I understand and then I don't (scales and weighing and calorie worrying)
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Replies
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snowflake954 wrote: »Other people however might just cut back on overall spending, maybe get a second job, or maybe they make more money in the first place so saving would appear easier. However if estimating is not working, and spending is getting out of hand then a tighter budget might be in order. Having a budget is a tool.
This is a perfect explanation. (And just like I don't weigh my food, I don't have a strict budget but know when I need to tighten the belt [both with food and money])
I find this comparison interesting and wonder if there is a mental correlation between the two. Maybe some people are more concerned with the bigger picture and some with the minutiae. Sort of like a macro and micro approach.
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I don't like weighing everything except meats, but I do it anyway. I put things in fraction of or whole cup measures, then put it on the scale. Yes it's an extra step and more cups to wash. I don't care. It's how I learned portion control- in cups and ounces, not grams. I weigh it to translate it to calories. Also I don't carry a scale everywhere, and I still need to get a ballpark idea of what my portions should look like. It works for me. At the end of the day I have to do what works for me and keeps the scale moving in the right direction. This also gives me less anxiety about what I'm doing and peace of mind in terms of what I'm doing is right for me.1
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endlessfall16 wrote: »jane, I'm not going to refute every off track analogy you brought up. The more we discuss, the more chances for jerks and detractors to chime in with irrelevant stuffs, name calling, etc. It's sad that we can't discuss objectively. I stand by my logic that when you said you have tried the not weighing approach and it didn't work so well, that means you don't know it, specially you don't know what the millions that do not weigh and succeed know. I think one poster (I assume in the counter camp) equates that (not weighing and succeeding) to having a magic wand.
What logic? There hasn't been a measurable amount of logic in a single one of your posts. I couldn't even eyeball the amount, there was so little of it.13 -
I just read this thread for the first time. I used the "portion" method which is basically volume and measuring cups and successfully lost 10 pounds. Then I abruptly plateaued for a long time. That method stopped being efficient to me. I have 10 pounds left to get solidly into normal BMI. I have learned from MFP that weighing is more accurate. I'm going to start using a kitchen scale and hopefully will start losing again. My deficit and TDEE are small. I don't have much room for error before I stall.1
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I'm with you, OP. I made the decision a long time ago not to weigh my food. I'm a pretty good eyeballer and I can eat a serving and not go back for more. I could easily see weighing and logging becoming an unhealthy obsession with me. Now I just try to eat healthy and hit the gym 5 times a week.
However, that's not to say that weighing doesn't work for other people. It does and they should do it if it works for them. It's just not something I want to do.
For curiosity sake, are you at your goal weight? Is your goal weight above what is considered a normal weight for your height or is it within that range?2 -
I'm with you, OP. I made the decision a long time ago not to weigh my food. I'm a pretty good eyeballer and I can eat a serving and not go back for more. I could easily see weighing and logging becoming an unhealthy obsession with me. Now I just try to eat healthy and hit the gym 5 times a week.
However, that's not to say that weighing doesn't work for other people. It does and they should do it if it works for them. It's just not something I want to do.
For curiosity sake, are you at your goal weight? Is your goal weight above what is considered a normal weight for your height or is it within that range?
I'm with what Sharon said. And frankly, I don't give a hoot if people weigh food or not. Whatever works for people!
That being said, I'm not entirely sure why you care if her goal weight is above the healthy range or not. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm getting the impression that you don't believe that a person can get to a "healthy" weight without weighing food.
I'm maintaining a steady 130 lb at 5'5. I look emaciated if I get any thinner. That being said, I've never weighed my food in my entire life. Now, I actually don't log food at all and I've been just fine.
Back to it, whatever works for an individual should be what they continue doing. Not everyone has to weigh food but I also see how it is beneficial to some people. To each their own.
Why is everyone so riled up over this?
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I just had this weighing discussion with my sister, she had been eyeballing her coffee creamer and when she weighed it again after several months, she realized she had gradually eyeballed her way up to 2 extra servings per time, that's 70 extra calories 3 times a day, a 210 calories oops. I like to weigh in my kitchen and am ok with skipping it when i'm out. I "eyeball" my portion and then I weigh, sometimes i'm like spot on, others I must have the HUNGRY EYES cause i'm ounces off and glad I did weigh it out. I've been doing this over 500 days and the weighing is such a habit now, I really don't think about it, just weigh and go.4
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BiggDaddy58 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »I don't think it's really so much about something being 3.2 ounces vs 3.5 ounces...at least it wasn't for me. For me it was about logging 4 ounces of chicken because that's what the packaging said was a serving size...when in reality a whole chicken breast is more like 8 ounces so I was eating double. Other calorie densethings like nuts and nut butters, pasta, etc were also an issue for me.
