finally ordered a food scale... now what

jec228

after months of only half committing myself to weight loss i finally ordered a food scale thanks to everyone on here. i'm looking for some guidance and insight to some probably pretty basic/easy questions.

i have essentially been logging based on cups/measurements forever. i.e. 1/4 medium avocado is 58 cals and my almond butter by the tablespoon, etc.

i know my measurements will move to grams and oz but there seems to be SO many entries in the MFP database. how do you know which is accurate and which is not? Do you scan every item you use with a barcode and go from there? How do you find the best entry for produce?

i am also looking for some insight to those who meal prep or bring food to work. i bring breakfast lunch and a snack every day. i typically have a banana with my breakfast most mornings. will i now peel the banana, weigh the banana and then pack it? obviously i'm not eating the skin so i dont want to weigh this part but it also adds another step to my routine. same for an apple. i'm not eating the core but do i weigh the entire thing? do i cut it off from the core and only weigh that part? how specific do i need to get? probably a stupid question to some but like i said i am a total beginner with the food scale.


if you pack a lunch do you add each thing to the lunch box, track it, tare the scale, and then add the next item?

i was pushed to finally order the scale from always lurking on here so i am hopeful that you will all have some good tips and suggestions for me as a beginner. thanks in advance!

deannalfisher

I typically search USDA item you are looking for - that tends to weed out some of the more random ones

for banana - I weigh with skin and then take off about 1/3-1/2 an oz for raw weight (based on weighing I've done at home where I eat it right away) - ditto for apples/apricots etc - the nutrition difference isn't so huge that counting entire weight vs. minus core/seed etc

cmriverside

Heh. That's what happens with more info, huh?

I do what I can. What I can do is vet my food entries in the database. So, use USDA verified entries. Some users actually use the exact copy/pasted syntax from the USDA database to search this database. Once you find acceptable entries and use them they will appear in your "recents" list.

As far as the banana and apple, there are entries that give length or circumference. Those work fine. Your biggest villians are going to be calorie dense things like meat, cheese, butter and oil, nut butters, cereal, breads, nuts. Weighing them makes a big difference.

jec228

are the USDA entries the ones that have the blue check?

Old_Cat_Lady

Just a little note: Don't sweat the bananas and apples too much. A food scale seriously helped me when I wanted cheeze-its and ice cream !

cmriverside

jec228 wrote: »

are the USDA entries the ones that have the blue check?

Sometimes. When they are verified they're sometimes the USDA ones. I can usually tell because I've been at this so long and there is a specific way USDA entries are phrased. Also, the USDA entries will have multiple weight choices in the drop-down box like cup, TB, ounce, medium, slice, 100g, g, etc. User entries will usually have just one form of measurement.