Lean Cuisines (& other brands) and Tracking

wizzybeth
wizzybeth Posts: 3,578 Member
in Food and Nutrition
First off...if you don't like to purchase frozen meals like Lean Cuisines, Smart Ones, Healthy Choice, Etc. this post is not for you. This is for people who consume individual frozen meals that they have purchased.

This has been said before... I've seen it in other discussions but I felt it bears repeating: do not trust the stated weight with regard to the nutrition information. The stated weight is a minimum. The actual weight of the food included in your meal could be higher.
For example, using my Lean Cuisine from today...package said the weight was 240g. And gave nutrition info based on that weight. The actual weight was 297 grams! A difference of 50 calories.
Nutrition information for my frozen chicken breast was based on a 136 gram breast. This breast that I ate actually weighed 149g. 25 calories difference.

combining them together we have almost 75 calories more and then I thought I was consuming.

for some people they may have enough margin for error in their daily calories to allow this discrepancy but for many people especially those struggling to lose the weight this could very well play a part.

Weigh everything including pre-packaged individual servings and adjust your serving size accordingly.

To adjust the serving size all you need to do is divide the stated weight on the package by the actual weight.... And that's what you enter for number of servings.

Imagine if every meal you had, had a 75 calorie error. That would be an approximate overage of 225 calories a day... Or 1575 calories per week. Just about a half a pound with regard to weight loss.
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Replies

  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,979 Member
    edited October 2018
    It's a good lesson to learn; that prepackaged foods are often off. When I lose, it's by a small deficit and little things indeed can wipe that out.

    I would like to add that they are, sometimes, less in weight than what the package says. I had two this past week that were 1.5 servings instead of the package listing of two. So, more calories for me...yay. :)
  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,578 Member
    kami3006 wrote: »
    It's a good lesson to learn; that prepackaged foods are often off. When I lose, it's by a small deficit and little things indeed can wipe that out.

    I would like to add that they are, sometimes, less in weight than what the package says. I had two this past week that were 1.5 servings instead of the package listing of two. So, more calories for me...yay. :)

    That's always a bonus lol
  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,578 Member
    Aplant77 wrote: »
    Wow. I eat a lot of frozen meals for my lunches and always assumed that they would be accurate. We know what happens when we assume! Thanks for the warning :)

    Sometimes they are, and sometimes if they are off it's not that much - but this was a huge difference IMHO! I've also read on the forums comments about protein bars being heavier than the stated weight. I've also noticed it with flatbreads, tortillas, pitas, english muffins, etc. Lesson learned is WEIGH EVERYTHING, lol
  • bigbandjohn
    bigbandjohn Posts: 769 Member
    It's strange that they underestimate. I would figure they overestimate to be safe, especially when dealing with people watching calories.

    I wonder what the legal variance allowed is for pre-packaged meals?
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,979 Member
    bigbandjohn wrote: »
    It's strange that they underestimate. I would figure they overestimate to be safe, especially when dealing with people watching calories.

    I wonder what the legal variance allowed is for pre-packaged meals?

    20%
  • bigbandjohn
    bigbandjohn Posts: 769 Member
    20%? That's a huge variance. Just goes to show you how careful we need to be.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    bigbandjohn wrote: »
    20%? That's a huge variance. Just goes to show you how careful we need to be.

    They can legally underestimate by up to 20%. Overestimating is another story and rarely happens in pre-packaged meals. It IS more common in fresh meat butchered and packaged by the grocery store meat department.
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    The same goes with a lot of food, especially that you get at restaurants. The portions are likely to be bigger than the ones they use for nutritional information.

    BTW, when I was in my mid 20s, I was in the best shape of my life and ate Lean Cuisine and other pre-packaged type meals all the time. So no criticism from here! :)
  • krisleve7707
    krisleve7707 Posts: 18 Member
    No judgment here! I have a Lean Cuisine white cheddar mac and cheese every week (sometimes twice) and I love it! Sometimes I mix some frozen peas in it to get that extra serving of veggies. But yes I agree that you should weigh even the frozen meals.
  • krisleve7707
    krisleve7707 Posts: 18 Member
    edited October 2018
    posted twice, sorry
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    kami3006 wrote: »
    On a side note, I've been eating some of the Stouffer's Fit Kitchen bowls. Some of them are fantastic and filling as they're a good amount of protein. Of course, they're not as low calorie as Lean Cuisine but still...I recommend. This is my favorite:
    htv75f9pv5w6.png

    That looks amazing. Sadly my country has a limited selection of pre-packaged meals and they are all expensive.
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,979 Member
    earlnabby wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    kami3006 wrote: »
    On a side note, I've been eating some of the Stouffer's Fit Kitchen bowls. Some of them are fantastic and filling as they're a good amount of protein. Of course, they're not as low calorie as Lean Cuisine but still...I recommend. This is my favorite:

    I like those too! More protein and substance than your typical diet-focused frozen meal. This is my fave:

    I also like Evol and Amy's (although they are lower in protein). They're pricier but good quality and keep me out of the drive thru. Frozen meals have really improved.

