Weighing your food

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  • BeautifullyHuman123
    BeautifullyHuman123 Posts: 37 Member
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    Had a MFP friend that lost over 100lbs that recommended I weigh my food.....started about 3 months ago...LOVE IT!!! Bought an Oneida sale, cost me all of $12 :)))
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Yesterday I went out and bought a pretty high end scale that does everything except wash the dishes.
    I was very surprised to see how off I was with all of my food. If I ate a piece of chicken I put 4oz. Yesterday I weighed a piece and it was almost 8oz! If you are worried that you are not tracking properly, I would suggest investing in a scale.

    Yup...most people that tell me, "it isn't working" do not weigh and measure and vastly underestimate their consumption...thus, it doesn't work. Chicken breast is a perfect example...most people think a serving of chicken breast (4oz) is just a whole chicken breast...when in reality, most whole chicken breasts are anywhere from 8-10 ounces.
  • Madaly320
    Madaly320 Posts: 112 Member
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    I love my scale. I weigh salad dressing too. I will put my bowl full of salad on the scale and "zero" it out and then start pouring dressing. The kind I use says a serving is 31g...so I will pour until then. I find it easier than using measuring cups and spoons a lot of times.

    When I buy a bag of chips I will also buy a bunch of small baggies and weigh out the entire bag into 1oz servings, so I can just grab a correct portion and go on my way.

    The only things I dont weigh are most vegetables (except corn and potatoes). Even though it can be controversial, I also don't really track my vegetable intake, or even fruit. My reasoning is because I am not that strong yet..if I had a choice between spending 100 cals on a banana and 100 cals on cookies, I would choose the cookies. I don't go overboard and I really only eat 1-2 servings of fruit a day any way. It hasn't hurt me yet.
  • PezAzul
    PezAzul Posts: 42
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    I love my food scale. It's an inexpensive digital Taylor from Walmart. I couldn't live without it. I try and measure everything in grams if possible for the best accuracy. I weight just about any food that I put into my mouth. My husband just gawks at me when I add or remove a lettuce leaf from my salads. Peanut butter on bread is now easy, just tare the scale after adding the plate and bread and add the peanut butter by the gram. Love this video, it's so true:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
  • cherryd69
    cherryd69 Posts: 340
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    Im still trying to come to terms with these kind of posts...

    Iv owned a set of scales for over 15yrs...


    How do you cook recipes without a set of scales?


    Granted, i didnt use mine to weigh out my portions like i do now.... but its not some wonderful magical item that the weight loss pixies invented.....

    Its an everyday kitchen appliance... simply put, a kitchen isnt a kitchen without a set of scales!
  • LynxDragon
    LynxDragon Posts: 5
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    I have to weight and measure everything because I have no sense of portion size. I find the average chicken breast is 4 to 6 oz, almost an entire day's worth of protein.
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
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    I weigh and measure everything

    ^^
  • Hodgie12345
    Hodgie12345 Posts: 51 Member
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    Best thing in the world are my scales; and the set of cups is also handy, even for liquids. Hodgie x
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
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    Im still trying to come to terms with these kind of posts...

    Iv owned a set of scales for over 15yrs...


    How do you cook recipes without a set of scales?


    Granted, i didnt use mine to weigh out my portions like i do now.... but its not some wonderful magical item that the weight loss pixies invented.....

    Its an everyday kitchen appliance... simply put, a kitchen isnt a kitchen without a set of scales!

    Here's the best way to understand these posts... not everyone was raised like you, thinks like you, acts like you or is you.

    I used measuring cups and spoons for all of my recipes before I had a scale.

    It's an everyday kitchen appliance to someone like you but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the 'average' kitchen doesn't use one on a daily basis.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    Im still trying to come to terms with these kind of posts...

    Iv owned a set of scales for over 15yrs...


    How do you cook recipes without a set of scales?


    Granted, i didnt use mine to weigh out my portions like i do now.... but its not some wonderful magical item that the weight loss pixies invented.....

    Its an everyday kitchen appliance... simply put, a kitchen isnt a kitchen without a set of scales!

    I used volume measurements for recipes when baking and I rarely used any kind of measurement at all for cooking. My mom taught me the "cap-full of this, pinch of that" method of cooking.
  • cherryd69
    cherryd69 Posts: 340
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    Im still trying to come to terms with these kind of posts...

    Iv owned a set of scales for over 15yrs...


    How do you cook recipes without a set of scales?


    Granted, i didnt use mine to weigh out my portions like i do now.... but its not some wonderful magical item that the weight loss pixies invented.....

