Guestimating measurement of meal components

suncluster
suncluster Posts: 539 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I started just about a month ago and I have to say the hardest part so far is guessing the weights and measurements of all of the individual components of my meal when things can't be separated.

For instance, if I make stir-fry, then I have to guess the weight/masurement of the red peppers, chicken, garlic, broccoli, etc.
I make most of my own food and this can be pretty difficult. I make a big batch for my entire family so there is enough for lunch leftovers the next day too.

Anybody have any helpful tips?

Replies

  • lintino
    lintino Posts: 456 Member
    Buy a scale and weigh everything - they are not expensive.
  • knra_grl
    knra_grl Posts: 1,566 Member
    yes buy a scale and also enter it in the "recipes" section under your foods this will save you time the next time you make it - you can also remove and add things if you don't make it exactly the same way every time - make sure you enter the number of portions you are getting at the top right so that you get a proper calorie count per portion - if you have to weigh or measure the entire recipe when it's done do this so that you are sure of the calorie count
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    Yeah, digital scale.

    Even after doing this for 2 years I still weigh almost everything. Eyeballing is a recipe for totally screwing up your diet and not even knowing how you screwed it up. You'll hit a stall and not even be able to identify if you're overeating or undereating and have to start weighing food and waiting 2 weeks to figure it out.

    Better to just do it now.
  • YorriaRaine
    YorriaRaine Posts: 370 Member
    A digital scale will only run you anywhere from 10-20 bucks. Just get one with a tare feature (aka zero it out). Mine cost me 15 dollars on amazon.
  • sargessexyone
    sargessexyone Posts: 494 Member
    I am a stay at home mom and I do a lot of cooking. Weigh everything individually as you put it in your recipe then figure out how many servings. I usually figure if I'm cooking for 4 and everyone can get 2 servings that's 8 servings in a recipe. You can also look at the serving size of your main ingredient to get a better idea of serving size. I just started actually weighing my food and lost 1 lb in 4 days.
  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
    broccoli, peppers, and garlic are all negligible... id you stuffed yourself it may be 150 calories and thats a LOT of veg... worry about the oil and the meat and move on. I dont have time to use scales and micromanage every little thing... if that your thing than go ahead... common sense and some research of nutritional value is all you really need.

    FTR.I weighed things for a while to get a good idea of portion sizes... i didnt weigh everything, but, I did weigh calorically dense things.
  • suncluster
    suncluster Posts: 539 Member
    Are you saying I need to pull every individual food out of my stirfry and weigh it seperatly? Sometimes that is not possible.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    Yeah, digital scale.

    Even after doing this for 2 years I still weigh almost everything. Eyeballing is a recipe for totally screwing up your diet and not even knowing how you screwed it up. You'll hit a stall and not even be able to identify if you're overeating or undereating and have to start weighing food and waiting 2 weeks to figure it out.

    Better to just do it now.

    ^This. Invest in a food scale. Also, MFP has a recipe option that you can use to enter everything and figure out servings.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    Are you saying I need to pull every individual food out of my stirfry and weigh it seperatly? Sometimes that is not possible.

    No. They are saying weigh the items prior to putting them together and making it.

    If you've already made it, then at this point, find a similar entry and just let it go this one time. Next time, use a food scale and the recipe option on MFP.
  • knra_grl
    knra_grl Posts: 1,566 Member
    Are you saying I need to pull every individual food out of my stirfry and weigh it seperatly? Sometimes that is not possible.

    no the weighing should be done before - I guess now you will have to guesstimate but in the future weigh and measure before you cook then enter the recipe and figure out how many portions you have.
  • tegalicious
    tegalicious Posts: 629
    Are you saying I need to pull every individual food out of my stirfry and weigh it seperatly? Sometimes that is not possible.

    You weigh it before you cook it. Then enter the ingredients with the weights into the recipe maker on myfitnesspal. You tell it how many servings your weighed ingredients make and it gives you the calories for each serving.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    Are you saying I need to pull every individual food out of my stirfry and weigh it seperatly? Sometimes that is not possible.

    I make a lot of stir frys. What I do is - I usually start with a bagged stir fry mix of frozen vegetables. I weigh that all together and log it as, say, 400grams or 5 servings of whatever the veg mix is. I usually use coconut oil, I'll throw a spoon on the scale, tare it, spoon out the oil and re-weigh it, so say 15 grams. If I was using a liquid oil I use these little metal dip cups like you get for ketchup at a restaurant instead of the spoon. I would use the dip cup for soy sauce, too, if I was monitoring sodium. I even weigh the cornstarch I use to thicken it. Certain ingredients I don't weigh, like hot sauce because I don't care how much I have. Some people don't bother weighing non-starchy vegetables- that's your call. I like to watch potassium and fiber so I measure it.

    I understand that this might sound tedious, but it's not at all when you're used to it. It's a matter of just using the scale like it's your counterspace for measuring and hitting the tare button. It really is like second nature.

    And like Pika said, if you make the same things frequently you can use the recipe builder.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    I just bought a food scale a couple weeks ago. Makes it sooo much easier. I add all my ingredients into a recipe on here. I will put my pan on the scale and zero it out, then add my chicken to it (or whatever meat) and weigh it... same with everything else... You can zero out the pan, add one ingredient, write down the weight, zero it out again, add another ingredient, write down the weight, zero it, add another ingredient, etc. I keep a little pad of paper in the kitchen.

    I also make sure to weigh the baking dish, pan, pot, whatever my meal is in, first. And then i weigh it again after and subtract out the weight of the pan to find out how much the actual food weighs.

    And on my recipe on MFP, when you put how many servings, I always make my number of servings the number of oz my food weighed. That way when I dish some out for myself, I weigh it, and if I'm eating 12 oz, I add 12 servings to my food diary. I think it's simpler that way.
  • fleetzz
    fleetzz Posts: 962 Member
    If you make it yourself--make a recipe.

    Weigh every ingredient to the gram that you put in it.
    Measure the oil or whatever you use to cook it.

    Finish cooking.

    Weight final product. I typically put in the weight in grams as the number of servings.

    Serve family.

    Measure what you give yourself in grams->enter number of grams as the number of servings that you eat. Voila-->entire calorie count and breakdown done. EASY!

    When you make it again->just enter the correct number of grams you put in the new recipe, and enter the new weight of the final product.
  • abuck_13
    abuck_13 Posts: 382 Member
    do what I do - create recipes, figure out the number of services from the recipe and go from there!
  • beekaki
    beekaki Posts: 12
    broccoli, peppers, and garlic are all negligible... id you stuffed yourself it may be 150 calories and thats a LOT of veg... worry about the oil and the meat and move on. I dont have time to use scales and micromanage every little thing... if that your thing than go ahead... common sense and some research of nutritional value is all you really need.

    FTR.I weighed things for a while to get a good idea of portion sizes... i didnt weigh everything, but, I did weigh calorically dense things.

    I believe it depends to what extent you want to do things. I mesure things. I also always round up higher. I worry about things that have a real impact (oils, fatty foods) and guestimate vegetables for example.

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