Estimating food portions at a dining hall?

lilialley
lilialley Posts: 15 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi. I'm in college, and I live right next to a dining hall, which is nice. What is also nice is that they try hard to carry healthy, vegetarian/vegan food, and they always have a listing of nutrition facts and calories right on the labels.

The problem is, they always measure their portions in ounces. I am only marginally good at measuring out portions in cups, not ounces, so I always feel like I'm taking way too much food. This dining hall is popular, so if I was to whip out a scale or measuring cups, it would be considered really weird and probably rude.

Do you guys have any advice as to figuring out how to eat there? I'm really struggling.

Replies

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Find the entry in ounces and enter that?
  • barb1241
    barb1241 Posts: 324 Member
    Not weird or rude IMHO. It is your body and if you want it to be healthy-you gotta do what it takes. I would definitely carry a scales with me-there are small ones that you can carry in your purse. If you aren't comfortable using it in the line, try to estimate how much it is, and then weigh it when you get to your table. if it';s over-l;eave part of it on your plate. Or-can you make friends with one of the works there and ask them to weigh you a plate and set it aside for you?
  • Kanlassak
    Kanlassak Posts: 101 Member
    If you can get food to go, you could get a serving and measure it somewhere else, then use that amount, plus possibly a buffer to estimate in the future?

    Otherwise, my best guess would be to assume things are about the same as water (8 oz = 1 cup) and then just add a 1 oz buffer over the estimate for every amount.
  • p4ulmiller
    p4ulmiller Posts: 588 Member
    If you aren't comfortable using it in the line, try to estimate how much it is, and then weigh it when you get to your table.

    A little bit OTT if you ask me.

    Try cooking a portion of whatever it is at home. Take a photo and compare to whats on your plate.

    And in any case, measurements by weight are far more accurate than by volume. So start tracking by oz.
  • annekka
    annekka Posts: 517 Member
    Just bring a scale and weigh once you sit. Dining halls have enough students on various diets for various reasons, athletes and diabetics are the two that come to mind immediately. You're in college, people should be over the overly judgmental high school mode. As long as you don't make a huge production out of it, and your friends will understand.

    Your school must have a nutritionist on staff somewhere in food services if they can provide calorie counts. It might be worth seeing if you can make an appointment with them to help you understand what the average ounces are for various portions of various food.

    Just go for it. Good luck with your weight loss and taking it into your hands!
  • jess1992uga
    jess1992uga Posts: 603 Member
    I'm in college too and I bring measuring cup to hall. Another thing some people I know have done is bring in something pre-measured...like 1/2 cup rice or something and seen how it looks on plate. Also, most dining halls (at least mine) have serving size based bowls/cups. Like small bowls are 1/2 cup, soup bowls 1 cup, larger bowls 2 cup. Coffee mugs 1 cup.

    If you have a school dietitian you could e-mail them and ask, they could help you and possibly meet with you to help meal plan.

    Also the scoops they have in dining hall usually have oz measures written on it. And they are usually 1 serving size based. Again, e-mail school dietitian or dining hall for details.

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