Weigh your food

TrainSweatEatSleep
TrainSweatEatSleep Posts: 56 Member
in Food and Nutrition
If you're cooking food at home, weigh your food to avoid months or years of fail.

For my oatmeal plan,

90 grams of rolled oats = 1 cup
8 ounces of almond milk = 1 cup
0.5 ounces of almond butter = 1 tablespoon

sometimes I get medium to large banana's without weighing them.
It should be important to weigh it to find out how much carbs and sugar it has.

I weighed 1 large banana peeled today at 182 grams
It came out to 162 calories, 42 carbs, & 22 for sugar in my MFP diary.

I'm going to buy a food scale and start weighing food from now on.
I had an idea that you had to scale food but I never got this serious about it until today.

anyone else weigh their food?

Replies

  • Firefightergirl18
    Firefightergirl18 Posts: 40 Member
    I do

    I have the biggest loser one i think. It has a nice round plate thingy on it. You can keep zeroing things out on it so you can add to your bowl.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    If you're cooking food at home, weigh your food to avoid months or years of fail.
    ...
    anyone else weigh their food?

    Oh, I'm sure someone does but I don't. It didn't make me fail. I rarely even use measuring cups or spoons when making or logging a recipe. But I love to cook and over the years I've gotten pretty good at eyeballing measurements.

    I think measuring is important if you are new to preparing your own meals.
  • BernadetteChurch
    BernadetteChurch Posts: 2,210 Member
    I weigh and measure everything, down to the very last gram. Think it's very easy to over- and underestimate otherwise, no matter how good you think your eye is.
  • jynxxxed
    jynxxxed Posts: 1,010 Member
    I weigh/measure most things, but not obsessively. I weigh all meat and fish, always. I don't measure my cereal anymore and I don't weigh fruit or ketchup, almond milk or anything like that. I used to, but my guesses were always fairly close to the real weight (except with meat for some reason) so I just quit stressing so much. If I ever hit a point where my weight loss stalled very rapidly, I'd begin weighing /everything/ again.

    For now I don't feel it's necessary.
  • BlackKat75
    BlackKat75 Posts: 210 Member
    I weigh everything. My digital kitchen scale has been the most useful tool in my weight-loss journey. I'd also like to note that when measuring food, go by weight (in grams or ounces) rather than volume (in cups). I have found that the calorie counts by volume on nutrition labels often underestimate (by 20-30%) the actual calories by weight.
  • NZhellkat
    NZhellkat Posts: 355 Member
    Back in Oregon I did. It allowed to to have bigger healthier salads with less calories. But I moved to Florida and made the mistake of putting my kitchen scales into storage. I do miss it. My weight loss has slowed a bit but I'm not too worried about it as it hasn't stopped.
  • NewLIFEstyle4ME
    NewLIFEstyle4ME Posts: 4,440 Member
    I have a food scale, but for some reason...I just don't want to weigh my food. I feel like it's kinda, ummm, too much. On that same token almost ALL of the people I know that have lost massive amounts of weight and now look 10-30 years younger ALL have attributed weighing their food. I want to, but I'm kinda scared to for some dumb reason :sad:
  • bluelena
    bluelena Posts: 304 Member
    I have the same Biggest Loser scale mentioned above. When I first got it, I weighed EVERYTHING. Now I just weigh the things that are higher in fat/calories like cheese, some nuts, meats, fish, etc.

    I was doing fine without it. While I'm not really worried if I eat "too much" lettuce or cucumber with my salad, I do want to know the exact amounts of certain things. I measure things like sunflower seeds on salad, parmesan cheese, etc. Basically just the high caloric things that tend to add up quickly.
  • mulderpf
    mulderpf Posts: 209 Member
    I weigh everything religiously, except lately I haven't been weighing bananas, because it's a bit messy peeling it first and then weighing it.

    Other than that, I weigh EVERYTHING. Even the oil that goes into my wok for stir-fries (if I use). EVERYTHING gets weighed exactly. If I make 81g of rice, it gets logged at 81g, not 80g.
  • ValerieMartini2Olives
    ValerieMartini2Olives Posts: 3,024 Member
    I do. I bought a little digital scale on Ebay for $7.95. I like knowing exactly what is going in. Measuring cups just aren't that reliable for me. With a scale, there is no doubt.
  • Farburnfred
    Farburnfred Posts: 333 Member
    yes, always..really helps with portion control
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
    If you're cooking food at home, weigh your food to avoid months or years of fail.

    For my oatmeal plan,

    90 grams of rolled oats = 1 cup
    8 ounces of almond milk = 1 cup
    0.5 ounces of almond butter = 1 tablespoon

    sometimes I get medium to large banana's without weighing them.
    It should be important to weigh it to find out how much carbs and sugar it has.

