eating more than you think....

Francl27

So what are your secrets for weighing? What do you use for plates or bowls, or whatever to put on your scale?

Basically, how have you made it as easy as possible to do?

I just put my plate on the scale, zero it out, add ingredients one at a time, zeroing out the scale after each of them. Then log the whole thing. If I make tacos, I put the whole plate on the scale, put the meat in every taco, zero it out, then add salsa, zero it out etc.

It really takes two seconds, just have to log right away before I forget the numbers, and it can be quite the exercise of memory when it's something with 4 or 5 things in it - plus I have to remember the serving size from the package as it's not always entered in grams in the database (although I add it most of the time in the entries I use), and calculate the % of serving size for everything, as I don't always eat a full serving of things - my calculator is my best friend. But by now I can tell you the serving size of everything I use really.

caseythirteen

I still have no idea how to log a banana. All the entries go by size, and the associated weight is more often than not ways of what my 'medium' banana actually weighs (like it will say medium 8 inch banana (120g) and mine will be 150g or something. And do you count the skin or not when you weigh it?

MFP's entry for bananas (the one without the *) has an option to do it by grams. Much easier than trying to determine what size it is.

I just wish someone would sort the database out so you don't have to sift through 250 banana entries to find THE non-* banana entry...

I find that for many fruits and vegetables if you add "raw" to your search and it will help get them closer to the top. Also, they are typically listed as plural so search "bananas raw" instead of just "banana" and it should help.

milkandtea

I've been stuck for about a month even though I've been consistent with logging/weighing my food and switching up my exercise. I hadn't really thought to double check against packaging labels until reading this thread last night. I was curious and tried it this morning.

The bagel thins I typically use were 2g less than the package suggested, which is good.

For eggs, I've always just logged them as 70 cals like the package suggests. I weighed two of them together this morning and they were 124g. The database says that's actually 182 calories compared to the 140 I would've logged normally.

I consider that to be a pretty huge difference. 42 calories unaccounted for just at breakfast. It definitely counts and adds up. I'm going to keep weighing throughout the day and see how it goes.

arabianhorselover

So why is there such a difference between actual serving weight and what's listed on the package?

vvvalentines

I bought a cheap (I think $15) kitchen scale off Amazon--it doesn't have to be an "investment" to work well enough for me. It's not the most accurate scale available (tend to fluctuate by .1 oz or 1g depending on the units) but for most items this isn't a huge issue. When it fluctuates I just pick the higher number. Not the most scientific method out there, but hey, it keeps the pounds coming off.

Francl27

I've been stuck for about a month even though I've been consistent with logging/weighing my food and switching up my exercise. I hadn't really thought to double check against packaging labels until reading this thread last night. I was curious and tried it this morning.

The bagel thins I typically use were 2g less than the package suggested, which is good.

For eggs, I've always just logged them as 70 cals like the package suggests. I weighed two of them together this morning and they were 124g. The database says that's actually 182 calories compared to the 140 I would've logged normally.

I consider that to be a pretty huge difference. 42 calories unaccounted for just at breakfast. It definitely counts and adds up. I'm going to keep weighing throughout the day and see how it goes.

Problem is eggs might or might not count the shell, and there's probably more extra white than yolk anyway... so the difference could be *maybe* 10 calories. So probably not worth the headache for those, IMO.

About the switching exercise thing, personally I think it's total BS that it helps with plateaus. I was losing great, started something new a month ago, and I've lost only 1 lb this month...

jen076

Thank you so much for this post. I weigh somethings like meat and cheese but I never thought of weighing everything else. I have not lost weight in weeks and I bet I am consuming more calories than I think I am as well. This is a real eye opener. I am going to start weighing everything and see how that goes.

mytabouly

I don't weigh everything (hard to do since I work long hours and I'm rarely home) but I maintain a pretty substantial deficit to leave some margin for error in measuring portions. Works for me.