Measuring food

swest222

Do you actually measure everything or guess?

I'm speaking specifically about meats ... I measure anything that can be measured properly with a cup or spoon measurement but I have no idea how much my chicken breasts weighs in oz for example ...

Do you have a food scale?

cheerforsteelers

I try and prepare meals the night before so I'm able to weigh everything out. I do have a scale that I got off of groupon and it has different settings like ounces and grams. It helps me realize how much I'm eating of everything and where I need to modify in terms of portions.

SONIA820

I use my food scale for EVERYTHING!! I love it!!

IronSmasher

Nothing can be measured correctly with a cup or a spoon.

That's why we have scales.

ElderMae

I'm usually try to put everything on the scale but sometimes just eyeball it. For meat I like to weigh it out because my idea of a serving and the reality of a serving haven't quite lined up yet

HelenDootson

I weigh everything!!

droogievesch

I just got a food scale (they're not that expensive). My question is: Do I measure my meat raw or cooked? A 5oz steak raw ends up being a lot less once it's cooked.

missashley884

i would rather weigh my stuff.

swest222

Nothing can be measured correctly with a cup or a spoon.

That's why we have scales.

Sorry for my ignorance but if I'm having a cup of milk, can I not just measure it in a cup?
Or a tsp of peanut butter etc?

missashley884

I just got a food scale (they're not that expensive). My question is: Do I measure my meat raw or cooked? A 5oz steak raw ends up being a lot less once it's cooked.

i usually weigh it raw

ShannonMpls

I use a food scale for anything calorie dense or easy to weight. Meat, fruit, grains, nuts, yogurt, etc. LOVE my food scale and I probably use it ten times a day or more. The only foods I don't use it with are liquids (measuring cup instead), greens like spinach or lettuce (too few calories for me to care about a gram here or there), and things like bread where the calorie count is per slice. Though fun fact: bread often weighs more than it ought to so you're consuming more calories than you think. I just don't care enough to weigh and do the math

swest222

I just got a food scale (they're not that expensive). My question is: Do I measure my meat raw or cooked? A 5oz steak raw ends up being a lot less once it's cooked.

Great question! I'd like to hear the answer to that too ...

missashley884

Nothing can be measured correctly with a cup or a spoon.

That's why we have scales.

Sorry for my ignorance but if I'm having a cup of milk, can I not just measure it in a cup?
Or a tsp of peanut butter etc?

lol liquids i would say are ok to measure, because they have the same density, as for the other stuff, weigh!

moss11

Yip! I weigh everything I can. Fruit, veg, cheese, meat, cereal, nuts practically everything. It's been a real eye opener particularly baking potatoes!!!!!!

sarabluebell

i use my scale for as much as i can...what a serving is and what i want a serving to be often differs,,,this way i know for sure

robinhardysmall

I weigh everything~ to the gram or ounce! and had much better success since starting to do so. I don't care if it is pretzels, chicken, steak, peas, etc...everything gets weighed.

ShannonMpls

Sorry for my ignorance but if I'm having a cup of milk, can I not just measure it in a cup?
Or a tsp of peanut butter etc?

Liquids are typically measured in a measuring cup and the calories are determined by milliliters, not grams/ounces. Therefore, yes - use the measuring cup for liquids. It's pretty rare for a nutrition label to list info for liquid in grams.

For peanut butter, I use a scale.

prairiedawg2014

i use a flat digital food scale and i measure everything. that scale helps me tremendously! they aren't expensive....i think i paid $25

AZKristi

I estimate the weight of meat based on how much I prepare and what portion of the prepared meat I eat. So, If I cook a one pound package of chicken and I eat 1/4 of it, I enter 4 ounces of chicken in my diary.

crystal_darling

I usually guess based on what the meat deparment put on it. For example yestarday I bought 2 chicken breasts and they were a little over a pound, I ate one and my bf ate one. Since there are 16 ounces in a pound I cut it in half, so 8, and added a few more ounces just incase.

ShannonMpls

I just got a food scale (they're not that expensive). My question is: Do I measure my meat raw or cooked? A 5oz steak raw ends up being a lot less once it's cooked.

Meat labels are usually for the raw weight. If you're using the MFP database, just choose the database item that matches the state of your meat.

I most always weigh my meat raw, so I search for "chicken breast raw" and use the entry for that.

I sometimes forget to weigh it raw, so then I search for "chicken breast cooked" and use that entry. However, I don't think that's as accurate. If you cook the *kitten* out of chicken, it's going to weigh less than a moist, perfectly cooked piece of chicken but the calorie count won't change.

muwchck

I weigh everything. I got a digital food scale off ebay for $10, and it was worth every penny.

hollyNhollywood

I'm vegetarian, so I don't measure meat :-)
But I have bought a scale and I would say -- get one!
I just decided to use the scale to measure my 2 TBS of 'better n peanut butter'. And what I thought was 2TBS/1 serving was actually almost 2 servings!
Yikes!
I love it as it takes the guesswork out of things.

medicinemantoo

add to this if you want to...

only fish have scales

in response to your question about chicken - i just average the weight i think i eat out of each pack of chicken. sure, some meals may be over or under, but that really doesn't matter. it's the lifestyle of what you eat and "about" how much you eat.

:bigsmile:

ggcat

I mostly eye it or do the calculation based on portion size. I worked in the restaurant industry for 15 years- I have good idea of what 4, 6, and 8 ounces are. I try and keep my portions at 4 and occasionally 6.

I have been thinking about getting a scale....hmmmmm

SmartAlec03211988

I weigh/measure everything on a scale.

Turns out my measuring cups were way off. My "one cup" (240 mL) was actually only 208 mL, and so on. Yay for scales.

medicinemantoo

I mostly eye it or do the calculation based on portion size. I worked in the restaurant industry for 15 years- I have good idea of what 4, 6, and 8 ounces are. I try and keep my portions at 4 and occasionally 6.

I have been thinking about getting a scale....hmmmmm

maybe a new helmet too?

medicinemantoo

i find some of this stuff weird, i.e. if 8oz is a cup, and a bag of lettuce is 12oz and the bag says it has 4 servings of 2 cups; wait a minute! the bag is short isn't it?! what do i have to do? eat the bag too?!

just eat healthy friends :happy:

swest222

I mostly eye it or do the calculation based on portion size. I worked in the restaurant industry for 15 years- I have good idea of what 4, 6, and 8 ounces are. I try and keep my portions at 4 and occasionally 6.

I have been thinking about getting a scale....hmmmmm

See I have no idea what 4/6/8 oz looks like!
I think I need a scale!

ggcat

I mostly eye it or do the calculation based on portion size. I worked in the restaurant industry for 15 years- I have good idea of what 4, 6, and 8 ounces are. I try and keep my portions at 4 and occasionally 6.

I have been thinking about getting a scale....hmmmmm

maybe a new helmet too?

lol. I love the Lime Cat- makes me laugh every time I see it!

tuiccim

I just got a food scale (they're not that expensive). My question is: Do I measure my meat raw or cooked? A 5oz steak raw ends up being a lot less once it's cooked.

Great question! I'd like to hear the answer to that too ...

You should weigh meat BEFORE cooking it. It usually loses some water weight during cooking, but the calories remain the same. Pasta, rice, quinoa, etc. should be weighed dry.