I don't weight my food
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That's great, but when people encourage people to weigh everything as a means to overcome not losing weight, they aren't encouraging guesstimating but rather suggesting that people must weigh everything or they won't lose weight. In the long run, the people who are good at guesstimating will be more successful than those who are shackled to the scale.[/quote]
Except people don't say that. They recommend that people use scales when they aren't seeing the results they want.
And finally, you don't like food scales. We get it. It would be great if you could shut up about it and stop trying to insult those that do enjoy them. [/quote]
Can't like this enough!0 -
TheVirgoddess wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »mburgess458 wrote: »Some people wear never-weighing as a badge of honour, why?! How does it make you superior? I don't get that. It's about what works for you as an individual.
Personally, I weigh things like pasta that I'm really bad at eyeballing but not veg, fruit, bread slices, proteins. I used to weigh cheese portions until I could fairly accurately eyeball.
I think it's likely a reaction to all of the many, many threads where the people who always weigh come off as acting superior like they know precisely how many calories they are eating each day and that's the only way to lose weight.
I tend to agree. There are some people whose answer to everything is "Are you using a food scale to weigh your food?" While I agree that a food scale can help people identify a serving size, I don't think it is a good idea for people to be dependent on it. The implication is that people have to quit doing anything that would keep them from using a food scale or they will gain weight. No more eating at restaurants. No more sitting down with the family and passing the dishes around the table. For long term maintenance, it seems like it would be better to know how to use an approach that allows a person to live life normally.
I think using my scale has made me more comfortable in the situations where I am not in control of the food. I feel more confident in my guesstimating abilities and knowing I'm being as accurate as possible the rest of the week allows me to relax the one or two meals a week when I'm eating out.
That's great, but when people encourage people to weigh everything as a means to overcome not losing weight, they aren't encouraging guesstimating but rather suggesting that people must weigh everything or they won't lose weight. In the long run, the people who are good at guesstimating will be more successful than those who are shackled to the scale.
Except people don't say that. They recommend that people use scales when they aren't seeing the results they want.
And finally, you don't like food scales. We get it. It would be great if you could shut up about it and stop trying to insult those that do enjoy them.
Trying to correct one of his strawman arguments is a waste of time.0 -
I weigh my food simply because that is one less dish I have to wash! If I can put a glass on my scale and fill it with 216g of almond milk, I know that is 1 cup and I haven't dirtied a measuring cup. And as everyone else has said, it all comes down to how accurate you need to be to get over a plateau and how good at estimating you are.0
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A deck size portion of meat is 3 oz - don't need to weigh that. I know what each of my bowls measure: 1/2 cup for the small ones and 1 1/2 cup for the big ones. I eat as many vegetables as I want. 1 oz of cheese is not very much cheese (unfortunately)! Fat and nuts are the sneaky high calorie ones - I usually use tablespoons for that.0
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I weigh my food simply because that is one less dish I have to wash! If I can put a glass on my scale and fill it with 216g of almond milk, I know that is 1 cup and I haven't dirtied a measuring cup. And as everyone else has said, it all comes down to how accurate you need to be to get over a plateau and how good at estimating you are.
Aren't you then dirtying the cup you put on the scale? I don't see how it's one less since you have to pour it into something.0 -
I don't find weighing my food cumbersome. I find it reassuring. I have misjudged quantity in the past or just plain deluded myself. Growing up a serving was however much you could fit on your plate.
It is just a tool though. I use tools that help and discard those that don't.
That said, I am happy that not measuring works for you. It sounds like you are doing a good job!0 -
mburgess458 wrote: »I weigh my food simply because that is one less dish I have to wash! If I can put a glass on my scale and fill it with 216g of almond milk, I know that is 1 cup and I haven't dirtied a measuring cup. And as everyone else has said, it all comes down to how accurate you need to be to get over a plateau and how good at estimating you are.
Aren't you then dirtying the cup you put on the scale? I don't see how it's one less since you have to pour it into something.
