Weighing food VS Measuring... WOW!

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  • CM9178
    CM9178 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    I really need to start weighing more food. I always weigh meat, and usually shredded cheese, but that's about it.
    But if a serving a peas when weighed is actually more than the 1/2 cup serving, then I'm definitely going to start weighing! I always just use the 1/2 cup to measure them out.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    It's the prepackaged stuff that really surprised me when I started weighing it. I bought a pack f Italian sausages. They were labeled as 230 calories per 82g link. Not one of the links in the package was less than 100 grams. That's a 50+ calorie difference. The little things really add up.

    Yes... I admit I've been lazy with those, mostly because we cook them all and there's no way for me to know which one I'm eating, but I should definitely start doing this.
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
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    I will make an experiment, one day using both method of measuring calories to see the difference
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,630 Member
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    I finally bought a fancy food scale after logging my calories for weeks and not noticing any change in my weight.

    Today is the first food prep I've done with a scale instead of measuring and all I can say is HOLY ****.

    No wonder why my weight only slightly changed. The differences in weighing is INSANE.

    I was just measuring out Salsa for my pre-made mix for a wrap and literally 2 TBSP was in the one TBSP I usually measure out

    I know it's only salsa - but everything adds up. Just that is 10 cals vs 20! And I can only imagine the difference this is going to make a couple weeks down the road.

    I know, it is incredible isn't it.

    Other foods, such as cheese, when weighed correctly -v- measuring cups will blow your mind at the difference in the calories.

    The foods that are calorie dense are definitely the ones that need weighing rather than using spoons and cups.
  • ActuarialChef
    ActuarialChef Posts: 1,413 Member
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    I think this information will help you too, gamer_geek.

    A cup, as in a measuring cup, is not easily convertible to weight because, as you probably guessed, everything does not weigh the same. To illustrate this, consider a measuring cup of grated/shredded cheese compared to a measuring cup of peanut butter. The peanut butter obviously weighs more, right? (Hint: yes :) haha)

    So, that doesn't help you much. What does help, though, is that most items include a weight in grams or ounces in the serving information. For example, my bag of flour says a serving is "1/4 cup (31g)". What I do is, place an empty bowl on my scale and press the "tare" button - this zero's out the scale so that it's not counting the weight of the bowl. Then, I spoon or scoop or pour (depending on the item haha) the ingredient into the bowl and measure out the weight in grams or ounces.

    If you have any other questions or need help with specific items, feel free to PM me or add me as a friend a comment on my wall. I'd be happy to help :)

    THANK YOU for putting this so easy to understand! I never realized how much of a difference it made, I just dutifully went by 1/4 cup, etc.... am now going to look into buying a food scale, an accurate one. I have an old one that is not digital, ya know, with springs and stuff, that I originally just used on foods that only mentioned ounces and not cups (i.e. meats, pasta, etc)... would that work "ok" for now until I get a digital one?

    A non-digital scale is perfectly fine to use (i.e. no need to get a digital one) as long as you:
    1. are comfortable with its unit of measure (whether it weighs in ounces, grams, etc.)
    2. understand that a traditional scale is not going to be as accurate as a digital one
    3.calibrate it using calibrating weights every so often, so you can make sure your scale is still accurate. You can buy them on Amazon in 50g, 100g, etc.

    Note that if your scale only weighs in ounces, you can easily convert to grams (using a calculator):
    1 ounce = 28.3495 grams
    So: weight in ounces x 28.3495 grams/ounce = weight in grams

    Example:
    You measure out 3 oz of something but you want to enter it as grams in MFP
    3 ounces x 28.3495 grams/ounce = 56.699 ~= 56.70 grams.

    Or, you just get a digital scale that has ounces/pounds and grams. :)
  • GB333
    GB333 Posts: 261 Member
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    I don't cook anything without my food scale!!!

    Did you know:

    "A study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that the calorie content on frozen food labels was on average 8% higher than the label claimed — and on restaurant menus an average of 18% higher."

    " Calorie counts on food labels, for example, can be off by 20% in some cases and still be in compliance with FDA regulations."

    Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/margin-of-error-on-food-labels-20-2013-11-07
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    It's the prepackaged stuff that really surprised me when I started weighing it. I bought a pack f Italian sausages. They were labeled as 230 calories per 82g link. Not one of the links in the package was less than 100 grams. That's a 50+ calorie difference. The little things really add up.

