I found success without a kitchen scale...that is not something I feel any need to apologize for. It's all good.
1 -
MoiAussi93 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »MoiAussi93 wrote: »amyrebeccah wrote: »
No, I use the tare function like other people have described. If you don't like weighing for some reason, that's fine, but pretending that it's more work than it actually is is either hyperbole designed to make your point or a misunderstanding of the way scales work. Which is fine for you, but can mislead others who are reading this thread.MoiAussi93 wrote: »If I wanted to use a scale, I have to weight the everything separately. It is just a major hassle. And do you use a clean dish for each thing you weigh?
Well, you certainly don't bring your measuring cups and spoons to the restaurant, either. You seem very attached to your system, but I don't see why you need to completely mischaracterize what other people are recommending in order to defend your point. I've not had your journey, I've never been overweight, but occasionally I do want to lose 5 or 10 vanity pounds. That leaves me with less room for error than you had. So my method may work better for me, and yours for you. But I'm not going to go around claiming that your method requires you to spend hours and hours washing measuring cups as they fill your sink and take over your kitchen in order to make my point.You must to be accurate, otherwise cottage cheese residue with throw off your hummus weight and then the world will come to an end! How do you account for the sauce on the chicken since you can't separate it from the chicken to weigh separately? And what do I do when I go out to have a nice dinner at a restaurant? Panic? Bring my scale and sit there weighing my steak? Demand to speak to the chef and find out exactly how much butter or oil he used? No...I just estimate like I do at home by eyeballing it and making a guess on oils and things.
I'm not saying EVERYBODY should do things my way. But I lost 100 pounds and went from obese to a normal weight with no scale or stress, and millions of people in human history have done the same. You don't NEED a scale. If you like weighting, WONDERFUL! I'm happy for you. It's just not my thing.
And when I choose to eat the last serving of cottage cheese straight from the container because I don't want to dirty a dish for no reason, how does tarc work then? Or am I supposed to weigh the entire thing, find some paper and write down what it weighs, then weigh the empty container again after I eat and find the difference?
You put the container on the scale before you start eating, hit tare, remove the container, eat the cottage cheese from the container, and put the container back on the scale (hitting the power button first if it's turned itself off while you were eating). The scale will have retained the tare setting, and the negative number you see when you put the empty container on the scale. No math required. No paper required. Not that complicated. For people using volume measurements instead of a scale who haven't developed the perfect eyeballing skills you apparently have, it's not a viable option to eat the last serving of cottage cheese straight from the container, because they've got to dump it into a measuring cup (which they now have to wash).Or when I eat of tablespoon of peanut butter directly from the spoon as a snack, as I often do, what exactly am I supposed to weigh?
Weigh the jar before you put the spoon in. Tare the scale. Go spoon out as much of the calorie-dense peanut butter as you like. Bring jar back to scale (turn power back on before placing jar on scale), and for most people (not you, obviously, because your eye-balling skills are well above average) the knowledge that they have just eat 400+ calories of peanut butter will be astonishing.And I don't need to take cups and spoons to a restaurant because I have done it enough previously to trust my eyes. I rarely even use measuring cups at home at all anymore because after you look at a cup of broccoli a couple of dozen times you pretty much can eyeball it. At this point, unless we are talking about very calorie dense foods like olive oil or butter, I don't bother much with even using the cup. Again, this works perfectly for me...but it doesn't sound like it would suit you.
I don't bring a scale to a restaurant either. I eyeball it, which, as you say, after you've measured various foods (whether by weight or volume) enough times, your eyeballing skills improve.This is not hyperbole...a scale does not fit my lifestyle. It's great that it fits yours, but perhaps you should just let other people do what works for them instead of flinging accusations of mischaracterization and hyperbole. Don't be so sensitive. I have no problem with how you choose to eat...please don't take the fact that I choose to do something differently and, when asked for more detail, gave it, as an attack on your personal choices. It's really quite silly.
If the business about not being able to eat anything from the container if you're using a scale, worrying about a faint film of cottage cheese on a plate before you weigh your hummus, and having to take scales to restaurants because volume measurers can eyeball things but weighers can't isn't mischaracterization or hyperbole, I don't know what else to call it.
You sound really defensive. I will repeat what I said earlier: Do what works for you. I'm happy for you that you found a method you like. But I will do what works for me...and that isn't the same as what you chose. I found success without a kitchen scale...that is not something I feel any need to apologize for. It's all good.
I'm not asking you to change or apologize for not using a kitchen scale. I'm not even asking you to stop pretending there's something inherently difficult about using a kitchen scale. In fact, I wasn't really responding to you. I was just annotating your post to provide information for other people reading the thread who might be misled by your posts into thinking that using a kitchen scale is some impossibly difficult hurdle that they shouldn't even bother attempting.1
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 392.8K Introduce Yourself
- 43.7K Getting Started
- 260.1K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.8K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 413 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.9K Motivation and Support
- 7.9K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.6K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.5K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions