Appeal: Please use serving size as grams

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Replies

  • Espressocycle
    Espressocycle Posts: 2,245 Member
    Sorry, rest of the world. We ain't switching to the metric system because AMERICA!
    RedneckTrike.jpg
  • odusgolp
    odusgolp Posts: 10,477 Member
    If this thread continues, someone's head is going to explode from the science. *LOL*
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Sorry, but I don't weigh my food so grams mean nothing to me. I prefer standard US cooking measurements so that's what I look for or add.
  • joe_d
    joe_d Posts: 73 Member
    Grams or ounces is really the way to go for solid foods if you want accuracy (as others have noted, it matters not which--you can convert back and forth--28 grams per ounce).

    But like all things, it's not as critical if the item in question isn't all that calorie dense or if you're working with a small quantity. I use a 1/2 cup measure for blueberries, for instance. I know the size of the berries determines how much of the cup is left as open space so it's not very accurate. But I don't worry much about it because there just aren't a lot of calories there in the first place. Now peanut butter, on the other hand, is something you probably want to be more precise with...
  • jnewell9
    jnewell9 Posts: 31 Member
    While this would be nice in theory, there are a lot of people who don't have a food scale. Without a food scale measurements in grams is impossible. Also, you need to realize that counting calories will always be inexact because humans are doing it.

    This!
  • lindustum
    lindustum Posts: 212 Member
    I am calm, that's why I didn't use expletives. :flowerforyou:
    I guess I need to open more threads to gauge your happyness-swearing ratio :tongue:
  • EDesq
    EDesq Posts: 1,527 Member
    ALL of THIS stuff is APPROXIMATE. If you need new measures, in-put your own...I do.
  • BrunetteRunner87
    BrunetteRunner87 Posts: 591 Member


    Edit: Okay I have to revoke my assumption that MFP users rely on food scales- my apologies.

    you'll notice that biggest complainers about how "This isn't working for me" are usually the ones who don't have food scales.

    Coincidence?

    I have a scale, but rarely use it. My system of mainly eyeballing and measuring in cups/tablespoons/whatever has worked for me, and I'd never complain that it has. To me, I can't be weighing every single thing I put into my mouth for the rest of my life, I'll get sick of it. But different strokes for different folks, I guess.
  • LuseLeaf
    LuseLeaf Posts: 3 Member
    I prefer cups, tablespoons, pounds, etc. That's usually what's on the back of the packages, not grams, milligrams or whatever.
  • lindustum
    lindustum Posts: 212 Member
    Or just stop being lazy and use the various online tools to do the conversions to the unit of measurement in your country yourself.

    I don't live in the US, what is the the correct conversion from "pizza" into grams?
  • gonnamakeanewaccount
    gonnamakeanewaccount Posts: 642 Member
    I agree!!!! I mean, when I see 1 cup or half a cup, it drives me crazy! I don't know how big your cup is!
    Thank you for bringing this up!

    A cup is one measuring cup's worth. How hard is that to understand?
  • amyhoss
    amyhoss Posts: 414 Member
    ummmm. I think a cup is 8 oz and a 1/2 cup is 4 oz.

    Well I just did a little experiment - I weighed a cup of flour (level) - it was 160g or 5 5/8 oz, and a cup of penne pasta (as level as poss) and that was 95g or 3 1/4 oz.

    I'll stick with my scales.

    really? that's like saying that gram of flour equals 1 litre of flour. This is just not a fact. 8 fluid ounces of flour does not equal 8 weighed ounces of flour.

    I thought the same thing. Ounces in volume do not equal ounces in weight.
  • ThomasR099
    ThomasR099 Posts: 3 Member
    a cup is a standard measurement. Grams aren't popular in most countries so I think you might have trouble converting people.
    You can always add your own foods to just your page.

    they are in about every other country apart from the US and some other ex-british colonies:)

    to stick with this discussion; i prefer the "pizza" measurement, or at least a representative suggested serving in whatever unit you prefer. ; simply because i don't carry scales or measuring cups around.
    Other than that; it's really not rocket science to do the conversion; maybe an idea for a new feature? Auto convert between g/l/oz/lbs anyone?
  • sealet
    sealet Posts: 2 Member
    Grams aren't popular in most countries so I think you might have trouble converting people.

