Do you weigh your food?

cjdavies82

I always weigh my food, the mistake I made before was weighing uncooked chicken, I'm aiming for 100g and weighed to that, after cooking it I thought it was tiny so weighed it again and it was only 50g.

I may buy myself an eletric scale for a more accurate result.

CherrySunday

Investing in our food scale, is probably one of THE best choices I ever made. If you've got a problem with portions (ME!), I think it's the best thing you can do for yourself.

kje2011

Meant to put in the original post... I weigh everything, and the scale makes it easy... for my protein smoothies I put the cup on and zero the scale, add yogurt to the weight I want... zero the scale... add frozen berries to the weight I want... zero.... add protein powder... zero... add juice if I want more of a drink than a spoon required item.... blend and drink. Cereal is add the bowl... zero... add the cereal... zero... add the berries.... enjoy... don't dirty any additional cups or spoons by adding it all straight to what its being eaten from.

That is the advantage of the scale! love it

Hearts_2015

Absolutely! I now weigh nearly everything in grams for even more accuracy for myself. So instead of putting my veggies in a measuring cup I now weigh everything! What a huge difference and makes it so much easier.

My Salter brand scale switches over from grams to oz. Chicken I weight in oz., certain other types of food I weigh in grams as it's too easy to shove too much into the measuring cups without realizing it. :blushing:

Works for me:happy:

princess4mimi

Meant to put in the original post... I weigh everything, and the scale makes it easy... for my protein smoothies I put the cup on and zero the scale, add yogurt to the weight I want... zero the scale... add frozen berries to the weight I want... zero.... add protein powder... zero... add juice if I want more of a drink than a spoon required item.... blend and drink. Cereal is add the bowl... zero... add the cereal... zero... add the berries.... enjoy... don't dirty any additional cups or spoons by adding it all straight to what its being eaten from.

Thanks for the tips, when I finally get one I will DEFINITELY WANT TO IMPLEMENT THIS STRATEGY!!!!!! Yay!!! :-)

serenademechris

Yes, I weigh and measure most of my meals. I bought a digital scale. I had plateaued in my weight loss ab out a month ago, so I started measuring my food. I noticed a BIG difference in my weight loss.

chevy88grl

I don't weight my food. To me, it's just too much. I have been known to measure out mashed potatoes or whatever when I have it the first time, but I don't weigh chicken or anything like that. I tend to go more for items that have an exact amount (like 25 pieces vs ounces).

I just don't feel like - for me - it is necessary. And since I can't take it with me everywhere I go, I don't want to rely too heavily on it. I figure if I'm close - it's good enough for me.

chevy88grl

I don't weigh my food, but I do measure some. The measuring has given me some insight on portions (I was disappointed to see how little cereal is actually in a cup) and what I should be aiming for.

Added oils, sauces etc. I measure by a conventional set of spoons, making sure not to overfill.

I measure dry and wet ingredients by cup measures. My breakfast is almost always cereal, almond milk and berries. All of it is measured but not weighed. I use bulk Greek yogurt and just divide the container into rough portions, knowing that I am over or under on some servings.

Honestly, I do not weigh or measure or weigh most of my fruits and vegetables, and they constitute a large portion of my diet. I know that if I have a piece of pita bread (or an apple or a zucchini) and the estimate count per serving is 100 calories, I could be getting plus or minus, since they are not uniform in size. This has been okay for me since I have a tendency to over-estimate (I know the literature says people underestimate, you'll just have to trust that I don't) my calories.

I completely understand why people measure and weigh and I wholly support their choice to do so. For me, to do so would lead to obsessive behavior with negative consequences since I have struggled with eating disorders. NOT weighing and measuring (controlling) every piece of piece of food that I put in my mouth is actually a healthy step for me. Otherwise, I would be counting out alfalfa sprouts one by one or shaving little pieces of carrots until I reached a "perfect" weight.

Like you, I think weighing every single thing would make me too obsessive also. I do measure stuff out (1/4 of a cup, 1 teaspoon, etc). And I've realized it is good enough for me.

runlorirun

I weight and measure everything. I have tried eyeballing in the past and have always ended up with more than what I thought it should have been.

Jenscan

I measure most things, but I don't weigh my food.

g_warne

Only rarely. I do if I feel I have no grasp on how large a portion of a new food is (such as the first time of eating a new cereal), but other than that I just try and use small portions. For me, it becomes too obsessive if I weigh everything. I just find in takes over my life and stresses me out. I'm already stressed enough!

skinnyhopes

No, I think that's a little obsessive.

a_stronger_steph

I weigh most of my food. Especially cheese. Holy crap, cheese is a hard food to judge! It's to the point now where I am pretty good at eyeballing a 13g serving of cheddar, but when I first started, I'd have cut a 25g block off and said it was 15g, for sure.

I can totally understand how some people who are prone to obsessive disorders or who get addicted/obsessed easily wouldn't want to weigh their food, but I am getting a little ticked off at the people who think that those of us who do weigh our food are ipso facto obsessive. We're not. It's just helpful. Yeesh.

nursekj

I weigh about 50% of my food as I estimate others, mostly fruit or I use metric jug to measure mls or cups.

kr3851

When I first bought home my food scale two weeks ago, my housemate rolled her eyes and said 'oh, you're not going to get obsessive over this are you?'.

