Why do people weigh their food?

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slepygrl
slepygrl Posts: 249 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
This is an honest question. Why would you weigh your food? I get counting calories (duh). But the weight of something shouldn't matter. Am I wrong?
Enlighten me please!
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Replies

  • mindidily
    mindidily Posts: 196 Member
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    So that you know how many calories to count. If 4oz of something is 100 calories and you don't weigh it, how would you know you didn't eat more or less, which would equal more or less calories?
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    To get a true serving size, you have to weigh. If you look on food packaging, it'll tell you serving size and how many calories are in that serving.

    For example, Potato Chips are usually 28g for a serving... 120-160 calories depending on type/brand.
    If you don't weigh it out, how do you know what you're eating is 1 serving or 3? Eyeballing it isn't accurate. Nor is counting out "20 chips"... cause chips vary in size.

    The weight of things always matters in regards to calories.
  • Lives2Travel
    Lives2Travel Posts: 682 Member
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    Because weighing is easier than using measuring cups and spoons. And gives you less to wash.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Honestly, it's because I'm lazy. I find it a lot easier to put a bowl on my scale and hit the tare button between each ingredient instead of digging up a bunch of different measuring spoons and cups while I'm cooking. But that's just me.
  • fruttibiscotti
    fruttibiscotti Posts: 986 Member
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    For the accuracy
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    Because weighing your food is the only way to be sure you're measuring the portion size accurately.

    Measuring cups/spoons are usually off. Packages rarely contain the amount they say - it's usually more. One almond (for example) can come in varying sizes - how do you know if 5, 6, 7, or 8 is the right serving of your almonds (or whatever) unless you weigh? You can be off in your calorie counting by quite a bit if you don't weigh.

    That said, if you're losing weight as expected, no reason to change what you're doing.

    People who weigh generally have specific targets they want to hit with little wiggle room (me), or have experienced a stall or plateau and are 1) weighing to make sure they're not eating more than they think, or 2) found they were eating more than they thought and are weighing to prevent that from happening again.
  • tegalicious
    tegalicious Posts: 629
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    Because when you get close to eating at maintenance calorie level, you will need to be more meticulous about how many calories you are consuming. And the only way to ensure accraucy is to weigh your food. I don't want to increase my calories and end up gaining tons of weight because I am eating more than I think I am because I am estimating sizes of produce items and measuring high calorie items like nuts with a measuring cup.
  • spoiledpuppies
    spoiledpuppies Posts: 675 Member
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    Accuracy. Even packaged food that says a whole package is XX number of calories often doesn't weigh what the label says. (Often it weighs more, which would sneak more calories into your day if you didn't measure and do the math.)
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    Honestly, it's because I'm lazy. I find it a lot easier to put a bowl on my scale and hit the tare button between each ingredient instead of digging up a bunch of different measuring spoons and cups while I'm cooking. But that's just me.

    This, and accuracy. How do you really know how much you're eating if you don't weigh it out?

    Does anybody have a link to that youtube video with the weighing vs. measuring? I found that to be the most informative, and convinced me to start weighing everything.
  • ValerieMartini2Olives
    ValerieMartini2Olives Posts: 3,024 Member
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    Peanut butter serving size is 32 grams/2 tablespoons. Depending on how tightly you pack your tablespoon, you could be giving yourself 40 grams instead of 32. Peanut butter is 200 calories a serving. If you gave yourself 40 grams instead of 32, you've just given yourself an extra 50 calories. If you do this numerous times a day, every day of the week, you have gone way over your calorie goal just on a "few" extra grams.
  • Eleonora91
    Eleonora91 Posts: 688 Member
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    Because calories are usually referred to a certain quantity of food, so if you want to count calories you need to count weights, volumes and so on either.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    Honestly, it's because I'm lazy. I find it a lot easier to put a bowl on my scale and hit the tare button between each ingredient instead of digging up a bunch of different measuring spoons and cups while I'm cooking. But that's just me.

    This, and accuracy. How do you really know how much you're eating if you don't weigh it out?

    Does anybody have a link to that youtube video with the weighing vs. measuring? I found that to be the most informative, and convinced me to start weighing everything.

    Right here

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

    and for accuracy even more so then cups and spoons..cause trust me 125g of cottage cheese is more then 1/2 cup.
  • Myhaloslipped
    Myhaloslipped Posts: 4,317 Member
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    That's how you know the true number of calories. If you are consistently off from estimating, then you could be consuming a great deal more calories than you think you are over time.
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
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    This is an honest question. Why would you weigh your food? I get counting calories (duh). But the weight of something shouldn't matter. Am I wrong?
    Enlighten me please!

    Weighing is easier/cleaner and more accurate than using measuring cups.

    I can make three 1/2 cup servings of ice cream fit into a 1/2 cup-sized measuring cup if I try hard enough. The food scale doesn't lie about portion sizes like spoons and cups do! :laugh:
  • spaingirl2011
    spaingirl2011 Posts: 763 Member
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    I third (or fourth?) the accuracy. Here's an example: The package of ham that I buy says a serving is 2 oz, I weighed my servings out for a couple of days and 2oz came to about 3 slices of ham. Well, one day, I went to weigh my ham and I guess I got a slice that was slightly thicker than the rest, so 2 slices ended up being 2oz. Adding another slice because I *assumed* that 3 slices = 2oz would have given me an extra 30 calories that I would have been eating without notice. And those 20, 30, 40 calories can add up.

    I learned that I have been eating at least 300 more calories than I thought I was. That's the difference between maintaining and losing.

    Best of luck to you!
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    Honestly, it's because I'm lazy. I find it a lot easier to put a bowl on my scale and hit the tare button between each ingredient instead of digging up a bunch of different measuring spoons and cups while I'm cooking. But that's just me.

    This, and accuracy. How do you really know how much you're eating if you don't weigh it out?

    Does anybody have a link to that youtube video with the weighing vs. measuring? I found that to be the most informative, and convinced me to start weighing everything.

    Right here

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

    and for accuracy even more so then cups and spoons..cause trust me 125g of cottage cheese is more then 1/2 cup.

    Thank you! And here's direct to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    This is an honest question. Why would you weigh your food? I get counting calories (duh). But the weight of something shouldn't matter. Am I wrong?
    Enlighten me please!
    What do you base your calories on then?

    If something is X calories per Y oz, how do you know you're counting correctly if you don't know what it weighs?
  • SailorKnightWing
    SailorKnightWing Posts: 875 Member
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    For some things, the measurement and weight are off. A leveled-off tablespoon of peanut butter is accurate to weight, but a leveled-off tablespoon of mayonnaise is a lot less than the given weight (woot more mayo!). Plus when you're measuring, say, potato chips, the irregular shape makes it really hard to measure by quarter cups.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    For some things, the measurement and weight are off. A leveled-off tablespoon of peanut butter is accurate to weight, but a leveled-off tablespoon of mayonnaise is a lot less than the given weight (woot more mayo!). Plus when you're measuring, say, potato chips, the irregular shape makes it really hard to measure by quarter cups.

    Yeah, this too. Weighing the chips is a lot easier than counting chips (for those packages that say "about 9 chips" for a serving size).

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