Weighing/Measuring food

stacyjh1979

This is probably a dumb question but I've looked around and don't see the answer. If there is one please direct me to it and forgive me for asking a question everyone has answered before.

I started on MFP about a month ago. Prior to that I was "watching" what I ate but not tracking calories or anything. Once I started I did begin measuring things using measuring cups. I recently pulled out my food scale (old school not electronic) because I see a lot of people advising that weighing is better than measure. I'm a little confused on how to do this.

For example: Before when I would eat Watermelon I would eat 1 cup and I measured it the best I could by putting it into a measuring cup. The other day I put it on my food scale and then I got confused. I know one cup is 8oz but I guess that is with fluid oz? So if I'm measuring on a food scale something solid like watermelon I don't want 8oz? I guess I'm confused of what to measure and what to weigh. I had a banana this morning and I peeled it and put it on the scale and it was 100g which was helpful because I could log it correctly rather than saying it was "small medium or large" which requires a judgement rather than a factual number. Any help is appreciated I have never weighed food before and unsure if some things (like pasta for example) should still be measured in a cup and if not how do i know what it should weigh?

diannethegeek

Measure liquids and weigh solids.

I really like these two threads for more details on how to get your logging more accurate:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1290491-how-and-why-to-use-a-digital-food-scale

Francl27

There are fluid ounces and solid ounces... it's not the same thing at all. One ounce is 28g, so you can go from there.

Never use cups for solids - it's only accurate for liquids.

cwolfman13

This is probably a dumb question but I've looked around and don't see the answer. If there is one please direct me to it and forgive me for asking a question everyone has answered before.

I started on MFP about a month ago. Prior to that I was "watching" what I ate but not tracking calories or anything. Once I started I did begin measuring things using measuring cups. I recently pulled out my food scale (old school not electronic) because I see a lot of people advising that weighing is better than measure. I'm a little confused on how to do this.

For example: Before when I would eat Watermelon I would eat 1 cup and I measured it the best I could by putting it into a measuring cup. The other day I put it on my food scale and then I got confused. I know one cup is 8oz but I guess that is with fluid oz? So if I'm measuring on a food scale something solid like watermelon I don't want 8oz? I guess I'm confused of what to measure and what to weigh. I had a banana this morning and I peeled it and put it on the scale and it was 100g which was helpful because I could log it correctly rather than saying it was "small medium or large" which requires a judgement rather than a factual number. Any help is appreciated I have never weighed food before and unsure if some things (like pasta for example) should still be measured in a cup and if not how do i know what it should weigh?

You would want to look up your watermelon serving by weight, not cup.. or whatever...fluid ounces aren't the same. Basically the same exact thing as you did with the banana...weigh your watermelon...it's 85 grams or whatever...that's what you log.

stacyjh1979

Thank you, I was really confused because prior to getting the scale I was logging as cups and I had no problem finding them in the database..."2 cups of broccoli" or "2 cups of watermelon" etc. If those shouldn't be measured by "cups" I wonder why they are even in the database? I wonder how far off I've been on what I was eating but at least it's been mostly fruits and veggies.

One additional question I guess is how do I know what the weight should be? Like if I make a boxed pasta side for example it tells me the nutritional info is for 1 cup prepared...how do I measure that?

Francl27

Thank you, I was really confused because prior to getting the scale I was logging as cups and I had no problem finding them in the database..."2 cups of broccoli" or "2 cups of watermelon" etc. If those shouldn't be measured by "cups" I wonder why they are even in the database? I wonder how far off I've been on what I was eating but at least it's been mostly fruits and veggies.

One additional question I guess is how do I know what the weight should be? Like if I make a boxed pasta side for example it tells me the nutritional info is for 1 cup prepared...how do I measure that?

My guess is that it's because it's easier for people to estimate how much they are eating by cups than grams.. which I admit I do if I eat out.

Most packages should tell you how many grams is a serving. Frankly I haven't seen any that doesn't. For pasta anyway you want to weigh it dry (a serving is 56g dry, always), as the cooked weight varies depending on how long you cook them.

stacyjh1979

Thank you, I was really confused because prior to getting the scale I was logging as cups and I had no problem finding them in the database..."2 cups of broccoli" or "2 cups of watermelon" etc. If those shouldn't be measured by "cups" I wonder why they are even in the database? I wonder how far off I've been on what I was eating but at least it's been mostly fruits and veggies.

One additional question I guess is how do I know what the weight should be? Like if I make a boxed pasta side for example it tells me the nutritional info is for 1 cup prepared...how do I measure that?

My guess is that it's because it's easier for people to estimate how much they are eating by cups than grams.. which I admit I do if I eat out.

Most packages should tell you how many grams is a serving. Frankly I haven't seen any that doesn't. For pasta anyway you want to weigh it dry (a serving is 56g dry, always), as the cooked weight varies depending on how long you cook them.

Thank you, that makes sense. I guess my only concern is if I'm making for instance a package of rice that has multiple servings and I'm going to take just one serving and give the rest to my husband and son I'm going to cook the whole package at once so if I have to measure it dry I couldn't do that. I'm sure I'm complicating it! I appreciate the info though

Francl27

Thank you, I was really confused because prior to getting the scale I was logging as cups and I had no problem finding them in the database..."2 cups of broccoli" or "2 cups of watermelon" etc. If those shouldn't be measured by "cups" I wonder why they are even in the database? I wonder how far off I've been on what I was eating but at least it's been mostly fruits and veggies.

One additional question I guess is how do I know what the weight should be? Like if I make a boxed pasta side for example it tells me the nutritional info is for 1 cup prepared...how do I measure that?

My guess is that it's because it's easier for people to estimate how much they are eating by cups than grams.. which I admit I do if I eat out.

Most packages should tell you how many grams is a serving. Frankly I haven't seen any that doesn't. For pasta anyway you want to weigh it dry (a serving is 56g dry, always), as the cooked weight varies depending on how long you cook them.

Thank you, that makes sense. I guess my only concern is if I'm making for instance a package of rice that has multiple servings and I'm going to take just one serving and give the rest to my husband and son I'm going to cook the whole package at once so if I have to measure it dry I couldn't do that. I'm sure I'm complicating it! I appreciate the info though

You can. It's just a bit annoying. Weigh the dry rice to see how much is in a package. Let's say you get 200g dry, and a serving is 48g. 200/48 means there are 4.16 servings in the bag. Cook it, then weigh it cooked... let's say it's 420g cooked. That's still 4.16 servings... so 420/4.16 is about 101g a serving of cooked rice.

You can use the generic 'cooked rice' entries but I was shocked to see that they were off by 30% when I compared it to my own values.

crystalewhite

If you do want to upgrade to a digital, here is the one I have and love!

http://www.amazon.com/EatSmart-Precision-Digital-Kitchen-Silver/dp/B001N07KUE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1410895661&sr=8-2&keywords=digital+food+scale

stacyjh1979

If you do want to upgrade to a digital, here is the one I have and love!

http://www.amazon.com/EatSmart-Precision-Digital-Kitchen-Silver/dp/B001N07KUE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1410895661&sr=8-2&keywords=digital+food+scale

Thank you, I was literally just on amazon looking LOL