    Actually, there are only three countries in the world that doesn't use the metric system: Liberia, Myanmar and the United States of America.

    http://gizmodo.com/5786004/these-are-the-three-countries-who-dont-use-the-metric-system
  • Contrarian
    Contrarian Posts: 8,138 Member
    a cup is a standard measurement. Grams aren't popular in most countries so I think you might have trouble converting people.
    You can always add your own foods to just your page.

    Burma (Myanmar), Liberia and the United States are the only countries that do not use the metric system. I think grams are more popular than you think.
  • BattleTaxi
    BattleTaxi Posts: 752 Member
    FYI: There's a really handy smartphone app called "UNITS" I use all the time. Very simple. Free. No joke, if you have a smartphone it's very handy to have.

    Oo I will have to check this out!
  • toutmonpossible
    toutmonpossible Posts: 1,580 Member
    Grams and ounces are the most useful measurements for me. If it's a known food with a specific quantity, for example, "Starbucks Pumpkin Bread," the description is all OK.
  • TheRealParisLove
    TheRealParisLove Posts: 1,907 Member
    I am calm, that's why I didn't use expletives. :flowerforyou:

    I am calm and I use ****ing expletives all the time. :smokin:
  • yummy_
    yummy_ Posts: 248 Member
    I agree!!!! I mean, when I see 1 cup or half a cup, it drives me crazy! I don't know how big your cup is!
    Thank you for bringing this up!

    :laugh:

    Also, if the package says 1 pizza it's one pizza. The weight will vary from package to package because it's impossible to make them all identical. Your pizza might weigh 285 oz and someone else's could weigh 240.

    IN for 285oz of pizza!!!
  • pinkstp
    pinkstp Posts: 220 Member
    All this talk about pizza measurements is making me hungry, thanks MFPers :p

    Additionally, I am now interested in calculating all my food by measurements of a pizza.
    Like - my bagel today is 0.33 pizza, my cream cheese must be like 0.0025 pizza. Mm. Pizza :)
  • jnewell9
    jnewell9 Posts: 31 Member
    ummmm. I think a cup is 8 oz and a 1/2 cup is 4 oz.

    Well I just did a little experiment - I weighed a cup of flour (level) - it was 160g or 5 5/8 oz, and a cup of penne pasta (as level as poss) and that was 95g or 3 1/4 oz.

    I'll stick with my scales.

    really? that's like saying that gram of flour equals 1 litre of flour. This is just not a fact. 8 fluid ounces of flour does not equal 8 weighed ounces of flour.

    I thought the same thing. Ounces in volume do not equal ounces in weight.

    I understand that there are in two units of measure for "1 cup": Liquid and dry. For me anyway, this clears up the whole deal.
  • margelizard
    margelizard Posts: 89 Member
    I agree!!!! I mean, when I see 1 cup or half a cup, it drives me crazy! I don't know how big your cup is!
    Thank you for bringing this up!

    I see a lot of people giving this user a hard time for not knowing about cups. To be fair, if the user is not from the US, they probably don't use (and may never have heard of) a cup as a unit of measurement. I come from the UK where we use mls. Cups is not a unit of measurement that is used in the UK.
  • DanIsACyclingFool
    DanIsACyclingFool Posts: 417 Member
    In aviation we have a saying:

    Measure it with a micrometer, then split it with an axe!

    Meaning we agonize over super precise calcuations and measurements trying to get an accurate number, and it ultimately doesn't matter because our ability to execute something in exact accordance to the calculations is so limited. An example is navigation where we measure stuff with a scaled ruler, measure our airspeed, fold in the wind with trigonometry and determine our ETA to the exact minute and second. And then what does my instructor say? Forget all that. Put your thumb on the map. It's 3 minutes per thumb...5 thumbs is 15 minutes. Doh!

    In the overall scheme of things it won't really matter. So long as you are overall accurate enough to be in a deficit, you will lose weight. In a surplus, you'll gain. If your deficit is so narrow that 40kcal makes the difference...that's not good.

