Why is everyone so scared of weighing their food?

Luciu5

If you are losing weight at a healthy rate, using a scale doesn't really matter. Thing is, if you want to lose weight, and you are failing at it, then you require a food scale and extremely accurate logging.

I don't think people are scared, it's just dieting is a side project to most people, not a full time job. For most it's, "I'd like to lose a few pounds" so I'll eat a little less food. Unfortunately, there are lots of people who aren't capable of eating "a little less food." Those folks really need to take an all or nothing approach.

caesar164

I weigh my proteins. I like to keep track of my protein intake. I also use the scale for cooked pasta, cheeses that I have to cut and cereal, which I don't eat to often.. Every thing else is easy enough to find in the database.

FlaxMilk

I grew up using measuring cups and spoons. The only food scales I was even aware of were the ones in the fruit and veggie section of the grocery store. Even if it is easier to use a food scale, for me it feels like more work.

When I'm not losing weight, it's not because I'm not weighing my food. Measuring works fine for me. It's because I'm eating more than I know I should.

I do think portion control is an important question for someone who is wondering why he isn't losing weight, though. If someone isn't losing and thinks she is only eating 1200 calories, I'm going to ask how they are portioning food.

paperpudding

Because the food scale doesn't lie and it will show him how much that say "cake" is that he thought was just a little piece.

But if he is losing weight with what he is doing, why does it matter if he eats more cake than he thinks he does?

PRMinx

That said, I've never seen any of the posters on here jump on someone if they say they don't weight for personal reasons.

Are you reading a different forum site?

Lots of judgemental garbage when someone says no, because...

Judgmental garbage? Really? Do tell... I only bring up food scales when people are in a plateau, or gaining weight and don't know the reason. When they are having trouble and ASKING for help. And I've never seen anyone given a hard time about not using a scale because of behavioral issues.

^ Yep, this :flowerforyou:

Texsox

the motto of this forum is (or at lease one of them) "you don't weigh your food, you deserve to fail".

We should have a list of official rules and if people are not following all of them they should be removed from the forums or have their accouts deleted. :happy: Mixing weighers and non weighers one one site, how crazy is that!?

And be certain to only offer support and encouragement to people who are following the exact same program as yourself. Everyone else deserves to fail.

Only partially joking. But it seems to feel like that to more than a few posters. Personally, I really don't care how you are trying to lose weight. Most people here have probably tried a few things before giving this a try. Some will move on from here to another plan that will work for them when this fails for them.

FireOpalCO

Yeah, same here.

I do actually want to start weighing foods, but I'm not sure what kind of scale to buy.

This is the one I got for my birthday:

http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-Stainless-Pull-Out-Display/dp/B000WJMTNA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401280694&sr=8-1&keywords=oxo+scale

There are definitely cheaper ones out there, but since I also love to bake, I appreciated the extra features of this one. It can handle up to 11 pounds (most stop at 5) and the display pulls out so it isn't blocked by a dish or bowl, and the stainless steel plate on top pops right off for washing.

albayin

the motto of this forum is (or at lease one of them) "you don't weigh your food, you deserve to fail".

We should have a list of official rules and if people are not following all of them they should be removed from the forums or have their accouts deleted. :happy: Mixing weighers and non weighers one one site, how crazy is that!?

And be certain to only offer support and encouragement to people who are following the exact same program as yourself. Everyone else deserves to fail.

Only partially joking. But it seems to feel like that to more than a few posters. Personally, I really don't care how you are trying to lose weight. Most people here have probably tried a few things before giving this a try. Some will move on from here to another plan that will work for them when this fails for them.

yeah, sometimes it does feel that way on this forum...or on any other fitness/weight loss discussion groups...have you been on bodybuilding.com? oh man...

JeffInJax

Not exactly unrelated but a little off topic. Besides wanting a digital scale is there anything to look for when buying one? Ive noticed they vary in prices hugely and wasnt sure if i would be missing out on anything needed by getting a cheaper model. If the more expensive ones last longer that would justify the price tag for me but just looking for any advice with this.

Francl27

the motto of this forum is (or at lease one of them) "you don't weigh your food, you deserve to fail".