    Yes... I admit I've been lazy with those, mostly because we cook them all and there's no way for me to know which one I'm eating, but I should definitely start doing this.

    I was at first too but then thought eh why not see for sure...i now measure packaged food as well.

    For example today two pieces of bread were 55g not 80 yah me...but the 3 slices of ham were 65g not 55g...blah...

    I do however when eating things like lean cuisine record what the box says...I mean how can you really tell right. Probably a good thing I don't eat a lot of those.

    I eat at TDEE-20% tho so if it is off a bit I am still losing on avg 1/2lb a week which is good.
  • _jayciemarie_
    _jayciemarie_ Posts: 574 Member
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    I, too, was shocked after I bought a food scale. Honestly NOBODY will truly understand how big of a difference it makes. You have toweigh to be a believer.

    Like someone else said I was pleasantly surprised with cottage cheese because you get way more!!! However the item that shocked me was croutons. I put croutons on the scale and was horrified that one serving of croutons was TWO croutons. TWO?!?!?! Is 2 croutons worthy of 35 calories?!?!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Yup, prior to my food scale I was eating, on average, around 400-600 calories more than I thought I was. As soon as I started weighing everything, the weight came off much more reliably. I have been in maintenance for about 8 months now and I still weigh most things. I even weigh my veggies out...not so much because I'm concerned about the calories, I just want to make sure I'm getting all of my veggies. I used to think I ate plenty of veggies until I started weighing out actual serving sizes.
  • ny77il
    ny77il Posts: 8 Member
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    This post is a great reminder that I need to go back to weighing my foods and not using measuring cups. The scale hasn't really budged in a few weeks and I think it's because I've been too laxed in measuring. I just weighed some snacks both ways and boy was that an eye opener. Using measuring cups for nuts was almost 1.5 times the grams per serving amount or 90 additional calories.
  • pansyviolet
    pansyviolet Posts: 34
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    I have been with mfp for 165 days and have lost 20lbs. I measure everything. Last week a few people on this blog told it was better to weigh over measure. So, I measure my peanut butter and then weighed it, exactly the same.

    My husband has been a weight expert in many years and he also said it will come out the same.
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
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    Just to add to the topic, I bought some really cute measuring spoons from Pier1...and guess what? they are double the size comparing to those ugly plastic little round ones I got at grocery store...
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I have been with mfp for 165 days and have lost 20lbs. I measure everything. Last week a few people on this blog told it was better to weigh over measure. So, I measure my peanut butter and then weighed it, exactly the same.

    My husband has been a weight expert in many years and he also said it will come out the same.

    No.
  • sashanicole88
    sashanicole88 Posts: 180 Member
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    good to know!!! Guess I'll need to invest in one...
  • 81Katz
    81Katz Posts: 7,074 Member
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    My tortilla that shows 40g on the package weighed in at 46g today.

    :flowerforyou: food scale
  • Myhaloslipped
    Myhaloslipped Posts: 4,317 Member
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    Agreed. Losing weight was so much easier once I started weighing everything.
  • steffipaulina
    steffipaulina Posts: 161
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    I have been with mfp for 165 days and have lost 20lbs. I measure everything. Last week a few people on this blog told it was better to weigh over measure. So, I measure my peanut butter and then weighed it, exactly the same.

    My husband has been a weight expert in many years and he also said it will come out the same.

    A scale will probably come in handy when you want to lose those few last pounds. A scale is the most precise tool you can use.
  • Dreya711
    Dreya711 Posts: 79 Member
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    bump
  • jess135177
    jess135177 Posts: 186 Member
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    Hummus is a big one, 29 g is NOT 2 tablespoons. I love my food scale!
  • CindaWhite
    CindaWhite Posts: 104 Member
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    I guess I am not very educated on this subject. This could be a really stupid question and probably learned during elementary school but, how do you know how much weight is in a cup or how much a serving size is in grams?

    Most packaged items list the grams right in the serving size such as (potato chips) 28g about 15 chips... so gram amounts are pretty much readily available. For other things you will have to find the entry in the listing that shows grams. Bananas for example usually say calories per ounce in the food database but you can find the entry that lists grams. Or if not add your own entry for items you use frequently.

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