Who Weighs Their Food?

Urbancowbarn

One thing I haven’t gotten on board with is weighing my food. I log everyday and often try to stay under calorie goal because I’m assuming my tracking is more than it calculates since I’m not weighing the food. I’m nervous about weighing food because it seems a little obsessive. And tbh it sounds like a PIA. I haven’t seen any real weight loss (or gain) since autumn and I’m wondering if weighing food is the answer. What say you, Ladies?

sardelsa

If you aren't making progress or seeing the results you want, I would definitely give weighing your food a go. It can be very eye opening. It is not bad once you get into the groove. And to put it into perspective think about the time you will save seeing results, vs waste if you keep stalling for months and months...worth it for a little extra time every day.

I used to weigh my food years ago. Now I don't but weighing for that period of time has made me more calorie aware.

bribucks

I don’t weigh for the same reason as you, I didn’t want to become too obsessive with it. I do use measuring cups sometimes though, especially for calorie-dense foods like nut butters.

If you aren’t going to measure/weigh, you may want to give yourself 100-200 calorie wiggle room as a margin of error. So if your MFP goal was 1600, aim for 1400-1500 instead.

You could also measure/weigh on a temporary basis until you get more of a feel for what serving sizes look like, so you are better at eyeballing in the future.

DomesticKat

When I started MFP in 2014, I was really resistant to the idea of weighing food for the same reason. I thought I could do just fine figuring it out on my own. I made almost no progress because I wasn't measuring correctly.

I returned later after losing a little weight on my own and started weighing food. I dropped 70lbs. total by the middle of 2016. More than I've ever been able to lose on my own. I got pregnant shortly after that and gained 55 pounds. I came back to MFP and dropped 52 of those 55 pounds in 11 months by weighing my food.

So all of that is to say, some people can lose weight without weighing food and some people end up spinning their wheels. I was spinning my wheels. A food scale is a tool that allows me to know if I'm in a deficit, but it also means I'm not having to guess and possibly underfeed myself. That means I can eat as much as possible and still lose weight. It's a new skill like any other and takes a little time to get used to but that's a short term sacrifice for a long-term gain.

Urbancowbarn

@DomesticKat WOW! Guess I’m hitting Target tomorrow and picking up a food scale! Thank you for sharing your story.

Crafty_camper123

I am fairly new to the weighing my food club. I was really resistant to the idea as well. It sounded like way too much work, and I didn't want people to think I was obsessing over every calorie. I was losing weight just fine, but some days I was famished and couldn't figure out why! Especially if I was over on my calorie goal. Well upon getting a scale, I discovered that sometimes I was actually under-feeding myself. I would always estimate high to cover that margin of error. Some things though, I was over-feeding and not realizing it. The scale has made some things more convenient in the kitchen, like measuring things in a container. I no longer have to waist dishes measuring stuff out. It's also a slight PIA to have to weigh everything. But once I got the hang of it, it takes no extra time than measuring. Now if I feel like I am starving to death I can at least KNOW I am well fed and to just suck it up, lol. I kind of like the more accurate data to work with as well. I have been very surprised with some things while playing with the food scale.

Urbancowbarn

I’m so glad I asked. Thanks so much for all these eye opening stories!

DomesticKat

You're welcome I'm truly the most stubborn person I know and I've tried it all. Using a food scale was all it took. I gained A LOT of weight with my second pregnancy in 2009, over 80 pounds, and never managed to lose much of it. I've done a lot of extreme yo-yoing with three more pregnancies since then. I'm 15 pounds away from that pre-2009 weight now so yup, weighing food works.

FormerlyWallyAmadeus

I've finally started doing this. It forces me to "pause" and think: Do I really need this? Or, am I getting ready to eat this because I'm bored, tired or stressed.