Why do people weigh their food?

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Replies

  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,658 Member
    This is an honest question. Why would you weigh your food? I get counting calories (duh). But the weight of something shouldn't matter. Am I wrong?
    Enlighten me please!

    Are you being serious LOL!

    How the hell can you count calories (as you say you understand about that bit) if you do not know how many calories in the food? If you do not know the weight of the food in question how the hell can you know the amount of calories in it to count them??

    Me thinks you are actually on a wind-up.

    *sigh* It is very possible to lose weight, get healthy and count calories without a scale. You might not be able to but it worked perfectly for me. I am very good at estimating and eyeballing. I don't think everything is absolute and I have the sense to adjust my intake if need be. All without weighing food.

    This may come as a shock, but people can and do lose weight without counting calories at all...
    oh well that's okay then, no need for you to worry really is there.

    However, for most other people trying to lose weight, "eyeballing" food is a waste of space.
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,658 Member
    ......

    Thank you! And here's direct to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

    That 3 minute video is one of my all time favorite MFP links. Such an eye opener!

    It is an incredible video with excellent information in it, it should have gone viral in my opinion.

    My problem with that video is that most people know not to use a rounded cup, so right from the start the video loses credibility... even if the peanut butter example is a really good one (but really... she should just have tared the spoon instead of putting it in another container. Can't be accurate).

    The fact of the matter is that spoons and cups are not accurate as shown in the video. and no, most people do not know, the UK for instance does not even use cups and spoons for weights in foods used in calories controlled diets, it is too inaccurate.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    This is an honest question. Why would you weigh your food? I get counting calories (duh). But the weight of something shouldn't matter. Am I wrong?
    Enlighten me please!

    Are you being serious LOL!

    How the hell can you count calories (as you say you understand about that bit) if you do not know how many calories in the food? If you do not know the weight of the food in question how the hell can you know the amount of calories in it to count them??

    Me thinks you are actually on a wind-up.

    *sigh* It is very possible to lose weight, get healthy and count calories without a scale. You might not be able to but it worked perfectly for me. I am very good at estimating and eyeballing. I don't think everything is absolute and I have the sense to adjust my intake if need be. All without weighing food.

    This may come as a shock, but people can and do lose weight without counting calories at all...
    oh well that's okay then, no need for you to worry really is there.

    However, for most other people trying to lose weight, "eyeballing" food is a waste of space.
    I think if you counted up all the published diet books and plans from the last century, most of them would have you eyeball portions or some variation of that, not count calories.

    Counting is usually unpopular and avoided because it sucks so people quit. And weight loss isn't linear so people quit. And it's demoralizing to see your hour walk didn't even cover your egg sandwich calories.

    It's human nature to want to go back to being able to intuitively eat the right amount, a skill we were born with and lost. In my opinion, anyway.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    This is an honest question. Why would you weigh your food? I get counting calories (duh). But the weight of something shouldn't matter. Am I wrong?
    Enlighten me please!

    Are you being serious LOL!

    How the hell can you count calories (as you say you understand about that bit) if you do not know how many calories in the food? If you do not know the weight of the food in question how the hell can you know the amount of calories in it to count them??

    Me thinks you are actually on a wind-up.

    *sigh* It is very possible to lose weight, get healthy and count calories without a scale. You might not be able to but it worked perfectly for me. I am very good at estimating and eyeballing. I don't think everything is absolute and I have the sense to adjust my intake if need be. All without weighing food.

    This may come as a shock, but people can and do lose weight without counting calories at all...
    oh well that's okay then, no need for you to worry really is there.

    However, for most other people trying to lose weight, "eyeballing" food is a waste of space.
    I think if you counted up all the published diet books and plans from the last century, most of them would have you eyeball portions or some variation of that, not count calories.

    Counting is usually unpopular and avoided because it sucks so people quit. And weight loss isn't linear so people quit. And it's demoralizing to see your hour walk didn't even cover your egg sandwich calories.

    It's human nature to want to go back to being able to intuitively eat the right amount, a skill we were born with and lost. In my opinion, anyway.

    Most diets fail too.

