Weighing your food or not? Your take on it?

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Deena_Bean
Deena_Bean Posts: 906 Member
in Food and Nutrition
To be totally honest I have not weighed any food in quite some time. I have considered it, yes, but have not. I've lost some weight (admittedly I'm flying in a holding pattern currently), but haven't weighed food....well in years honestly. Now, let me back up and say that a little bit over a year ago I was at my "goal" weight. I got to it without weighing food, but I worked out a lot more and a lot harder than I am now. I'm about 17 pounds from that weight. It's been harder for me to get it back off now, and I'm at the point that I'm considering a food scale, but I honestly do not want to have to weight my food for the rest of my life. I can already tell you that it isn't likely something that would stick for me. Is this habit one that people generally keep or just use as a tool - like a means to an end? I'd be willing to do it for quite some time, but not likely forever. What are your thoughts? And before anyone heads off in to "well if you don't do it, you'll fail" land - I have lost the weight before without a scale, so I'm confident I could again. I just wonder if it's easier. A side note - had a rough year, divorce, moving, etc. - that's when I gained this weight back. So I just want it to go back away now :)
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Replies

  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
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    The problem is that when people don't weigh their food, their true calorie intake is much different than what they are putting in their diary by hundreds of calories, and that makes a huge difference.
  • Vaughanabe13
    Vaughanabe13 Posts: 9
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    I weigh every single gram of every single thing I put in my mouth, unless it's packaged and has the full nutrition info on the package. For example, I don't just eat a handful of nuts, I measure it out to the gram with my digital scale. It's especially important when the thing you're eating is very dense in calories (like nuts or other fats/oils) but accuracy isn't quite as important when you're measuring out, say, diced onion. But yeah, everything I cook has to be measured. If I eat out on occasion, I use my knowledge of what portion sizes look like to make an estimate on the weight, but I don't like doing that too much because it's impossible to really know.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    If you are seeing the results you want, then do whatever you want to do.

    If you are not seeing the results you want, then weighing your food even for a few days can be an easy way to assess what may or may not be going wrong. At the very least you'll know that you have accurate numbers to work with.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    I weigh my food. The more I do it I realize it is so much easier and quicker than using measuring cups/spoons - and more accurate than just guessing at what a serving size is.

    If you don't want to do it though and you're seeing results without weighing then continue with what you're doing.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I weigh 98% of what I eat...even fast food (cause I eat at home most of the time) and I have yet to hit a stall or plateau.

    My scale sits on my cupboard beside my stove and it's 2nd nature now....it takes all of 2mins a meal...

    will I weigh my food for life...who knows but that thought doesn't bother me...it's 6mins a day...

    I am still ticked at how little 75gram of boiled potatoes are but when I eat them I realize it's enough...

    weighing food is not a bad thing just another tool like MFP and you don't have issues with the site.
  • levitateme
    levitateme Posts: 999 Member
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    I weigh nearly everything I eat, it takes like 3 seconds and has allowed me to eat larger portions. I was previously underestimating cheeses and meats. I love eating.
  • Deena_Bean
    Deena_Bean Posts: 906 Member
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    I weigh 98% of what I eat...even fast food (cause I eat at home most of the time) and I have yet to hit a stall or plateau.

    My scale sits on my cupboard beside my stove and it's 2nd nature now....it takes all of 2mins a meal...

    will I weigh my food for life...who knows but that thought doesn't bother me...it's 6mins a day...

    I am still ticked at how little 75gram of boiled potatoes are but when I eat them I realize it's enough...

    weighing food is not a bad thing just another tool like MFP and you don't have issues with the site.

    True. 6 minutes. I'm shopping for a scale, but I wanted to see how everyone feels about it. I eat "out" several times a week (always "healthy" foods for the most part), but I don't have access to a scale when I'm about to eat a salmon filet. I guess it doesn't hurt to use it if I have it, though. We'll see how it goes.

    Your potato comment made me giggle - mostly because I'm about 100% positive I'll have the same reaction. I do have a love affair with potatoes! Oh and cheese scares me and will probably reduce me to a weeping heap on the kitchen floor.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    The problem is that when people don't weigh their food, their true calorie intake is much different than what they are putting in their diary by hundreds of calories, and that makes a huge difference.

    This. I think there are ways to lose weight that don't involve weighing food, but counting calories it is not.
  • flumi_f
    flumi_f Posts: 1,888 Member
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    I weigh everything, unless I give myself a day off.

    My portions were way out of wack. You'd be surprised how small a 30g hand full of nuts is and they have 150-200cals. If your hand full is bigger, you easily double the cals.

    If you want to lose and aren't, you need to reduce the amount of cals. If you do that with a scale or not - your decision.

    Weightloss is 80% cal intake and 20% workout. I have to workout a very long time to burn the 7000cals in 1kg of fat.

