Do you weight EVERYTHING?

MysticRealm

Urg, just did something that REALLY made me realizing how important weighing your food is.
My bag of small apples says that per one apple (100 grams) is 50 calories. I just weighed all 3 of the apples I had left and they each weighed around 150 grams! Half as much more than they are supposed to weigh!! That's only about 25 calories more, but still! I often have 4-6 apples a day!! That adds up! And my chicken is more than I originally thought it was when I started using my scale.
When I looked up calories for the kind of chicken I had it says 160 calories for 150 grams chicken breast, well that's all fine and good but the chicken weighed 225 grams!! Maybe it's better that I keep my calories lower if I am gonna make accidents like that!!!
For those that have a food scale, do you weight EVERYTHING? Like pita wraps, if it says 80 cals for 2 mini pitas, do you weigh those to see if they are actually weigh what it says? Grr.
I had had my calories at 1500 (didn't have a food scale then so went by measuring cups and what the packaging said it weighed) and was losing weight pretty good (1-2 pounds a week), stalled out a bit cause of Christmas which lasted till Jan 6th due to when family was coming in, and have had troubles getting back on track. I thought that if I upped my calories to 1800 (according to an online TDEE calc it's 2500) that would give me a bit more leeway to eat and so make it easier to get back on track. However I know wonder how many calories I was ACTUALLY eating when I thought I was eating 1500, maybe I was eating pretty close to or above 1800 calories. And now that I have my calories set at 1800, what if I mess up my calorie counts and eat a lot more than I think. Now i am getting up to above 2000 calories. Not sure what I should do. I was losing nice and consistently on (what I thought was) 1500 calories. Not too fast, not too slow. Should I bump back down to 1500 ish and give myself room for mistakes in my calculations, or stay at (what I think is) 1800 calories?

maryd523

Stick at what you thought was 1500 calories. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Sarauk2sf

If your TDEE is 2,500, then stick to the 1,800. Make sure you weight/measure everything. Give it 4 weeks and reassess based on your weight loss.

samantha1242

Wow 4-6 apples a day! You must love apples!

I don't weigh everything, but I do weigh my fruits, pasta, meat and cheese. Some other things occasionally.

MsLilly200

Yes I weigh everything. Because the package is almost always wrong by at least a few grams. And that might not be all that much, but it can add up.

The only thing I don't weigh is fast food, cause I already know it's bad for my hips and the websites never say what it's supposed to weigh anyway.

MysticRealm

Thanks guys.
Yes one of my FAVE snacks is an apple dipped in cinnamon/splenda mix. So yummy (and ya ya, I know, splenda).
Any other opinions?

taso42

I had a few moments like yours. I found out what I thought was 1 tbsp of peanut butter was really 2. That's a 100 calorie error. I weigh most things, but not everything. Basically you want to be sure you're logging pretty accurately. Whatever it takes to get a sense of confidence about what you're logging...

makaiya

When it comes to fruits and non-starchy vegetables I'm heavy handed. They won't kill me. Chicken and fish I weigh, but generally use the "deck of cards" measurement. Nuts go on the scale, too easy to eat the handfuls I want to eat. Red meat, rice, and pasta always go on the scale.

OCD is a real condition. Obsessing about exact measurement kills the joy of eating. Use smaller plates to make small servings look bigger. For measuring spoons and cups, fill and brush off the excess. Yes, calories do add up, but throw in an extra few steps when walking, or one extra push-up - those calories burned add up, too.

WildcatMom82

I weigh anything that has to be portioned out in addition to produce. Since getting my scale for Christmas it has become apparent some serving measurements are off. Most notably I've always measured out 1/4 cup of trail mix and since switching to weighing it's clear that was an overestimation on the part of the manufacturer. I only weigh things like bread if I cut it in half or something.

PriceK01

I weigh most things, it's been a real eye opener. Now that I've been doing that for a couple of months, I have a better eye and can guess fairly close on foods I eat often.

