Is weighing food vital for losing weight?

cherrychubbs

I know nothing about weighing foods, what ounces are etc. Is it vital to weigh food? I usually just get one handful of things and put them on my plate. Am I doing something wrong?

Mr_Knight

Some people don't need it. If you're achieving your health and fitness goals without it, there's no rule that says you have to.

Acg67

I know nothing about weighing foods, what ounces are etc. Is it vital to weigh food? I usually just get one handful of things and put them on my plate. Am I doing something wrong?

No, but if you find you're not losing, overeating may be the culprit.

And you don't know what an ounce is?

Beastmaster50

At first I would say yes. People have to learn what a cup is and what 6oz of meat looks like. Until you get a solid grasp of portion sizes, I think its a good habit to weigh and measure.

dandelyon

It's a great tool but I lost plenty of weight prior to owning a food scale. I would also say that accuracy counts for more if you are eating closer to maintenance. If you have a 1000 cal deficit each day, surely you'll lose weight using measuring cups or partitioning things out.

marcotomas

I used to eyeball things but recently caved and got a digital food scale. It was not expensive (I think it was only $10 on amazon) and it is a breeze to use. I recommend weighing, especially in the beginning, because it really helps you learn to grasp what a serving size actually looks like. If you are counting calories (and if you are on this site, I must assume you are), you want to make sure your totals are fairly accurate.

concordancia

It does depend to some degree what you are talking about. Misjudging your steamed broccoli isn't going to make much difference. Misjudging the amount of almonds you grab is going to make a HUGE difference.

There are some other ways of determining serving sizes. For example, a 3oz. of meat is usually the size of a deck of cards; an ounce of almonds fits in an Altoids tin... http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/crc/documents/VisualizeYourPortionSize12-01-09.pdf

witmer1

I believe it is at first anyway. When I started logging, I know my portions were off because of not measuring or weighing portions. I realized I was fat (still am) due to not understanding or being good at estimating portions. The scale takes that guess-work out of it.

PRMinx

It depends on how far you want to take it. I think for most people weighing food is a great way to get a sense of proper portion size. I personally don't weight my food because I worry it will trigger an old ED. I've still lost weight, albeit maybe a bit slower.

dswolverine

I love my food scale. It really was shocking to see how much I was over-estimating portions- esp for things like oatmeal and cereal! However, you don't NEED it to lose weight. Plenty of people have been successful without one

concordancia

I think its something people who become OCD buy and use......sorry.

1) People become obese by being really, really good about deceiving themselves.
2) Even registered dietitians have difficulty in eyeballing accurately.

Therefore, the scale can be a very useful tool in overcoming self deception, rather than being an instrument of a severe mental disorder.

sheepysaccount

Hey, I don't know what an ounce is either. Hooray for the metric system.

That being said, if you know what 100g of potatoes, rice, apple... is you can get away with not measuring. If you're only just starting out, I would suggest weighing. It took me forever, but I now know what 10g of butter looks like for example, I barely ever have to measure it anymore. (I still sometimes do to make sure my judgement is not off.)

Huffdogg

It's vital for accurately logging your intake. But if you can manage to estimate well enough to reach your goals, then kudos for you.

KatherinesRiver

A good little digital scale and some measuring tools are helping me, especially with the high calorie stuff like peanut butter!:smooched:

PRMinx

It's vital for accurately logging your intake. But if you can manage to estimate well enough to reach your goals, then kudos for you.

Truth.

And just to add to this...because I don't use a food scale, when I'm in doubt, I ALWAYS round up on calories.

VioletNightshade

I think its something people who become OCD buy and use......sorry.

... *facepalm*




Anyway...

When I'm weighing and measuring my food (i.e when I get home from the grocery, weighing it into certain portions and labeling those with how many calories is in each, so when I'm preparing my food for the day or the next day I can at a glance know how much I'm taking in. It takes a large portion of the day-to-day effort of the whole ordeal out of it and makes my life easier), I lose weight much more quickly and predictably.

For me, the answer is yes. It's not for everyone. It depends on your lifestyle and the ways which work for you.

970Mikaela1

I think its something people who become OCD buy and use......sorry.

Well at least I'm going to be a thinner in my OCDness.

47Jacqueline

I find weighing my food to be the best way of keeping me honest. Also, after doing it for a while you get a better sense of how big a serving is. I've been weighiing my food on and off since I was doing weight watchers in the 80s. As a member of MFP it helped me get to goal and now it's helping me stay at maintenance.

toronto_j

I've been losing weight without a scale but I purchased one recently. I still eat pasta and weighing it first really helps me to keep control and not overeat. I was definitely eating 1.5 or 2 servings prior to this, and since it has a lot of calories, it allows me to still enjoy it yet keep within my deficit. So I don't think it's vital but certainly helpful when you know there are certain foods you overeat. And you can find pretty cheap ones.

stealthq

I would say since your alternative is just grabbing a handful and you don't know ounces or grams ... it probably is. If only because you'll have zero idea what to put in your food diary and therefore zero idea of how much you're consuming otherwise. Not too many entries for 'a handful' of anything.

