Who *actually* measures and weighs everything?

Options
NakeshiaBeard
NakeshiaBeard Posts: 83
in Food and Nutrition
How many of you *actually* measure and weigh everything you eat?

I'm just curious. I haven't really weighed anything properly for a long time. I spend many years working in restaurants and bakeries so I became really good at judging weight by sight. Also, a fitness/weight loss program I took part in for 36 weeks provided me with many recipes that are set at 300-350 calories per serve (of course, I still weight and measure the ingredients for the recipes), although over time my serving sizes have relaxed, which I think could be a reason why I've stopped losing weight.
«134567

Replies

  • LabAgility
    LabAgility Posts: 120 Member
    Options
    *waves* I do.
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
    Options
    I don't now, but I used to.

    I think it's important for people to do it in the beginning, just to get a sense of things. After that, some people can get good at estimating other can't.

    Also, your total calorie intake is a huge factor in how much error you can tolerate. I maintain at 3,000 cals a day. If I estimate a meal at a restaurant and I'm off by 300 cals, that's 10% of my calorie intake, no huge deal. But, if I was eating 1500 calories, now you're talking about being off by 20% of my intake, that could be a lot bigger problem depending on how frequently it happened. With a lower calorie intake, you have less "leeway."
  • mike_ny
    mike_ny Posts: 351 Member
    Options
    I did for the first few weeks to find out what portions sizes should be. Then for those foods, I could eyeball it, and would only weight/measure new foods I didn't have a good feel for. Once you get good at it, it comes naturally. I can grab an ounce of nuts out of a jar with my hand or cut an ounce of cheese and I'm pretty much right on (maybe a tad over or under, but definitely close enough for a good guesstimate).

    It's a real eye opener. Most people are guessing way under in what they're putting on their plates.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    Options
    I do. Every single day. The only thing I don't weigh is when I go out to eat at a restaurant/fast food/other person's house. Other than that, I weigh and log pretty much everything (heh, except all my Halloween candy :O )
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    edited November 2014
    Options
    tumblr_mbhss5KQ2n1ror6v2.gif
    Ninkyou wrote: »
    I do. Every single day. The only thing I don't weigh is when I go out to eat at a restaurant/fast food/other person's house. Other than that, I weigh and log pretty much everything (heh, except all my Halloween candy :O )

    same, although if I'm eating at another's house I'm likely to just try to estimate the weight of food.
  • apparations
    apparations Posts: 264 Member
    Options
    I don't, for the same reason that I spent a very long time working in restaurants, so I have a good idea of how much things weigh by looking at it. But it is NOT foolproof, the only thing holding you accountable is yourself, and if you're not careful you can relax as you say and eat more than you realize. This happened to me and I did not lose for about 6 weeks, so I had to force myself to be much more honest when logging. The good thing about weighing food is that scale does not lie, eyeballing will always be a little less accurate no matter what.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
    Options
    I absolutely do, because I don't have much to lose and at this stage being as close to exact is imperative.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
    edited November 2014
    Options
    I do weigh and measure pretty much everything when I'm at home. I'm really bad at estimating portions visually, as it turns out. Which could be why previous efforts failed.

    When I'm out and about, it's another story. I do my best to estimate. But I'm not bringing out the food scale in public.
  • NakeshiaBeard
    NakeshiaBeard Posts: 83
    Options
    apparations wrote: »
    I don't, for the same reason that I spent a very long time working in restaurants, so I have a good idea of how much things weigh by looking at it. But it is NOT foolproof, the only thing holding you accountable is yourself, and if you're not careful you can relax as you say and eat more than you realize. This happened to me and I did not lose for about 6 weeks, so I had to force myself to be much more honest when logging. The good thing about weighing food is that scale does not lie, eyeballing will always be a little less accurate no matter what.

    So true!
  • UmmSqueaky
    UmmSqueaky Posts: 715 Member
    Options
    If I am preparing food at home, I do. Just finished a big pot of kale sausage lentil stew. Weighed each ingredient as it went in. Weighed individualized portions, and now have 10 ready to eat 303 calorie bowls of soup in the freezer. It took maybe an extra 5 minutes of my time. Been doing it for 11 months and having great success, so why mess with what works?
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
    Options
    I weigh and measure everything except my vegies. I'm guilty of picking a random entry for my veg anbd just logging that. On the occasions I've checked, I've been wildly over or under but I think it's a hangover from my Weight Watchers days where they were 'free'. I do weigh the starchy/higher calorie ones.
  • janicejean1953
    janicejean1953 Posts: 24 Member
    Options
    I weight everything (except for when I eat out of course, then I estimate). I have to in order to be sure I do not go over my daily caloric count. I'm too "new" to this weighting and measuring so I don't want to "estimate" or I may find myself in trouble.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
    Options
    Hey, sometimes weighing and measuring can be a pleasant surprise. Like when I weighed that maki roll that was portioned at 350g (and that I'd been entering as such) and found out it was only 188g. So I went ahead and got more sushi. Score!
  • jgled
    jgled Posts: 9 Member
    Options
    Absolutely my only way to stay honest with myself. Keeping a food diary really is,a commitment.
  • fobs13
    fobs13 Posts: 1,080 Member
    Options
    I do when I can as find it very useful to do so. My husband is very supportive and as he does the majority of the cooking he weighs everything for me so I can log my meals successfully. It's been am eyeopener to me how many calories in meals and I used to eat bigger portions than now.
  • AOdell79
    AOdell79 Posts: 94 Member
    Options
    I don't have a food scale but I measure everything that can be measured and count out servings for nuts, crackers, stuff like that.
  • AOdell79
    AOdell79 Posts: 94 Member
    Options
    Well I went from a size 10 to a size 2 so it seems to be working ok.
  • JazzFischer1989
    JazzFischer1989 Posts: 531 Member
    edited November 2014
    Options
    I definitely don't lol. But I think I'm pretty good at estimating since whatever weight goals I set for myself, I'm able to accomplish within the time frame that I want. Also helps to stick to serving sizes on packaged foods.

Categories