Do you weigh/measure your food?

Jetta_C

Just had an interesting experience. Was having some leftover lentils for lunch and decided, to be precise, I would measure exactly one cup. It was way smaller than I would have served myself if I had been "eye-balling" a serving. Literally, the whole thing fit into a kiddie bowl!

Was wondering how many people weigh/measure their food, at least some of the time. Now I want to get a kitchen scale so I can verify what I have long suspected: those Costco chicken breasts are about 3 servings each!

healthyfoxx

I always measure my food. The peanutbutter on my toast, the soy sauce in my stir fry, the uncooked oats for my oatmeal... all of it. It really adds up.

Weighing with a scale is more accurate, but I've always done just find measuring with cups, tbs, tsp, etc.

wheird

Most of the time, yes. Except for things that are very low calorie like spinach.

WW_Jude_V2

Just had an interesting experience. Was having some leftover lentils for lunch and decided, to be precise, I would measure exactly one cup. It was way smaller than I would have served myself if I had been "eye-balling" a serving. Literally, the whole thing fit into a kiddie bowl!

Was wondering how many people weigh/measure their food, at least some of the time. Now I want to get a kitchen scale so I can verify what I have long suspected: those Costco chicken breasts are about 3 servings each!

I measure every single thing, every single time. I even take my scale on vacation with me. Right now I am eating 181 grams of Jazz apple, 113 grams of Cara orange and 82 grams of yogurt. It's a habit and it's kind of fun to try and guess how close I can eyeball (not very.....which is why I weigh!)

Francl27

Measuring is useless. If it's not a liquid, it needs to be weighed, or it will be completely inaccurate. But yes, I weigh pretty much everything.

Ready2Rock206

Yup - use my food scale every day.

rh091

I just bought a food scale and rely on it. You'll be surprised the quantity difference again from measuring to weighing. I definitely recommend it.

shadowofender

I weigh whenever possible, and measure if I can't weigh. For those times I can't do either, I'm better at eyeballing now that I'm so used to weighing, but it makes me uncomfortable to guess.

littlejane91

I used to weigh EVERYTHING but I found it to be quite antisocial and caused anxiety for me when I was eating outside of home and had no idea what the quantities of everything were... I definitely think it's a good tool to start with so you learn exactly what 100g of chicken looks like! Now I'll weigh higher calorie things like meats, nut butters, sauces, cheese, avocado etc but if its non-starchy veg or a piece of fruit I just use the MFP amounts i.e. "1 medium apple", "1/2 cucumber"

Lelah77

I love my food scale. I weigh all of my meats,pasta, rice, cheese, bread, etc. I pre-weigh things in portions and pack it in the fridge so I only have to think about it once. This saves me pulling out my scale every time I eat (we have a really small kitchen and everything has to be put away.)
I use measuring spoons for ALLLLLLL liquids. I bought several sets at the dollar store so I didn't have to wash them as often.
I use measurements (cups) for veggies and fruit. I weighed fruit when I started, but discovered the variations in things like bananas and clementines wasn't enough for me to be concerned about. I am rarely scraping at my calorie limit for the day. As for lettuce, etc., I usually measure that with cups as, again, the caloric value is so low that I don't mind variation.

jenilla1

I weigh and measure. Eyeballing and guesstimating don't work for me! When I'm eating out I have to estimate, of course, since I don't bring my scale, but I don't eat out enough to worry about it.

simplydelish2

I use a food scale and a set of measuring cups/spoons. Since I've been at this awhile, my eye-balling is about 99% accurate so I've slacked off with the measuring. However, once in awhile - just to make sure I'm on target, I'll eye-ball something and then actually weigh/measure to make sure.

It also helps if you know the capacity of the bowls you generally use - I agree the first time I measured and put my food in my bowl...I was very surprised at the amount the bowl held.

sendcassie

I used to weigh EVERYTHING but I found it to be quite antisocial and caused anxiety for me when I was eating outside of home and had no idea what the quantities of everything were... I definitely think it's a good tool to start with so you learn exactly what 100g of chicken looks like! Now I'll weigh higher calorie things like meats, nut butters, sauces, cheese, avocado etc but if its non-starchy veg or a piece of fruit I just use the MFP amounts i.e. "1 medium apple", "1/2 cucumber"

This X100. It's not a sustainable system to rely on for the rest of your life and will likely drive you crazy. I eyeball it most of the time. If I am not sure, I look up a reference and revise from there. There are better things to do with my time than weighing every ingredient that goes in my dinner. I might not be perfectly accurate, but it's close enough where it doesn't keep me up at night.

