Weighing Food

ohthatbambi

I bought a digital food scale and I was SHOCKED to see how inaccurate I was calculating things! A VERY eye opening experience. I also discovered that I was eating more than I actually thought that I was eating. This explains the very sluggish weight loss. So if you are struggling with no weight coming off or you are extremely slow in losing it GET A DIGITAL SCALE!

questionablemethods

Yes! It is particularly important in those really calorie-dense foods. I was surprised by how much 1 Tablespoon of peanut butter is often much more than the 15 g that it is supposed to be. Seems to depend upon the kind of peanut butter, but still! It could be a good 50 calorie difference in peanut butter alone!

DawnOf1969

I found the same thing. I now weigh everything in grams because I was overeating and didn't know it! of course I was undereating as well when I was measuring salad mix or spinach. My food scale is much more accurate than my measuring utensils!

MTGirl

Yes!! I my digital food scale. I found the Biggest Loser one at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $20.00. I saw one later that day at Shopko and it was $30! Shop around, you can get one for a decent price.

I was impressed that on some of my meat my estimates were actually LOW. But other things made up the difference for me . . . :grumble: LOL. Great investment!

ohthatbambi

I like cashews and on the Planters nutrition it says 1 oz is about 46 pieces....well some of the pieces are whole, some are not so it really is not accurate to eat 46 and assume you are at 1 oz. I weighed them out just now and it was MUCH LESS than 46 cashews in an ounce!!

lunglady

I love my food scale ! Takes he guesswork out. :happy:

whyflysouth

It has helped ease things allot. I just have the scale with me everywhere and just tare things rather than finding the measuring cup for stuff. The only thing that annoys me is that allot of things on MFP are measured by volume and not weight so the scale doesn't help there.

mamaturner

They deffinitly help. I had one previous to this journey for baking. I prefer weighing to measuring my food any day!

LittleSpy

I was impressed that on some of my meat my estimates were actually LOW. But other things made up the difference for me . . . :grumble: LOL. Great investment!

I don't mean to hijack the thread but I recently realized I was portioning chicken (& other meat that isn't ground) AFTER I cooked it. I thought it wouldn't make that much of a difference with a lean meat like boneless skinless chicken breast. That is, until I measured out a 6oz serving and cooked it (didn't even overcook it) only to find it lost about 25% of it's raw weight. :noway: Lots of water, I guess. So, my 4oz servings have been closer to 6oz servings and my 6oz servings have been closer to 8oz. :indifferent:

So, yeah. Nutritional info for ALL meat is for RAW weight. Should've been obvious -- I guess I'm just slow.

DawnOf1969

I was impressed that on some of my meat my estimates were actually LOW. But other things made up the difference for me . . . :grumble: LOL. Great investment!

I don't mean to hijack the thread but I recently realized I was portioning chicken (& other meat that isn't ground) AFTER I cooked it. I thought it wouldn't make that much of a difference with a lean meat like boneless skinless chicken breast. That is, until I measured out a 6oz serving and cooked it (didn't even overcook it) only to find it lost about 25% of it's raw weight. :noway: Lots of water, I guess. So, my 4oz servings have been closer to 6oz servings and my 6oz servings have been closer to 8oz. :indifferent:

So, yeah. Nutritional info for ALL meat is for RAW weight. Should've been obvious -- I guess I'm just slow.

I didn't know that so thanks for the info! I usually weigh mine once cooked since I'm not consuming the part that cooked away. Good info to know.

lulabellewoowoo

When I realized how inaccurately I was measuring my food after I got a scale, I started having the kids weigh out their snacks and individually package them to teach them portion size as they would eat a whole bag of chips which could be 5 servings. They thought it was fun and the one serving has always been plenty for them.

ohthatbambi

I was impressed that on some of my meat my estimates were actually LOW. But other things made up the difference for me . . . :grumble: LOL. Great investment!

I don't mean to hijack the thread but I recently realized I was portioning chicken (& other meat that isn't ground) AFTER I cooked it. I thought it wouldn't make that much of a difference with a lean meat like boneless skinless chicken breast. That is, until I measured out a 6oz serving and cooked it (didn't even overcook it) only to find it lost about 25% of it's raw weight. :noway: Lots of water, I guess. So, my 4oz servings have been closer to 6oz servings and my 6oz servings have been closer to 8oz. :indifferent:

So, yeah. Nutritional info for ALL meat is for RAW weight. Should've been obvious -- I guess I'm just slow.

I have always wondered about whether to weigh meat before or after it is cooked...so you are not the only "slow" one. Hmmmm, interesting stuff I learn here!!

DawnOf1969

Actually I've been googling this for the last few minutes and you can find arguments either way (raw or cooked). Hmmmmm....

MTGirl

Unless stated differently, the nutritional value is generally for raw food. Especially meat. Even in the database here you find it referred to as "yield from 1/4 lb raw meat" or referred to by cooking method. However, I think the weight is before it is cooked and the method adds to calories (or not!).

On an interesting note, if the nutritionals are from raw meat (say, beef) when you grill it, you squeeze a lot of fat out of it. Would the values then change? And is that taken into account?? IDK (to quote my 14 y.o. :laugh: ) To some extent, Stoutman is correct in his blog. Maybe mostly correct! It is quite arbitrary and some of it is really guess work! I count it as weight before cooking.