No cup is being used. The person is pouring directly into the glass.0 -
Something calorie dense I will weigh. Something like lettuce, not so much.0
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This!brianpperkins wrote: »Rockin2014 wrote: »I started my weight loss journey 10 weeks ago. In these 10 weeks I have lost 10kg (22lbs) just as planned. However, I hardly ever weigh my food. I measure with cups, spoons and my eyeballs and each and every week I have met my target. If I am eating something I've never had before and which I find impossible to figure out I will weigh it (if I'm at home).
I sometimes wonder whether the focus on weighing your food is to big on MFP and I believe it may scare many people away because they find it too much of a hassle.
Anyone else not weigh and still see great results?
If you're losing as planned while logging 500 or more calories below your daily target, you are then eating more than you think.
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Sometimes people on forums are so silly. Tbh do what suits you, scales are a valuable tool to help people be more accurate in knowing the amounts they eat, just because you cna get past using them, it doesnt discreduit the fact that other people find them useful or even essential. How much does the OP have to lose, so we can get an idea how long her journey might be.
Use them dont use them, whatever.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »mburgess458 wrote: »Some people wear never-weighing as a badge of honour, why?! How does it make you superior? I don't get that. It's about what works for you as an individual.
Personally, I weigh things like pasta that I'm really bad at eyeballing but not veg, fruit, bread slices, proteins. I used to weigh cheese portions until I could fairly accurately eyeball.
I think it's likely a reaction to all of the many, many threads where the people who always weigh come off as acting superior like they know precisely how many calories they are eating each day and that's the only way to lose weight.
I tend to agree. There are some people whose answer to everything is "Are you using a food scale to weigh your food?" While I agree that a food scale can help people identify a serving size, I don't think it is a good idea for people to be dependent on it. The implication is that people have to quit doing anything that would keep them from using a food scale or they will gain weight. No more eating at restaurants. No more sitting down with the family and passing the dishes around the table. For long term maintenance, it seems like it would be better to know how to use an approach that allows a person to live life normally.
I think the implication is it is difficult to help someone who is wondering why they are not losing weight is you can't trust they are measuring intake with a reasonable amount of accuracy.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »mburgess458 wrote: »Some people wear never-weighing as a badge of honour, why?! How does it make you superior? I don't get that. It's about what works for you as an individual.
Personally, I weigh things like pasta that I'm really bad at eyeballing but not veg, fruit, bread slices, proteins. I used to weigh cheese portions until I could fairly accurately eyeball.
I think it's likely a reaction to all of the many, many threads where the people who always weigh come off as acting superior like they know precisely how many calories they are eating each day and that's the only way to lose weight.
I tend to agree. There are some people whose answer to everything is "Are you using a food scale to weigh your food?" While I agree that a food scale can help people identify a serving size, I don't think it is a good idea for people to be dependent on it. The implication is that people have to quit doing anything that would keep them from using a food scale or they will gain weight. No more eating at restaurants. No more sitting down with the family and passing the dishes around the table. For long term maintenance, it seems like it would be better to know how to use an approach that allows a person to live life normally.
I think the implication is it is difficult to help someone who is wondering why they are not losing weight is you can't trust they are measuring intake with a reasonable amount of accuracy.
It is simple enough. You just say, "You're eating more than you think you are." Then let them figure out how they are going to eat less. If that means weighing their food, so be it. If that means reducing their portion sizes without weighing their food, that works too. Or if that means cutting out snacks, that works as well. There isn't just one right answer here.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »mburgess458 wrote: »Some people wear never-weighing as a badge of honour, why?! How does it make you superior? I don't get that. It's about what works for you as an individual.
Personally, I weigh things like pasta that I'm really bad at eyeballing but not veg, fruit, bread slices, proteins. I used to weigh cheese portions until I could fairly accurately eyeball.
I think it's likely a reaction to all of the many, many threads where the people who always weigh come off as acting superior like they know precisely how many calories they are eating each day and that's the only way to lose weight.