That really p****ed me off. I have over 50kg to lose, while she has 10kg. Yes, we've joined a gym. Yes, we have a trainer. Yes, we motivate each other. But seriously, she has no idea what I'm going through. I know my portion sizes are crazy, and I need to work out how to control what goes in, just like I control what goes out. I had no idea what a healthy serving of ANYTHING was. I don't obsessively weigh everything. I just weigh if I'm chopping up chicken breast (into convenient 100g portions, but at least I know they're all roughly the same), or vegies for the week to know what I'm putting in my body. Rice and pasta as well. I'm not giving up the foods I crave... I'm just having sensible portions of them. I'm sure after a few months of learning what portion sizes for all the foods are that I eat, I won't need to be so precise about it.

Knowledge is power.

redheadmommy

I weigh protein sources( meat, fish, poultry, cheese, legumes), because i really have hard time to judge. I use measuring cups for carbs like pasta, rice, mashed potato, but I donot eat much of those anyway. The other carbs I eat are self explanatory like presliced bred, bagel, etc since it is on the package.

Fruit and veggies, I just judge based on size and the plate or bowl I am eating it.

ceirawillsucceed

i weigh everything. i find it really helps me as i am no good at judging what something weighs just by looking. also alot of packaging says weight by portion size so you assume thats right but then you find what you have actually weighs less and so less calories. for example a small banana is 100g but i weighed mine and it was 86g.

cjdavies82

Just purchased an electronic reading weighing scale, much better than my old one.

Atlantique

Meant to put in the original post... I weigh everything, and the scale makes it easy... for my protein smoothies I put the cup on and zero the scale, add yogurt to the weight I want... zero the scale... add frozen berries to the weight I want... zero.... add protein powder... zero... add juice if I want more of a drink than a spoon required item.... blend and drink. Cereal is add the bowl... zero... add the cereal... zero... add the berries.... enjoy... don't dirty any additional cups or spoons by adding it all straight to what its being eaten from.

Thanks for the tips, when I finally get one I will DEFINITELY WANT TO IMPLEMENT THIS STRATEGY!!!!!! Yay!!! :-)

When you go shopping for a food scale, you will need one that can "tare" to do this.

milehighcritic

I agree, the food scale is one of my best purchases. I weigh my food most of the time. It has helped with judging portion size even when the scale is unavailable.

dleithaus

Weighing is the only reliable way to measure portions.
I only wish that MFP would make the RAW designation clearer when I am looking up foods.
I weigh before cooking... hardly ever after...

And as a side story, I allowed myself some McDonalds fries last week. They gave me a medium portion, and with my scale, I weighed out exactly what I wanted... the small portion! Tossing those excess fries was easy after weighing...

wanttogetskinny

Yes, I've weighed my food for a long time because I have Type 1 diabetes. However, it used to be weighing things like potato chips, haha. Now it's weighing fruits and veggies!

redheadmommy

Weighing is the only reliable way to measure portions.
I only wish that MFP would make the RAW designation clearer when I am looking up foods.
I weigh before cooking... hardly ever after...

i am with you on this! I do not weight fruits & veggies, but I do measure meat products, and I have a hard time to record it. The weight of a steak or chicken change a lot with cooking; they can shrink 25-30% . I weigh them RAW and try to guess the shrinkage to record as cooked, but I know that is not exactly accurate.

Airliner

I have weighed from the start, and you are so correct, it's the only way to go! WOW what a wake up when you really work to make things accurate!

Airliner

Hi Red,

You might be surprised (as I was) if you were to try weighing a few fruits. For example, I was weighing some Braeburn apples that I thought were "medium". Holy moly, they were TWICE the weight of a "medium" ... hence DOUBLE the sugar content and DOUBLE the calories. I would have been off by a hundred calories or so. So now I weigh everything and am confident of accuracy. Part of the reason, I think, that I have enjoyed great results from MFP!

redheadmommy

Hi Red,

You might be surprised (as I was) if you were to try weighing a few fruits. For example, I was weighing some Braeburn apples that I thought were "medium". Holy moly, they were TWICE the weight of a "medium" ... hence DOUBLE the sugar content and DOUBLE the calories. I would have been off by a hundred calories or so. So now I weigh everything and am confident of accuracy. Part of the reason, I think, that I have enjoyed great results from MFP!

Hmm, maybe you are right, but I usually go by the size measurements.Fruits that have small/medium/large size usually states the diameter, and I think that is a good proxy. Also often i eat apple/pear / banana etc at work on the go an whatever places. I would look a bit crazy if I carry my kitchen scale in my purse , LOL

atsteele

When I first bought home my food scale two weeks ago, my housemate rolled her eyes and said 'oh, you're not going to get obsessive over this are you?'.

That really p****ed me off. I have over 50kg to lose, while she has 10kg. Yes, we've joined a gym. Yes, we have a trainer. Yes, we motivate each other. But seriously, she has no idea what I'm going through. I know my portion sizes are crazy, and I need to work out how to control what goes in, just like I control what goes out. I had no idea what a healthy serving of ANYTHING was. I don't obsessively weigh everything. I just weigh if I'm chopping up chicken breast (into convenient 100g portions, but at least I know they're all roughly the same), or vegies for the week to know what I'm putting in my body. Rice and pasta as well. I'm not giving up the foods I crave... I'm just having sensible portions of them. I'm sure after a few months of learning what portion sizes for all the foods are that I eat, I won't need to be so precise about it.

Knowledge is power.

Just bought my first food scale a few months ago and I LOVE IT!! I dont weigh everything but it sure comes in handy when the serving size is listed in ounces!! Pluse who cares if we are a little OCD?!! If it works, do it!!