How I stopped kidding myself
Replies
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Tacklewasher wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »singingflutelady wrote: »What's with the abuse flags?
I have a disgruntled stalker.
somebody must have done that by mistake?
Nope, he's doing it on purpose. I know who it is.
And it's not me.....
But I'll give you a hug anyway (how much longer for the link weight?)
I just figured out you meant the pink weight, @tacklewasher. MONDAY!!!
D'oh!
Yeah, pink weight.
So we need to make another bet (that I will obviously win).
Oh so you'll hug her but not me, huh? I see how it is
I propose her new profile pic be the one she posted this morning
See, she can't hurt me if I'm hugging her. With you it's just creepy.
And not sure what she posted this morning. All I remember is the hotcakes.
You're friends with her, right?
Creepy?
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Now I feel really guilty for jumping into this thread without addressing the OP
@sarahlucindac Thank you for posting this! @quiksylver296 and so many others here devote an enormous amount of time trying to get people to understand the benefits of accurate logging. Hopefully this helps someone else realize maybe, just maybe, there's something to it
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Great post2
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Tacklewasher wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »singingflutelady wrote: »What's with the abuse flags?
I have a disgruntled stalker.
somebody must have done that by mistake?
Nope, he's doing it on purpose. I know who it is.
And it's not me.....
But I'll give you a hug anyway (how much longer for the link weight?)
I just figured out you meant the pink weight, @tacklewasher. MONDAY!!!
D'oh!
Yeah, pink weight.
So we need to make another bet (that I will obviously win).
Oh so you'll hug her but not me, huh? I see how it is
I propose her new profile pic be the one she posted this morning
I had one like that, back in the day. It was pre-tattoo3 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »singingflutelady wrote: »What's with the abuse flags?
I have a disgruntled stalker.
somebody must have done that by mistake?
Nope, he's doing it on purpose. I know who it is.
And it's not me.....
But I'll give you a hug anyway (how much longer for the link weight?)
I just figured out you meant the pink weight, @tacklewasher. MONDAY!!!
D'oh!
Yeah, pink weight.
So we need to make another bet (that I will obviously win).
Oh so you'll hug her but not me, huh? I see how it is
I propose her new profile pic be the one she posted this morning
See, she can't hurt me if I'm hugging her. With you it's just creepy.
And not sure what she posted this morning. All I remember is the hotcakes.
You're friends with her, right?
Creepy?
No. He's still a snob.
But he's missing topless selfies by not accepting my FR, so there's that.4 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »quiksylver296 wrote: »singingflutelady wrote: »What's with the abuse flags?
I have a disgruntled stalker.
somebody must have done that by mistake?
Nope, he's doing it on purpose. I know who it is.
And it's not me.....
But I'll give you a hug anyway (how much longer for the link weight?)
I just figured out you meant the pink weight, @tacklewasher. MONDAY!!!
D'oh!
Yeah, pink weight.
So we need to make another bet (that I will obviously win).
Oh so you'll hug her but not me, huh? I see how it is
I propose her new profile pic be the one she posted this morning
See, she can't hurt me if I'm hugging her. With you it's just creepy.
And not sure what she posted this morning. All I remember is the hotcakes.
You're friends with her, right?
Creepy?
No. He's still a snob.
But he's missing topless selfies by not accepting my FR, so there's that.
At least he'll hug you.0 -
Ok, so we have scales in the caff at work since the salad bar is by weight. But does anyone carry a personal scale? I have a gram scale that I use for measuring spices and coffee at home that I could stick in my pocket.
If I’m eating out (which tends to be a rarity these days), I don’t bother with the food scale. In those cases, I just overestimate the calories I’m eating as much as my imagination can stretch.
I’m flying home to see my family in December and I most definitely plan on bringing my food scale then, though!3 -
I will add that if I ate out a lot, I would definitely bring my food scale with me.3
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Thehardmakesitworthit wrote: »Great post
Thanks! Hope the info can help some people the way it’s helped me!0 -
I've never used a food scale at a restaurant nor at anyone's house.
Let us know how that works out for you.
I can just hear your mom.
I don't know, I lost almost 50 pounds without a food scale at all and eating away from home quite frequently. I bought a food scale when I was 30 pounds from goal - and I didn't even use it all the time. It was getting more difficult to lose by that point. However, I didn't have a body-weight scale and was only weighing myself once a month so I needed some control.
There are three things I'm tracking: food, exercise and my own body weight. If I keep up my exercise and keep weighing myself a couple times per week I think now I could easily estimate my food eaten away from home BUT that's because I have used my food scale so long and so regularly. I can pretty much dissect any dish I eat and get close enough. You'll get there in time, too.