    Its an everyday kitchen appliance... simply put, a kitchen isnt a kitchen without a set of scales!

    Here's the best way to understand these posts... not everyone was raised like you, thinks like you, acts like you or is you.

    I used measuring cups and spoons for all of my recipes before I had a scale.

    It's an everyday kitchen appliance to someone like you but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the 'average' kitchen doesn't use one on a daily basis.

    Its the way i was taught in school, we used scales to measure large dry ingredients or meats and veg, liquids/spices were measured with spoons *small amounts* or jugs...

    But even before the days of school there has always been a set of scales in my mums/nans/relatives kitchen.

    You can pick a set up for around £3

    :/ *shrug*
  • PezAzul
    PezAzul Posts: 42
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    Its the way i was taught in school, we used scales to measure large dry ingredients or meats and veg, liquids/spices were measured with spoons *small amounts* or jugs...

    But even before the days of school there has always been a set of scales in my mums/nans/relatives kitchen.

    You can pick a set up for around £3

    :/ *shrug*

    You say "set of scales", do you mean measuring cups? I assume so if you are saying you can pick up a set for around $4.50 USD. We are talking about food scales that measure food by weight, not measurement. They are more expensive, at the low end of $15 USD on up.

    I come from a large family who loves too cook and bake. No one has food scales and I've never seen them used. I've always cooked very well and never used scales. The only reason I use it is to get an exact count on my calories. In terms of measuring a serving size, this actually IS a magical item in my kitchen.
  • laele75
    laele75 Posts: 283 Member
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    I use my food scale for everything. Even measuring liquids. Especially liquids. It's the only way I can keep track of portions. I love mine.
  • Brad805
    Brad805 Posts: 289 Member
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    I always find interesting that plateau thread typically never start by mentioning the use of a kitchen scale. Hmm, how odd? :D Even a few weeks will give you the necessary judgement skills.

    I am not suggesting there are no plateaus in the fat loss game, but this device sure does rule out one of the more common problems.
  • andysmom
    andysmom Posts: 61 Member
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    I love my scale. I weigh salad dressing too. I will put my bowl full of salad on the scale and "zero" it out and then start pouring dressing. The kind I use says a serving is 31g...so I will pour until then. I find it easier than using measuring cups and spoons a lot of times.

    That is a BRILLIANT idea!
  • madisons_mummy
    madisons_mummy Posts: 169 Member
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    Peanut butter on bread is now easy, just tare the scale after adding the plate and bread and add the peanut butter by the gram.

    Easier way that I do it is...put peanut butter jar on scale, tare and take out till you reach (in negative numbers) how much you want. IE for 15 grams, it will say -15 grams.

    A lot easier than trying to put peanut butter on a piece of bread on the scale lol

    I also put my dinner plate on the scale and tare and weigh any food or sauces I use and just tare after each one :)
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
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    it is the ONLY thing that works for me.
  • Ely82010
    Ely82010 Posts: 1,998 Member
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    Its the way i was taught in school, we used scales to measure large dry ingredients or meats and veg, liquids/spices were measured with spoons *small amounts* or jugs...

    But even before the days of school there has always been a set of scales in my mums/nans/relatives kitchen.

    You can pick a set up for around £3

    :/ *shrug*

    You say "set of scales", do you mean measuring cups? I assume so if you are saying you can pick up a set for around $4.50 USD. We are talking about food scales that measure food by weight, not measurement. They are more expensive, at the low end of $15 USD on up.

    I come from a large family who loves too cook and bake. No one has food scales and I've never seen them used. I've always cooked very well and never used scales. The only reason I use it is to get an exact count on my calories. In terms of measuring a serving size, this actually IS a magical item in my kitchen.

    Agree! I never owned a scale until I joined MFP. Since I don't bake, following exact directions was never that important for my cooking. I fallowed my mother's guidance and I "eye balled" everything.

    I wish I could take my scale to the restaurants to know exactly how much I am getting/eating. But that will be too much in my opinion, and not welcomed by my husband or the waitress.

    On the other hand, if anybody knows of a scale that also washes the dishes, please let me know...:happy:
  • candicane32081
    candicane32081 Posts: 132 Member
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    I measure and weigh everything! My husband gets a kick out of me! Scales makes it a lot easier, also I whip out the measuring cups with everything.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
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    I wonder if it's a U.S thing I don't think I've ever known any home in the UK without a scale. I frequently see on these boards people asking if they should buy one. Also in the UK in my experience cups a are not a thing that everyone uses for anything other than liquids because they are not consistently accurate for solids because it can all depends on if you stuff the cup or how the contents settle

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