    I weighed 1 large banana peeled today at 182 grams
    It came out to 162 calories, 42 carbs, & 22 for sugar in my MFP diary.

    I'm going to buy a food scale and start weighing food from now on.
    I had an idea that you had to scale food but I never got this serious about it until today.

    anyone else weigh their food?

    Yep--I just started. I was shocked to find that what I THOUGHT was about 100 grams of pear (a "medium" pear on mfp) really weighed 285 grams! I have made corrections based on my weighing things and my fat loss has resumed. :smile:
  • schell81
    schell81 Posts: 187 Member
    I have a food scale, but for some reason...I just don't want to weigh my food. I feel like it's kinda, ummm, too much. On that same token almost ALL of the people I know that have lost massive amounts of weight and now look 10-30 years younger ALL have attributed weighing their food. I want to, but I'm kinda scared to for some dumb reason :sad:

    I'm so happy that I started weighing my food. I was seriously overestimated my avocado calories, as well as my potato and cheese. So for me, weighing food meant more food!
  • kenazfehu
    kenazfehu Posts: 1,188 Member
    I weigh some things, measure other things, and sometimes eyeball portions. If I've been eyeballing things, I like to check myself. I'm getting better at it; my eyeballed portions usually come very close to the measured/weighed portions. A month ago, they were always coming out a bit too big.

    I really don't want to be a slave to the scales or the measuring cups forever.
  • Cupcakehippiemommy
    Cupcakehippiemommy Posts: 457 Member
    Only with meats and cheeses, although I think some people take it to extremes and it is a BIT hard not to laugh :laugh: I saw a woman bust out a scale from her purse to weigh her food at a restaurant who was sitting across from us...j/s
  • dakitten2
    dakitten2 Posts: 888 Member
    o
    I weigh everything religiously, except lately I haven't been weighing bananas, because it's a bit messy peeling it first and then weighing it.

    Other than that, I weigh EVERYTHING. Even the oil that goes into my wok for stir-fries (if I use). EVERYTHING gets weighed exactly. If I make 81g of rice, it gets logged at 81g, not 80g.

    Weigh your whole banana first, then eat the banana and then weigh the peel. Subtract and you will know how many ounces you ate without all the mess!
  • running_shoe
    running_shoe Posts: 180 Member
    I depend quite regularly on my food scale. If you're going to choose a weight loss plan that is based on the pure math of calories in, calories burned (like this one), weighing and measuring is really important. You have to know what you are logging. Plus, even if you have a healthy diet, if you've spent years putting, for example, three "servings" of pasta on your plate for dinner, you need the scale until you relearn how much pasta you SHOULD be putting on your plate. Bad portion habits, I have found, can take years to reform.
  • ♥ChUbByCoyLe♥
    ♥ChUbByCoyLe♥ Posts: 267 Member
    I always weigh my food.

    Ps. Put some pants on!!
  • rrneal625
    rrneal625 Posts: 69 Member
    I keep a small digital scale, a set of measuring cups, and a set of measuring spoons on the island in my kitchen.....I found out the hard way if I didn't keep them out and readily available, I wouldn't use them. :smile:
  • fishgutzy
    fishgutzy Posts: 2,807 Member
    Yup. Digital scale. Great for avoid the "eyes bigger than stomach" problem. :bigsmile:
  • BernadetteChurch
    BernadetteChurch Posts: 2,210 Member
    I always weigh my food.

    Ps. Put some pants on!!

    Thanks for pointing that out when I hadn't noticed it!
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
    Yep weigh and measure most everything. I have my scale cups and spoons all in one area and prepare all my food there. It is really easy and takes almost no additional time but people still think its strange or taking it to far. : )

    I dont weight my fruits or restaurant food .

    I dont measure out things like salad but I do measure almost everything I put on them.
  • thenewmrsgant
    thenewmrsgant Posts: 69 Member
    I weigh all of my food in grams (unless it's not possible) because it's the most accurate. It's most definitely the best idea to weigh food. I also have the biggest loser food scale (it was a wedding gift I registered for! lol) it works very well.
  • krickeyuu
    krickeyuu Posts: 344 Member
    Yep, weigh or measure just about everything. Last week I was cooking something for my 90 year old mother and I weighed out the pasta. She started laughing and asked if I even realized that I just weighed her food. :laugh:
  • Infauna
    Infauna Posts: 89
    I only weigh certain things like meat, cheese, peanut butter, etc. I used to weigh everything obsessively when I was struggling with anorexia and I've worked really hard to get out of that habit. I'm good at eyeballing portions and I lose weight just fine without weighing my food. In my opinion, it's a good idea to stop using the food scale after a while once you get a grasp on what a proper serving is. Obviously, it won't work for everyone but I feel better doing things like this.

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