For about four or five years after I got to maintenance I didn't use my food scale. I also didn't own a body weight scale. That made it tough! I was trying the intuitive-how-do-my-pants-fit thing. The scales are so much easier. Now it's just habit.5 -
cmriverside wrote: »I've never used a food scale at a restaurant nor at anyone's house.
Let us know how that works out for you. I can just hear your mom.
I don't know, I lost almost 50 pounds without a food scale at all and eating away from home quite frequently. I bought a food scale when I was 30 pounds from goal - and I didn't even use it all the time. It was getting more difficult to lose by that point. However, I didn't have a body-weight scale and was only weighing myself once a month so I needed some control.
There are three things I'm tracking: food, exercise and my own body weight. If I keep up my exercise and keep weighing myself a couple times per week I think now I could easily estimate my food eaten away from home BUT that's because I have used my food scale so long and so regularly. I can pretty much dissect any dish I eat and get close enough. You'll get there in time, too.
For about four or five years after I got to maintenance I didn't use my food scale. I also didn't own a body weight scale. That made it tough! I was trying the intuitive-how-do-my-pants-fit thing. The scales are so much easier. Now it's just habit.
Lol yup my mom’s going to think I’m crazy. I already get all kinds of judgement for how much I use my food scale (my boyfriends father rolls his eyes at me while I carefully weigh out the mayo that’s going on my burger, for example).
I know I have a much better idea of portion sizes now that I’ve been using a food scale, which comes in handy when I eat out. For now though, I’m still learning and will continue to religiously weigh everything I eat at home. I’m still astonished at the discrepancy in the weight of even pre-packaged food (I bought some cookies that were supposed to be around 30g each— those suckers ranged from 25-40g/cookie in reality).
It’s a pain in the *kitten* sometimes (it takes me like 30 minutes just to put together a simple salad due to weighing every little thing)...but the results I’ve seen since adopting this new habit of being absolutely meticulous have really paid off.15 -
Now I feel really guilty for jumping into this thread without addressing the OP
@sarahlucindac Thank you for posting this! @quiksylver296 and so many others here devote an enormous amount of time trying to get people to understand the benefits of accurate logging. Hopefully this helps someone else realize maybe, just maybe, there's something to it
Haha no worries!! I know quiksylver is a popular gal, I expect people to hop on this thread to chat with her ☺️2 -
sarahlucindac wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »I've never used a food scale at a restaurant nor at anyone's house.
Let us know how that works out for you. I can just hear your mom.
I don't know, I lost almost 50 pounds without a food scale at all and eating away from home quite frequently. I bought a food scale when I was 30 pounds from goal - and I didn't even use it all the time. It was getting more difficult to lose by that point. However, I didn't have a body-weight scale and was only weighing myself once a month so I needed some control.
There are three things I'm tracking: food, exercise and my own body weight. If I keep up my exercise and keep weighing myself a couple times per week I think now I could easily estimate my food eaten away from home BUT that's because I have used my food scale so long and so regularly. I can pretty much dissect any dish I eat and get close enough. You'll get there in time, too.
For about four or five years after I got to maintenance I didn't use my food scale. I also didn't own a body weight scale. That made it tough! I was trying the intuitive-how-do-my-pants-fit thing. The scales are so much easier. Now it's just habit.
Lol yup my mom’s going to think I’m crazy. I already get all kinds of judgement for how much I use my food scale (my boyfriends father rolls his eyes at me while I carefully weigh out the mayo that’s going on my burger, for example).
I know I have a much better idea of portion sizes now that I’ve been using a food scale, which comes in handy when I eat out. For now though, I’m still learning and will continue to religiously weigh everything I eat at home. I’m still astonished at the discrepancy in the weight of even pre-packaged food (I bought some cookies that were supposed to be around 30g each— those suckers ranged from 25-40g/cookie in reality).
It’s a pain in the *kitten* sometimes (it takes me like 30 minutes just to put together a simple salad due to weighing every little thing)...but the results I’ve seen since adopting this new habit of being absolutely meticulous have really paid off.
The bolded makes me worried that you're not using this methodology: Put the plate or bowl on the scale, tare (zero) the scale, add the lettuce, note the weight, tare the scale, add the cucumbers, note the weight, tare the scale . . . etc. (I prefer to note on a junk-mail envelope and log in one swoop when my hands are clean/dry).
Also works for soup/stew ingredients going into a pan, sandwich being built, etc.
For your mayo, I hope you're putting the jar on the scale, hitting tare, scooping some out with a knife, and reading the negative on the scale (it's the amount you took out). Ditto for peanut butter, pickles, yogurt from a tub, a piece of cheese being cut off a bigger hunk, etc.34 -
sarahlucindac wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »I've never used a food scale at a restaurant nor at anyone's house.
Let us know how that works out for you. I can just hear your mom.
