weigh & measure out of the house?
thegreatmd
Posts: 30 Member
Just wondering if anyone is using a pocket food scale and/or carries measuring cups/spoons with them? I'm thinking about it... Suggestions welcome.
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Replies
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I'd suggest just making your best estimate and making up for any mistakes by eating more or less while at home.0
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It's your decision. Personally I leave it at home as it feels weird to be doing something like that in public.0
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I haven't really thought about it since I bring my lunch to work with me every day and I don't eat out that often.
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I do my best to estimate. I'm not going to carry a scale with me wherever I go. If you're going to a restaurant, ask if they have the calorie and nutrition info available, either there or on their website. Most of them do now, and you can see where their portions fall in the scheme of things.0
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eyeball and estimate on the high side
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No, but I've been know to divide out half my meal and put it into a take-home container right away. Or I order something I'm familiar enough with to know what a portion should look like.0
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Nope - I follow the 80/20 rule. If 80% of the time I'm on track I don't worry about the other 20. So if I weigh 80% of my food at home - I'm not going to worry too much about when I'm out and about and not using my scale.0
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No. I'm not whipping out a scale in public or in someone else's home. There's a line between "out of the ordinary" and "over the top" and for me, bringing a food scale to someone else's house falls into the latter category.
If it will help you, though, go for it!!0 -
Yeah, the issue I'm having with eyeballing/estimating is that I'm pretty social, so I'm eating out (or with friends) 6ish times/week... Also, due to life circumstances, I'm not in control of the kitchen where I live, nor the meals that are served. I was thinking if I measure accurately, then maybe it would compensate for not knowing ingredients exactly?
Just throwing around ideas...0 -
If you're eating out a lot, look at the restaurants you and your friends like to go to and see if you can plan your meal ahead of time. Look at what the calorie counts are for things that you can, and make a point of only ordering what you picked out ahead of time. If you share an appetizer, just write it down right then so you can log it later. After a while, your brain will start to recognize what a portion is and it'll be easier to estimate.0
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I def don't have it in me to do that haha I rarely go out to eat, so when I actually DO, I want to enjoy the lack of having to weigh. I do try to mentally calculate what I'm eating, but w/ restaurant food that doesn't have nutritional info available, it's EASY to overestimate calories by the hundreds if you don't get your veggies steamed, no sauce, grilled protein sans sauce, etc.0
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If you don't know the ingredients, a perfect knowledge of the weight probably wouldn't do much good.thegreatmd wrote: »Yeah, the issue I'm having with eyeballing/estimating is that I'm pretty social, so I'm eating out (or with friends) 6ish times/week... Also, due to life circumstances, I'm not in control of the kitchen where I live, nor the meals that are served. I was thinking if I measure accurately, then maybe it would compensate for not knowing ingredients exactly?
Just throwing around ideas...
Are you just going to ask for an extra plate to tare and then move everything onto another plate to eat? Weighing food for which you don't know the ingredients?
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A photo of your plate might help if you have to log after you eat, especially if you're sharing appetizers or are picking lots of components to customize an order.0
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thegreatmd wrote: »Yeah, the issue I'm having with eyeballing/estimating is that I'm pretty social, so I'm eating out (or with friends) 6ish times/week... Also, due to life circumstances, I'm not in control of the kitchen where I live, nor the meals that are served. I was thinking if I measure accurately, then maybe it would compensate for not knowing ingredients exactly?
Just throwing around ideas...
If the cook didn't measure ingredients, there's no real point in having a scale with you. Load up on vegetables, order lean protein, and stop eating out so much if you start maintaining your current weight. Suggest different and more physical activities you can do with your friends.0 -
I do what BBQ sauce above suggested. I order a lean protein such as chicken, after 4 months of weighing food I can pretty well eyeball 4ounces of chicken breast, a 1/3 cup of rice, and 2/3 cup of veggies. When eating out, which we do maybe 1x a week on average, I try to order some sort of chicken based salad, that way I dont have to deal with sauces, otherwise I will order something that is super common like enchiladas, then go through MFP and just put in the higher end of the average calories.0
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I always take home leftovers, because restaurant portions are too much food. Then I weigh the leftovers and math out the portion I ate. It's still very estimated, but it at least gives you portions.0
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I carry a pocket scale with me when I go out to eat. I have no qualms about using it. I've been told by a few MFPers that I have disordered eating because of it, but these same people also tout weigh and measure all food. Apparently, you're only supposed to do that in the privacy of your own home.
It's up to you if you want to use one in public. If you don't, you can go by eating half of what is served to you or only take half of what you'd usually take. For me, unless it's a food I'm wanting, I'll just not eat.0 -
nope…
IMO that is going a little overboard. You need to find a good balance between being accurate when you can, and also realizing that there are times when you cannot, and that is OK too.
I am going out to dinner in a bit and I will just guestimate what I have. Will it be accurate, no; does that bother me, no.
If you can accurately track everything about 75 to 85% of the time and not worry about the other 15% you will do fine.
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I carry a pocket scale with me when I go out to eat. I have no qualms about using it. I've been told by a few MFPers that I have disordered eating because of it, but these same people also tout weigh and measure all food. Apparently, you're only supposed to do that in the privacy of your own home.