I never weighed every little thing and really never weighed packaged items or made sure my V8 was exactly 11.5 ounces or anything like that...I just weighed certain items which I knew were potential pitfalls...mostly really calorie dense items.
Using a food scale taught me how to better estimate things visually, so I don't use it as much anymore.
Thank you and spot on! I was thinking this when I wrote the post and I'm sure I could have phrased it better..but whatever. At some point..can't you just get rid of the scale? If you have been at this awhile, had success..weighed numerous amounts of food..don't you have a pretty good idea of where you're at and how much food it really is?
Or is it a fear of gaining weight back? A fear of having your success tool taken away? I am just curious and this is a discussion board..and we're all in this for the long haul (I hope..or maybe not?)
If not weighing works for you, and you are good at portions and are happy with the weight loss then don't worry about it. It isn't accurate enough for me so close to goal. I will try portion method (once again) when I get to maintenance because I prefer it but will go back to weighing if I see the pounds creep back up (once I make my goal weight).1 -
If I could go back in time, I'd have started using a food scale much earlier. I wasted so much energy trying to adhere to a 1200 calorie diet and wondering why I couldn't lose. To me, predictable results are so worth the extra time it takes to weigh my food.4
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RosieRose7673 wrote: »I'm with you, OP. I made the decision a long time ago not to weigh my food. I'm a pretty good eyeballer and I can eat a serving and not go back for more. I could easily see weighing and logging becoming an unhealthy obsession with me. Now I just try to eat healthy and hit the gym 5 times a week.
However, that's not to say that weighing doesn't work for other people. It does and they should do it if it works for them. It's just not something I want to do.
For curiosity sake, are you at your goal weight? Is your goal weight above what is considered a normal weight for your height or is it within that range?
I'm with what Sharon said. And frankly, I don't give a hoot if people weigh food or not. Whatever works for people!
That being said, I'm not entirely sure why you care if her goal weight is above the healthy range or not. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm getting the impression that you don't believe that a person can get to a "healthy" weight without weighing food.
I'm maintaining a steady 130 lb at 5'5. I look emaciated if I get any thinner. That being said, I've never weighed my food in my entire life. Now, I actually don't log food at all and I've been just fine.
Back to it, whatever works for an individual should be what they continue doing. Not everyone has to weigh food but I also see how it is beneficial to some people. To each their own.
Why is everyone so riled up over this?
So. Many. Incorrect. Assumptions.
I was curious if she got there without weighing. Some people can reach their goals without weighing. I wanted to know if her goal was higher than most people who turn to weighing to reach theirs.
Why did you get so riled up about my questions? I'm an eyeballer too. I rarely weigh anything. I've reached my current goal of 145 from 195 without weighing. I'm wondering if she reached a similar goal using a similar method. This most recent goal of mine is at the high end of my 'normal for my height' weight.
Can you see that my questions were for curiosity to my own situation now? Or do you still think it was some underhanded tactic?6 -
I'm with you, OP. I made the decision a long time ago not to weigh my food. I'm a pretty good eyeballer and I can eat a serving and not go back for more. I could easily see weighing and logging becoming an unhealthy obsession with me. Now I just try to eat healthy and hit the gym 5 times a week.
However, that's not to say that weighing doesn't work for other people. It does and they should do it if it works for them. It's just not something I want to do.
For curiosity sake, are you at your goal weight? Is your goal weight above what is considered a normal weight for your height or is it within that range?
I second @RosieRose7673 - it seems you are fishing for a certain answer here, expecting that no one can achieve and maintain goal weight/normal weight without measuring. I'm a 35 year old female, 5'7" 142 lbs. Smack in the middle of "normal" bmi, size 6/8 (US). Got there, and have maintained that, for three years (outside of a pregnancy) without weighing or measuring a thing (don't even log much of the time). At this point I continue to lose on average .25 lbs per week without trying. I figure my weight will continue to slowly reduce until I get to what is ideal for my body (even though I feel like I'm well within ideal range at this point). Historically I've found that my losses stop around 138-140 and I stabilize pretty well from there (I had my fourth child 10 months ago, it took about eight months for the last of the baby weight to come off).
Not everyone needs to weigh and measure. I'm not knocking those that do, it's a useful tool and people need to find what works for them. But whether you count calories or not, being at a deficit is all that's required to lose weight. Even the last few lbs.
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RosieRose7673 wrote: »I'm with you, OP. I made the decision a long time ago not to weigh my food. I'm a pretty good eyeballer and I can eat a serving and not go back for more. I could easily see weighing and logging becoming an unhealthy obsession with me. Now I just try to eat healthy and hit the gym 5 times a week.
However, that's not to say that weighing doesn't work for other people. It does and they should do it if it works for them. It's just not something I want to do.
For curiosity sake, are you at your goal weight? Is your goal weight above what is considered a normal weight for your height or is it within that range?