MoreBean13

OCD is a real condition. Obsessing about exact measurement kills the joy of eating.

OCD is a real disorder and it cannot be caused by weighing food. It is generally a seratonin related brain chemistry issue that causes floods of unwanted thoughts, things that a person without the disorder filters out as insignificant or unimportant. It has nothing to so do with weighing food, though a person with clinical OCD would probably be likely to either enjoy or get great anxiety from food measurement.

VelociMama

Once you get into the habit of weighing/measuring, it's very easy and takes almost no time. I definitely suggest doing it especially for beginners so you can learn proper portion control.

I weigh and measure mostly everything even now. It really is no trouble to do it and gives me the peace of mind that I'm actually logging the correct portions.

NatashaShen

I usually just weigh meats. Other then that I weight the occasional thing to see how much something is, then after that I just eyeball it. I measure pasta, rice and stuff like that. But mostly just eyeball. Its worked for me so far

cmcollins001

Weigh it all in my opinion. Unless you're having one of those, "I really don't care" days. I weigh as much food as I can, just short of bringing a scale to work with me or to restaurants with me.

I've found some food I get more than I thought and others I don't get as much as I thought. I use my digital scale instead of measuring cups anymore. I just put my plate on the scale and zero it out as I add stuff..works like a charm.

melissarina

Wow, that's a lot of fruit each day. I try to limit fruit to 1-2 pieces per day, because of the fructose levels.

At the start, I weighed everything I ate, until I had a good idea of a standard serving. Now, I'm much better at estimating, and only weigh things occasionally. You'll get the hang of it

MoreBean13

OCD is a real condition. Obsessing about exact measurement kills the joy of eating.

OCD is a real disorder and it cannot be caused by weighing food. It is generally a seratonin related brain chemistry issue that causes floods of unwanted thoughts, things that a person without the disorder filters out as insignificant or unimportant. It has nothing to so do with weighing food, though a person with clinical OCD would probably be likely to either enjoy or get great anxiety from food measurement.

What an awesome answer. I swear that's me. I have OCD. I deal with it and try not to let it get to me. It's funny you say a person can get joy from weighing food. I truly do. I weigh all my stuff and my fiancee's the night before, bag it in zip local or Tupperware and have it ready for the next day. Today we were at her sisters house and I spent an hour separating her cereal, snacks and chicken for the week just because I felt it needed to be done since she is now on mfp. Man, I guess I am just a bit crazy.

I do too. The weird thing about OCD is that not all of the compulsions are unpleasant. You like some of them. Its only a problem when they cause you anxiety or get out of control and interfere with your life. I keep it in check and dont allow myself to stress if I can't weigh something or have to eat off-book.

michellekicks

I weigh meat, fruit, cheese, veggies, snack foods etc. I don't weigh eggs, bread slices, protein powder, some crackers, canned tuna, etc. Some things I suppose I assume the package is pretty accurate. Maybe it's not, but I'm doing okay with the numbers I'm using. If it doesn't work anymore, I'll change the way I do it.

ValentineMomma

Hi there,
I have an electronic food scale, and I weigh pretty much everything. The only time I don't weigh stuff is if I'm confident that what I've served myself is the correct portion. However, the scale I have can be tricky...because liquid stuff doesn't weigh the same as solid stuff. So, 1 cup of water, may not weigh 8 oz. So that's when I'd use measuring cups. But I'm getting pretty used to weighing everything. I just make sure to keep my scale clean, so that it's always ready to use.

Regarding the calorie intake...I usually don't mess with my calorie intake unless MFP tells me that I should adjust it. When I lost 10 lbs, MFP sends a little pop up that asks me if I want to reconfigure, or update my goals for weight loss. Once I lost the 10 lbs, I went from something like 1800 calories a day to 1540 a day.

I hope that helps. You're learning more about portions and weight with the scale. It's a real eye opener. This is a good thing.

MysticRealm

Thanks guys. Maybe I will try 1800 for a few weeks but be diligent with weighing most everything and see how it goes.