Weighing vs measuring food

giggitygoo

Food scales are a must! Mine lives permanently on my counter, and I cook nothing without it.

More accurate, and I don't have to wash a million cups and spoons. Win win.

rm7161

huzzah for my food scale. I luffs mine.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VRLQFA/

Soehnle rocks!

tndejong

after reading this. i could definitely improve in this area. but i also want to argue that i dont want to be 60 walking around measuring everything. if its cereal or things in a box with serving sizes, i do grab a measuring cup. but things things like fruits and veggies im not going to go crazy. im not going to measure out cups of lettuce and tomatoes. and many items like bananas and apples have the fruit sizes listed. when i get into dinners i will create a recipe. enter all the ingredients. and if the meal creates leftovers, i will put the additional in the correct serving size in plastic bowls. and when all else fails, just estimate up? i just think its getting a little too crazy when your talking onions and such.

rm7161

after reading this. i could definitely improve in this area. but i also want to argue that i dont want to be 60 walking around measuring everything. if its cereal or things in a box with serving sizes, i do grab a measuring cup. but things things like fruits and veggies im not going to go crazy. im not going to measure out cups of lettuce and tomatoes. and many items like bananas and apples have the fruit sizes listed. when i get into dinners i will create a recipe. enter all the ingredients. and if the meal creates leftovers, i will put the additional in the correct serving size in plastic bowls. and when all else fails, just estimate up? i just think its getting a little too crazy when your talking onions and such.

I don't care much when it comes to things like lettuce and onions, but fruit can make a serious difference if not measured out. Most have it by the gram and its easy enough to measure it.

And always be exact with dried fruit, its calorie dense unlike its fresh counterparts.

lovemitch125

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

oh. my. god.
Too much to handle.

stacezilla

just bought a scale online
i feel like im going to be eating NO FOOD.
;[

nooooo, i want it all

LiftAllThePizzas

The funny thing about this is that your "calculated" BMR/TDEE and exercise calories can be just as inaccurate. So even if you've managed to weigh everything you ingest to the nearest microcalorie, your target might still be way off anyway. The important part is not the actual number of calories you eat or burn, but the actual number of calories in your deficit.

It seems a simpler matter to adjust your 'goal' instead. If you are aiming for 2000 "calories" and you are neither gaining nor losing, but you eat and exercise relatively consistently, then you would create a 500 calorie deficit by lowering your goal to 1500 "calories." It's like shooting a gun with maladjusted sights... measure the difference between where you aimed and where you hit, problem solved. :bigsmile:

TNR32

bump

chocolatecheries123

Great iformation. Thanks!

steelreader

I use my scales at every meal time, better safe than sorry a small apple to me might be a medium one to someone else x

Dauntlessness

I usually weight meat, pasta and ingredients when I am baking but I never really thought about doing it with fruit or veggies. I will have to start that because it really makes sense. I am so obsessed with having the right numbers with cals in/cals out.

I also believe everyone should have an HRM because MFP and cardio machines are usually off by a lot. They usually overestimate around 20-30%. We are so focused on getting our food calories right, why in the heck wouldn't we do the same for the calories we burned?

hedwardsb

I can see how weighing could be very helpful. However, in my case I know the 10-15 pounds of winter weight I can tend to put on is not due to eating too many, apples, bananas, onions, 1/4 cups of 2% cheese, or the extra calories in a reasonable portion or roast beef or chicken. My excess pounds come from double portions of meat, fried cheese sticks, or mindless consumption of sweet & salty treats when I'm tired, stressed, or bored paired with lounging under an electric blanket on my sofa with a book.

For_the_Last_Time

I agree with the importance of using a scale but feel the need to point out just because you see say Dole - Wildly Nutritious Mixed Fruit, 1 cup 70 in someone's log it doesn't mean they are using a measuring cup. That is how I logged it but it was 140g weighed out my scale according to label on weight of that 1 cup the database only shows cups or the entire package sizes.

