Skip to content
  • Register
    • We are pleased to announce that on March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor will be introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the upcoming changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

    Food weight vs. volume: Eye openers!

    Posts: 420 Member
    edited December 2024 in Food and Nutrition
    SO I finally started using my food scale to get more accurate with my calorie count, and I really wish I'd done it sooner. It appears that when I've been guesstimating I've been ridiculously off. Especially when it comes to, say, fruit. I'll choose a size of apple from the options (ie. small, or medium, 3", etc.) and enter that, but in reality when I weigh the apple the calories are more. My biggest eye opener so far was with strawberries. I've been entering the 1/2 cup of strawberry halves, but boy can I pack a measuring cup with strawberries! If there was a Strawberry Tetris Championship I would win it. I was probably actually eating more than a cup, not a half-cup. It's only my second day of using the scale, so I'm sure I'll have more "doh!" moments to come.

    What have been your "eye-openers" since using the scale? Foods that you used to eyeball or measure and are now weighing because you were way off on the actual calories?!

    x

    Welcome!

    It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.
    Sign In
    Register

    Replies

    • Posts: 373 Member
      Bread often weighs more per slice than it says on the package. So I always weigh the bread to make sure.
    • Posts: 693 Member
      an ounce of cheese is rather small
    • Posts: 167 Member
      definitely apples and pears! I guess we just have really big apples lol I don't know what is considered medium.

      Also we buy the "green D'anjou pears" from Costco that say 166 grams is a pear and they are 100 calories. When I weigh them they are about 260 grams so calorie-wise more like 160 calories....
    • Posts: 394 Member
      LOL at strawberry Tetris!

      I was actually happy to find out how big an ounce of dark chocolate was. I refuse to deny myself dark chocolate! :love:
    • Posts: 578 Member
      In Weight Watchers fruits and veg have no points - they are "free" foods & can be eaten freely, regardless of size - with a few exeptions like bananas and avocados.
    • Posts: 3,218 Member
      Pasta! 2 ounces of whole wheat spaghetti is a fairly small amount.

      My food scale is indispensable to achieving my weight loss goals. Love it!
    • Posts: 572 Member
      I started weighing things a little over a week ago. I've found differences in cottage cheese, orange juice, protein powder and a few other. It's been really interesting.
    • Posts: 2,380 Member
      Meat, shredded cheese, and dry cereal were all huge eye-openers for me. I was WAY off on the 'serving size' for those items.
    • Posts: 420 Member
      In Weight Watchers fruits and veg have no points - they are "free" foods & can be eaten freely, regardless of size - with a few exeptions like bananas and avocados.
      Wha?! That seems wacky to me.
    • Posts: 486 Member
      I've never focused much on fruits like apples or oranges. Maybe I should. My biggest eye opener was the tablespoon. Sometimes I'd completely overdo it, and sometimes I'd completely under do it. And overdoing a tablespoon of peanut butter is a major calorie bump. Oils too. I also had no idea how big a serving of salad greens could be. I needed a big bowl--a really big bowl--to eat my salad the other day. I was stuffed with just the greens and a low-cal dressing. Who knew? Then there was butter and cheese. Because I was on a "diet," I thought I was allowed far less than I could actually have. That's like finding a fiver in your pocket. So I've had eye opening experiences that were both positive and negative. I can't imagine not using a scale anymore. Even my boyfriend says, "You know, that's one thing you are really consistent about." Yeah, because it makes all the difference now.
    • Posts: 99 Member
      HOW MUCH DOES DELI MEAT WEIGH? I have no idea. I just say 2 ounces, but I really don't know how much a "typical" slice of deli turkey/ham/chicken weighs. I'm losing weight fine, but I do wonder if I'm lying when i enter the deli meat each day.
    • Posts: 117
      I weigh everything and have done since I started eating healthier. It's SUCH a big help. My biggest eye opener has been cereal - I have 27g of Bran Flakes every morning and when I first started doing this I was SHOCKED at how little that was compared to what I used to have! I was sceptical but 27g is just enough to stop me from being hungry til lunch, so I really didn't need to have so much anyway!
    • Posts: 151 Member
      Got used to use the scale.... not the most precise but defi itely gives an idea..... might upgrade for a digital one someday :-)
    • Posts: 6,296 Member
      cheese was the biggest happy surprise for me. I was told 1 oz of cheese looks like a pair of dice. When I weigh out an ounce, it looks much bigger than any dice I have used :)

      Also, I was pleasantly surprised how much 3 ounces of linguine is. I had been way underserving myself on pasta.
    • Posts: 486 Member
      I weigh everything and have done since I started eating healthier. It's SUCH a big help. My biggest eye opener has been cereal - I have 27g of Bran Flakes every morning and when I first started doing this I was SHOCKED at how little that was compared to what I used to have! I was sceptical but 27g is just enough to stop me from being hungry til lunch, so I really didn't need to have so much anyway!

