weighing food

cindybpitts

If you are counting calories then why would you need to weigh & measure food? Somebody please explain weighing & measuring food... This is all new to me. Trying to learn all I can. Thanks!

cmeiron

How would you know how many calories you're eating (counting) if you're not weighing/measuring your portions??? :huh:

sofielein

Well if you have an eagle's eye you exactly know how much you are eating right? And what if you don't?

Or do you only consume preprocessed food, and from that, always the exact serving sizes?

rm7161

If you are counting calories then why would you need to weigh & measure food? Somebody please explain weighing & measuring food... This is all new to me. Trying to learn all I can. Thanks!

that's how you measure the calories... how do you know how many calories are in it if you don't know how much there is? I don't eat a lot of food that comes out of a package, when you cook you kinda need to use one to calculate calories in a recipe.

tmauck4472

How would you know how many calories you're eating (counting) if you're not weighing/measuring your portions??? :huh:

Exactly

UseItForFuel

It's a pain in the buns sometimes, although, it's worth it. For fresh foods that aren't packaged, it's the only way to know exactly what you ate. (Unlike pre-portioned packages that do it all for you.)

jfauci

I started out counting calories and added calories for 2 oz of chicken. When I bought a scale, I realized that my 2 oz of chicken was really 4 ounces (and thus double the calories)

khall86790

Because that's how you know the quantity of the food you are eating.
The back of the packet will most likely give you calories based on 100g, so you need to know how much of that packet IS 100g.
You CAN guess but I don't advise you do because you will be way off.

hilldiggity

If a serving of pork is 4 ounces and 190 calories, I would need to weigh it to make sure I have 4 ounces of pork to log the correct calories.

rnlenore

How would you know how many calories you're eating (counting) if you're not weighing/measuring your portions??? :huh:

Exactly. Example: Doritos Serving Size: 28 g (about 15), Calories: 120 well some chips are bigger than others or broken if you don't weigh out the ounce then how do you know you have the correct calorie count.

sofielein

I think you may not get the entire calorie concept by any chance?

Let's say you want to eat a handful of prunes. You know (or if you don't, you can google it or find it on MFP) that 100 grams of prunes have 230 calories.

So you put your handful of prunes on the scale and see it is 70 grams... so you know this portion will have 230 x 0.70, that is, 161 calories.

Jacquiesteer

I started out counting calories and added calories for 2 oz of chicken. When I bought a scale, I realized that my 2 oz of chicken was really 4 ounces (and thus double the calories)

That's exactly why I just bought myself a set of kitchen scales... 25g of M&Ms is only a handful not half the packet!!

cindybpitts

I have been going by the labels on the back of packages or if I make something homemade then I add the calories the best I can..thats why Im asking someone to explain it. I dont understand weighing...if I weighed a bowl of soup and it was 8oz then how many calories?? If i eat a scrambled egg then I look at what one egg has in calories...if I add a 1/2 slice of cheese then I add half of what one slice is. I add individually if I have to.

Jemmuno

Basicly what everyone above has said. To give an example though. If you go into the grocery store and pick up a pack of bananas not every banana weighs the same, so when you put into mfp one medium sized banana that is just an average. Everyone has a different definition of what medium might be because bananas come in many different sized. You won't know the actually calories your consuming unless you weight the banana and figure out its weight in grams.

deannakittygirl

weighing out a portion of a food item is how I know the calories are counted as accurately as possible. if you dont measure how do you figure a serving? I can use a measuring cup to get a 1/2 cup serving of oatmeal and then weigh that same amount and find it is actually more than what a 1/2 cup serving should be by weight. meaning if I just used the measuring cup I would be eating more than the serving and my calorie count would not be correct. it may seem trivial but it all adds up. I weigh out almost every single thing I eat. it also teaches us what a normal portion size is supposed to look like. the kitchen scale is my most used tool in my kitchen. It keeps me honest.

BlueObsidian

I have been going by the labels on the back of packages or if I make something homemade then I add the calories the best I can..thats why Im asking someone to explain it. I dont understand weighing...if I weighed a bowl of soup and it was 8oz then how many calories?? If i eat a scrambled egg then I look at what one egg has in calories...if I add a 1/2 slice of cheese then I add half of what one slice is. I add individually if I have to.

If the label gives the nutritional information for 1/2 cup of something, how do you know how much that is without measuring it? If the label gives the information for 1 ounce of something, how do you know how much that is without weighing it?

Yes, some things like eggs are self-contained into a convenient package, but many foods are not. If you want a bowl of cereal, you need to weigh or measure. If you use shredded cheese, you need to weigh or measure. Etc, etc, etc.

terijoestoes

I have been going by the labels on the back of packages or if I make something homemade then I add the calories the best I can..thats why Im asking someone to explain it. I dont understand weighing...if I weighed a bowl of soup and it was 8oz then how many calories?? If i eat a scrambled egg then I look at what one egg has in calories...if I add a 1/2 slice of cheese then I add half of what one slice is. I add individually if I have to.