It's up to you if you want to use one in public. If you don't, you can go by eating half of what is served to you or only take half of what you'd usually take. For me, unless it's a food I'm wanting, I'll just not eat.
I don't think that is anything to be ashamed of, but it isn't really all that practical. At home you know the ingredients, how they were cooked,etc. when you are out and about you don't know what is in the sauce, how it was cooked etc. so the weight doesn't mean quite as much.
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I'd do it when eating alone & I'd prefer to still do it, when I am not as well; it'd depend upon the company I'm with. While I am currently single, I'm only interested in men; that aren't easily embarrassed. So then, when dating; this shouldn't be a problem. I'm trying to become a healthy weight & it's my prerogative, how I do so; as long as the methods I implement aren't dangerous.0
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I eyeball or find an equivalent in the database. I don't eat out much though... but by now I'm pretty good at estimating, and I don't typically eat things with sauces etc (I'm horrible at estimating those).0
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thegreatmd wrote: »Yeah, the issue I'm having with eyeballing/estimating is that I'm pretty social, so I'm eating out (or with friends) 6ish times/week... Also, due to life circumstances, I'm not in control of the kitchen where I live, nor the meals that are served. I was thinking if I measure accurately, then maybe it would compensate for not knowing ingredients exactly?
Just throwing around ideas...
As others have said, weighing your food doesn't do much good if you don't know what the ingredients are. A friend of mine works in a restaurant where they grill chicken breasts in advance and they sit in a hot pan of butter to keep them moist. That's just one of a gazillion ways restaurants pump a great deal of calories in what people consider to be low calorie food. It's great to be social, but does it have to be eating out??? If you can't control your calories in, you're never going to get a handle on losing weight.0 -
the way I see it:
Do you plan to use a scale/cups every time you eat out with friends for the rest of your life?
If not, you're going to have to learn how to estimate eventually.0 -
jeepinshawn wrote: »I carry a pocket scale with me when I go out to eat. I have no qualms about using it. I've been told by a few MFPers that I have disordered eating because of it, but these same people also tout weigh and measure all food. Apparently, you're only supposed to do that in the privacy of your own home.
It's up to you if you want to use one in public. If you don't, you can go by eating half of what is served to you or only take half of what you'd usually take. For me, unless it's a food I'm wanting, I'll just not eat.
I don't think that is anything to be ashamed of, but it isn't really all that practical. At home you know the ingredients, how they were cooked,etc. when you are out and about you don't know what is in the sauce, how it was cooked etc. so the weight doesn't mean quite as much.
I do weigh items I purchase at work. Some things are fairly generic like French fries or a burger bun or a grilled chicken breast. Other items have their nutritional info given by weight, so that can be helpful. I tend to use my body to cover the scale when I weigh at my desk, but ultimately this is my journey and if something simple like weighing food will help me get and stay there, I'm doing it as often as I want to
No, I probably wouldn't weigh food in somebody's house, especially if it weirds them out in the slightest!
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I have one at work that I'll take to Whole Foods with me to weigh the salad bar chicken (or whatever else I'm having). Or if I don't have it with me, I'll ask the guys behind the prepared foods counter to weigh it for me.
I thought I'd feel self conscious about it but, really, no one gave a damn. And it helps me stay on track.0 -
I have one at work that I'll take to Whole Foods with me to weigh the salad bar chicken (or whatever else I'm having). Or if I don't have it with me, I'll ask the guys behind the prepared foods counter to weigh it for me.
I thought I'd feel self conscious about it but, really, no one gave a damn. And it helps me stay on track.
People are more health conscious at Whole Foods. It might be a different experience at Burger King.0 -
I've gotten way more ridicule from my coworker (who, btw, asked me to weigh something for her the other day) than I've ever gotten when I asked someone in a public restaurant to weigh something for me.0
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I've gotten way more ridicule from my coworker (who, btw, asked me to weigh something for her the other day) than I've ever gotten when I asked someone in a public restaurant to weigh something for me.
Yup, my food scale at work comes in handy when we want to know the weight of small items. No guess work, nothing. Just slap it on and done
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jeepinshawn wrote: »I carry a pocket scale with me when I go out to eat. I have no qualms about using it. I've been told by a few MFPers that I have disordered eating because of it, but these same people also tout weigh and measure all food. Apparently, you're only supposed to do that in the privacy of your own home.
It's up to you if you want to use one in public. If you don't, you can go by eating half of what is served to you or only take half of what you'd usually take. For me, unless it's a food I'm wanting, I'll just not eat.
I don't think that is anything to be ashamed of, but it isn't really all that practical. At home you know the ingredients, how they were cooked,etc. when you are out and about you don't know what is in the sauce, how it was cooked etc. so the weight doesn't mean quite as much.
It's not any more impractical than doing it at home. Only problem I have is getting enough light to shine on the digital screen so I can read it. No, I don't know how things were cooked (unless I know someone who works in the kitchen and can ask), but that doesn't nullify the nutrition listed on the website. It's a better guess using the nutritional info which usually has a weight in grams, than going by eating half and taking the rest home.
You're going along the same route as the MFPers who say I have disordered eating. They want me to weigh and measure everything I eat and when I do, I have disordered eating, but when I don't, I'm eating more than I think.
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^^ I see this catch!0
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