TheWorstHorse

i weigh the calorie-dense stuff: meats, nuts, and fats. i've weighed some foods that i now mostly measure: cereals, pastas, cottage cheese, yogurt. and i have learned how to relate weight to size, which is really handy when traveling or eating out. i don't carry scoops, measures or scales with me when i travel, to other people's homes or into restaurants as i think it would be neurotic of me to do so, especially if i am someone's guest.

does it work? in my experience, yes. for example, i just came back from a three week stint away from home (and my scale) in which i measured high calorie foods, eyeballed low calorie foods (lettuce, most vegetables, dreyers' fruit pops) and continued to lose a little more than a pound a week. this also reflects my broader experience: weigh what matters, calorie-wise, and measure the rest. then if your weight changes don't match expectations: move more stuff into the weigh-this category.

i have found that learning (a) how to determine portion size by eye, (b) learning how not pack a measuring cup, and (c) making adjustments as necessary are all important skills for long term weight maintenance.

express1975

I do use a food scale at home. I measure most of my food. I even measure liquids like milk and juices. My scale has both fluid ounces and ounces and I haven't seen a difference in the two. I also measure foods in grams. For me, portion control was the biggest factor I had to overcome. And when I go out to eat, I don't carry a scale, I just eyeball the food. Or sometimes chain restaurants have nutritional info on their website and I will use that info.
I have a good friend who manages a local restaurant and he says that portion size is a big deal for the restaurants because of money. His rule of thumb for most restaurants is the portions sizes are either 1/2 c or 1 cup. According to him, those are the two most common sizes of serving spoons. For smaller portions, it's usually 1oz.

nicsflyingcircus

I always weigh/measure. Mostly weigh.

ETA: I just ate 170g fage 2% greek yogurt, 141g raspberries, 79g strawberries and 30g vanilla protein powder. Yummy!

FatFreeFrolicking

I weigh everything.

giggitygoo

I weigh calorie dense foods.

I don't weigh lettuce, any greens really, tomatoes, celery etc.

malibu927

I weigh everything I eat at home

jtitus2014

I just started my lifestyle change this past Monday. I went yesterday and bought me a scale and I use it with all my foods. I also put all the big bowls away and use kid's bowls to make it seem like there is more.

sofitheteacup

Measuring foods for correct portion size is step one in most eating healthy guidelines.
That being said, I don't go to the extent of weighing and go by a combination of eyeballing and the package weight when using meat. Should ask my mom to ship my food scale back now that I've settled in upon relocating though.

srogers89

My meat, pastas and veggies yes, but not so much my salad/spinach/herbs/spices.

rosebette

I think it's the only way to ensure portion control, although my family hates it when I do it. I even brought my food scale on vacation. The "up" side is that I serve myself first and insist on getting my 4 oz. of protein. I'm in a house with 3 adult males. If they went first and I got what was left, I 'd end up with 2 oz. of meat or fish or whatever..

kimnsc

I measure and weigh everything. I stopped for a bit and just "eyeballed" it.....didn't work out well for me.

derrickyoung

If I make it at home or eating it at home I weigh it. If I am eating out I use the provided nutritional information from the web site. If i can not get the nutritional information in advance i don't eat there. 100% of the time without fail

Snip8241

I weigh solids, no exception. I measure liquids no exceptions. It works.

iMikky

I don't weigh my food anymore, what's the point. Whether I eat a strict 1500 everyday and feel like a miserable bean bag of flesh or I eat whatever I want and be as happy as a cricket, my weight will be what it will be. I eat what I want, I don't even count my calories anymore. At first I had a food addiction and I came on this website for help losing weight but everybody ignores me. Hell, they might even ignore this. The addiction is over now and now I only see food as energy and nothing more. My body tells me what to do.

joanthemom8

I didn't used to, but then when I started, I realized how much I was not estimating correctly. For example, I would just pour in my coffee creamer and count it as one service (1TBS = 35 cals) and I logged it once. BUT when I measured it, I was putting in 2 TBS, for each cup of coffee and I had 2 cups in the morning. So I was only logging 35 cals for creamer when in fact I was using about 140! Big difference. Made me realize all the other things I'd been doing wrong......:sad:

earlnabby

I weigh all of my solids and mushy stuff and measure all of my liquids. The only exceptions are things like green leafy vegetables or zero calorie items.

One thing I measure instead of weigh is my oatmeal. It is just easier to keep the 1/2 c measuring cup in the container and scoop out a level 1/2 c. One small exception is not going to derail all the rest of the precision.

leggup

I weigh everything (except at restaurants). I also quiz myself as I weigh things. For example, I parceled out what I thought 1 serving of pecans is to put on my salad for dinner. Then I zeroed out the scale and weighed the pecans. That way I'm actually learning instead of relying on the scale 100%. I've got most dry goods down pat. I'm a very bad guess when it comes to sauces and creams.

Atrocity108

I weigh everything at home, or I measure it.