weighing and measuring

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nightbird1103
nightbird1103 Posts: 34 Member
I've been logging for about 2 months now and I've been losing slowly (up and down), but I keep reading how important it is to not estimate intake. Most days I'm grateful that I'm eating actual food instead of whatever is in the break room at work or some random goldfish crackers from my kids' lunches.
So, I'm going to begin the weigh/measure everything this Sunday. I'm going to prep things in little containers. Measure salad dressing, the whole bit. I usually just log 4 oz of chicken without actually measuring it, and estimate with all my proteins really and I don't always log my veggies-

Wish me luck! I'd love to hear from anyone who's done this and seen results!

Replies

  • momo_t90
    momo_t90 Posts: 288 Member
    edited March 2016
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    When I lived with my parents, they had a food scale and I used it for everything. I coupled that with a lot of exercise. (I was in a mixed martial arts class at the time.) I saw great results in my weight!

    Unfortunately, I stopped doing all that and gained the weight back and more. But I highly recommend a good scale if you don't have one already. I'm thinking about getting one myself. I think they're around $30?

    Somebody posted a video that showed the importance of exact measuring. There were two identical meals and one had almost twice as much calories as the other. If I can find it, I'll post it here.

    Found it!

    http://youtu.be/vjKPIcI51lU
  • alannabuck
    alannabuck Posts: 9 Member
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    I agree with @momo_t90 , it's surprising what a difference weighing your food makes. For example, whenever I try to eyeball an ounce of cheese THEN weigh it, I've always overestimated. :'(

    I use this when I'm at the top of my calorie counting game: http://amzn.com/B00NX47YP4 . It's not too expensive and in my opinion worth it if you're religious about calorie counting. :)
  • lexabeep
    lexabeep Posts: 232 Member
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    I love weighing vs not! I found that I underestimated how much I could eat when not weighing a lot of things. And way overestimated protein! It really is eye opening.
  • no_pink_skirts
    no_pink_skirts Posts: 914 Member
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    I've been weighing everything I make at home. I highly recommend weighing things in grams because I've found that the size (ie 1 Tbsp) can vary but grams are exact
  • momo_t90
    momo_t90 Posts: 288 Member
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    I either use grams or ounces depending on what it is. Liquids and meats I use ounces because that's what they're usually weighed as. Other stuff I look at the box to see what it is, like in the nutritional info where it says serving size, it gives something like 1 cup but in parentheses it will say how many grams. In that case I use grams.
  • louann_jude
    louann_jude Posts: 307 Member
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    I measure and weigh everything. Its amazing. I was comparing my breakfast yesterday to my bf and mine though high was only 500 calories. His was about 1200 calories. The sad thing was I use to eat as much if not more than him and wonder why he was so much smaller. He is 5 inches taller than me and he works 10 to 12 hour days in the freezer. So his daily calorie amount is going to be much higher than mine.

    His nephew was dumb founded when I told them that one plate of food my bf ate was how many calories I have in a day.

    The weighing and measuring can be a hassle at first then you get use to it. I am now hooked on it especially since I have lost 35 pounds since starting.
  • nightbird1103
    nightbird1103 Posts: 34 Member
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    Holy cow, so I measured a few things and I cannot believe what an actual serving size should look like! I was definitely eating 1.5 to 2x the actual serving size- what an eye opener!

    Thanks everyone! Maybe now I'll see a downward trend on the scale!
  • SweetPeasMom55
    SweetPeasMom55 Posts: 3,385 Member
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    I got a great scale on ebay 10. just shop around and I prefer digital.