How precise is everyone with food diary?

thezenarya

I didn't use a scale in the beginning and eyeballed. I lost no weight.

Decided to give a food scale a try, and began logging my calories pretty religiously. I meal prep once a week, so I only have to weigh things out on one day per week and log that amount all week. I'm only lax about weighing and counting on the weekends since I only eat once or so per day on those days, and it's usually a big meal.

AudreyJDuke

Very exact. No excuses!

MelanieCN77

I'm probably within 50 cals each day. Sometimes I forget to log gummy vitamins or give myself a freebie cup of tea.

lynn_glenmont

danasmashinggoals wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

danasmashinggoals wrote: »

sytchequeen wrote: »

Get a food scale!

I mostly cook from scratch, and it's astonishing how much estimates can be out of whack

Is this how you reply?!

That’s what I was worried about! I’m sure I’m being far too generous 😂

This is a great example of how easy it is to misread tone and intention on the Internet. When I first read this, I thought OP felt like sytchequeen was being rude and hostile ("Is this how you reply?" = "This isn't a nice way to respond to me?") and I was trying to figure out how OP's feelings were hurt by that. It was only the third time I read that it occurred to me that OP might be talking about how the buttons on the forum thread work ("Is this how you reply?" = "Do I click on 'quote' to show what you said that I'm replying to?").

And yes, yes it is.

I find weighing at home greatly improves my estimating when I'm eating away from home. And I already was using a food scale for much of my baking when I started logging on MFP, so it wasn't a great leap to start weighing other food that I prepare at home. I don't consider it being anal. I do occasionally just estimate or even ignore something that I know from experience is low cal and I'm eating in a small amount, so it doesn't matter if I'm a little off.

While I echo everyone who has said that they found food scales to be really helpful, and also that they're not expensive, if you are not having any problem losing weight without using them, and you'd rather not be weighing things, there's no reason to buy them.

But if you eventually hit a point where you aren't losing weight anymore and come back for advice, you will be advised to get a food scale and start weighing.

Best of luck.

Oh I’m sorry! I’m relieved you re-read it and saw it wasn’t my intention to be rude! It was my first post in here and the layout is quite different to other forums I’ve used

The advice has been amazing! I’m keeping an eye on my progress while I look for a good scale that has all the right buttons and doesn’t use those little button batteries (I’m taking notes!)

Thank you 😊

One other thing to look for is the maximum weight the scale can measure. If you do a lot of batch cooking (i.e., want to be able to weigh an entire recipe like a pot of chili or soup), it can be helpful to have a scale that will weigh the pot + food. Mine can handle 11 lbs/5 kg, and I've never had a pot of food it couldn't handle.

And on the first issue -- I totally meant it as a reflection on reading and interpreting, not on writing in general or yours in particular. Yes, we can all try to be clear in what we write, and pronouns whose antecedents are unclear ("this" in your post) can make it easier for people to misinterpret, but I see a lot of misinterpretations in the forum, some of which lead to heated debate, and I was just trying to show that it can help to take a few extra seconds to think about how we're interpreting a post and whether another interpretation makes sense. And that it's helpful to assume good intent on the part of the writer.

ashhope94

This thread has motivated me to finally get a new food scale. I got one from walmart for like $11. The battery died within a week and it's a piece of crap. I just saw a rechargeable one on amazon for $18!

AnnPT77

Crochetluvr wrote: »

I have one.....but its currently packed away in another state and I simply can't justify buying ANOTHER one until I get the one own here with me, which I will soon. I used it religiously when I was here the first time around.

Having said that, I try to scan labels whenever possible to get the right info. I DO measure physical amounts....just not the weight at the moment. I DO miss my scale.

Sadly, scanning is not necessarily any more accurate than searching the food database by hand. Most of the database is crowd-sourced: Entered by regular users. We don't know how committed to accuracy those people were. Any of the entries, even the bar-coded and green-check "verified" ones can be incorrect. The bar code scanning can add convenience, but not necessarily increase accuracy.