That doesn't work for everything. If the pig of cereal says one cup you need to put it in a one cup meas. Or if you are going to est 2oz of meat you have to weigh it. Eventually you get to where you can eyeball it but at first all of us who have been overrating need the wake up call of seeing what the real portion size is.

cindybpitts

I think you may not get the entire calorie concept by any chance?

Let's say you want to eat a handful of prunes. You know (or if you don't, you can google it or find it on MFP) that 100 grams of prunes have 230 calories.

So you put your handful of prunes on the scale and see it is 70 grams... so you know this portion will have 230 x 0.70, that is, 161 calories.

Thanks for not getting smart with me. Im trying to learn and you learn from asking questions. If I eat almonds and it says 1oz is 160 cals. then I usually measure out an ounce in a measuring cup. If I ate 2 small thin pork chops(baked) then I have just been going by whatever MFP has in the database and usually I do the higher calorie to be safe.

cmeiron

I have been going by the labels on the back of packages or if I make something homemade then I add the calories the best I can..thats why Im asking someone to explain it. I dont understand weighing...if I weighed a bowl of soup and it was 8oz then how many calories?? If i eat a scrambled egg then I look at what one egg has in calories...if I add a 1/2 slice of cheese then I add half of what one slice is. I add individually if I have to.

So, for example, if it's a pre-made soup, then just find the item in the database and add the correct portion size to your food diary. When you locate the item in the database you have the option to adjust the number of servings you had. So, say 4 oz of canned tomato soup was one "portion/serving", and has 100 cals according to the label, and you had 8 oz, then you select "2" as the number of servings and the correct number of calories gets calculated (200 in this case).

If you're making food from scratch (which we often do), then use the Recipe tool (under the "food" tab). There, add all the ingredients (properly measured/weighed), indicate how many servings the entire recipe makes, and the system will calculate the calories etc. for one serving, which you can then add to your diary. It can be a bit of a pain adding new recipes but it's worth it because it takes the guesswork out.

But yeah, eyeballing/guessing your servings is a recipe for disaster until you've measured something out enough times that you can correctly estimate with a small margin of error. It's the quickest way to accidentally go over your cal goals.

On that note, weighing is ALWAYS preferable to measuring with cups. I've been astounded by how much the servings vary if I use cups and they're almost inevitably much higher, like 10-30%! This is more the case for dry goods (cereals, grains, flour, etc.) but also for dense stuff like peanut butter. I still use cups and spoons (mostly) for true liquid measures and for very low-cal items like spices.

savithny

I have been going by the labels on the back of packages or if I make something homemade then I add the calories the best I can..thats why Im asking someone to explain it. I dont understand weighing...if I weighed a bowl of soup and it was 8oz then how many calories?? If i eat a scrambled egg then I look at what one egg has in calories...if I add a 1/2 slice of cheese then I add half of what one slice is. I add individually if I have to.

Well, one egg is pretty much a unit, so that's obvious. And with soup? I look at the total calories for the can and divide it by how I divided it -- if DH and I split a can of soup, i take total calories for the can and divide by 2.

But what is a "slice" of cheese? If you're eating Kraft singles, then its obvious. But I buy my cheese in blocks or wedges, and a lot of the time I grate it for us. What is a "slice?" how thick is it? Which direction do you cut on the block? If its a wedge of cheese, then each successive slice is larger and larger -- at what point is a slice a full slice vs. a half slice?

So: you slice off whatever you're going to eat, drop it on a scale, and know what you've eaten.

After you've done it for awhile, you start to just be able to eyeball. I know how much cheese I tend to pinch from the pile of grated cheese to put on my tacos, and I don't weigh every time because I know I'll be within a smal l % of what I put on. But at first, it can be eye opening, comparing what you serve yourself to what a "serving" on the package is.

DaBossLady24

Because unlike many pre-packaged foods, raw meats, veggies, fruit, and other healthier options don't come with perfectly rounded calorie values.

It helps, trust me!

ETA: Plus, the chicken breast some may think is 4 oz could really be 8 oz and they would never know. It's all about portions. :bigsmile:

BlueObsidian

Thanks for not getting smart with me. Im trying to learn and you learn from asking questions. If I eat almonds and it says 1oz is 160 cals. then I usually measure out an ounce in a measuring cup. If I ate 2 small thin pork chops(baked) then I have just been going by whatever MFP has in the database and usually I do the higher calorie to be safe.

The problem is that measuring cups measure fluid ounces. The nutritional information on the back of the pack of almonds is NOT fluid ounces, it's ounces of weight. The only substance where fluid ounces and ounces of weight are exactly the same is water.

"Small" and "thin" are not the least big accurate ways of figuring out what you ate.

cindybpitts

weighing out a portion of a food item is how I know the calories are counted as accurately as possible. if you dont measure how do you figure a serving? I can use a measuring cup to get a 1/2 cup serving of oatmeal and then weigh that same amount and find it is actually more than what a 1/2 cup serving should be by weight. meaning if I just used the measuring cup I would be eating more than the serving and my calorie count would not be correct. it may seem trivial but it all adds up. I weigh out almost every single thing I eat. it also teaches us what a normal portion size is supposed to look like. the kitchen scale is my most used tool in my kitchen. It keeps me honest.