I don't know, I lost almost 50 pounds without a food scale at all and eating away from home quite frequently. I bought a food scale when I was 30 pounds from goal - and I didn't even use it all the time. It was getting more difficult to lose by that point. However, I didn't have a body-weight scale and was only weighing myself once a month so I needed some control.
There are three things I'm tracking: food, exercise and my own body weight. If I keep up my exercise and keep weighing myself a couple times per week I think now I could easily estimate my food eaten away from home BUT that's because I have used my food scale so long and so regularly. I can pretty much dissect any dish I eat and get close enough. You'll get there in time, too.
For about four or five years after I got to maintenance I didn't use my food scale. I also didn't own a body weight scale. That made it tough! I was trying the intuitive-how-do-my-pants-fit thing. The scales are so much easier. Now it's just habit.
Lol yup my mom’s going to think I’m crazy. I already get all kinds of judgement for how much I use my food scale (my boyfriends father rolls his eyes at me while I carefully weigh out the mayo that’s going on my burger, for example).
I know I have a much better idea of portion sizes now that I’ve been using a food scale, which comes in handy when I eat out. For now though, I’m still learning and will continue to religiously weigh everything I eat at home. I’m still astonished at the discrepancy in the weight of even pre-packaged food (I bought some cookies that were supposed to be around 30g each— those suckers ranged from 25-40g/cookie in reality).
It’s a pain in the *kitten* sometimes (it takes me like 30 minutes just to put together a simple salad due to weighing every little thing)...but the results I’ve seen since adopting this new habit of being absolutely meticulous have really paid off.
The bolded makes me worried that you're not using this methodology: Put the plate or bowl on the scale, tare (zero) the scale, add the lettuce, note the weight, tare the scale, add the cucumbers, note the weight, tare the scale . . . etc. (I prefer to note on a junk-mail envelope and log in one swoop when my hands are clean/dry).
Also works for soup/stew ingredients going into a pan, sandwich being built, etc.
For your mayo, I hope you're putting the jar on the scale, hitting tare, scooping some out with a knife, and reading the negative on the scale (it's the amount you took out). Ditto for peanut butter, pickles, yogurt from a tub, a piece of cheese being cut off a bigger hunk, etc.
As long as you lick the knife or spoon afterwards... cause peanut butter is expensive! 9 -
sarahlucindac wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »I've never used a food scale at a restaurant nor at anyone's house.
Let us know how that works out for you. I can just hear your mom.
I don't know, I lost almost 50 pounds without a food scale at all and eating away from home quite frequently. I bought a food scale when I was 30 pounds from goal - and I didn't even use it all the time. It was getting more difficult to lose by that point. However, I didn't have a body-weight scale and was only weighing myself once a month so I needed some control.
There are three things I'm tracking: food, exercise and my own body weight. If I keep up my exercise and keep weighing myself a couple times per week I think now I could easily estimate my food eaten away from home BUT that's because I have used my food scale so long and so regularly. I can pretty much dissect any dish I eat and get close enough. You'll get there in time, too.
For about four or five years after I got to maintenance I didn't use my food scale. I also didn't own a body weight scale. That made it tough! I was trying the intuitive-how-do-my-pants-fit thing. The scales are so much easier. Now it's just habit.
Lol yup my mom’s going to think I’m crazy. I already get all kinds of judgement for how much I use my food scale (my boyfriends father rolls his eyes at me while I carefully weigh out the mayo that’s going on my burger, for example).
I know I have a much better idea of portion sizes now that I’ve been using a food scale, which comes in handy when I eat out. For now though, I’m still learning and will continue to religiously weigh everything I eat at home. I’m still astonished at the discrepancy in the weight of even pre-packaged food (I bought some cookies that were supposed to be around 30g each— those suckers ranged from 25-40g/cookie in reality).
It’s a pain in the *kitten* sometimes (it takes me like 30 minutes just to put together a simple salad due to weighing every little thing)...but the results I’ve seen since adopting this new habit of being absolutely meticulous have really paid off.
The bolded makes me worried that you're not using this methodology: Put the plate or bowl on the scale, tare (zero) the scale, add the lettuce, note the weight, tare the scale, add the cucumbers, note the weight, tare the scale . . . etc. (I prefer to note on a junk-mail envelope and log in one swoop when my hands are clean/dry).
Also works for soup/stew ingredients going into a pan, sandwich being built, etc.
For your mayo, I hope you're putting the jar on the scale, hitting tare, scooping some out with a knife, and reading the negative on the scale (it's the amount you took out). Ditto for peanut butter, pickles, yogurt from a tub, a piece of cheese being cut off a bigger hunk, etc.