OP, a few more reasons I like using a scale:

1. It's a time-saver vs. cups/spoon measuring. In addition to the "making a sandwich" tip of putting the plate on a scale and hitting tare between ingredients, another time-saving tip is to put a bottle, jar, or hunk of something on the scale, tare, then remove the portion you plan to use. The negative value on the scale is the amount you took out. This works great for things like peanut butter, salad dressing, yogurt from a big tub, or chunks of cheese.

2. If you're meticulous in your logging, and see a scale jump, you pretty much know whether it's water weight or not, unless you noticeably slowed down in your daily routine. If you didn't slow down, and you didn't eat 3500 calories over your maintenance calories, you know an extra pound on the scale is water weight or temporary digestive system contents.

3. Having logging data as accurate as you can reasonably make it also helps with weight loss arithmetic. While losing, I got to a point where I could accurately predict, before eating, what the consequences of a calorie-bomb treat or meal would be, either in hours/days delay in reaching goal weight, or in weight gained (or loss foregone) in the short run. It makes those decisions easier and less stressful.

4. As you get close to goal, you can use accurate log data to estimate your personal maintenance calories quite accurately. Since the calorie "calculators" (including MFP's) are only estimates, and are inaccurate for some of us, this is a way to get a better estimate.

I'd still agree that weighing food isn't essential for everyone, but I'm a believer, for myself.

MadisonMolly2017

hroderick wrote: »

Only use scales if you're committed to managing your weight and nutrition. Scales + MFP database = knowledge. Knowledge + Committment = Control.

This! I weigh everything & track my exercise. I want the data. Also, if I don’t weigh, I overestimate calories, so by weighing, I get to eat more! By doing calculations on the data, I’ve learned that I lose almost twice as fast as the numbers would indicate.

Candyspun wrote: »

Also, I wanted to add that at first I didn't want to use one, because it seemed 'obsessive' and I like to avoid disordered behaviour. But honestly, it takes all the emotion and obsession out of it, because you are being as scientifically accurate as possible, which for me anyway, reduces my stress about losing weight. I feel secure in what I'm eating. And it's so much easier (and more accurate!) than measuring cups! It's no hassle at all to simply put the plate on the scales and assemble a sandwich, taring the scale before adding each new ingredient. It takes no time at all. I do it with my phone in my hand, and the great thing about that and the scales is that I can see very quickly if I want to add more calories or take some away. It becomes second nature very quickly, and I think it's the best way to learn about portion sizes and what is actually in our food.

Me too!

Kaykoshke wrote: »

When I was estimating, I wasn't losing weight since I didn't know what a normal portion size was (I was underestimating on my calories but way overeating) Now that I bought my food scale, I measure EVERYTHING. It's a pain at first but honestly, I feel weird if I don't portion things out now. It is so worth the $10-$15!

Yep, me too!

kami3006 wrote: »

Using a food scale has been a liberating experience for me. It took the guesswork out of my logging and turned losing (and maintaining, and bulking) into a peaceful experience. It's also faster than measuring and affords quicker clean up. And as someone who also cooks a lot from scratch, I greatly prefer using weights to volume measurements now.

Much easier, as this poster says, than cleaning measuring cups...and salads are so easy...put bowl on scale..tare..and greens..tare..tomatoes...tare...etc

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iowalinda wrote: »

I love my food scale so much I bought a second one to have as a back-up It's a very handy and useful tool.

Same!!
And.. if I fill up early, I can weigh what I didn’t eat and subtract it.

OP - one idea I had for you.
Perhaps you could just use the scale for cheese & meats since you mention those specifically & see how it goes for 2-4 weeks?

Since you mentioned how much you love cheese which I used to love & eat quite a bit myself. When I began dieting, I would allow myself one ounce every day and the scale came in very helpful for that. (I also gave myself 1-2 ounces of raw, unsalted nuts and up to 1 ounce of 82% dark chocolate per day.) My deal with myself was as long as I weighed and kept within those maximums, I could have them.

As I got closer to goal weight, I decreased cheese (realized it was the salt I liked). I now have an oz of cheese 0-2 times a week, 1 to 1 1/2 unsalted nuts and about 1/2 to 1 of dark chocolate per day, and I don’t have any problems with eating more, so the scale helped me learn to manage trigger foods well.

I did weigh my other foods so I could more accurately build the nutritional profile that I felt was best for my body.