The age old question!

mustnothrowcantelopes

Wasn't sure where this was supposed to go , but, I want to get a more accurate log when I do my measurements. Since a lot of things are a cup or parts of a cup, I wanted to know, when the things on website refer to that, what kind of cup should I actually be using? I don't really own a measuring cup. I know that I should go buy one, but I'm not even sure if they are referring to a measuring cup. Anyone else encounter this issue?

I started paying attention to it most recently when I was measuring out yogurt for breakfast tomorrow. I measured a full cup, but for some reason it seemed like more than a full cup. Here is a photo of what I use for a lot of my measurements. I really hope I haven't bee overestimating:

taso42_DELETED

A "cup" in terms of measure is 8oz. The mug in your picture looks about 16 oz, so about 2 cups.

ladyhawk00

Measuring is important. It really is worth it to head out and get some good measuring cups, spoons - and a food scale. For some things, measuring cups/spoons are sufficient. But for a lot of things, it's better to weigh it.

A set of basic cups/spoons isn't too expensive and a they have basic scales at Wal-mart for $10-20. It will really help as it's VERY easy to be quite inaccurate if you're guessing or using a non-standard dish to measure.

mustnothrowcantelopes

Wow. that's really depressing. So I might have actually been going over my calories every single day. I'm going to go crawl into a hole now. Well, at least now I know that the picture is showing up. It's not showing up on my end.

mustnothrowcantelopes

I don't know if I'd actually buy a scale. I know that works for some people , but that would just drive me crazy. Where would I buy a measuring cup ?

MsPitt

Wow. that's really depressing. So I might have actually been going over my calories every single day.

^ Have you been getting healthy results so far? If yes, why worry about the past?

ladyhawk00

It's actually the wrong code to use for MFP, so it's not showing up, but he copied and pasted it into his browser.
Here's a tutorial on posting pics:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/104076-posting-pictures-on-the-boards-tutorial

And don't be discouraged. At least now you know and can start measuring correctly.

You can get measuring cups at most department/discount stores like Wal-mart, Target, etc or even order them online at amazon.

theresnoeggs

walmart any dollar store, get a liquid measuring cup, and a set of measuring spoons as well.

mustnothrowcantelopes

thanks for the tut link , lady hawk. Maybe that's why I haven't been meeting my weight loss goal. I looked at a picture of a measuring cup online and that's seriously depressing. A cup apparently is tiny. Maybe this is why "diet" has the word "die" in it, because when you're doing it, you feel like you're going to die.

UPDATE: I opened my cabinet door, looked up and lo and behold............I found a measuring cup that I didn't even know existed. randomly says: "world's greatest mom" on it. I don't know if if it's because I specifically measured "yogurt" , but I dumped the whole thing into the measuring cup and it was maybe a drop over a cup, so yeah, I'm feel slightly better now. I'm definitely going to use it the measuring cup from now on and hopefully I won't be intimidated by the small amount. On the upside, I can honestly say, I've been underestimating how much water I've been drinking. Either that or the cup I put in the picture just looks bigger than it actually is?

torregro

Measuring things really helps you to develop an "eye" for portion size which helps out enormously later on when you're eating away from home.
I have a digital postal scale that I do bring down to the kitchen once in a while, because some foods just are easier to weigh than measure....like dry pasta. I also weighed up some watermelon yesterday so that I could visualize what a cup of watermelon looks like without having to dice it up and cram it into a cup.
The reason I started measuring in the first place was that I poured myself a typical bowl of cereal in the morning and then measured it out to find that MY typical bowl of cereal was 2.5 portions of the size listed on the box.........now I'm eating better and don't have to buy cereal nearly as often! LOL

Atlantique

I agree that it's important to have measuring cups and spoons and a food scale.

Keep in mind that there are two kinds of measuring cups: one for liquids and one for dry matter. You need both.

For many things, it's preferable to use the food scale though, even if the package says it can be meausured in cups. Cereal is a great example of that, in fact. At the top of the box, where all the flakes are whole, a cup of cereal is LESS cereal than it will be at the bottom of the box, with all the broken pieces. I weigh it.

Meats also need to be weighed.

I was pretty shocked when I bought a food scale. I had been really overestimating some things (like meats) and underestimating others, even though I religiously used my measuring cups and spoons.

Atlantique

thanks for the tut link , lady hawk. Maybe that's why I haven't been meeting my weight loss goal. I looked at a picture of a measuring cup online and that's seriously depressing. A cup apparently is tiny. Maybe this is why "diet" has the word "die" in it, because when you're doing it, you feel like you're going to die.

UPDATE: I opened my cabinet door, looked up and lo and behold............I found a measuring cup that I didn't even know existed. randomly says: "world's greatest mom" on it. I don't know if if it's because I specifically measured "yogurt" , but I dumped the whole thing into the measuring cup and it was maybe a drop over a cup, so yeah, I'm feel slightly better now. I'm definitely going to use it the measuring cup from now on and hopefully I won't be intimidated by the small amount. On the upside, I can honestly say, I've been underestimating how much water I've been drinking. Either that or the cup I put in the picture just looks bigger than it actually is?

The mug you posted looks like an ordinary coffee mug to me. It's probably 10-16 fluid ounces. Most of them are.

ocsurfmama

I use a set of measuring cups for dry ingredients, and a liquid measuring cup for any liquid measuring needed. I don't use a food scale but I go by the meat protein portion no bigger than the palm of my hand for 6 oz. I always check the weight of the meat packages for exact weight and then divide it by the size portion I am having.

Walmart and Target have measuring sets that are sturdy and if you get the metal ones they clean up better than plastic and will give you a true measure since they are not flexible.