    Do "calorie-counting" diets succeed more than "eye-balling" diets do? No idea.

    But accurately measuring removes (or at least diminishes) one of the things that can easily go wrong when trying to reduce calories.


    ETA: Oh, and I don't think counting calories "sucks". I think it's empowering and educational. (However, what "sucks" is trying to stick to calories that are too low. Perhaps that's why some people think that counting calories "sucks".)
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,282 Member
    Levelling off a spoon is easy, I cant see why that wouldn't work.

    I use scales for some things but things like bananas I just log as a medium banana or a small banana and I take the serving size on packages as being accurate - so if I eat a packet of crisps and it says it weighs x amount, I don't weigh it as well.

    I think its a matter of using scales for some things but not being obsessive about it and so it is fine to use other methods (accurate measuring cups, spoons, package readings) as well.

    Its not an all or nothing scenario.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    Levelling off a spoon is easy, I cant see why that wouldn't work.

    I use scales for some things but things like bananas I just log as a medium banana or a small banana and I take the serving size on packages as being accurate - so if I eat a packet of crisps and it says it weighs x amount, I don't weigh it as well.

    I think its a matter of using scales for some things but not being obsessive about it and so it is fine to use other methods (accurate measuring cups, spoons, package readings) as well.

    Its not an all or nothing scenario.

    Being off by 10-30%ish+ on a relatively low calorie food/ingredient is inconsequential. Being off on a frequently consumed, calorie dense food like peanut butter can (and will) easily derail an otherwise sound plan. That said, as long as someone is consistently off, it levels off assuming they tweak their intake based on their (lack of) results. Where problems come in is when people are inconsistent in their inaccuracies and when they don't frequently eat the same foods (so you don't have a relatively stable measurement error).

    Obviously, the easiest way to avoid these potential problems is to just weigh/measure the food.

    And as for people who maintain their weight without measuring, I get that (because I'm capable of self-regulating too)...but this advice isn't really for them. This advice is for people who are struggling with lack of/poor results from this whole calorie-counting thing...because inaccurate logging may be the primary reason for their struggle.
  • Fullsterkur_woman
    Fullsterkur_woman Posts: 2,712 Member
    Levelling off a spoon is easy, I cant see why that wouldn't work.

    I use scales for some things but things like bananas I just log as a medium banana or a small banana and I take the serving size on packages as being accurate - so if I eat a packet of crisps and it says it weighs x amount, I don't weigh it as well.

    I think its a matter of using scales for some things but not being obsessive about it and so it is fine to use other methods (accurate measuring cups, spoons, package readings) as well.

    Its not an all or nothing scenario.
    Of course it's not, but the OP asked why people do it, so we're telling them why. Because we care about the accuracy (or more properly, precision).
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    I bought Italian sausage at the store this weekend. The label says a serving size is 1 link (82 g). Not one of the links in the package was under 100g. Inaccurate labels are a big problem.

    I agree that it's possible to lose weight without weighing your food. I lost 50 pounds without a food scale. And I still don't weigh every single thing I eat. But having slightly more accuracy matters to me right now.

    And I fail to see how a food scale is somehow more obsessive than measuring cups and spoons. I thought it would take up too much time before I bought one but now I see just how much time I was wasting with measuring cups. It's way easier for me to dump my ingredients into a bowl, write down the amount, and hit the tare button between each ingredient than to try packing and leveling a measuring cup each time. What kind of antiquated scales are you guys using?
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    What kind of antiquated scales are you guys using?

    mTnfFBMn7IFsS4PW_vEnbvQ.jpgMaybe?
  • Stripeness
    Stripeness Posts: 511 Member
    A leveled-off tablespoon of peanut butter is accurate to weight, but a leveled-off tablespoon of mayonnaise is a lot less than the given weight (woot more mayo!).

    HA! I wondered if anyone else noticed the mayo thing! My butter/yogurt spread is the same. Two very happy surprises :drinker:
  • Ranocchia
    Ranocchia Posts: 73 Member
    7 pages of comments just to state that the time has come for UK/US to finally use metric measures...
  • kbmnurse
    kbmnurse Posts: 2,484 Member
    Really are you brain dead? or blond?
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
    What kind of antiquated scales are you guys using?

    mTnfFBMn7IFsS4PW_vEnbvQ.jpgMaybe?