I tend to agree. There are some people whose answer to everything is "Are you using a food scale to weigh your food?" While I agree that a food scale can help people identify a serving size, I don't think it is a good idea for people to be dependent on it. The implication is that people have to quit doing anything that would keep them from using a food scale or they will gain weight. No more eating at restaurants. No more sitting down with the family and passing the dishes around the table. For long term maintenance, it seems like it would be better to know how to use an approach that allows a person to live life normally.
I think using my scale has made me more comfortable in the situations where I am not in control of the food. I feel more confident in my guesstimating abilities and knowing I'm being as accurate as possible the rest of the week allows me to relax the one or two meals a week when I'm eating out.
That's great, but when people encourage people to weigh everything as a means to overcome not losing weight, they aren't encouraging guesstimating but rather suggesting that people must weigh everything or they won't lose weight. In the long run, the people who are good at guesstimating will be more successful than those who are shackled to the scale.
Can't say I agree. Because I'm one of those people who advise those posting about "plateaus" to weight their food...but I only weigh a third to half of what I eat. I started off not weighing my food and lost with great success and right on track with the right amount of calories. I decided to get a scale not because I was having issues but just to see what things really weighed. I was curious. Now I weigh things when they're convenient (at home). I don't weight things at work or eating out. It's beneficial to see what a true serving of foods looks like. I don't need to weigh everything because it works for me and I'm honest with myself. I also have no problem having a week where my loss wasn't where it should be. It doesn't make me panic because I know i just messed up on a couple things and can easily fix it. It works for me.
When it doesn't work for someone, they need to make a change and estimating just isn't working for them. Weighing is a great way to tackle estimating problems. If estimating isnt working, just how are they supposed to fix it? Estimate better? How? A scale can solve it. Once they fix their issue, they can keep the scale or go back to estimating with more accurate understanding of servings.
And there's no reason one would be more successful over the other.0 -
IGuitarJerry wrote: »Think about this, there are people in the world that don't even weigh or measure or track calories, and stay lean and fit. I know...MIND BLOWN.
Wish I were one of those people. Considering the obesity epidemic in America a lot of people are obviously not part of that club.0 -
I love that all three pages is people who don't weigh being all snarky about it, people who do weigh saying, hey, to each their own. I suspect there's a little projection goin' on with the non-weighers. Our minds aren't blown, the world is still spinning, we still eat at restaurants, we don't care if you weigh or not.
Agreed.
If you want to weigh...weigh...
If you don't want to...don't...
most of us can lose without weighing...I can but I choose accuracy not just for calories but for my macros as well and that part gets more important the further into body composition you get.
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fastforlife1 wrote: »A deck size portion of meat is 3 oz - don't need to weigh that. I know what each of my bowls measure: 1/2 cup for the small ones and 1 1/2 cup for the big ones. I eat as many vegetables as I want. 1 oz of cheese is not very much cheese (unfortunately)! Fat and nuts are the sneaky high calorie ones - I usually use tablespoons for that.
Honest question: how can identically-sized pieces of two different meats -- with different densities, different muscle:fat ratios, different water contents, and different fibrous tissue -- both weigh the same? I understand that "deck-sized" is a useful descriptor if you're just looking to control your portion in general ("That's a serving, more or less"), but to say it's the same weight is fairly unbelievable.
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I do a combination of measuring and weighing. It really depends on the food. For example, I ALWAYS weigh cheese, because I know if I do not my 1/4 cup of cheese will be filled up with an added mountain of cheese on top. ;-) I also weigh my meat. Something like a packaged item or jello cup that is already pre-weighed or portioned, I don't bother with any of it.
I guess I am like some posters above and weigh calorie dense foods and then measure things like fruits, vegetables, popcorn, etc.0 -
Not sure I want to jump into this debate but... I don't weigh my food. When I first started with MFP, I didn't really have much experience with calorie counting, or any sort of dieting really. The simple act of logging, and being aware of how many calories were in a serving of food, enabled me to make better choices, control my portions, and lose weight. It wasn't till I was a couple of months into MFP that I started reading the forums and the advice to get a food scale for accuracy. I kind of figured that when I hit one of those frustrating plateaus, I would get one, and not that I never did plateau, but it never got to the point where I couldn't tighten things up on my own without the food scale. My plateaus were always explainable... Issue - I was over my calories. Result - I stopped losing weight. Correction - don't go over your calories.