    I am old enough to remember when our only options were Swanson and they came in foil trays that had to be baked in the oven. We had them occasionally as treats, usually when Mom and Dad were going out and Mom didn't have the time to cook and clean up beforehand. TV dinners meant a babysitter and maybe staying up later. They were fun and each of us kids could request our favorite.

    I remember that too! They were indeed treats for us. 😃
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    wizzybeth wrote: »
    I remember those frozen dinners too! And you used to have to take the foil off the desert section or something. LOL. I always liked them. But I do agree with the above comments that frozen meals have greatly improved over time. I find the Lean Cuisines and Stouffer's meals to be very very good. They are great for when you don't want to be bothered to cook something other than your normal ho-hum run-of-the-mill food LOL

    Yeah, those TV dinners (especially something like the Salisbury Steak) gave rise to the idea of "mystery meat". They weren't that good, but they were a fun treat. These days, the food is so much better but some of the magic has gone out of them.
  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,578 Member
    Yes I agree that it's not quite as exciting as having them in the old days. I think it's just the availability and abundance of them. Kind of like shows on Netflix. There's just something not so urgent and exciting about getting to see something that is always available. LOL
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
    Love Lean Cuisine. Must try FitKitchen
  • redversustheblue
    redversustheblue Posts: 1,216 Member
    Those Fit Kitchen meals look pretty good. I eat lean cuisines for most of my lunches because I'm honestly too lazy to pack a full lunch most of the time.

    How did you weigh your lean cuisine though? Is the weight they give on the packaging just the food only, or including the tray weight I wonder...I've honestly never thought about weighing my lean cuisines, even though I know I should.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    redversustheblue wrote: »
    Those Fit Kitchen meals look pretty good. I eat lean cuisines for most of my lunches because I'm honestly too lazy to pack a full lunch most of the time.

    How did you weigh your lean cuisine though? Is the weight they give on the packaging just the food only, or including the tray weight I wonder...I've honestly never thought about weighing my lean cuisines, even though I know I should.

    Weigh the food with tray. Eat. Weigh the tray and subtract from the previous weight.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    I’ll see your fit kitchen and raise you power bowls

  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    deannalfisher wrote: »
    I’ll see your fit kitchen and raise you power bowls

    The ones at my store all seem to involve either quinoa, kale, or (shudder) both :confounded: That's no go for me. I wish they carried more of a variety!
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,979 Member
    deannalfisher wrote: »
    I’ll see your fit kitchen and raise you power bowls

    Feta 🤢

    Haven’t tried those yet. Next time I’m shopping I will check ‘em out.
  • whitpauly
    whitpauly Posts: 1,483 Member
    This is a dumb question but did you weigh it frozen or cooked?
  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,578 Member
    Cbean08 wrote: »
    Are you removing the tray that they come in? Because that adds weight, but not calories.

    Naturally I realize that! 🤣
    This is just my opinion...

    If being 100% "exact" works for you, then continue to do it. But even then, there are still variables. Personally, I'd rather pull out a frozen meal and just eat it than worry how accurate it is.

    Well like I said in my original post, for some people it may not be an issue at all. For others who have a small amount left to lose and only have a small calorie deficit it might make a huge difference.

    For me, because I do tend to eat a lot of foods over the course of the week where I cannot weigh them and do not have an exact calculation and am only guessing, I want to know as much as possible the calories of the foods I do have control over, if that makes sense.

    I tend to eat very close to my calorie allowance goal and I do not want to go over because I do not want to have to do this again and again and again. I gave myself a lot of leeway in the past... Being loosey-goosey with things like calorie counts... And here I am weighing more than I did when I first started in 2015.

    In 2015 I was just 245 and I got myself down to just under 200 lb when I decided to loosen up and let go of some of that rigidity as you called it.

    That led to weight gain. Which also led to me becoming discouraged and depressed. Which lead to further snowballing. I am one of the ones that needs the rigidity.

    I probably do have a lot more leeway with calories than I give myself credit for but I want to get this done, once and for all, and I want to succeed in a reasonable amount of time. I have been trying in one way shape or form to try to lose weight since 2004. I have been obese since 1999. I've had enough....I've tried to loosey-goosey way for all these years and it hasn't worked for me.


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