Measuring foods

808Trish808

Hi folks! I'm relatively new to MFP and I've been trying to measure my foods. I having been using the barcode scanner for individual items. This might not sound so smart but my question is how do you measure foods that you cook like for instance beef stew. How do you know exactly how much you are eating or should be eating?

malibu927

Buy a food scale, weigh each ingredient you put in, enter it in the recipes to accurately count the calories.

roanokejoe49

What she said. Buy a food scale, weigh all the ingredients, and add to your log.

808Trish808

Thanks for your reply. So, you are saying like if I use a whole carrot or a potato, I weigh it before putting into the meal? How do I know how much I, myself, would be eating though?

808Trish808

Do I weigh my portion after all the veggies/meats are incorporated?

malibu927

The recipe calculator on here will allow you to determine how many servings. What many do is weigh it all together before cooking, divide by 100 grams for a serving, then weigh their portion out after it's ready.

pita7317

Click on food and then recipes.
Input all the ingredients and also decide how many servings it will make.
It will break it down for you, which you can then transfer one serving to your diary.
Personally, I prefer the old recipe calculator which you will find by scrolling down a bit on the right margin.
You can change the serving size at anytime if you don't like the numbers.
Takes a little time but if you want to cook from scratch and be accurate then that's the only way to go.
And it will always be there if you make the same thing again in the future.

itsbasschick

weigh the portion you're eating. if you eat half a carrot, weigh that half raw before you do anything with it. if you're eating part of a can of beef stew, weigh it and then do the math. i find almost everything prepacked i eat these days i try and eat in an easy to figure size - half a serving, an ounce, 1.5 servings, 85 grams (lots of foods i eat list that as 1 serving) and so on.

weighing can be pretty important - my husband's favorite bread lists a serving as a slice of 40 grams, but the only pieces that small are the ends. the rest are big slices ranging from 55 to 60 grams per slice, and stuff like that makes a big difference in overall calories.

if you're making something like a peanut butter sandwich, you can put the bread and plate or paper towel on the scale, then tare it to 0. then it's easy to weigh how much peanut butter you put on the bread!

btw, believe it or not, weighing gets fast and easy. i barely think about it, and it takes seconds as i'm so used to doing it. and i really don't mind, because weighing has made it possible for me to eat my favorite foods in amounts where i don't go over my calories. i've been losing very consistently, so my scale is my friend. i also got a set of measuring spoons and cups i keep hanging for quick measurements of liquids like milk.

808Trish808

You folks are so awesome! Now I can get this thing done! Thank you :flowerforyou:

deansdad101

You folks are so awesome! Now I can get this thing done! Thank you :flowerforyou:

Tlib;

Do yourself a favor and buy a good, digital kitchen scale with both oz and g scales AND a "tare" function.

Ounce and gram because many recipes use one or the other and it saves you having to do the conversions.

The "tare" function is a godsend - when measuring portions of various items (say meat and vegs) place the empty place on the scale and hit the "tare" button (scale resets to "0") add the meat to whatever weight you decide. "Tare" again and reset to zero. Add veg and weigh.

They are available pretty much anywhere or online (Amazon) for $25 - 30. Money well spent.

808Trish808

Thank you for the advice!

southernbuttercup

I use a scale, measuring cups and spoons as well. I also use google a lot to figure out how many grams equals how many ounces or how may tablespoons, etc. Oddly I kinda find it fun.

deansdad101

Thank you for the advice!

Trish;

You are most welcome and if you allow me a somewhat OT comment......

I looked at your diary and noticed your mention of the recent onset of diabetes (T2D I assume?)

If you haven't already, I'd encourage you in the strongest possible terms to at least look into reducing carbs. Your focus on weight loss is absolutely the correct thing to do as even a modest reduction will have significant effects and better your odds going forward but the evidence is pretty clear that carb reduction is an essential component for long term wellness.

If you are interested I'd suggest you head over to the Low Carber Daily Forum where there are a number of folks who can point you in the right direction with links to additional information.

This will take you there then look at the various topic threads
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1441533-low-carb-and-calorie-counting?page=2

tobybears1

But when you put it in your database does it come up with grams, oz, etc or just serving? I don't know what other people use as serving sizes.

amy19355

808Trish808 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. So, you are saying like if I use a whole carrot or a potato, I weigh it before putting into the meal? How do I know how much I, myself, would be eating though?

weigh the portion you think you are going to eat.
adjust the portion if its weight puts your calorie goals at risk.
save the leftovers for another meal.