DivineDee

I use a digital food scale. It can measure grams, ounces and pounds. I also use a measuring cup. I have had success using these two items. I am careful with my meat portions and have been pleasantly surprised that I really don't need those big portions. I mostly eat chicken, fish and turkey. I use turkey products like sausage and burgers. I stay away from fried foods as much as possible. It's usually grilled, baked or smoked. But, the bottom line is you have to find what works for you.

weird_me2

after reading this. i could definitely improve in this area. but i also want to argue that i dont want to be 60 walking around measuring everything. if its cereal or things in a box with serving sizes, i do grab a measuring cup. but things things like fruits and veggies im not going to go crazy. im not going to measure out cups of lettuce and tomatoes. and many items like bananas and apples have the fruit sizes listed. when i get into dinners i will create a recipe. enter all the ingredients. and if the meal creates leftovers, i will put the additional in the correct serving size in plastic bowls. and when all else fails, just estimate up? i just think its getting a little too crazy when your talking onions and such.

I agree with you on this. I don't want to have to weigh everything for forever, but if you practice it enough when you are at home and it is easy to do, then it makes it easier to not have to do this forever. After years of measuring out 1/4 C of shredded cheese periodically, I thought I could eyeball it pretty well and have done that pretty often. The last 3 times I've been at home and had shredded cheese, I grabbed my normal serving and threw it on my plate already on the scale. Each time it came out to exactly 28 grams. I was pretty darn proud of myself! LOL.

Seriously, though, knowing what an accurate measurement of XYZ looks like is a great tool to have and once you get comfortable with it, you will be much better able to guesstimate when the need arises and won't have to post an "Oh no, I'm going on vacation/out to dinner/to a party, what am I going to do?!?!?!" You shouldn't have to weigh or measure every single thing you eat for forever or even for years. If you practice it for a while, you can then periodically check yourself but life should be much easier.

thegeordielass

Maybe it's just being English and always having scales about in the kitchen for baking but when I first joined MFP I was so confused about things being '1 cup' and the like. That means nothing - I mean, 1 full tightly packed cup, 1 loosely packed one, 1 with everything chopped very finely, 1 without - so much potential for variation. I had no idea of how much '1 cup' was as nobody I know uses measuring cups for anything (baking tends to be done in grams or ounces and we measure butter and don't use 'sticks').
I've always done everything in weight not volume (excluding liquids) so I had no idea how much that was and often had to search harder to find an item in the database I could use. I still get frustrated if I have to use '1 large' or '1 small' for apples and '1 portion' annoys me too as portion sizes can vary wildly too.

ElGatoBB

Maybe it's just being English and always having scales about in the kitchen for baking but when I first joined MFP I was so confused about things being '1 cup' and the like. That means nothing - I mean, 1 full tightly packed cup, 1 loosely packed one, 1 with everything chopped very finely, 1 without - so much potential for variation. I had no idea of how much '1 cup' was as nobody I know uses measuring cups for anything (baking tends to be done in grams or ounces and we measure butter and don't use 'sticks').
I've always done everything in weight not volume (excluding liquids) so I had no idea how much that was and often had to search harder to find an item in the database I could use. I still get frustrated if I have to use '1 large' or '1 small' for apples and '1 portion' annoys me too as portion sizes can vary wildly too.

I think it's just us being European.

My scale also measures nutrients, which I find extremely helpful. I bought one for each family member.

gabegrammy

I will start weighing my food, to see if that makes a differnce. I made my Baked Chicken Red Potato Bake, using weight vs measurement. And it's less calorie per serving when i put in my reciped maker.

Elliehmltn

Don't forget to weigh the cup holding the food on the scale, and subtract from the total. You're not going to eat the cup.

omma_to_3

I just measured out what dry vs cooked spaghetti is. Barilla brand is 200 calories for 56 grams dry. Cooked that equals approximately 151 grams. 151 grams is a heaped 1 cup measuring cup.

I was pleasantly surprised that my 3/4 of a cup of pasta is about 3/4 of a serving!