I purchased too small of a scale to be able to put my plate on it. I go through the hassle of using various small cups - zero out the cup, put the ingredient I’m measuring into the cup, put it on my plate - repeat for all ingredients. Maybe it would be worth investing in a large scale that would accommodate the quicker approach.
As for the way you suggested weighing the mayo, etc - I have not been doing it that way (again, my small scale won’t allow for placing an entire jar of mayo on it). I realize I lose a very small amount of residue in my various small glasses that I transfer the weighed mayo in and out of. As I’m typing this out - I realize how silly my approach sounds. A lot of extra work and losing a touch of accuracy (at least I’m shorting myself rather than giving myself too much).
Aw, dang. Thanks, @AnnPT77. Another eye opener for me. Time to invest in a larger scale! 😭 😂15 -
sarahlucindac wrote: »sarahlucindac wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »I've never used a food scale at a restaurant nor at anyone's house.
Let us know how that works out for you. I can just hear your mom.
I don't know, I lost almost 50 pounds without a food scale at all and eating away from home quite frequently. I bought a food scale when I was 30 pounds from goal - and I didn't even use it all the time. It was getting more difficult to lose by that point. However, I didn't have a body-weight scale and was only weighing myself once a month so I needed some control.
There are three things I'm tracking: food, exercise and my own body weight. If I keep up my exercise and keep weighing myself a couple times per week I think now I could easily estimate my food eaten away from home BUT that's because I have used my food scale so long and so regularly. I can pretty much dissect any dish I eat and get close enough. You'll get there in time, too.
For about four or five years after I got to maintenance I didn't use my food scale. I also didn't own a body weight scale. That made it tough! I was trying the intuitive-how-do-my-pants-fit thing. The scales are so much easier. Now it's just habit.
Lol yup my mom’s going to think I’m crazy. I already get all kinds of judgement for how much I use my food scale (my boyfriends father rolls his eyes at me while I carefully weigh out the mayo that’s going on my burger, for example).
I know I have a much better idea of portion sizes now that I’ve been using a food scale, which comes in handy when I eat out. For now though, I’m still learning and will continue to religiously weigh everything I eat at home. I’m still astonished at the discrepancy in the weight of even pre-packaged food (I bought some cookies that were supposed to be around 30g each— those suckers ranged from 25-40g/cookie in reality).
It’s a pain in the *kitten* sometimes (it takes me like 30 minutes just to put together a simple salad due to weighing every little thing)...but the results I’ve seen since adopting this new habit of being absolutely meticulous have really paid off.
The bolded makes me worried that you're not using this methodology: Put the plate or bowl on the scale, tare (zero) the scale, add the lettuce, note the weight, tare the scale, add the cucumbers, note the weight, tare the scale . . . etc. (I prefer to note on a junk-mail envelope and log in one swoop when my hands are clean/dry).
Also works for soup/stew ingredients going into a pan, sandwich being built, etc.
For your mayo, I hope you're putting the jar on the scale, hitting tare, scooping some out with a knife, and reading the negative on the scale (it's the amount you took out). Ditto for peanut butter, pickles, yogurt from a tub, a piece of cheese being cut off a bigger hunk, etc.
I purchased too small of a scale to be able to put my plate on it. I go through the hassle of using various small cups - zero out the cup, put the ingredient I’m measuring into the cup, put it on my plate - repeat for all ingredients. Maybe it would be worth investing in a large scale that would accommodate the quicker approach.
As for the way you suggested weighing the mayo, etc - I have not been doing it that way (again, my small scale won’t allow for placing an entire jar of mayo on it). I realize I lose a very small amount of residue in my various small glasses that I transfer the weighed mayo in and out of. As I’m typing this out - I realize how silly my approach sounds. A lot of extra work and losing a touch of accuracy (at least I’m shorting myself rather than giving myself too much).
Aw, dang. Thanks, @AnnPT77. Another eye opener for me. Time to invest in a larger scale! 😭 😂
Put stout glass on scale. Put plate or bowl on top of glass. Read scale from under plate or bowl.29 -
sarahlucindac wrote: »sarahlucindac wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »I've never used a food scale at a restaurant nor at anyone's house.
Let us know how that works out for you. I can just hear your mom.
I don't know, I lost almost 50 pounds without a food scale at all and eating away from home quite frequently. I bought a food scale when I was 30 pounds from goal - and I didn't even use it all the time. It was getting more difficult to lose by that point. However, I didn't have a body-weight scale and was only weighing myself once a month so I needed some control.
There are three things I'm tracking: food, exercise and my own body weight. If I keep up my exercise and keep weighing myself a couple times per week I think now I could easily estimate my food eaten away from home BUT that's because I have used my food scale so long and so regularly. I can pretty much dissect any dish I eat and get close enough. You'll get there in time, too.