    Even if you weigh a pizza exactly it doesn't help because pizza is so prone to varying amounts of cheese, crust, pepperoni, all of which drastically alter the caloric content. Yes, a glass of milk is something different, you can argue that the difference between 250mL and 275mL is meaningful, and it is because it's repeatable. But not pizza.

    Having said all that, I make use of ALL measures available to me. Sometimes it's 1 pizza, sometimes 1 cup, sometimes 46 grams. It just depends. I can't agree that the 1 pizza measurement is not useful to anyone. Nor do I advocate a loosey-goosey logging attempt, because 40kcal here and there does add up. But I don't agonize over one or two items a day being logged as "1 slice" or "1 orange".

    Carry on.
  • rabblerabble
    rabblerabble Posts: 471 Member
    The US population is quite stubborn about adopting the system of measurements used by virtually the rest of the planet (to the distress of many of us with scientific backgrounds). We're stuck with the outdated system that we use and thus all the measuring cups and spoons I have are based on Cups, tablespoons, etc because that is what I can buy when I'm in the kitchen utensils and gadgets sections of most stores, and all the recipe books I buy and read are also based on those units.
  • GuybrushThreepw00d
    GuybrushThreepw00d Posts: 784 Member
    Grams aren't popular in most countries so I think you might have trouble converting people.

    Actually, there are only three countries in the world that doesn't use the metric system: Liberia, Myanmar and the United States of America.

    http://gizmodo.com/5786004/these-are-the-three-countries-who-dont-use-the-metric-system

    U-S-A, U-S-Whhhaaaaa?
  • jnewell9
    jnewell9 Posts: 31 Member
    The US population is quite stubborn about adopting the system of measurements used by virtually the rest of the planet (to the distress of many of us with scientific backgrounds). We're stuck with the outdated system that we use and thus all the measuring cups and spoons I have are based on Cups, tablespoons, etc because that is what I can buy when I'm in the kitchen utensils and gadgets sections of most stores, and all the recipe books I buy and read are also based on those units.

    So if everything you buy is in US measurements, who is being stubborn again?
  • blackcoffeeandcherrypie
    blackcoffeeandcherrypie Posts: 486 Member
    Insisting on 'cups' is a very narrow minded American trait. In the UK we have no idea what size a cup is or how much it's supposed to represent. I agree that a simple uniform system such as grams is the best way, then everyone can access it.

    If you don't weigh your food, then you're having to rely on the packaging figures anyway rather than the food database so you lose nothing.
  • Cait_Sidhe
    Cait_Sidhe Posts: 3,150 Member
    I'm not sure where you live but here in the U.S. a lot of food items are not given a gram serving size. Instead it could be in ounces, cups, etc. And I think you're being awfully anal weighing prepackaged foods.
    I'm in the US and I have to disagree with both points. It's extremely rare to find a packaged food that doesn't list it's serving as /g. I'd challenge you to find a food that doesn't list it's serving in grams. As far as weighing prepackaged food, I have to do this. I'm very small and my deficit is not large. There is no room for error. Weights on prepackaged foods are always wrong. Discrepancies can equal up to 100 calories, and suddenly I'm no longer in a deficit. Call it anal if you want, it works. Not weighing my food didn't.
  • swrinn
    swrinn Posts: 1
    Totally agree. It's so much easier when you are weighing out what you eat, to find It in MFP as a measurement instead of just like 1 apple. Fruit comes in all different sizes and I don't ways have a fabric tape measure to measure the girth to know if its considered a small, medium, or large piece of fruit. Its easier to put it in as weight. After reading some of the additional posts, some from the UK, I think it would be a good idea to have a section on MFP where you can put in your measurement, and it can adjust it for cups or grams. You can do it now by just doing a search with your favorite search engine. Like how many grams is 6oz? 177.441178125g. So why now incorporate something right here on the site so it is friendly for all to use.
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
    Ya know, it is reading threads like this that make me take the position of not caring more about what others do than they do. Weighing your food, especially in grams, is the most accurate way to track your calories and to avoid being +/-200-300 calories in variation per day. However, many people choose not to do this. This is fine, and if you are still achieving your weight goals, then kudos to you. But the ones who aren't...well...*shrug*.

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