Weighing food VS Measuring... WOW!

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  • aliencheesecake
    aliencheesecake Posts: 570 Member
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    PLus people often don't level out their tablespoons, another reason for overeating.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    This deserves to be bumped a few dozen more times.
  • sarahmichel101
    sarahmichel101 Posts: 158 Member
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    PLus people often don't level out their tablespoons, another reason for overeating.

    This is VERY true, but it is even more than that (I am sure this has already been said)! I believe companies have very lightly packed and
    "airy" versions of cups and other measurements. I have been measuring then weighing and I cannot believe the difference.
  • ChaoticMiNd
    ChaoticMiNd Posts: 247 Member
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    I have a scale...I'll do it if I need too lol.
  • BOC57
    BOC57 Posts: 44 Member
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    Boy have I been clueless on this count. I do weigh some things, but most things I measure.....*sigh* I don't know that my scale has an option of measuring in grams. This would be more convenient than measuring in ounces......but oh well. time to start weighing.
  • PinkNinjaLaura
    PinkNinjaLaura Posts: 3,202 Member
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    I faithfully used measuring cups/spoons for years. It wasn't until I started using MFP that I found out how inaccurate they could be. I had a food scale & used it for some things, but if I had the option to use measuring cups/spoons I used that measurement instead assuming it was the same. My food scale has the option to switch between ounces & grams, which is nice. My Tare button stopped working but if I put the bowl/plate on the scale before turning it on, it starts at 0.
  • Colorfan
    Colorfan Posts: 230 Member
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    I hated measuring stuff by volume. Its so inconsistent. Theres so many variables that can change the volume of food, completely changing the measurement Is it pressed into the cup? Is it fluffy? Is it cut up into big pieces or little pieces? Is it dry cups or wet cups?

    A cup of grated cheese is going to weigh less than a cup of cheese cut into cubes.

    But yeah, frustrating. Even more so that the USDA measures everything in cups.

    Grams and ounces all the way for sure!
  • Ambrodel
    Ambrodel Posts: 13
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    If only we can get off the Imperial system and on to the Metric system for good.
  • sarahmichel101
    sarahmichel101 Posts: 158 Member
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    If only we can get off the Imperial system and on to the Metric system for good.

    Hard to, as a Canadian! So much influence from down south.
  • steffipaulina
    steffipaulina Posts: 161
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    *UPDATE*

    Used my scale again for cheddar cheese. I love precise this is. Mine tells me how many calories for cheese, ect. So I now know EXACTLY what 65 cals of Cheddar cheese is. I also cut up 20 cals of gr pepper, and before I was more so 'eyeballing' my vegtables or not counting them at all. Everything adds up!!
  • Lizajayne23
    Lizajayne23 Posts: 123 Member
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    Measuring sugar and creamer for my coffee came as the biggest shock for me. A standard measuring teaspoon was double the sugar by weight and triple the creamer by weight. I have several different sets and only found one 1/2 teaspoon that proved to be accurate so I keep that one in my sugar bowl.

    I think weighing food is one of the most important things that you can do to change your eating habits. I keep telling various family members that if they would just start weighing their servings, they would see a difference because they don't realize how many calories they are truly consuming.
  • Cranquistador
    Cranquistador Posts: 39,744 Member
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    you think the difference in salsa is big?


    try peanut butter. lots of room for error when using tablespoons and not grams

    I was just using it as an example because it was the first thing I weighed that was literally HALF the amount I would measure. Plus, every calorie counts. ;)
    ok?

    i was just adding to your example but i dont think you read it like I meant it to read.

    Maybe if i said girlllllll if you were happy to save ten calories, wait till you measure PB

    or something.
  • mimiteh35
    mimiteh35 Posts: 486 Member
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    I think this information will help you too, gamer_geek.

