The thread killer, or ignored question...

meritage4

I'm pretty new at this and have been using measuring cups but not weighing. I just picked up a kitchen scale at Value Village and will start using it for some things. For me I can't imagine weighing everything.

wheird

Nope. Didn't see the thread, but when someone posts re: stalling or regaining, one of the most common and first-asked questions is "are you weighing your food to ensure accurate measurement?"

So, observationally, yes. Most MFP folks are weighing their food.

Not even close. The people giving out that advice are a vocal minority.

I agree.

I think we all have different levels of accuracy that satisfy us.

For me, I feel like eyeballing it works. My husband and I are both cooks and bakers, in fact he's better at cooking than I am...but I think I have a better "eyeballing" skill. The other night he said there were 2 cups of beans in our bowls and I laughingly said, nope, 1 cup. He measured the ladle used and it was exactly 1/2 cup, so I was exactly correct. Sure I am not 100% accurate all of the time, but I'm pretty decent at it and that means accurate enough for me.

I wouldn't want to get too attached to weighing everything because it would cause me a lot more anxiety eating in restaurants. I don't want that. I want to feel relatively 'normal' even though I do plan to log for many years to come as I maintain after reaching my goal.

I also would never weigh peanut butter. WTF.

That said, the only way I'd consider weighing all of my food is if I found myself unhappily plateauing at 190-200 lb. I want to be 180 or below. I don't see that happening, but who knows.

If someone is not keen on weighing food and happy with their weight loss, then awesome for them. But many of the people who stall suck at eyeballing and it is hard to help them if they are not being accurate. For larger people it isn't so critical as they have a much larger margin of error. But for people wanting to lose 10-20, it gets a bit important to be as accurate as possible when struggling.

wheird

I'm pretty new at this and have been using measuring cups but not weighing. I just picked up a kitchen scale at Value Village and will start using it for some things. For me I can't imagine weighing everything.

It isnt as bad as you might think.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

I didn't weigh my food for my first 20 lbs. But then I stalled out. I didn't lose anything for more than 2 months and I was considering everything from "this is just my body's happy weight" to "maybe I need to shock my body with . . . something." Around that time though I started noticing people talking about weighing portions, how to find an accurate database entry, and so on, so I tried that first, and it turned out that was my problem.

So generally I'd say if you don't want to weigh and it's working for you, great! But if you're stalled and think you're doing everything right that's going to be the first thing I suggest. Even registered dieticians are known to underestimate their intake. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12396160) It stands to reason that before a person starts worrying about thyroid problems or nutrient timing or whether they should add another hour of cardio, they should make sure they're eating the number of calories that they believe they are eating.

It doesn't have to take over your life-- I've never taken my food scale to a restaurant or a party. And though some people find it too extreme and that's fine, I don't even find that it takes up that much time. It's just a habit now.

kgeyser

Has anyone else noticed that every time you ask 'do you weigh all your food?', you suddenly turn into a ghost that nobody seems to notice?

Yes. Also the response that the person is logging consistently, but when they finally open their diary, they've logged consistently for maybe 4 days and all the days before it are blank or incomplete. But they know they're eating within their calorie goals, and they're not seeing progress for some other mystical reason, despite 20 people telling them the same thing.

FitnFeistyLyness

just remember what works for you now.. might not work for you two weeks from now.. the body is funny sometimes.. right now i only weigh my nuts, but if what i am doing stopped working.. i would reevaluate and try something different.. its about what works for you..

fallenoaks50

I don't weigh my food. My small children are always around, and I worry that watching me maniacally weighing every morsel I eat could have a negative effect on them. I very much want them to have a healthy relationship with food.
So far just eyeballing hasn't negatively affected my weight loss efforts.

QuietBloom

Yeah it's what I mean... If you come and complain that you're not losing weight on 1200 calories, and people ask you if you weigh your food, why do you ignore them? I mean, eyeballing works for some people, clearly. Some don't want to weigh and that's fine... but if you're that upset about not losing weight that you're going to post about it, why ignore what could possibly be the most relevant question that people ask you?

I don't know, when people tell me that they eat 1200 calories and workout 1 hour a day but are not losing weight, the first thing that occurs to me is that they're probably eating way more than they think. And 9 times out of 10, nobody even acknowledges the 'do you weigh all your food?' question. It's a bit irritating.

So yeah... I just wanted to rant a bit about it

What annoys me even more are the people who jump right in (with no open diary available from OP) and say 'You are not eating enough! You are in starvation mode!'

*sigh SIGH* Double sigh, because then your suggestion that they may not be measuring accurately is that much less sexy of an answer.

wheird

I don't weigh my food. My small children are always around, and I worry that watching me maniacally weighing every morsel I eat could have a negative effect on them. I very much want them to have a healthy relationship with food.
So far just eyeballing hasn't negatively affected my weight loss efforts.

I disagree that using a food scale is the same as an unhealthy relationship with food.

wheird

Yeah it's what I mean... If you come and complain that you're not losing weight on 1200 calories, and people ask you if you weigh your food, why do you ignore them? I mean, eyeballing works for some people, clearly. Some don't want to weigh and that's fine... but if you're that upset about not losing weight that you're going to post about it, why ignore what could possibly be the most relevant question that people ask you?

I don't know, when people tell me that they eat 1200 calories and workout 1 hour a day but are not losing weight, the first thing that occurs to me is that they're probably eating way more than they think. And 9 times out of 10, nobody even acknowledges the 'do you weigh all your food?' question. It's a bit irritating.

So yeah... I just wanted to rant a bit about it

What annoys me even more are the people who jump right in (with no open diary available from OP) and say 'You are not eating enough! You are in starvation mode!'

*sigh SIGH* Double sigh, because then your suggestion that they may not be measuring accurately is that much less sexy of an answer.

Yeah, it waters down the legitimate advice and serves to only confuse the people with less nutritional knowledge.

liloldDee

Sometimes I can accurately judge the weight of something, other times when I'm very hungry I underestimate the weight, not deliberately it's just something I've noticed. When I weigh an item I take from the pack/jar my guesstimated portion and pop it on the scales. I guesstimate in order to familiarise myself with portion sizes for the times when I'm elsewhere and have no scales to hand or don't want to come across as neurotic!!

kgeyser

I don't weigh my food. My small children are always around, and I worry that watching me maniacally weighing every morsel I eat could have a negative effect on them. I very much want them to have a healthy relationship with food.
So far just eyeballing hasn't negatively affected my weight loss efforts.

I was avoiding weighing in front of my kids as well, but they caught me. Now we talk about portion sizes and what a "serving" means, and try to guess how much of a certain food (green beans, etc) goes into a serving. At school they are told they need so many servings of certain foods per day, but are given no guidance on what that actually means, so it's been a good learning experience so far.

lilbearzmom

Has anyone else noticed that every time you ask 'do you weigh all your food?', you suddenly turn into a ghost that nobody seems to notice?

So many people start that "I'm not losing weight and I can't figure out why!" thread with a closed diary, or a diary that is clearly incomplete, or a diary that indicates they're not actually weighing food. The answer is always "because you're eating too much food." Their defense is always "no I'm not!"

And sigh.

QFT

UpEarly

I had no idea food scales/weighing food was so controversial!

I lost 66 pounds two years ago and have kept it off ever since. I've used a food scale religiously... not so much to keep portion sizes in control, rather more to make sure I accurately count what I've eaten.

Eyeballing portions didn't work for me when I was fat, and I don't think it would work for me now, either.

Measuring is pretty easy and in a lot of ways makes meal prep faster/easier/cleaner.

Stripeness

Yeah it's what I mean... If you come and complain that you're not losing weight on 1200 calories, and people ask you if you weigh your food, why do you ignore them? I mean, eyeballing works for some people, clearly. Some don't want to weigh and that's fine... but if you're that upset about not losing weight that you're going to post about it, why ignore what could possibly be the most relevant question that people ask you?

I don't know, when people tell me that they eat 1200 calories and workout 1 hour a day but are not losing weight, the first thing that occurs to me is that they're probably eating way more than they think. And 9 times out of 10, nobody even acknowledges the 'do you weigh all your food?' question. It's a bit irritating.

So yeah... I just wanted to rant a bit about it

Sorry, I *didn't* get the context right off (my head may be on sideways this morning).

I do know that sort of thread, and wow, kinda in my happy place re: humanity today. I figure the OPs scamper off to implement some kind of more accurate measuring than whatever they've been using. Would it be nice if they responded, yeah...but I cling to the notion that they're too busy ordering measuring cups/spoons/scales/whatever. *adjusts rose-colored glasses*

"You think that, Jane, if it comforts you" - Mr. Bennett, Pride & Predjudice

Amitysk

I have a food scale... Admittedly, I don't use it as often as I should...

LiftAllThePizzas

Nope. Didn't see the thread, but when someone posts re: stalling or regaining, one of the most common and first-asked questions is "are you weighing your food to ensure accurate measurement?"

So, observationally, yes. Most MFP folks are weighing their food.

Not even close. The people giving out that advice are a vocal minority.

I agree.

I think we all have different levels of accuracy that satisfy us.

For me, I feel like eyeballing it works. My husband and I are both cooks and bakers, in fact he's better at cooking than I am...but I think I have a better "eyeballing" skill. The other night he said there were 2 cups of beans in our bowls and I laughingly said, nope, 1 cup. He measured the ladle used and it was exactly 1/2 cup, so I was exactly correct. Sure I am not 100% accurate all of the time, but I'm pretty decent at it and that means accurate enough for me.

I wouldn't want to get too attached to weighing everything because it would cause me a lot more anxiety eating in restaurants. I don't want that. I want to feel relatively 'normal' even though I do plan to log for many years to come as I maintain after reaching my goal.

I also would never weigh peanut butter. WTF.

That said, the only way I'd consider weighing all of my food is if I found myself unhappily plateauing at 190-200 lb. I want to be 180 or below. I don't see that happening, but who knows.

If someone is not keen on weighing food and happy with their weight loss, then awesome for them. But many of the people who stall suck at eyeballing and it is hard to help them if they are not being accurate. For larger people it isn't so critical as they have a much larger margin of error. But for people wanting to lose 10-20, it gets a bit important to be as accurate as possible when struggling.

Yep, some of us have to hit a smaller target. If I'm a couple hundred calories too high I'm not losing fat. If I'm a couple hundred calories too low I could be losing LBM instead of fat. And when I'm working with so many (2400-3000) calories a day, it's easy to miss by that much.

UpEarly

I don't weigh my food. My small children are always around, and I worry that watching me maniacally weighing every morsel I eat could have a negative effect on them. I very much want them to have a healthy relationship with food.
So far just eyeballing hasn't negatively affected my weight loss efforts.

I don't see weighing as maniacal or negative. I've worked in a bakery before and professional bakers always weigh, rather than use measuring cups/spoons, for all their recipes. A lot of European cookbooks I use measure all ingredients by weight, rather than volume. For example, instead of a cup of grated cheese, it will say 120 grams of grated cheese.

A scale is just a tool - nothing negative is implied by it unless you put it in that context.