Best way to weigh your food

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JennaD075
JennaD075 Posts: 43 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
What is the best way to weigh your food when using a food scale? I use it with the ounces but I just read on another topic that someone said this is not the way to weigh your food. I'm confused. Please explain how I should be weighing my food. Thanks!
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Replies

  • markjacobs1987
    markjacobs1987 Posts: 162 Member
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    Well it depends on what you are weighing. I'd say go by whatever my fitness pal uses as a tracker. If it measures what you are tracking in ounces use that. If it uses grams use that. Example: Weigh chicken by ounces, weigh sweet potato by grams.
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
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    I weigh meat in ounces and everything else in grams.
  • SmartAlec03211988
    SmartAlec03211988 Posts: 1,896 Member
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    Grams. Always grams.

    An ounce is 28 grams, btw.
  • JennaD075
    JennaD075 Posts: 43 Member
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    Thank you! What both of you said makes sense. I guess I should weigh more of my food. I don't weigh potatoes. I use the small, large, medium...or if it's mashed I use cups. Do you weigh everything? Or do you use measuring cups also?
  • sllm1
    sllm1 Posts: 2,114 Member
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    Perhaps they were referring to the fact that you can be slightly more accurate on a digital scale with grams since there are 28 grams in 1 ounce? I don't think it matters much. I use grams most of the time but will use ounces for meat.
  • JennaD075
    JennaD075 Posts: 43 Member
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    Grams. Always grams.

    An ounce is 28 grams, btw.

    Thank you! I didn't know that. Why is it better to weigh in grams?
  • sllm1
    sllm1 Posts: 2,114 Member
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    Measuring cups are not as accurate as weighing. Someone posted a video once comparing measuring cups with weight, and typically people measured out too much with cups.

    I also like that I don't mess up extra dishes with my food scale. Put the chicken on the plate, tare the scale, put the next item on the plate, etc.
  • JennaD075
    JennaD075 Posts: 43 Member
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    Measuring cups are not as accurate as weighing. Someone posted a video once comparing measuring cups with weight, and typically people measured out too much with cups.

    I also like that I don't mess up extra dishes with my food scale. Put the chicken on the plate, tare the scale, put the next item on the plate, etc.

    How do I correctly weigh things that have serving sizes in cups? Do I do a certain amount of ounces are in a cup and weigh it that way?
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
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    Thank you! What both of you said makes sense. I guess I should weigh more of my food. I don't weigh potatoes. I use the small, large, medium...or if it's mashed I use cups. Do you weigh everything? Or do you use measuring cups also?

    Weigh everything. No measuring cups for anything.
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
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    If you can do math it doesn't matter if you weigh in grams, ounces, drams, or stones. It's all the same. I prefer to set my scale to grams because that is usually what is on nutritional labels.
  • FireStorm1972
    FireStorm1972 Posts: 1,142 Member
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    grams for me.
  • JennaD075
    JennaD075 Posts: 43 Member
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    If you can do math it doesn't matter if you weigh in grams, ounces, drams, or stones. It's all the same. I prefer to set my scale to grams because that is usually what is on nutritional labels.

    I'm OK with math but I never noticed anything in grams. I will have to learn the equivalent in grams for everything.
  • Megais
    Megais Posts: 28 Member
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    I also wondered this, and if scales are always accurate. Is there a brand of scale that's more accurate? Is it better to use grams or pounds depending on the food type?
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Measuring cups are not as accurate as weighing. Someone posted a video once comparing measuring cups with weight, and typically people measured out too much with cups.

    I also like that I don't mess up extra dishes with my food scale. Put the chicken on the plate, tare the scale, put the next item on the plate, etc.

    How do I correctly weigh things that have serving sizes in cups? Do I do a certain amount of ounces are in a cup and weigh it that way?

    The nutrition label will usually list the weight (grams) of a serving. Weigh your food out then divide it by the serving. Oftentimes, one serving will actually be less than the cup size.
  • SmartAlec03211988
    SmartAlec03211988 Posts: 1,896 Member
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    Thank you! What both of you said makes sense. I guess I should weigh more of my food. I don't weigh potatoes. I use the small, large, medium...or if it's mashed I use cups. Do you weigh everything? Or do you use measuring cups also?
    Measuring cups are for measuring liquids in fluid ounces. Solids like meats can't be accurately measured by volume.

    Also, you should definitely weigh those potatoes. How do you know what size a potato is if you don't know how much it weighs? The physical size doesn't matter - the weight of the potato determines whether its small, medium or large.

    On most nutritional labels it should have the weight in grams in parethesis. Like "1 cup (81g)" for example.
  • JennaD075
    JennaD075 Posts: 43 Member
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    I also wondered this, and if scales are always accurate. Is there a brand of scale that's more accurate? Is it better to use grams or pounds depending on the food type?

    Good question! I have two different scales and they are slightly off of each other. I would like to know also what food scale people use.
  • Kevalicious99
    Kevalicious99 Posts: 1,131 Member
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    Weigh everything in grams .... nothing is better than that.
  • Deipneus
    Deipneus Posts: 1,862 Member
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    Have you ever looked up how food companies come up with the number of calories they put on a label? It's really just an educated guess. I use an analog scale and weigh in ounces. My own best estimate is that the calories on labels are no more accurate than +/- 10% at best. So if my goal is 2,000 calories and I'm within a range of 1,800 to 2,200, that's a win!
  • JennaD075
    JennaD075 Posts: 43 Member
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    Thank you! What both of you said makes sense. I guess I should weigh more of my food. I don't weigh potatoes. I use the small, large, medium...or if it's mashed I use cups. Do you weigh everything? Or do you use measuring cups also?
    Measuring cups are for measuring liquids in fluid ounces. Solids like meats can't be accurately measured by volume.

    Also, you should definitely weigh those potatoes. How do you know what size a potato is if you don't know how much it weighs? The physical size doesn't matter - the weight of the potato determines whether its small, medium or large.

    On most nutritional labels it should have the weight in grams in parethesis. Like "1 cup (81g)" for example.

    Thank you! You have given me a lot of good information. With everyone's help maybe I can prevent having a weight gain or plateau 3 months from now and I won't have to start a topic asking "Why am I no longer losing weight."
  • JennaD075
    JennaD075 Posts: 43 Member
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    Have you ever looked up how food companies come up with the number of calories they put on a label? It's really just an educated guess. I use an analog scale and weigh in ounces. My own best estimate is that the calories on labels are no more accurate than +/- 10% at best. So if my goal is 2,000 calories and I'm within a range of 1,800 to 2,200, that's a win!

    Good point!

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