I'm pretty much in maintenance now, although I haven't adjusted my calories upward yet - partly because, without using a food scale, I think I need a bit of a buffer to allow for margin of error. I am confident that with a food scale I probably would have lost weight a little faster, and that I could probably raise my calorie goal and maintain a little easier, but I am probably going to continue without weighing my food.
I agree with others that a food scale is a great tool, especially for people that struggle with portion sizing or those that are "volume eaters".0 -
fastforlife1 wrote: »A deck size portion of meat is 3 oz - don't need to weigh that. I know what each of my bowls measure: 1/2 cup for the small ones and 1 1/2 cup for the big ones. I eat as many vegetables as I want. 1 oz of cheese is not very much cheese (unfortunately)! Fat and nuts are the sneaky high calorie ones - I usually use tablespoons for that.
Honest question: how can identically-sized pieces of two different meats -- with different densities, different muscle:fat ratios, different water contents, and different fibrous tissue -- both weigh the same? I understand that "deck-sized" is a useful descriptor if you're just looking to control your portion in general ("That's a serving, more or less"), but to say it's the same weight is fairly unbelievable.
I had the same question
ie chicken breast doesn't seem as dense as pork loin chops might have to check that the next time I have them both (I did today but the weights were different.)
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fastforlife1 wrote: »A deck size portion of meat is 3 oz - don't need to weigh that. I know what each of my bowls measure: 1/2 cup for the small ones and 1 1/2 cup for the big ones. I eat as many vegetables as I want. 1 oz of cheese is not very much cheese (unfortunately)! Fat and nuts are the sneaky high calorie ones - I usually use tablespoons for that.
Honest question: how can identically-sized pieces of two different meats -- with different densities, different muscle:fat ratios, different water contents, and different fibrous tissue -- both weigh the same? I understand that "deck-sized" is a useful descriptor if you're just looking to control your portion in general ("That's a serving, more or less"), but to say it's the same weight is fairly unbelievable.
Don't forget that fat has more calories per ounce than protein. A steak from a cow that is corn fed will have a very different number of calories than that of one that isn't, even though the steaks weigh the same.0 -
That's also a good point, @TimothyFish. Hence my confusion regarding that statement about how a deck-sized piece of "meat" will always be 3oz/same calories.0
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TimothyFish wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »mburgess458 wrote: »Some people wear never-weighing as a badge of honour, why?! How does it make you superior? I don't get that. It's about what works for you as an individual.
Personally, I weigh things like pasta that I'm really bad at eyeballing but not veg, fruit, bread slices, proteins. I used to weigh cheese portions until I could fairly accurately eyeball.
I think it's likely a reaction to all of the many, many threads where the people who always weigh come off as acting superior like they know precisely how many calories they are eating each day and that's the only way to lose weight.
I tend to agree. There are some people whose answer to everything is "Are you using a food scale to weigh your food?" While I agree that a food scale can help people identify a serving size, I don't think it is a good idea for people to be dependent on it. The implication is that people have to quit doing anything that would keep them from using a food scale or they will gain weight. No more eating at restaurants. No more sitting down with the family and passing the dishes around the table. For long term maintenance, it seems like it would be better to know how to use an approach that allows a person to live life normally.
I think the implication is it is difficult to help someone who is wondering why they are not losing weight is you can't trust they are measuring intake with a reasonable amount of accuracy.
It is simple enough. You just say, "You're eating more than you think you are." Then let them figure out how they are going to eat less. If that means weighing their food, so be it. If that means reducing their portion sizes without weighing their food, that works too. Or if that means cutting out snacks, that works as well. There isn't just one right answer here.