We should have a list of official rules and if people are not following all of them they should be removed from the forums or have their accouts deleted. :happy: Mixing weighers and non weighers one one site, how crazy is that!?

And be certain to only offer support and encouragement to people who are following the exact same program as yourself. Everyone else deserves to fail.

Only partially joking. But it seems to feel like that to more than a few posters. Personally, I really don't care how you are trying to lose weight. Most people here have probably tried a few things before giving this a try. Some will move on from here to another plan that will work for them when this fails for them.

yeah, sometimes it does feel that way on this forum...or on any other fitness/weight loss discussion groups...have you been on bodybuilding.com? oh man...

Pffft. I don't think it's true at all. People just recommend to use a scale when someone comes posting that they're not losing weight... Bottom line is most people have no idea how much they are eating unless they log everything and weigh their food. But obviously if they overestimate everything, they'll lose weight just fine... I just think most people have no estimating skills at all.

albayin

the motto of this forum is (or at lease one of them) "you don't weigh your food, you deserve to fail".

We should have a list of official rules and if people are not following all of them they should be removed from the forums or have their accouts deleted. :happy: Mixing weighers and non weighers one one site, how crazy is that!?

And be certain to only offer support and encouragement to people who are following the exact same program as yourself. Everyone else deserves to fail.

Only partially joking. But it seems to feel like that to more than a few posters. Personally, I really don't care how you are trying to lose weight. Most people here have probably tried a few things before giving this a try. Some will move on from here to another plan that will work for them when this fails for them.

yeah, sometimes it does feel that way on this forum...or on any other fitness/weight loss discussion groups...have you been on bodybuilding.com? oh man...

Pffft. I don't think it's true at all. People just recommend to use a scale when someone comes posting that they're not losing weight... Bottom line is most people have no idea how much they are eating unless they log everything and weigh their food. But obviously if they overestimate everything, they'll lose weight just fine... I just think most people have no estimating skills at all.

What would Dr. House say..."Really, people lie? shocking!". what you said is also true but...as quite a few posters have expressed...some people are better than others when it comes to ...how to put it...estimate or self control or naturally "better" at eating. And as serious it may sound, I think the majority of the population aren't obese or need to lose weight, even in America.

lthames0810

Edit: I messed up the quote. Re-doing.

SoDamnHungry

I lost weight easily without a food scale because I was overestimating. Turns out that WITH a food scale, I get to eat a lot more and am much happier. On the other hand, people can underestimate their food and end up not losing that much. It goes both ways.

raiderrodney

I've never weighed my food because it is just too much of a hassle. Logging however, is a must (for me anyway).

Angela26point2finisher

I love my food scale and obsessively weigh everything. I prefer it over measuring cups, really. It's the right weigh (haha) for me. I'm kinda crazy like that, and I don't mind :drinker:

josparkle

I weigh everything but then I cook from scratch daily, often using recipes (UK) and things are given in weights, so I see no change in using scales, teaspoons, tablespoons, jugs to measure now. I adapt recipes to omit or lower higher calorie items and sometimes that is trial and error to find what works so weighing helps me know for next time.

But if you don't cook that way typically then I guess just having less of the calorie dense stuff and more of the other should work. I know that if I'm out and eating but want to stay reasonably on track that is how I choose what to eat from menus, shops etc.

lthames0810

I wonder if it's mostly Americans and Canadians that are resistant to weighing their food since it's otherwise not done.

What I'd observe isn't so much resistance to weighing food, but many people not seeing the point.

For me, I end up with such large deficits after a decent training session then I'm unable to consume the volumes. There is absolutely no value to me in adding hassle.

What I find interesting is that for many threads there is an instant do you weigh... response, without any real exploration of the context. For many people weighing and measuring just isn't practical.

Of course the same thing applies in fitness threads when some respondents just weigh in regardless of the question asked and give a very simplistic answer. In the absence of context, mostly it's meaningless.

the motto of this forum is (or at lease one of them) "you don't weigh your food, you deserve to fail".

I should have added this as another reason I haven't been weighing my food: Contrariness in response to the aggressive accusations in other forum threads, "you don't weigh your food, you're eating more than you think you are."