      This. About the cereal. Having a "bowl" of cereal was like actually having 3 servings of cereal. Crazy what you learn.
    • Posts: 373 Member
      show previous quotes
      Wha?! That seems wacky to me.

      The free fruit and veggie is incorporated into to the points allowance. And it is not a free for all, it is free because it is assumed you will only eat the recommended daily allowance. When I did weight watchers only veggies was free, when they switched to free fruit alot of people actually started gaining weight because they saw it as a free for all.
    • Posts: 168
      I don't worry so much about weighing fruit. I weigh meat. Chicken and fish mostly. I was over estimating the fish which means I can have more. The only thing I wonder about is raw and cooked. It's all a best estimate on most of it anyway. Oh and I weigh my home fries. That way I know how much I can have and its a lot really. I just cut up a potato, spray it with canola oil Pam, a very little salt and pepper and roast on a sheet pan in the oven. So yummy.
    • Posts: 62
      Most of the time the only thing I use my scale for is meat because to eye ball a 4oz hamburgh is just way to hard I always want mine to be bigger. But I have weight other thing but I don't want to have to weigh every little thing I eat and to be honest everything is an estimated there isn't a food out there you will find that will be dead on. So if you want the whole picture weight everything.
    • Posts: 143
      Got used to use the scale.... not the most precise but defi itely gives an idea..... might upgrade for a digital one someday :-)



      digital scales are awesome, and fun to play with!!
    • Posts: 9
      I have found that I consume much more sodium than i had thought. It is hidden everywhere and adds up big time even if you don't reach for the salt shaker.
    • Posts: 530 Member
      In Weight Watchers fruits and veg have no points - they are "free" foods & can be eaten freely, regardless of size - with a few exeptions like bananas and avocados.
      Wha?! That seems wacky to me.
      The free fruit and veggie is incorporated into to the points allowance. And it is not a free for all, it is free because it is assumed you will only eat the recommended daily allowance. When I did weight watchers only veggies was free, when they switched to free fruit alot of people actually started gaining weight because they saw it as a free for all.
      I did Slimming World for my first 2 stone (only quit because I moved country) and not only is fruit (fresh and not pureed) and veg free, so is pasta, potato, rice, lean meat and fish and a boat load of branded food. Sounds wacky but it works!!! I'm living proof :bigsmile:
    • Posts: 460 Member
      Cereal and cheese. A serving of cereal is miniscule! I either have that serving and bump it up with fruit or have 3 servings and try not to worry about it. Cheese seems to be one of those dense foods that weighs a lot given it's relatively small volume.
    • Posts: 197 Member
      My food scale really helped me - I was over estimating, on EVERYTHING - when I weighed it out I couldn't believe it - I thought I'd be having 400g of strawberries and it was only 150g. I'm REALLY bad at estimating apparently :(
    • Posts: 1,194 Member
      My lastest was cocoa powder. Not a high calorie item, but still. I figured my giant heaping teaspoons would equal a tablespoon. Lol! By weight it was SIX! Weigh everything you can unless you want to kid yourself! I use cup measurements in a pinch and eyeball measurements as a last resort like when my DH cooks or I go out to eat which is probably laughable!
    • Posts: 1,689 Member
      My food scale really helped me - I was over estimating, on EVERYTHING - when I weighed it out I couldn't believe it - I thought I'd be having 400g of strawberries and it was only 150g. I'm REALLY bad at estimating apparently :(

      I did this too. Was very happy to find out I could eat more.
    • Posts: 96
      This is like a huge coincidence, I don't like making pasta because I'm never sure how much I'm eating. I made 4 cups of raw noodles and then ate two bowls but I'm just not sure how much I really ate because the weight changes once it's cooked and I always make sea shells rather than spaghetti or macaroni.
    • Posts: 677 Member
      Man, I love my food scale!

      I have been pleasantly surprised by weighing. I can get a lot more of the frozen veggies, fruit and greek yogurt than I could with measuring cups.
      Meat was an eye opener. My hamburger patties from Costco are over 400 calories! (I still eat them of course :smile: )
      The gigantic Costco chicken breasts pack a punch, too.

      I feel slightly OCD about the scale but I :heart: it.
    • Posts: 96
      show previous quotes
      show previous quotes
      show previous quotes
      I did Slimming World for my first 2 stone (only quit because I moved country) and not only is fruit (fresh and not pureed) and veg free, so is pasta, potato, rice, lean meat and fish and a boat load of branded food. Sounds wacky but it works!!! I'm living proof :bigsmile:

      I'm a little confused by this. Does that mean everything is free? How do u measure...do u measure?
    • Posts: 507 Member
      I've been entering the 1/2 cup of strawberry halves, but boy can I pack a measuring cup with strawberries! If there was a Strawberry Tetris Championship I would win it.

      LMAO.
    This discussion has been closed.

    Welcome!

    It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.
    Sign In
    Register

    Quick Links

    Categories