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    Biggest surprise after buying a scale

    Posts: 13 Member
    edited February 20 in Food and Nutrition
    I finally heeded all the advice about buying a kitchen scale. There were some surprises and some I had been guesstimating almost perfectly. But, what a surprise I had with the mayonnaise. It was twice the amount I had been logging! I wil not be without a kitchen scale again! What was your biggest surprise?

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    • Posts: 1,564 Member
      Mine was the amount of meat and cheese. I thought before I got my scale I was having 4 ounces of steak. I actually was having 6-7 ounces and logging as 4. Same with cheese. I would not be without my scale now.. Real eye opener..
    • Posts: 166 Member
      I finally heeded all the advice about buying a kitchen scale. There were some surprises and some I had been guesstimating almost perfectly. But, what a surprise I had with the mayonnaise. It was twice the amount I had been logging! I wil not be without a kitchen scale again! What was your biggest surprise?

      What an ounce of certain fruits looked like.
    • Posts: 14 Member
      Mine was quite similar to you! I was sometimes having almost three times the serving of peanut butter versus the weight!
    • Posts: 566 Member
      difference in weight cooked vs. uncooked.
    • Posts: 119 Member
      Cheese, chips, condiments, peanut butter/nuts, etc.

      Pretty much everything except pasta. For some reason, I always did 2 ounces of pasta for a meal...
    • Posts: 166 Member
      difference in weight cooked vs. uncooked.

      Oh and that.
    • Posts: 289 Member
      The fact that I had been largely OVERESTIMATING my portions before the scale, even though you constantly hear that most people underestimate what they're eating. I was eating way less than I thought, so I was pleasantly surprised at how much more I could add to equal one serving. I'm always on board for more food. :bigsmile:
    • Posts: 7,074 Member
      Peanut butter, condiments, cereal, cheese, and I agree about meat weighed cooked vs. raw. I used to always weigh it cooked and I realized how off I had been for so long. I make it a point now to weigh raw usually, and if not I find the "cooked" values in the database and check the USDA site too for confirmation.
    • Posts: 146 Member
      I was eating a lot more peanut butter than i thought.
    • Posts: 16,913 Member
      1 ounce of chips is more chips than I thought it was. So. Score on that one.
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    • Posts: 7,088 Member
      I used to think I was eating one serving of cereal, but after I got my scale I realized it was three!! Since then I use it no matter what! :-)
    • Posts: 450 Member
      I was way underestimating my pretzels (serious addiction), eating three times what I thought I was. I solved that by weighing and separating individual servings into ziplock bags as soon as I got the box. Meat, however, is a different story. I was seriously OVERestimating that. What I thought was about 4 oz was actually 2.
    • Posts: 314 Member
      Weight of meat. 100g chicken is like, nothing. And bacon.
    • Posts: 1,566 Member
      butter - mostly because it's high calorie and I started watching how much I use - without a scale I would have guestimated but I use a lot less I thought - weighing it in grams helps
    • Posts: 26,368 Member
      Cheese. Heck after a year it's still depressing to see how small one ounce is (but grated cheese = awesome, it seems like a lot!). Butter really adds up too.

      And beef, those steaks always look tiny for how much they weigh.
    • Posts: 1,164 Member
      I finally heeded all the advice about buying a kitchen scale. There were some surprises and some I had been guesstimating almost perfectly. But, what a surprise I had with the mayonnaise. It was twice the amount I had been logging! I wil not be without a kitchen scale again! What was your biggest surprise?

      This is why it's a great tool especially if a person has stopped losing and can't figure out why. A greater degree of accuracy can make the difference between losing, maintaining and gaining.
    • Posts: 13 Member
      Well, after a trip to the ice cream shop (with my kitchen scale) - my biggest surprise yet! A cone of chocolate soft serve - 130grams- 270 calories - way over the 150 calories I would have guesstimated!! :( But I DO love my scale!
    • Posts: 501 Member
      So far the only thing I discovered to have been inaccurately logged is avocado. That was off by about 25.
      Everything else my estimates have been correct within five calories.
      I was both pleased at my estimating abilities and disappointed. I had sort of hoped a scale would improve my accuracy and get me out of my plateau, but no.
    • Posts: 517 Member
      I'm really sad about how much a serving of cereal really is.
    • Posts: 1,999 Member
      Unlike most, I was overestimating my portions.
    • Posts: 1,894 Member
      Margarine.

      I thought I was using a spoonful (approx 5g)...was using more like a scrape (2-3g consistently when I weigh it) so WIN!
    • Posts: 916 Member
      I got a food scale, a new set of measuring cups, and a new set of measuring spoons before I started logging, so I had no "before and after" type surprises. But some of the quantities I'd get for veggies really surprised me when I weighed them--six ounces of steamed broccoli (measured raw) is considerable!
    • Posts: 26,368 Member
      Oh yeah, the biggest one... Pasta and rice. Yikes. 2oz of dried pasta is really not much. And 100g of cooked rice isn't that much either.

      For veggies it was the other way around for me, I always thought I could eat a ton for 100 calories... and it's not as much as I thought. A serving of 85g is actually pretty small.
    • Posts: 126 Member
      My great big plates look so empty now with proper portion sizes. A 4oz steak is super small. I saw the video about weighing before I started good so I didn't have a chance to be set in to bad a habit.
    • Posts: 80 Member
      My biggest surprise was how much I was over estimating! Which explains why I've been so hungry without the scale! lol
    • Posts: 104
      I have a food scale but only find it handy when I need to weigh out meats. I use a measuring cup for almost everything else like cereal, fruit, grains, chopped veggies. I suppose its not "as" accurate but It seems to be easier for me to log with.
    • Posts: 26,368 Member
      I have a food scale but only find it handy when I need to weigh out meats. I use a measuring cup for almost everything else like cereal, fruit, grains, chopped veggies. I suppose its not "as" accurate but It seems to be easier for me to log with.

      Cereal is horribly off. A one cup serving is typically 2/3 of a cup really. At sometimes 200 calories a serving... it adds up.

      I don't get it anyway - why bother using more cups to wash? Put bowl on scale, tare, put food, no extra dishes.
    • Posts: 15,267 Member
      I had good and bad surprises really....

      Good surprise 1/2c of cottage cheese is not 125g...it's a lot less so I got more of that
      Bad surprise 27g of cereal (fruit loops) is a pittance...makes me cry...

      I was actually really good at estimating my meat...I used to use that deck of cards thing = 4oz, horrible at starches/carbs...way under estimating...100g of boiled potatoes...makes me cry...

      The only thing with my food scale is that it has sort of made me lazy...not really looking at the quantity on my plate...just the number on the scale...I have to become more aware of that.

      As well if I don't buy the same brand of cheese I am screwed..I can get 30g of cheese bang on from Cracker barrel...but no other brands...
    • Posts: 140 Member
      My great big plates look so empty now with proper portion sizes. A 4oz steak is super small. I saw the video about weighing before I started good so I didn't have a chance to be set in to bad a habit.

      I've pretty much switched from using dinner plates to salad plates because of this! There is research to support that you feel more satisfied if you eat from a full, small plate vs. a half-full, large plate.
      http://foodpsychology.cornell.edu/outreach/large-plates.html
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