I also had a huge deficit on Saturday after a 4 hour bike ride with hill repeats that flamed my legs. The next day I had gained three pounds from fluid retention, seemingly wiping out two weeks worth of weight loss. Had I whined about it in a forum post, I have no doubt I would have been called out for not weighing my food.

You call that an aggressive accusation? Oh boy -

Well, I'm oversensitive (just ask my husband) but I thought it was aggresive in the context of the thread as I recall it.

When a user asks for advice when they're not getting the results they think they should, the first thing that happens is all the jaded oldtimers jump in with the food weighing thing without ever looking at their diary or getting any details about the poster. It could be one or more of many different things going wrong. But whatever, It's always the food weighing that is declared to be the culprit.

dancingmuffin

most of my weight loss has come since i stopped weighing. When i fist joined mfp i weighed everthing and logged it to. But i didnt just weigh and go on no i fixed what i thought the serving size was then saw how off i was. This has helped me more in the long run and i try to keep a little log in my head but in general i just eat less then what i use to and im loseing well right now ( 2lbs a week) but i have a fair bit of weight to loose (94lbs more) now once it sows down or stops yes i will go back to weighing for a bit to see where i am at. But if he loses with out weighing be happy for him but if he finds he has trouble just kindly offer a scale to him

MelodyandBarbells

I wonder if it's mostly Americans and Canadians that are resistant to weighing their food since it's otherwise not done.

What I'd observe isn't so much resistance to weighing food, but many people not seeing the point.

For me, I end up with such large deficits after a decent training session then I'm unable to consume the volumes. There is absolutely no value to me in adding hassle.

What I find interesting is that for many threads there is an instant do you weigh... response, without any real exploration of the context. For many people weighing and measuring just isn't practical.

Of course the same thing applies in fitness threads when some respondents just weigh in regardless of the question asked and give a very simplistic answer. In the absence of context, mostly it's meaningless.

the motto of this forum is (or at lease one of them) "you don't weigh your food, you deserve to fail".

I should have added this as another reason I haven't been weighing my food: Contrariness in response to the aggressive accusations in other forum threads, "you don't weigh your food, you're eating more than you think you are."

I also had a huge deficit on Saturday after a 4 hour bike ride with hill repeats that flamed my legs. The next day I had gained three pounds from fluid retention, seemingly wiping out two weeks worth of weight loss. Had I whined about it in a forum post, I have no doubt I would have been called out for not weighing my food.

You call that an aggressive accusation? Oh boy -

Well, I'm oversensitive (just ask my husband) but I thought it was aggresive in the context of the thread as I recall it.

When a user asks for advice when they're not getting the results they think they should, the first thing that happens is all the jaded oldtimers jump in with the food weighing thing without ever looking at their diary or getting any details about the poster. It could be one or more of many different things going wrong. But whatever, It's always the food weighing that is declared to be the culprit.

a). You can't look in their diaries typically because they aren't public. Some attempt to offer guesses when the user is asked to make the diary public and they decline

b). After looking at the diaries, you see these perfectly round numbers that tend to indicate the user has grabbed an entry from the database without verifying they're using the same quantity of food. Or when the quantity is completely unspecified, you'd want to know if they really created that entry, say, using the recipe function, or just grabbed a meal that they don't know what's in it

These are signs of inaccurate logging. If you have a better way to help people figure out why they're not losing weight when *they* post a question asking just this, I encourage you to participate on more of those threads and help them out

Texsox

Original Post

My husband has decided to lose weight, but he doesn't want to weigh his food (or log his food really). He said if he stops losing, he'll consider it.

I don't get it... Why not start with something that works if you're really determined to do it?

And we get to this

a). You can't look in their diaries typically because they aren't public. Some attempt to offer guesses when the user is asked to make the diary public and they decline

b). After looking at the diaries, you see these perfectly round numbers that tend to indicate the user has grabbed an entry from the database without verifying they're using the same quantity of food. Or when the quantity is completely unspecified, you'd want to know if they really created that entry, say, using the recipe function, or just grabbed a meal that they don't know what's in it

These are signs of inaccurate logging. If you have a better way to help people figure out why they're not losing weight when *they* post a question asking just this, I encourage you to participate on more of those threads and help them out

The question wasn't why they aren't losing weight.