    Another tip that could work for you - Fill 1/2-3/4 of your plate with veggies, the rest can be protein and / or carbs. This helped me for a while before I discovered the scale ;-)
  • Swiftdogs
    Swiftdogs Posts: 328 Member
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    Using the scale even intermittently helps train your "eye" for portions.
  • tags94
    tags94 Posts: 4 Member
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    Do it until you get use to eyeballing and you will see a difference. I have a scale that you can zero out. So I put my plate on the scale and zero it out, then add a food, zero it out, add another item, repeating for each item. I even do this with cereal, adding the cereal to the bowl first, zeroing out and then adding the milk. A bit quicker and less dishes to wash ;-)
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
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    It's habit it takes minutes a day so why wouldn't I do it? If you make some big issue about how hard it is it will be hard. IMO most people who say it's too time consuming are just looking for excuses to fail so they can say they've tried
  • callie006
    callie006 Posts: 151 Member
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    Using the scale even intermittently helps train your "eye" for portions.

    This is so true. I don't weigh every bite that goes into my mouth unless I'm stuck or coming off a few weeks of indiscriminate eating. I find that weighing occasionally helps keep my eye for portions accurate, but weighing for prolonged periods starts to play into my tendency to get obsessive about food.

    For results with calorie counting, weighing is the way to go. If you can't or don't want to weigh, you can still lose weight. It just might take longer, and you may have to accept more bumps in the road.
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
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    I weigh my food when it's convenient to do so - I use my scale several times daily. I would never take it with me to a restaurant.

    If it fits into my life, why not?
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
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    A food scale is an invaluable tool when you have hit a plateau, down to those last few 'stubborn' lbs, cutting/bulking or maintaining. It's the only way to really know how many calories are going in. With my FitBit and my food scale, I feel like I have a really good handle on both sides of the CICO equation. The bad thing is, I don't have any excuses anymore. :sad:
  • Deena_Bean
    Deena_Bean Posts: 906 Member
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    Using the scale even intermittently helps train your "eye" for portions.

    This is so true. I don't weigh every bite that goes into my mouth unless I'm stuck or coming off a few weeks of indiscriminate eating. I find that weighing occasionally helps keep my eye for portions accurate, but weighing for prolonged periods starts to play into my tendency to get obsessive about food.

    For results with calorie counting, weighing is the way to go. If you can't or don't want to weigh, you can still lose weight. It just might take longer, and you may have to accept more bumps in the road.

    Obsession is also a worry I carry. I'm marginally freakish now by others' account, I'm afraid this will just make me an extra compulsive person. It doesn't disturb my day to track what I eat, but I get a lot of "Why do you bother?" "Why are you trying to lose weight?" "You look healthy to me." I guess that the idea that I would like to continue looking healthy doesn't occur to them - and tracking my food is what helps me. I don't visibly look "overweight" but I could lose 15 pounds and be a better me on the health front. Anyways....yeah....obsession.
  • rosebette
    rosebette Posts: 1,660 Member
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    I weigh meat/protein, and use measuring cups for things like pasta, rice, and cereal. I don't weigh fruits or veggies. I don't bring my scale to a restaurant, just eyeball it. One enlightening experience was getting a Chinese combination platter as takeout (chicken and green beans, white rice, and a couple of chicken wings), and I measured the rice and weighed an appropriate portion of the chicken entree. I ended up getting 3 meals from a dish that was supposed to feed one person. Gives you an idea how people can really gain if they go out to eat often.
  • Deena_Bean
    Deena_Bean Posts: 906 Member
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    It's habit it takes minutes a day so why wouldn't I do it? If you make some big issue about how hard it is it will be hard. IMO most people who say it's too time consuming are just looking for excuses to fail so they can say they've tried

    I think that's a blanket and inaccurate thing to say. Plenty of people lose weight (down to their goal) without a scale - I did. It's a tool, not a requirement. I'm not looking to fail and I'm not looking for an excuse. I'm also not looking for a fight here. Thanks for your thoughts, I do see the pro's in using a scale and am considering it.
  • Deena_Bean
    Deena_Bean Posts: 906 Member
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    I weigh meat/protein, and use measuring cups for things like pasta, rice, and cereal. I don't weigh fruits or veggies. I don't bring my scale to a restaurant, just eyeball it. One enlightening experience was getting a Chinese combination platter as takeout (chicken and green beans, white rice, and a couple of chicken wings), and I measured the rice and weighed an appropriate portion of the chicken entree. I ended up getting 3 meals from a dish that was supposed to feed one person. Gives you an idea how people can really gain if they go out to eat often.

    :noway: That's not surprising! I think everyone over-orders Chinese take-out and is always like -"Whoa! I could feed the neighborhood with this!" LOL
  • hyg99
    hyg99 Posts: 354 Member
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    I don't weigh my food, however I have lost at least a 1lb every week since I started 1/1 and I don't feel hungry, I have decided if I stop losing, I will start weighing but as I am happy with my progress so far I'm holding fire. It gives me something extra to try when I do plateau.

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