No one said that providing someone advice (when that is what they are asking for, I might add) is a statement that the advice given is "the one right answer". You seem to read a lot of extra judgment, absolutist, and condemnation into people's opinions than is really there.0 -
People with more to lose would get away with this for awhile. As you get closer to goal, accuracy, (logging) needs to be tighter.0
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I lost 10lbs in 4 weeks without weighing my food! Even so, I just ordered a food scale and plan on starting to weigh my portions regularly. Mostly I'm just curious to see how close my estimations are and I want to avoid a plateau.0
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I weigh my food.
Most people who don't, and maintain successfully, eat about 300 less calories than they should be able to. Because they're probably really eating 300 extra calories. And that's fine. Whatever works for them. It doesn't affect me (well, except when they complain that they maintain on 'only 1400 calories' when they're really maintaining on 1700, then it's annoying).0 -
I weigh my food.
Most people who don't, and maintain successfully, eat about 300 less calories than they should be able to. Because they're probably really eating 300 extra calories. And that's fine. Whatever works for them.
Yep - this. According to my FitBit I burn around 2100-2300 cals/day, which I think is fairly accurate. MFP thinks my maintenance cals before exercise are about 1900, which also seems about accurate since I probably burn 200-300 in the light exercise I do. Right now I'm set at 1685 cals, and I have been maintaining/losing REALLY slowly at this level. I think I'm going to up my goal to 1750 -1800, which is a little under where MFP thinks I need to be, just to have a buffer because I don't weigh. I'm ok with that, and if I do get to the point where I am gaining unexpectedly, then I would start weighing my food. Or if I get frustrated with the fact that moving to maintenance doesn't even equal an entire glass of wine or serving of gelato extra in my day - LOL.0 -
When I was 220 lbs I didnt track food on MFP let alone weigh food for any purpose. Got to 157 lbs in 6 months. I spun my wheels for 6 additional months trying to get to 145lbs.
I found out about CICO and hitting #'s for protien, fat, and carbs and fiber and bought a food scale. The rest is history. until I sat in my deficit and knew I was there instead of estimating, nothing was going to help. The lower your weight the more careful you have to be in your CICO calculations.
I'm 5'7 141 lbs. I still have fat to lose. If I dont weigh my food I will never hit my AESTHETIC goal.
Anyway how hard can it be? Turn scale on, put recepticle on scale, tare, place food in recepticle, remove from scale, enjoy said food knowing you are with in your caloric range.
It's not hard at all.
But way to go on your loss, good luck on meeting your goal if you are close to it.0 -
I don't weigh my food because I don't own a kitchen scale. I can see how it would be useful, but I don't need another object on my tiny counter.0
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TheVirgoddess wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »TimothyFish wrote: »mburgess458 wrote: »Some people wear never-weighing as a badge of honour, why?! How does it make you superior? I don't get that. It's about what works for you as an individual.
Personally, I weigh things like pasta that I'm really bad at eyeballing but not veg, fruit, bread slices, proteins. I used to weigh cheese portions until I could fairly accurately eyeball.
I think it's likely a reaction to all of the many, many threads where the people who always weigh come off as acting superior like they know precisely how many calories they are eating each day and that's the only way to lose weight.
I tend to agree. There are some people whose answer to everything is "Are you using a food scale to weigh your food?" While I agree that a food scale can help people identify a serving size, I don't think it is a good idea for people to be dependent on it. The implication is that people have to quit doing anything that would keep them from using a food scale or they will gain weight. No more eating at restaurants. No more sitting down with the family and passing the dishes around the table. For long term maintenance, it seems like it would be better to know how to use an approach that allows a person to live life normally.
I think using my scale has made me more comfortable in the situations where I am not in control of the food. I feel more confident in my guesstimating abilities and knowing I'm being as accurate as possible the rest of the week allows me to relax the one or two meals a week when I'm eating out.
That's great, but when people encourage people to weigh everything as a means to overcome not losing weight, they aren't encouraging guesstimating but rather suggesting that people must weigh everything or they won't lose weight. In the long run, the people who are good at guesstimating will be more successful than those who are shackled to the scale.
Except people don't say that. They recommend that people use scales when they aren't seeing the results they want.
And finally, you don't like food scales. We get it. It would be great if you could shut up about it and stop trying to insult those that do enjoy them.
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