Do you weigh everything, even packaged foods?

Easy stuff like jerky, or oatmeal, I weigh. Because usually you're always short on the weight.

Pop-tarts and stuff I never weigh, lol.

I weigh whatever they say is "X calories/cup/Tbsp/etc." because I discoved that the measurements may be approximate to the weights, but are not accurate. My oatmeal, for example - the directons say to use 1/4 cup, but the serving size is actually 30 grams. When I weigh out 30 grams it comes under the rim of the 1/4 cup measuring cup by a signficant amount. I have a granola bar I like that is 30 calories more than what is stated on the label when I weigh it. But, for most single serve items I can trust the package. However, I usually do weigh it the first few times I use it and that way I can see just how trust worthy it is. I do tend to eat the same brands a lot for that reason. That way I can just scan the package and be happy. I use a lot of single serve items as there are only two of us in the house, we both use MFP to track and they are easy to pack up and take to work.

I'm kind of wishy washy. For example:

Cheese slices: yes (I've seen some crazy discrepancies with cheese slices)
Oatmeal/cereals: yes
Sandwich thins: no
Bread: yes
Lunch meat: yes
String cheese/individual cheeses like Baby Bel: no
Crackers/chips: no**

**edit: I count chips, pretzels, and crackers at work. At home I weigh them.

I only weigh things that don't have a barcode that I can scan for the correct nutrient count. I don't weigh to track calories anymore.

The only things I don't weigh are yogurt cups (in my experience, it's always under anyway), individual pieces of candy like chocolates or caramels, and string cheese/prepackaged American cheese slices.

I weigh everything else. Like this morning, the 57g English muffin I had was actually 70g. That's 36 extra calories right there. Most cereal bars and slices of bread are 2-3g heavier as well, and yeah cheese/deli meat slices/packaged meats and sausages are all over the place. Almonds? A serving is 28g or 28 almonds, but 28g is more like 23 almonds... It just adds up.

Sometimes obviously it's not easy, like if you cook a bunch of sausages that only give calories for the raw weight, but I weighed them all and picked the heaviest one (which was 10% more than the package said). It can be a pain, but typically my plate is on the scale anyway, it just takes one second to tare it.

If it comes prepackaged or proportioned, I don't bother weighing it. If anything, its more likely to be short then over. A little bit less than the serving size equates to a few less calories, and I realize even the label is just an educated estimate. Examples would be a hot dog, or a protein bar.

For home made stuff, I have it pretty easy as well, since I am only cooking for 1. I'll measure and weigh when making a batch recipe, but then I will approximate the serving sizes. For instance, a home made chili that I breakup into 4 servings. Since I am eating it all eventually ( and usually within the same week ), I only care that the portions are relatively the same size, doesn't have to be exact, so I tend to skip here as well.

Where I do really pay attention to detail, and weigh every item, is with meats, spreads/condiments/sauces ( cream cheese, butter, Alfredo, etc ), loose frozen items ( vegetables in family size bags ), or anything else where you have to manually control the portion size ( like rice, pasta ) or expect a large variance in the portion size ( for instance, a bakery bagel )

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Eileen_S wrote: »

I only weigh things that don't have a barcode that I can scan for the correct nutrient count. I don't weigh to track calories anymore.

Be aware that manufacturers will keep the exact same SKU even as they totally change the makeup of the item and the nutrition label info.
Going low carb or low fat version will cause big changes, unless they totally make a new line with new SKU.

I don't weigh or measure any single-serving things. I do weigh or measure *almost everything that contains more than one serving.
The *almost everything excludes things that are virtually single serving items like candy, where something like Hershey says 5 Reese's miniatures is a serving out of a 1lb bag, or Oreo's says 2 Oreo's is a serving out of a 3 row package. I will not weigh a Reese miniature (or 5) or an Oreo cookie (or 2), or any similarly packaged standardized foods.

ETA: I do weigh chips, crackers and alike, even if the portion says 10 chips or 28 grams, I weigh it for the 28 grams. Too much variance, many crackers and chips are broken, etc.

I've been in maintenance for a few years now, and I do still weigh pretty much everything. Packaged food, especially. I've found that most of it is notorious for being off of what it says on the package. Bread is a big one, canned goods too.

I weigh as much as possible but not pkg foods while i trust the label.

So those English muffins I mentioned yesterday? The one I had today was 74g instead of 57g. 50 extra calories right there.

And I got some Lindt chocolate once, it said a square was 10g... try 16g. Ugh that was a bad one.

That's why I weigh.

irenehb wrote: »

GuitarJerry wrote: »

pmm3437 wrote: »

If it comes prepackaged or proportioned, I don't bother weighing it. If anything, its more likely to be short then over.

Other way around. More likely to be over than short. Manufacturers want you to think it's less than it is. It's a selling gimmick for those that read labels. "Oh look, this is only 100 cals". Meanwhile, it's 160.

^Agree.
On top of that manufacturers are required to provide the minimum amount (what is listed on the nutrition label), at least in Australia.
For example, I have eaten Chobani passionfruit 2% probably around 100 times over the last year or 2, and never has it weighed the stated 170 grams. Once it weighed 171 and quite a few times 172 g, but mostly 173-175 and twice 179 grams.
I know in the grand scheme of things it isn't much more calories for this item but it can add up, especially for items like bread or calorifically-dense products.
Actually, a chocolate bar (rocky road, darrell lea. Think only available in Australia) says 2 serves of 25 grams per bar but the bar weight is apparently 60 grams. I have weighed one bar as high as 90 grams.

Sigh I guess I'll start weighing yogurt cups too

It depends on what it is. Prepackaged stuff, like a granola bar, I don't. For now this works for me, though if ever it stops, I'll start weighing those as well to make sure. I don't imagine it's THAT far off to cause issues for me right now though.

heybales wrote: »

nordlead2005 wrote: »

A related question, how many of you calibrate your scales?

I already had a 200 g calibration weight, so I do check. But scale is cheap with no means of changing if wrong.

This. My first scale was $15, and started acting wonky after two years of faithful service, so I retired it with full honors, and replaced it with a shiny new one. Pretty!

I used to, but I don't anymore. After months spent paying attention, I realized that it was likely all a wash in the end. Some prepackaged stuff was way under, some way over. It hasn't negatively impacted my weight loss.

I do weigh all fresh stuff, or anything I have to portion out myself.