For about four or five years after I got to maintenance I didn't use my food scale. I also didn't own a body weight scale. That made it tough! I was trying the intuitive-how-do-my-pants-fit thing. The scales are so much easier. Now it's just habit.
Lol yup my mom’s going to think I’m crazy. I already get all kinds of judgement for how much I use my food scale (my boyfriends father rolls his eyes at me while I carefully weigh out the mayo that’s going on my burger, for example).
I know I have a much better idea of portion sizes now that I’ve been using a food scale, which comes in handy when I eat out. For now though, I’m still learning and will continue to religiously weigh everything I eat at home. I’m still astonished at the discrepancy in the weight of even pre-packaged food (I bought some cookies that were supposed to be around 30g each— those suckers ranged from 25-40g/cookie in reality).
It’s a pain in the *kitten* sometimes (it takes me like 30 minutes just to put together a simple salad due to weighing every little thing)...but the results I’ve seen since adopting this new habit of being absolutely meticulous have really paid off.
The bolded makes me worried that you're not using this methodology: Put the plate or bowl on the scale, tare (zero) the scale, add the lettuce, note the weight, tare the scale, add the cucumbers, note the weight, tare the scale . . . etc. (I prefer to note on a junk-mail envelope and log in one swoop when my hands are clean/dry).
Also works for soup/stew ingredients going into a pan, sandwich being built, etc.
For your mayo, I hope you're putting the jar on the scale, hitting tare, scooping some out with a knife, and reading the negative on the scale (it's the amount you took out). Ditto for peanut butter, pickles, yogurt from a tub, a piece of cheese being cut off a bigger hunk, etc.
I purchased too small of a scale to be able to put my plate on it. I go through the hassle of using various small cups - zero out the cup, put the ingredient I’m measuring into the cup, put it on my plate - repeat for all ingredients. Maybe it would be worth investing in a large scale that would accommodate the quicker approach.
As for the way you suggested weighing the mayo, etc - I have not been doing it that way (again, my small scale won’t allow for placing an entire jar of mayo on it). I realize I lose a very small amount of residue in my various small glasses that I transfer the weighed mayo in and out of. As I’m typing this out - I realize how silly my approach sounds. A lot of extra work and losing a touch of accuracy (at least I’m shorting myself rather than giving myself too much).
Aw, dang. Thanks, @AnnPT77. Another eye opener for me. Time to invest in a larger scale! 😭 😂
I think you'll find that a scale you can use this way will save a lot of time, not to mention dirtying fewer dishes. And they're pretty cheap. It also looks a little less . . . um . . . compulsive, to bystanders, partly because it's quick.
I'm assuming you're saying your current scale doesn't have the necessary weight capacity? Most scales are small enough that you can't put (say) a cookie sheet (or maybe even a large plate) on them and still read the display . . . but as long as you balance carefully, you can put a narrow bowl on the scale to elevate the wide pan, and make the display visible, if it can handle the total weight.
If you have a small cutting board, chopping various things and using the "tare, dump one off the cutting board, note negative, tare, dump another . . ." also works well.7 -
sarahlucindac wrote: »sarahlucindac wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »I've never used a food scale at a restaurant nor at anyone's house.
Let us know how that works out for you. I can just hear your mom.
I don't know, I lost almost 50 pounds without a food scale at all and eating away from home quite frequently. I bought a food scale when I was 30 pounds from goal - and I didn't even use it all the time. It was getting more difficult to lose by that point. However, I didn't have a body-weight scale and was only weighing myself once a month so I needed some control.
There are three things I'm tracking: food, exercise and my own body weight. If I keep up my exercise and keep weighing myself a couple times per week I think now I could easily estimate my food eaten away from home BUT that's because I have used my food scale so long and so regularly. I can pretty much dissect any dish I eat and get close enough. You'll get there in time, too.
For about four or five years after I got to maintenance I didn't use my food scale. I also didn't own a body weight scale. That made it tough! I was trying the intuitive-how-do-my-pants-fit thing. The scales are so much easier. Now it's just habit.
Lol yup my mom’s going to think I’m crazy. I already get all kinds of judgement for how much I use my food scale (my boyfriends father rolls his eyes at me while I carefully weigh out the mayo that’s going on my burger, for example).
I know I have a much better idea of portion sizes now that I’ve been using a food scale, which comes in handy when I eat out. For now though, I’m still learning and will continue to religiously weigh everything I eat at home. I’m still astonished at the discrepancy in the weight of even pre-packaged food (I bought some cookies that were supposed to be around 30g each— those suckers ranged from 25-40g/cookie in reality).
It’s a pain in the *kitten* sometimes (it takes me like 30 minutes just to put together a simple salad due to weighing every little thing)...but the results I’ve seen since adopting this new habit of being absolutely meticulous have really paid off.
