NOT Weighing Food?

I haven't weighed my food since me and me kitchen scale had a disagreement over what an ounce of grated cheese looked like.

:laugh:

I can't say that eye balling works for everyone but so far I'm ok. I got way too obsessed with the numbers and trying to make everything fit, took the joy out of mealtimes and turned me into a psycho in the kitchen :laugh:
Learning portion control is key, who wants to be weighing everything for life eh?

The way I feel about a scale is the same as any kitchen tool, to be honest. If I found a kitchen ladle that got the job done, would I wonder if I want to obsess over this ladle forever? No, it's just a simple tool that helps me get from A to B. But hey there was actually a topic recently where many people said they'd have no issues logging forever. Essentially it was five minutes out of their day (max) and they'd get to maintain their phenomenal weight loss

I see there is talk of "obsessive" behavior in this thread.......... Nah.

We're all "obsessive" here because we log everything we eat into an online database, and on TOP of the time it takes to do that, we're all here perusing the forums and debating on the benefits of weighing/measuring your food for the sake of calorie counting. Honestly, the word "obsessive" is meaningless if you're already on MFP.

Truth. If someone is concerned about appearing obsessive this is the last place to be. Reading and talking on diet forums, logging everything that crosses the lips, figuring out BMR and TDEE and macros and all that other stuff normal people don't do? Tooooooooo late.

I see there is talk of "obsessive" behavior in this thread.......... Nah.

We're all "obsessive" here because we log everything we eat into an online database, and on TOP of the time it takes to do that, we're all here perusing the forums and debating on the benefits of weighing/measuring your food for the sake of calorie counting. Honestly, the word "obsessive" is meaningless if you're already on MFP.

Truth. If someone is concerned about appearing obsessive this is the last place to be. Reading and talking on diet forums, logging everything that crosses the lips, figuring out BMR and TDEE and macros and all that other stuff normal people don't do? Tooooooooo late.

LOL

You just made eight people realize they need to go out and get a life.

I'm not going to get into the measuring cups vs. scale discussion, but my feeling (I'm a cup person myself), my biggest downfall is not thinking about what I'm eating.

When I use some way of measuring what I'm eating I have to consciously calculate what I'm choosing to put into my body.

I think weighing food is more important in the losing phase than in maintenance. I'm also getting better at estimating how much "1 cup" of something really is. Ultimately though, I choose a scale over a measuring cup or my own estimates any day of the week.

I don't weigh food, or use measuring cups.

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What really does bother me is when people post threads that they aren't losing anything and immediately the replies are all "are you weighing your food? "Buy a food scale." Weight can be lost without a food scale,

This is one of the most illogical and ridiculous statements I think I have ever read in my entire life. And that's something!

I'm not sayng everyone must use a kitchen scale, but I'm curious abut why the idea of using one makes some people so angry?

it depends -
if my progress reduces > i get more accurate with my weighing> my losses increase > i stop weighing as accurately and start guessing > my progress slows > ...
you get hte picture? this is me - my experience and it's fine if this isn't the case for you - lucky you

the key is EVERYONE underestimates their intake even dietitians - based on this published academic study [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12396160]
but people who know more about food and it's contents underestimate less

but when we are equally inaccurate on logging our exercise (I don't count each time I climb the stairs at home) these inaccuracies can balance out - if they do for you great - but when someone else is not loosing weight as they would like this is probably the best place to start

i'm fat - I assume I got fat by eating too much > my idea of the right 'serving' is wrong, I need to relearn, I do this by weighing what i eat, repeatedly and it's working

for example, I have recently changed from putting my cereal bowl on the scales before pouring cereal, to serving the cereal then putting it on the scales (having previously zeroed the scales for the bowl), i'm now usually within 4g of my target 'serving' and i then adjust it, when i started i was out by 10-15g regularly for my intended 35g serving
so for guessing hte right 'serving' of *my* cereal in *my* bowl - well i'm getting better slowly, but I know that if I used your bowl and your cereal I would be very unlikely to be able to guess accurately what 35g looked like

The statement that "weight can be lost without a food scale" is one of the most illogical things you've ever heard? LOL

Yes because that is the entirety of what I quoted and responded to and you took absolutely nothing entirely out of context. :flowerforyou:

I've never weighed my food. Still lost the weight.

If you weighed it or not isn't the issue. It's eating at a calorie deficit which you would have been if you were losing weight. (unless you are some miracle of modern science, which there are a few who seem to think they are)

I's just weighing your food is the most accurate weigh for most people to see that they are in a deficit. If your methods work for you fine but don't try and tell people you weren't in a calorie deficit because I'm afraid science says otherwise

:laugh: at the "won't use a scale, but hey I use measuring cups/spoons!!! :laugh:

With the exception of this comment which is rude and unhelpful, this thread has been informative and eye-opening to see the different approaches and what works for different folks. I don't use a scale, but can see the benefit in some instances especially for calorie-dense foods like cheese, nuts, etc. I use a measuring cup as a scoop for cereal, for example. I use little plastic medicine cups for things like salad dressing. I use the package weight for meats (someone commented how do you measure chicken with a cup--cut it up into little pieces and shove it into a measuring cup?)

It's encouraging to see that folks are finding a variety of ways of "measuring" their foods, be it eyeballing and learning portion sizes or weighing to the gram. Thanks to the OP for opening up this topic for discussion.

But...chopping up chicken into small pieces and shoving it into a cup is more mess, more time consuming, and less accurate than placing a whole piece of chicken on a plate on a scale.
Also, package weights for meats are typically not accurate--they always say serving size 1 breast (4 oz) or something along those lines, but if you had a scale, you would see that the breast is typically 6-8oz (or bigger).

If you're using measuring cups, you should use a scale. Measuring cups aren't even close to accurate for anything solid, they are more time consuming, and they are more wasteful.

If you're eyeballing and losing weight at the rate you want and aren't hungry, then obviously a scale wouldn't be beneficial to you.

I don't weigh my food , and refuse to do it as well. I don't see myself weighing every meal for the rest of my life. I have 9kg to my goal weight, so really i don't care if i lose the weight fast or slow. I work out 6 times a week and i'm doing pretty well.

BUT, just out of curiousity, how would you weight let's say peanut butter sandwich ? do you take your PB with a spoon put on a scale? then put your bread on the scale ?? or bowl of cereal with milk ??? I find it will take a lot of time, doing this everyday. Or do you just weigh it once and "eyeball it " the next time ?
For me i use cups, i take 1 cup of cereal and 1/2 of milk, or 3 T of plain yogurt, and do the math. it's not hard.

I *sometimes* weigh my food - usually it's when preparing a specific recipe and I am entering it into the recipe tracker. I know darn well that the chicken breasts I buy at Costco are WAY more than 4-5oz each, and when I weigh them they turn out to be 8ozs+. Something like that makes a big difference, IMHO.

On the other hand, I am not using MFP to actively lose weight, for me it is about maintaining and having a general idea of what my macros look like.

There's more than one way to skin a cat. :drinker: