dumb question about weighing fruit

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cariduttry
cariduttry Posts: 210 Member
in Food and Nutrition
how do you measure fruit? for example, i'm sitting here at my desk eating a fuji apple. the label says it's 154 grams for 80 calories. i weighed it before i left for work and it's 140 grams...with the core. is that what i use or should i be coring it and weighing it? same for oranges and bananas. are the gram weights used including the skins or should i be peeling and weighing? thanks in advance!!
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Replies

  • Rocknut53
    Rocknut53 Posts: 1,794 Member
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    Weigh the parts you eat. Obviously there won't be a label for every single fruit that shows it's actual weight.
  • treegirl97
    treegirl97 Posts: 70 Member
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    I like to eat my apples sliced so I usually just slice them at home and then weigh. Then I know exactly how many grams I'm actually eating.
  • hassankarimi82
    hassankarimi82 Posts: 153 Member
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    I think weighing it would be a little extreme. Just log it as a regular apple or whatever. The calorie difference will be so minimal. Or just weigh it the one time, then you know for future refernece.
  • cariduttry
    cariduttry Posts: 210 Member
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    thanks everyone!

    @jemhh, i like that idea because i don't like to have my apples turn brown.

    @treegirl97, i was thinking that, but do you do anything to keep them from turning brown?

    i'm trying to be obsessive right now because i'm just beginning to weigh food and want to keep it honest. as time goes on and i get good at it, i agree @gobonas99 that i probably won't need to be so ocd about it.

  • DoreenaV1975
    DoreenaV1975 Posts: 567 Member
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    If I can, I cut it up and weigh only the part I eat. If not I weigh the whole thing and just include it in my total... I figure being off a little bit, by saying I ate more than I actually did from time to time, will only assist me in my weight loss/maintenance efforts.
  • fr33sia12
    fr33sia12 Posts: 1,258 Member
    edited May 2016
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    I'd just log it as 140g and at least then you're not over in calories, but a little under. I couldn't be bothered fathing about saving the core to take home & weigh.
  • DoreenaV1975
    DoreenaV1975 Posts: 567 Member
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    hassankarimi82 wrote: »
    I think weighing it would be a little extreme. Just log it as a regular apple or whatever. The calorie difference will be so minimal. Or just weigh it the one time, then you know for future refernece.


    There can be big differences!!! I know this from having weighed all my food for (almost) every meal for over a year...
    The only thing I don't weigh is what I can't, like when we go out to dinner.
    If I buy food and bring it home, even if it's tacos from Taco Bell, for example, I weigh it...
    So yeah the calorie difference is not "minimal"... Just sayin'
  • fr33sia12
    fr33sia12 Posts: 1,258 Member
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    DoreenaV1975 wrote: »
    hassankarimi82 wrote: »
    I think weighing it would be a little extreme. Just log it as a regular apple or whatever. The calorie difference will be so minimal. Or just weigh it the one time, then you know for future refernece.


    There can be big differences!!! I know this from having weighed all my food for (almost) every meal for over a year...
    The only thing I don't weigh is what I can't, like when we go out to dinner.
    If I buy food and bring it home, even if it's tacos from Taco Bell, for example, I weigh it...
    So yeah the calorie difference is not "minimal"... Just sayin'

    At least the calorie difference will be lower, not higher, maybe 50 cals if that.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,955 Member
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    When I first started calorie counting, I worried about these little details. After years of maintenance and mindfully eating without logging, I realized that these types of worries are mostly unfounded. Even a 140g apple is only 75 calories, so why make it harder than it has to be? Saving the core to weigh later would be more than I would be willing to do. I figure I make 100-200 calorie errors daily - even when I do my very best to use my digital food scale. Sometimes I err over and sometimes I err under, and it all works out. As long as I'm weighing myself, adjustments can be made.

    The bigger problem for me would be the anxiety of trying to be perfect and get every gram logged per the USDA database. Been there. Worried about that. Not going back there.
  • JoshuaMcAllister
    JoshuaMcAllister Posts: 500 Member
    edited May 2016
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    DoreenaV1975 wrote: »
    hassankarimi82 wrote: »
    I think weighing it would be a little extreme. Just log it as a regular apple or whatever. The calorie difference will be so minimal. Or just weigh it the one time, then you know for future refernece.


    There can be big differences!!! I know this from having weighed all my food for (almost) every meal for over a year...
    The only thing I don't weigh is what I can't, like when we go out to dinner.
    If I buy food and bring it home, even if it's tacos from Taco Bell, for example, I weigh it...
    So yeah the calorie difference is not "minimal"... Just sayin'

    Eating an apple that has a weight of 154g on the label, not eating the core which is about what 1/5 of the apple which is about 30g? That is like 20kcals! That is minimal, just saying.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    hassankarimi82 wrote: »
    I think weighing it would be a little extreme. Just log it as a regular apple or whatever. The calorie difference will be so minimal. Or just weigh it the one time, then you know for future refernece.

    Weighing it is the best way to ensure you know how much you're actually eating. If you eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, you can be off by hundreds of calories if you're logging everything as "regular."
  • hassankarimi82
    hassankarimi82 Posts: 153 Member
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    Weighing everything out to a T is border line eating disorder and isn't 'healthy'. When its concerning fruit and vegetables, an estimation is sufficient. When it comes to CAKE, then yes, weigh it.
  • fr33sia12
    fr33sia12 Posts: 1,258 Member
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    What does everyone do, it they log all the ingredients they use to make a meal, and then don't finish it all? Separate all the ingredients weight them and then subtract them? Yeh it's probably minimal calories, but so it the OP's apple.
  • Sassie_Lassie
    Sassie_Lassie Posts: 140 Member
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    helenrosec0 wrote: »
    What does everyone do, it they log all the ingredients they use to make a meal, and then don't finish it all? Separate all the ingredients weight them and then subtract them? Yeh it's probably minimal calories, but so it the OP's apple.

    Make it into a recipe and then put in how much I actually ate.

    While I agree that the calories in an apple is "minimal", they do add up if you're eating several throughout the day. It's not as though they are devoid of calories and they can, in fact, make a huge difference in someone's numbers.
  • DanyellMcGinnis
    DanyellMcGinnis Posts: 315 Member
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    If you don't want your apple to turn brown after cutting, slice it and dip the slices in lemon juice or in some powdered citric acid (usually available in the spice aisle or near canning supplies) that you have dissolved in water. Fair warning, the lemon juice makes Granny Smith apples kind of unbearable (waaaay too tart) but most other varieties are fine.
  • Sassie_Lassie
    Sassie_Lassie Posts: 140 Member
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    hassankarimi82 wrote: »
    Weighing everything out to a T is border line eating disorder and isn't 'healthy'. When its concerning fruit and vegetables, an estimation is sufficient. When it comes to CAKE, then yes, weigh it.

    I disagree. Weighing everything to a T ensures that I am 100% accurate on the amount of calories that I'm consuming. "Eyeballing" and "guessing" at serving sizes is what made me gain weight in the first place.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    hassankarimi82 wrote: »
    Weighing everything out to a T is border line eating disorder and isn't 'healthy'. When its concerning fruit and vegetables, an estimation is sufficient. When it comes to CAKE, then yes, weigh it.

    A scale is a tool to obtain accurate information about calories consumed. It can be used in an unhealthy way -- most tools can. But wanting to understand how many calories I'm actually eating in fruits and vegetables (some of which can be pretty calorie-dense) isn't unhealthy for *me* and it isn't unhealthy for many others.

  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    helenrosec0 wrote: »
    What does everyone do, it they log all the ingredients they use to make a meal, and then don't finish it all? Separate all the ingredients weight them and then subtract them? Yeh it's probably minimal calories, but so it the OP's apple.

    I have 2 methods, depending on how feasible this is for the particular dish.

    1. Make the recipe with each ingredient. When finished, weigh the entire finished product of food. Go back and edit the recipe serving size based on weight. So if the finished product is 800g, then the recipe has 800 servings. When I log the food, if I ate 40g, then I log 40 "servings" of that recipe.
    2. This method is less precise, but is because sometimes it is difficult to transfer food to a large enough container or a container that won't transfer heat and melt my scale. It also won't work if more than 1 person is eating it... definitely not the preferred method. But this method is to record all of the ingredients when you cook it and eat the first part. Don't record when you eat left-overs. I did this Fri. and was nearly 1,300 calories over for the day. But then I ate leftovers Sat. and Sun. and was under calories. For the week, I think I was pretty close to right on.

    You can do whatever works for you, but I log with as much precision as possible. Sometimes it doesn't always look like it in my diary (such as the big day Fri.), but I definitely am logging every drop and every bite that contains calories. The only things i don't log are things without calories (mostly water)... I log diet soda for sodium data. Just keep in mind that if you start having trouble losing weight, the first thing to change will need to be tighter logging. I disagree with the "it is close enough" logic when it is feasible to have better information.

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