The bolded makes me worried that you're not using this methodology: Put the plate or bowl on the scale, tare (zero) the scale, add the lettuce, note the weight, tare the scale, add the cucumbers, note the weight, tare the scale . . . etc. (I prefer to note on a junk-mail envelope and log in one swoop when my hands are clean/dry).
Also works for soup/stew ingredients going into a pan, sandwich being built, etc.
For your mayo, I hope you're putting the jar on the scale, hitting tare, scooping some out with a knife, and reading the negative on the scale (it's the amount you took out). Ditto for peanut butter, pickles, yogurt from a tub, a piece of cheese being cut off a bigger hunk, etc.
I purchased too small of a scale to be able to put my plate on it. I go through the hassle of using various small cups - zero out the cup, put the ingredient I’m measuring into the cup, put it on my plate - repeat for all ingredients. Maybe it would be worth investing in a large scale that would accommodate the quicker approach.
As for the way you suggested weighing the mayo, etc - I have not been doing it that way (again, my small scale won’t allow for placing an entire jar of mayo on it). I realize I lose a very small amount of residue in my various small glasses that I transfer the weighed mayo in and out of. As I’m typing this out - I realize how silly my approach sounds. A lot of extra work and losing a touch of accuracy (at least I’m shorting myself rather than giving myself too much).
Aw, dang. Thanks, @AnnPT77. Another eye opener for me. Time to invest in a larger scale! 😭 😂
I think you'll find that a scale you can use this way will save a lot of time, not to mention dirtying fewer dishes. And they're pretty cheap. It also looks a little less . . . um . . . compulsive, to bystanders, partly because it's quick.
I'm assuming you're saying your current scale doesn't have the necessary weight capacity? Most scales are small enough that you can't put (say) a cookie sheet (or maybe even a large plate) on them and still read the display . . . but as long as you balance carefully, you can put a narrow bowl on the scale to elevate the wide pan, and make the display visible, if it can handle the total weight.
If you have a small cutting board, chopping various things and using the "tare, dump one off the cutting board, note negative, tare, dump another . . ." also works well.
Indeed, my scale has a pretty low weight limit. You should see the ridiculous messes I’ve made weighing things out in small bowls. Absolute chaos 😂1 -
sarahlucindac wrote: »Indeed, my scale has a pretty low weight limit. You should see the ridiculous messes I’ve made weighing things out in small bowls. Absolute chaos 😂
I have a small scale and work it without separate bowls. I just put the container I'm taking things out of (ex: peanut butter jar), put it on the scale, zero out, scoop out the food I need and look what negative value the scale says (ex: weigh is now "-16g", log 16g of peanut butter).
4 -
sarahlucindac wrote: »sarahlucindac wrote: »sarahlucindac wrote: »cmriverside wrote: »I've never used a food scale at a restaurant nor at anyone's house.
Let us know how that works out for you. I can just hear your mom.
I don't know, I lost almost 50 pounds without a food scale at all and eating away from home quite frequently. I bought a food scale when I was 30 pounds from goal - and I didn't even use it all the time. It was getting more difficult to lose by that point. However, I didn't have a body-weight scale and was only weighing myself once a month so I needed some control.
There are three things I'm tracking: food, exercise and my own body weight. If I keep up my exercise and keep weighing myself a couple times per week I think now I could easily estimate my food eaten away from home BUT that's because I have used my food scale so long and so regularly. I can pretty much dissect any dish I eat and get close enough. You'll get there in time, too.
For about four or five years after I got to maintenance I didn't use my food scale. I also didn't own a body weight scale. That made it tough! I was trying the intuitive-how-do-my-pants-fit thing. The scales are so much easier. Now it's just habit.
Lol yup my mom’s going to think I’m crazy. I already get all kinds of judgement for how much I use my food scale (my boyfriends father rolls his eyes at me while I carefully weigh out the mayo that’s going on my burger, for example).
I know I have a much better idea of portion sizes now that I’ve been using a food scale, which comes in handy when I eat out. For now though, I’m still learning and will continue to religiously weigh everything I eat at home. I’m still astonished at the discrepancy in the weight of even pre-packaged food (I bought some cookies that were supposed to be around 30g each— those suckers ranged from 25-40g/cookie in reality).
It’s a pain in the *kitten* sometimes (it takes me like 30 minutes just to put together a simple salad due to weighing every little thing)...but the results I’ve seen since adopting this new habit of being absolutely meticulous have really paid off.
The bolded makes me worried that you're not using this methodology: Put the plate or bowl on the scale, tare (zero) the scale, add the lettuce, note the weight, tare the scale, add the cucumbers, note the weight, tare the scale . . . etc. (I prefer to note on a junk-mail envelope and log in one swoop when my hands are clean/dry).