    A cup, as in a measuring cup, is not easily convertible to weight because, as you probably guessed, everything does not weigh the same. To illustrate this, consider a measuring cup of grated/shredded cheese compared to a measuring cup of peanut butter. The peanut butter obviously weighs more, right? (Hint: yes :) haha)

    So, that doesn't help you much. What does help, though, is that most items include a weight in grams or ounces in the serving information. For example, my bag of flour says a serving is "1/4 cup (31g)". What I do is, place an empty bowl on my scale and press the "tare" button - this zero's out the scale so that it's not counting the weight of the bowl. Then, I spoon or scoop or pour (depending on the item haha) the ingredient into the bowl and measure out the weight in grams or ounces.

    If you have any other questions or need help with specific items, feel free to PM me or add me as a friend a comment on my wall. I'd be happy to help :)

    THANK YOU for putting this so easy to understand! I never realized how much of a difference it made, I just dutifully went by 1/4 cup, etc.... am now going to look into buying a food scale, an accurate one. I have an old one that is not digital, ya know, with springs and stuff, that I originally just used on foods that only mentioned ounces and not cups (i.e. meats, pasta, etc)... would that work "ok" for now until I get a digital one?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I guess I am not very educated on this subject. This could be a really stupid question and probably learned during elementary school but, how do you know how much weight is in a cup or how much a serving size is in grams?

    You weigh it. Nothing has the same weight per volume. Even different runs of the same thing can be different.

    That's the whole problem - the nutrition labels if you look have serving sizes by grams, unless a liquid.

    Even carb, prot, fat is calories per gram, right?

    The volume that is given on the label is purely an estimate for ease of use for you.
    But calories is really per weight.

    Sadly it is also very off many times.

    Even the 2 servings per package doesn't work out, and sometimes that's even using their stated weight of the product and how much weight in a serving.
    Serving size 150 grams, servings per package 2, huh, the package weighs 350 grams it says. That's can't be right.
    Wow, actually weigh it, it really weighs 400 grams - they gave me extra!
    You eat the whole package, you just had 2.67 servings.
    If that's 220 cal per serving, you just ate 147 extra calories if you relied purely on nutrition label and did no math or didn't weigh it.
  • anonniemouse
    anonniemouse Posts: 117 Member
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    It really shines when it comes to making my lunches. For example, this week I did a cabbage, black bean, corn, pepper, onion, tomato salad marinated in sugar free balsamic vinaigrette. The entire batch weighed in at 1,908 grams so I put it in as 19.08 servings. When I dish it out, if I serve myself 267 grams, I will record it as 2.67 servings. So much easier and more accurate than cups and measuring spoons!

    I never thought of doing it this way. What a good idea.
  • DevoteeofIset
    DevoteeofIset Posts: 77 Member
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    I think i will start measuring!!
  • davepearson86
    davepearson86 Posts: 158 Member
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    What? People weigh themselves and not their food? Measure your food in cups better measure your weight in cups.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    you think the difference in salsa is big?


    try peanut butter. lots of room for error when using tablespoons and not grams
    What I was going to say. Weighing instead of measuring is where it's at! :bigsmile:
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    *UPDATE*

    Used my scale again for cheddar cheese. I love precise this is. Mine tells me how many calories for cheese, ect. So I now know EXACTLY what 65 cals of Cheddar cheese is. I also cut up 20 cals of gr pepper, and before I was more so 'eyeballing' my vegtables or not counting them at all. Everything adds up!!
    What brand of food scale?
  • colortheworld
    colortheworld Posts: 374 Member
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    @amyahouse you wouldn't really know unless you actually put it on the scale and weighed it.
    For example if a serving size of OJ is 1 cup (8oz) You should really just put your cup on the scale and zero the scale out then add your OJ to be sure you see how much 8oz really looks like.
    My scale allows me to see the weight in OZ AND then I can switch the button and see it also in grams. Alot of the times you can see the actual serving size right on the packaging itself. I use that as a guide and then I weigh. Tonight I ate peas with my dinner the can said serving size 1/2 cup......but I also weighed them too. It just makes it easier when you are adding different things to your diary that may only show up in Oz or G.
    Feel free to add me as a friend and if I can explain anything else you can just hit me up there.

    Liquid ingredients aren't meant to be weighed, because fluid ounces differ from dry ounces. Or so I learned in school.

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