Thanks, I was measuring but not weighing. Im getting better at all of this. The one good thing is Im trying new foods (healthier) and eating better.

sassafrascas

Your doing fine but to be 100% sure you are logging to right amount of calories weigh your meats and anything you can truly fit into a measuring cup. Use the Receipe builder for homemade things like soup. Go by the serving size on the nutrition facts and once again measure to be sure.

cindybpitts

I have been going by the labels on the back of packages or if I make something homemade then I add the calories the best I can..thats why Im asking someone to explain it. I dont understand weighing...if I weighed a bowl of soup and it was 8oz then how many calories?? If i eat a scrambled egg then I look at what one egg has in calories...if I add a 1/2 slice of cheese then I add half of what one slice is. I add individually if I have to.

So, for example, if it's a pre-made soup, then just find the item in the database and add the correct portion size to your food diary. When you locate the item in the database you have the option to adjust the number of servings you had. So, say 4 oz of canned tomato soup was one "portion/serving", and has 100 cals according to the label, and you had 8 oz, then you select "2" as the number of servings and the correct number of calories gets calculated (200 in this case).

If you're making food from scratch (which we often do), then use the Recipe tool (under the "food" tab). There, add all the ingredients (properly measured/weighed), indicate how many servings the entire recipe makes, and the system will calculate the calories etc. for one serving, which you can then add to your diary. It can be a bit of a pain adding new recipes but it's worth it because it takes the guesswork out.

But yeah, eyeballing/guessing your servings is a recipe for disaster until you've measured something out enough times that you can correctly estimate with a small margin of error. It's the quickest way to accidentally go over your cal goals.

On that note, weighing is ALWAYS preferable to measuring with cups. I've been astounded by how much the servings vary if I use cups and they're almost inevitably much higher, like 10-30%! This is more the case for dry goods (cereals, grains, flour, etc.) but also for dense stuff like peanut butter. I still use cups and spoons (mostly) for true liquid measures and for very low-cal items like spices.

Thanks, I do alot of homemade soups. I never have notices the "tools" for homemade foods. I will try that. No matter what, I have been eating less but Im sure now that my calories havent been as accurate as I thought.

cordianet

Thanks for not getting smart with me. Im trying to learn and you learn from asking questions. If I eat almonds and it says 1oz is 160 cals. then I usually measure out an ounce in a measuring cup. If I ate 2 small thin pork chops(baked) then I have just been going by whatever MFP has in the database and usually I do the higher calorie to be safe.

You can only measure fluid ounces in a measuring cup. Fluid ounces and ounces as a measurement of weight are not the same thing. Therefore, measuring 1 oz of almonds is impossible in a measuring cup. Now if the serving size is listed as say 1/4 of a cup, you can measure them that way, but 1/4 of a cup of almonds is NOT the same as 2oz of almonds.

cindybpitts

Your doing fine but to be 100% sure you are logging to right amount of calories weigh your meats and anything you can truly fit into a measuring cup. Use the Receipe builder for homemade things like soup. Go by the serving size on the nutrition facts and once again measure to be sure.

Thank you for your help!

megsmom2

You cant measure an ounce of almonds in a measuring cup. You can measure a quarter of a cup that way...which might be close, but might not. To know you have an ounce you need a scale. I'm a cooking pro...I'm pretty good at eyeball measuring, but I use my scale all the time too. If you don't use a scale or the appropriate measuring device for your product (cups, spoons.. whatever) you don't really know. As to your question about soup....prepackaged soups you can read the label and then measure. For homemade, you have to figure out the calories ingredient by ingredient to figure out the whole batch ....then measure and divide.

TrishLG

All of the above. We lost control because we lie to ourselves. "I didn't eat that much today." Right, I gained all this weight drinking water. The scale lets you know exactly how much you are eating. Time to face the truth.

cindybpitts

Basicly what everyone above has said. To give an example though. If you go into the grocery store and pick up a pack of bananas not every banana weighs the same, so when you put into mfp one medium sized banana that is just an average. Everyone has a different definition of what medium might be because bananas come in many different sized. You won't know the actually calories your consuming unless you weight the banana and figure out its weight in grams.

Thanks...I guess I was just doing a rough estimate. I guess it is time to buy some scales!

sofielein

You are probably not very off but beware of the cup/ounce/serving size Bermuda triangle where many things get lost...

I make all my food so for the me the rule is, put the butter/olive oil on the scale (we use grams so that is very precise), put the onions on the scale, put the vegetables, the meat.. even a spoonful of flour needs to go on the scale. That way I have everything that I put in my soup - I will know exactly how many calories are in my pot.
Luckily, MFP can save "My Meals" however I tend to not make the same foods again over and over but it still comes handy.