Also works for soup/stew ingredients going into a pan, sandwich being built, etc.
For your mayo, I hope you're putting the jar on the scale, hitting tare, scooping some out with a knife, and reading the negative on the scale (it's the amount you took out). Ditto for peanut butter, pickles, yogurt from a tub, a piece of cheese being cut off a bigger hunk, etc.
I purchased too small of a scale to be able to put my plate on it. I go through the hassle of using various small cups - zero out the cup, put the ingredient I’m measuring into the cup, put it on my plate - repeat for all ingredients. Maybe it would be worth investing in a large scale that would accommodate the quicker approach.
As for the way you suggested weighing the mayo, etc - I have not been doing it that way (again, my small scale won’t allow for placing an entire jar of mayo on it). I realize I lose a very small amount of residue in my various small glasses that I transfer the weighed mayo in and out of. As I’m typing this out - I realize how silly my approach sounds. A lot of extra work and losing a touch of accuracy (at least I’m shorting myself rather than giving myself too much).
Aw, dang. Thanks, @AnnPT77. Another eye opener for me. Time to invest in a larger scale! 😭 😂
I think you'll find that a scale you can use this way will save a lot of time, not to mention dirtying fewer dishes. And they're pretty cheap. It also looks a little less . . . um . . . compulsive, to bystanders, partly because it's quick.
I'm assuming you're saying your current scale doesn't have the necessary weight capacity? Most scales are small enough that you can't put (say) a cookie sheet (or maybe even a large plate) on them and still read the display . . . but as long as you balance carefully, you can put a narrow bowl on the scale to elevate the wide pan, and make the display visible, if it can handle the total weight.
If you have a small cutting board, chopping various things and using the "tare, dump one off the cutting board, note negative, tare, dump another . . ." also works well.
Indeed, my scale has a pretty low weight limit. You should see the ridiculous messes I’ve made weighing things out in small bowls. Absolute chaos 😂
Oh, heck yeah. Spend $15 on amazon and get one with a 10 pound limit and life becomes so much easier. Then you can also weigh entire recipes as you build them, and enter the recipe into the Recipe builder.14 -
If it took me 30 minutes to put together a salad, I’d have to give up salad.
I’ve never used a food scale during weight loss. I don’t necessarily recommend this, especially if results of the ‘diet’ aren’t there. Not having a scale was a bit of a concession to my wife who hates gadgets that have to sit on the counter (or in a cupboard for that matter) and who had seen me ‘fail’ about a thousand times before I finally got serious about managing my weight. That said, I measured everything or averaged (so if I cooked a pound of chicken for four lunches, each was tracked as four ounces) or ate foods that were pre-measured/weighed.
Interestingly, it wasn’t until after I achieved goal that I started using a scale. Mostly for dividing up foods from bulk packages that were too difficult to portion out without weighing. I have, from time to time, weighed other foods out to see how closely weight tracks to whatever technique I’d been using. There have been only a few surprises over time, but being at my goal weight affords me a little extra ‘breathing room’ on this, so I’ve managed pretty well.
We did, however, make a point of using the scale when our son (who is significantly overweight) was home from college. It was edifying enough that he has actually purchased one, although I don’t know if he uses it with any regularity.
8 -
DEFINITELY spend a few bucks on a bigger scale! The ability to weigh/tare/add/weigh again will change your life 5
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Bump4
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Jeez. With all the threads out there right now, this needs bumped.8
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For the scale-too-small issue - I made a thread yesterday about scale recommendations, and one person recommended a scale that had a pull-out display. https://www.oxo.com/products/preparing/measuring/5lb-food-scale-w-pull-out-display#black8
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RelCanonical wrote: »For the scale-too-small issue - I made a thread yesterday about scale recommendations, and one person recommended a scale that had a pull-out display. https://www.oxo.com/products/preparing/measuring/5lb-food-scale-w-pull-out-display#black
It's da best based on reviews; but, tends to be expensive2 -
This post is a great reminder on the importance of using a food scale!
For the first time in about a week, I pulled my food scale out of the drawer to weigh some pickles... and there was Doritos dust on it. I was thinking, how did Doritos dust get on my scale? Then I remembered, oh yeah, that was me weighing Doritos last week.
So yes, whether it’s 10 calories of pickles or 140 calories of Doritos, I appreciate the accuracy of using a food scale. It was a PITA at first, especially having to add a bunch of entries to my own diary so that I would have an entry in grams instead of oz (or worse, when “11 chips” or something similar was listed as the only serving size after scanning a barcode of a product).
But, it turns out I’m a creature of habit and after a few months I didn’t have to add many custom entries that corrected for grams.
