Weighing food

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bethcothern
bethcothern Posts: 14 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok, so I got a food scale and this may be a really silly question but do I weigh everything? For instance, I just had greek yogurt, should I have taken it our of it's container and weighed it? I scanned the bar code and it cme up so I didn't weigh it.

Replies

  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    With prepackaged items, I tend to weigh a new product a couple of times to get a feel for how close it is to its stated serving size. Some things I'll keep weighing because they're far off and some I won't. Others handle it differently.

    In my experience, Greek yogurt tends to come out a little less because some of it stays in the container. But your mileage may vary. An easy way to test it would be to weigh the whole container before you eat it and then weigh the empty container after. The difference will give you the amount you ate.
  • evesmom2
    evesmom2 Posts: 231 Member
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    I do not understand all the "weigh everything" mantra. Why can't I measure my OPA salad dressing as 2 TBS? or any other liquid for that matter? This is confusing to me.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    evesmom2 wrote: »
    I do not understand all the "weigh everything" mantra. Why can't I measure my OPA salad dressing as 2 TBS? or any other liquid for that matter? This is confusing to me.

    People are encouraged to weigh solid foods because measuring cups are a really unreliable way to tell how much you're actually eating. It's easier to create and maintain a calorie deficit when you know how much you're actually eating.
  • evesmom2
    evesmom2 Posts: 231 Member
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    Thanks Jane. So when I have a 1/4 cup of shredded cheese on my salad, I should weigh it instead of use the measuring cup? I bake a lot, so I don't overfill anything, but are you saying that isn't good enough? :smile:
  • benzieboxx
    benzieboxx Posts: 253 Member
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    For yogurt I do what @diannethegeek said. Weigh the container before and then after. Or sometimes if I'm home I have time to put the yogurt into a tupperware container. Especially if I'm going to throw in some extra fruit or something.

    But as for your initial question, I weigh all of my solids and my liquids I use spoons or measuring cups. I guess you could weigh liquids too, but I don't.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    evesmom2 wrote: »
    Thanks Jane. So when I have a 1/4 cup of shredded cheese on my salad, I should weigh it instead of use the measuring cup? I bake a lot, so I don't overfill anything, but are you saying that isn't good enough? :smile:

    Yes, I would weigh it for accuracy. I find that shredded things (like cheese) are some of the most unreliable to measure in a cup. Even if you don't overfill, you can eat more than you think you are -- this can be especially tricky with calorie dense foods like grains, starchy vegetables, and cheese.
  • evesmom2
    evesmom2 Posts: 231 Member
    edited April 2016
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    Great.... now I'm not so confused. Thank you

    edit: oh, one more question. Are the calorie counts for every food in the database in grams? (in other words, for my shredded cheese, can I find the calorie counts in the database in grams)
    And I just went and checked...the answer is no. So what do you do about that?
  • sunnyskies1780
    sunnyskies1780 Posts: 24 Member
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    evesmom2 wrote: »
    Great.... now I'm not so confused. Thank you

    edit: oh, one more question. Are the calorie counts for every food in the database in grams? (in other words, for my shredded cheese, can I find the calorie counts in the database in grams)
    And I just went a checked...the answer is no. So what do you do about that?

    You can. Just add "Cheddar cheese gram" to the search field and you will find it. I always add "gram" in the search field, it makes finding a gram entry easy.
  • evesmom2
    evesmom2 Posts: 231 Member
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    Thanks sunnyskies. I will start doing that. I had to order a new scale because mine only does ounces.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,866 Member
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    Once you learn the tricks, weighing food is easier and quicker than measuring, and requires less washing up!

    For my yogurt (peanut butter, pre-shredded cheese, etc.), I put the whole jar/container/bag on the scale, zero (tare) it, take out some, and read the negative value on the scale to get the amount to log. If I want to match the serving size on the container, I just make sure to take that much out.

    For things like salad ingredients (or soup/casserole/etc ingredients I'm assembling in a pan or baking dish), I put the dish or pan on the scale, zero it, add an ingredient to the dish, note the amount, zero again, add the next ingredient, zero, etc., until everything's in the dish or pan.

    Also, I keep a few recycled plastic yogurt-tub lids on hand to toss on the scale if I want to weigh a small amount of something, so I don't have to keep washing little bowls or whatever, or wipe the scale platform. Put a lid on the scale, zero, put the item on the lid, record the weight. The lid is just a quick rinse under the faucet to clean.

    Truly, once you get in a routine, this is so much easier!
  • AspenDan
    AspenDan Posts: 703 Member
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    Out of curiousity, I often weigh new packaged foods..like my microwave bags of veggies say they're 4 servings, but they always weigh out as about 3..at 30cal a serving it really doesn't matter..but if it's like peanut butter or icecream, a serving off could mean a lot!
  • Lo__
    Lo__ Posts: 42 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Once you learn the tricks, weighing food is easier and quicker than measuring, and requires less washing up!

    For my yogurt (peanut butter, pre-shredded cheese, etc.), I put the whole jar/container/bag on the scale, zero (tare) it, take out some, and read the negative value on the scale to get the amount to log. If I want to match the serving size on the container, I just make sure to take that much out.

    For things like salad ingredients (or soup/casserole/etc ingredients I'm assembling in a pan or baking dish), I put the dish or pan on the scale, zero it, add an ingredient to the dish, note the amount, zero again, add the next ingredient, zero, etc., until everything's in the dish or pan.

    Also, I keep a few recycled plastic yogurt-tub lids on hand to toss on the scale if I want to weigh a small amount of something, so I don't have to keep washing little bowls or whatever, or wipe the scale platform. Put a lid on the scale, zero, put the item on the lid, record the weight. The lid is just a quick rinse under the faucet to clean.

    Truly, once you get in a routine, this is so much easier!

    Thanks for this! Just got a scale today too. This sounds so much easier than what I was planning to do

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