    Ok, that scale I would use all the time.
  • JenniTheVeggie
    JenniTheVeggie Posts: 2,474 Member
    Didn't read the replies BUT....I weigh things like avocados because they are always different. Cheese is another one that I usually weigh unless it's the pre-shredded kind (then I use measuring cups).
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member

    Clearly you're just not trying hard enough. :wink:

    I have most definitely come to see that! :laugh: :blushing:
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    Really are you brain dead? or blond?

    At least to whomever this was directed is presumably smart enough to know how to use the quote feature of the forums.
  • ralphthedoggy
    ralphthedoggy Posts: 10 Member
    I weigh cheese and certain breads that I buy uncut. Just to be sure, because if I don't usually the calories are way off with my guesstimates! It's crazy how much cheese I would have before, probably about 5 ounces a serving, now its 1 ounce for 110 calories. Weighing things puts it into perspective for me.
  • Myhaloslipped
    Myhaloslipped Posts: 4,317 Member
    Weighing comes in handy for me when the portion size on labels is unspecific. For example, my protein powder serving size says "3 heaping tablespoons." Or some foods wil say "about a third of the package." What the deuce? This is too unspecific for me. It is not a huge deal once in a while, but when it is something that I eat on a regular basis, it makes a difference.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    This is an honest question. Why would you weigh your food? I get counting calories (duh). But the weight of something shouldn't matter. Am I wrong?
    Enlighten me please!

    Are you being serious LOL!

    How the hell can you count calories (as you say you understand about that bit) if you do not know how many calories in the food? If you do not know the weight of the food in question how the hell can you know the amount of calories in it to count them??

    Me thinks you are actually on a wind-up.

    *sigh* It is very possible to lose weight, get healthy and count calories without a scale. You might not be able to but it worked perfectly for me. I am very good at estimating and eyeballing. I don't think everything is absolute and I have the sense to adjust my intake if need be. All without weighing food.

    This may come as a shock, but people can and do lose weight without counting calories at all...
    oh well that's okay then, no need for you to worry really is there.

    However, for most other people trying to lose weight, "eyeballing" food is a waste of space.
    I think if you counted up all the published diet books and plans from the last century, most of them would have you eyeball portions or some variation of that, not count calories.

    Counting is usually unpopular and avoided because it sucks so people quit. And weight loss isn't linear so people quit. And it's demoralizing to see your hour walk didn't even cover your egg sandwich calories.

    It's human nature to want to go back to being able to intuitively eat the right amount, a skill we were born with and lost. In my opinion, anyway.

    Most diets fail too.

    Do "calorie-counting" diets succeed more than "eye-balling" diets do? No idea.

    But accurately measuring removes (or at least diminishes) one of the things that can easily go wrong when trying to reduce calories.


    ETA: Oh, and I don't think counting calories "sucks". I think it's empowering and educational. (However, what "sucks" is trying to stick to calories that are too low. Perhaps that's why some people think that counting calories "sucks".)
    I agree most diets fail. I'm not saying not counting beats counting, just that there are two methods, not just one. This one here is among the less popular, I think, too. I see more people counting carbs or points or glycemic index or food combining or whatever. I was replying to "eyeballing is a waste of space". Which is nonsensical anyway so I don't know why I bothered.

    Counting calories is simple and only takes a few minutes but it's unnatural and inconvenient. Our relationship with food should be natural and intuitive. If you had to time your sex sessions, or measure your urine, or scrutinize any natural task that most of the animal kingdom just *does*, it's likely to rub you wrong on some level. Or I think it should.

    I'm not talking about deficit eating sucks, though that can be, too. Do you assume I'm eating at 1200 because I say it's usually safe? I'm sorry, I'm not counting and when I do, I eat higher on average though not a lot. It doesn't change that if an adult woman chooses to lose up to 2 lbs/week by eating at 1200, there's rarely anything unsafe about it.

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