I actually find weighing out 28 grams of chips much faster than counting out 11 would ever be! Plus how do people account for broken chips if they think 11 is a serving? Besides that, a perfect serving is closer to 40 grams for me, ha!
I love my OXO scale, it was expensive though, but it has held up well for years. I happen to have a 1 gram scientific weight and it’s perfectly accurate to boot.10 -
IdLikeToLoseItLoseIt wrote: »This post is a great reminder on the importance of using a food scale!
For the first time in about a week, I pulled my food scale out of the drawer to weigh some pickles... and there was Doritos dust on it. I was thinking, how did Doritos dust get on my scale? Then I remembered, oh yeah, that was me weighing Doritos last week.
So yes, whether it’s 10 calories of pickles or 140 calories of Doritos, I appreciate the accuracy of using a food scale. It was a PITA at first, especially having to add a bunch of entries to my own diary so that I would have an entry in grams instead of oz (or worse, when “11 chips” or something similar was listed as the only serving size after scanning a barcode of a product).
But, it turns out I’m a creature of habit and after a few months I didn’t have to add many custom entries that corrected for grams.
I actually find weighing out 28 grams of chips much faster than counting out 11 would ever be! Plus how do people account for broken chips if they think 11 is a serving? Besides that, a perfect serving is closer to 40 grams for me, ha!
I love my OXO scale, it was expensive though, but it has held up well for years. I happen to have a 1 gram scientific weight and it’s perfectly accurate to boot.
Lol I feel ya with the whole chip serving thing!! Before using a food scale, I would count out the chips and end up piecing together what I thought was a fair chip size with the broken ones...I’m certain I was fooling myself and my little pile of broken chips that were supposed to equal one probably added up to more than that. Funny how our brains work against us sometimes lol11 -
sarahlucindac wrote: »IdLikeToLoseItLoseIt wrote: »This post is a great reminder on the importance of using a food scale!
For the first time in about a week, I pulled my food scale out of the drawer to weigh some pickles... and there was Doritos dust on it. I was thinking, how did Doritos dust get on my scale? Then I remembered, oh yeah, that was me weighing Doritos last week.
So yes, whether it’s 10 calories of pickles or 140 calories of Doritos, I appreciate the accuracy of using a food scale. It was a PITA at first, especially having to add a bunch of entries to my own diary so that I would have an entry in grams instead of oz (or worse, when “11 chips” or something similar was listed as the only serving size after scanning a barcode of a product).
But, it turns out I’m a creature of habit and after a few months I didn’t have to add many custom entries that corrected for grams.
I actually find weighing out 28 grams of chips much faster than counting out 11 would ever be! Plus how do people account for broken chips if they think 11 is a serving? Besides that, a perfect serving is closer to 40 grams for me, ha!
I love my OXO scale, it was expensive though, but it has held up well for years. I happen to have a 1 gram scientific weight and it’s perfectly accurate to boot.
Lol I feel ya with the whole chip serving thing!! Before using a food scale, I would count out the chips and end up piecing together what I thought was a fair chip size with the broken ones...I’m certain I was fooling myself and my little pile of broken chips that were supposed to equal one probably added up to more than that. Funny how our brains work against us sometimes lol
LOL! I did the same thing!2 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »sarahlucindac wrote: »IdLikeToLoseItLoseIt wrote: »This post is a great reminder on the importance of using a food scale!
For the first time in about a week, I pulled my food scale out of the drawer to weigh some pickles... and there was Doritos dust on it. I was thinking, how did Doritos dust get on my scale? Then I remembered, oh yeah, that was me weighing Doritos last week.
So yes, whether it’s 10 calories of pickles or 140 calories of Doritos, I appreciate the accuracy of using a food scale. It was a PITA at first, especially having to add a bunch of entries to my own diary so that I would have an entry in grams instead of oz (or worse, when “11 chips” or something similar was listed as the only serving size after scanning a barcode of a product).
But, it turns out I’m a creature of habit and after a few months I didn’t have to add many custom entries that corrected for grams.
I actually find weighing out 28 grams of chips much faster than counting out 11 would ever be! Plus how do people account for broken chips if they think 11 is a serving? Besides that, a perfect serving is closer to 40 grams for me, ha!
I love my OXO scale, it was expensive though, but it has held up well for years. I happen to have a 1 gram scientific weight and it’s perfectly accurate to boot.
Lol I feel ya with the whole chip serving thing!! Before using a food scale, I would count out the chips and end up piecing together what I thought was a fair chip size with the broken ones...I’m certain I was fooling myself and my little pile of broken chips that were supposed to equal one probably added up to more than that. Funny how our brains work against us sometimes lol
LOL! I did the same thing!
I just picked out the whole ones and left the broken bits for the rest of the family.6
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