And if you're going to measure, might as well do it the most accurate way, right?

ohthatbambi

I wouldn't say it is vital but it sure did make me aware of how much food I was putting into my body. We live in a supersized society where everything is giant...a serving of chips or hummus or crackers is not half the box. It opened my eyes and helps me be accountable!!

Followingsea

It's not vital. I lost 20 lbs eyeballing.

That said, I just bought a food scale, and it turns out that... I'm pretty good at eyeballing. Mostly because I intentionally overestimated my guesses a lot of the time.

And some things blew my mind - it turns out I've been underestimating pasta servings by something like a factor of three! A serving of pasta is like... miniscule. And a serving of pasta is like 200 calories! I was off by a measure of 400 calories! There's a day's deficit, right there! On one meal!

If you log faithfully and track your weight faithfully, and you seem to be losing about on par with what your logging would predict, then no, weighing your food may not be necessary for you. But if you're logging everything you eat and your weight isn't changing over a period of weeks - or it goes up - then you may find it a worthy investment.

jofjltncb6

No, not vital...but a calorie deficit is...

...and consistently and accurately weighing and measuring your food is the most likely means of ensuring a calorie deficit.

Achrya

It certainly won't hurt but it's not vital I guess. I use mine less and less as time goes on (I can eyeball a portion of meat, which is 6ozs for me, with a tenth of an ounce at this point.)

ab_1203

Yes I think it is, especially if you eat foods like rice, nuts, cheese, pasta etc. For me, it is not easy to measure these foods and a scale is vital because those foods are pretty calorie dense, especially the cheese and nuts.

callyart

It was vital for me.

Before I got my scales, I was guessing my amounts and I was totally out most of the time. I use all of the time now, but I am getting better at estimating because I have been doing it for 5 weeks now.

RinnyLush

Not 100% necessary IF you can exercise complete honesty regarding your portions. As mentioned in the above comments, a lot of people fare better weighing and measuring their food simply because they can't be objective when eyeballing it themselves.

Personally, I weighed and measured my food for the first couple of months to be sure I was eating the right amount and learning what the portion sizes looked like. Then I decided to just start eyeballing things simply because always breaking out the measuring cups and scales was cramping my cooking style. I've still been losing steadily.

Do what feels right for you! If you feel like you don't quite have a grasp on portion sizes, or are still having issues controlling how much you eat, then weighing and measuring might be a good fit for you to reach your goals. If you feel you've got a handle on those issues, then it might not be necessary anymore! :flowerforyou:

RoseGoldDinosaur

Weighing food is not vital. If you aren't ultra savvy in the kitchen though, I recommend measuring food.
Use a measuring cup, tablespoon, and shot glass to start getting used to how much a serving size is.

4oz of meat is a SMALL serving the size of a deck of cards, 1 TBSP of salad dressing doesn't cover 2 cups of lettuce, and you're going to want to start eating cereal and oatmeal out of a mug because the half cup and 1 cup servings don't come anywhere close to filling a bowl. Just get used to what it looks like to eat smaller portions and you'll start to recognize how much is an appropriate serving. You'll be amazed at how much you save on groceries when you actually measure out that 1 cup of milk!

diannethegeek

I weigh my food because I find it easier than having to find and wash measuring cups/spoons for everything I eat. It's just easier to tare the scale between each ingredient as I throw them into a bowl.

Of course it's possible to lose weight without a food scale. People have been dieting for decades without them and I lost a good chunk of my weight before buying one. But you may have to put up with slower weight loss or more plateaus and fluctuations along the way if you're not very good at eyeballing portion sizes.

sympha01

When I was younger I always eyeballed my portions when I was dieting. I also was pretty much always wrong. I had this idea that a boneless chicken breast was "probably about 3 oz" because that's what serving recommendations were (now I know they are typically between 6 oz and 10 oz, at least where I buy them); or that the glass I poured my milk into was "probably 8 oz" again, because that's what the serving recommendation is (my glasses hold 14 oz). A peanut butter sandwich probably had 1.5 tbsp of peanut butter (so, so wrong -- and I like my PB spread pretty thin, too!). The only way I ever lost weight in that phase of my life was if I was targeting an unholy low number of calories (oh, the folly of youth!) like 900 a day. Of course, I was probably getting closer to 1500 calories a day. Which -- turns out was probably about right.

If you want to know what you're doing, you definitely have to get an accurate handle of portion sizes. The errors add up to a lot of calories and can derail your progress. You don't have to be "obsessive" about it (I don't take a scale with me when I eat out or at a friend's house, etc.), but doing it with your home meals makes a big difference in your mindfulness of the consequences of what you eat.

Cheeky_and_Geeky

I've been eyeballing my portions & guesstimating my workout calories burned & have consistently lost weight. I have my calories set at 1350 though, so im probably eating 1700 & burning half as many calories as I think I am. If you have less than a 500 calorie deficit, then yes you probably will need to buy one. Especially if you are a novice at eyeballing portions. Good luck!