I'm with what Sharon said. And frankly, I don't give a hoot if people weigh food or not. Whatever works for people!
That being said, I'm not entirely sure why you care if her goal weight is above the healthy range or not. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm getting the impression that you don't believe that a person can get to a "healthy" weight without weighing food.
I'm maintaining a steady 130 lb at 5'5. I look emaciated if I get any thinner. That being said, I've never weighed my food in my entire life. Now, I actually don't log food at all and I've been just fine.
Back to it, whatever works for an individual should be what they continue doing. Not everyone has to weigh food but I also see how it is beneficial to some people. To each their own.
Why is everyone so riled up over this?
So. Many. Incorrect. Assumptions.
I was curious if she got there without weighing. Some people can reach their goals without weighing. I wanted to know if her goal was higher than most people who turn to weighing to reach theirs.
Why did you get so riled up about my questions? I'm an eyeballer too. I rarely weigh anything. I've reached my current goal of 145 from 195 without weighing. I'm wondering if she reached a similar goal using a similar method. This most recent goal of mine is at the high end of my "normal" for my height weight.
Can you see that my questions were for curiosity to my own situation now? Or do you still think it was some underhanded tactic?
Okay. Thank you for clarifying. That's why I asked and said correct me if I'm wrong.
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tlflag1620 wrote: »I'm with you, OP. I made the decision a long time ago not to weigh my food. I'm a pretty good eyeballer and I can eat a serving and not go back for more. I could easily see weighing and logging becoming an unhealthy obsession with me. Now I just try to eat healthy and hit the gym 5 times a week.
However, that's not to say that weighing doesn't work for other people. It does and they should do it if it works for them. It's just not something I want to do.
For curiosity sake, are you at your goal weight? Is your goal weight above what is considered a normal weight for your height or is it within that range?
I second @RosieRose7673 - it seems you are fishing for a certain answer here, expecting that no one can achieve and maintain goal weight/normal weight without measuring. I'm a 35 year old female, 5'7" 142 lbs. Smack in the middle of "normal" bmi, size 6/8 (US). Got there, and have maintained that, for three years (outside of a pregnancy) without weighing or measuring a thing (don't even log much of the time). At this point I continue to lose on average .25 lbs per week without trying. I figure my weight will continue to slowly reduce until I get to what is ideal for my body (even though I feel like I'm well within ideal range at this point). Historically I've found that my losses stop around 138-140 and I stabilize pretty well from there (I had my fourth child 10 months ago, it took about eight months for the last of the baby weight to come off).
Not everyone needs to weigh and measure. I'm not knocking those that do, it's a useful tool and people need to find what works for them. But whether you count calories or not, being at a deficit is all that's required to lose weight. Even the last few lbs.
Keep reading.
People can't take people at face value anymore?
So many inaccurate assumptions...
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RosieRose7673 wrote: »RosieRose7673 wrote: »I'm with you, OP. I made the decision a long time ago not to weigh my food. I'm a pretty good eyeballer and I can eat a serving and not go back for more. I could easily see weighing and logging becoming an unhealthy obsession with me. Now I just try to eat healthy and hit the gym 5 times a week.
However, that's not to say that weighing doesn't work for other people. It does and they should do it if it works for them. It's just not something I want to do.
For curiosity sake, are you at your goal weight? Is your goal weight above what is considered a normal weight for your height or is it within that range?
I'm with what Sharon said. And frankly, I don't give a hoot if people weigh food or not. Whatever works for people!
That being said, I'm not entirely sure why you care if her goal weight is above the healthy range or not. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm getting the impression that you don't believe that a person can get to a "healthy" weight without weighing food.
I'm maintaining a steady 130 lb at 5'5. I look emaciated if I get any thinner. That being said, I've never weighed my food in my entire life. Now, I actually don't log food at all and I've been just fine.
Back to it, whatever works for an individual should be what they continue doing. Not everyone has to weigh food but I also see how it is beneficial to some people. To each their own.
Why is everyone so riled up over this?
So. Many. Incorrect. Assumptions.
I was curious if she got there without weighing. Some people can reach their goals without weighing. I wanted to know if her goal was higher than most people who turn to weighing to reach theirs.
Why did you get so riled up about my questions? I'm an eyeballer too. I rarely weigh anything. I've reached my current goal of 145 from 195 without weighing. I'm wondering if she reached a similar goal using a similar method. This most recent goal of mine is at the high end of my "normal" for my height weight.
Can you see that my questions were for curiosity to my own situation now? Or do you still think it was some underhanded tactic?
Okay. Thank you for clarifying. That's why I asked and said correct me if I'm wrong.
I shouldn't have had to clarify. They were straight forward questions posed to a specific poster.4 -
RosieRose7673 wrote: »RosieRose7673 wrote: »I'm with you, OP. I made the decision a long time ago not to weigh my food. I'm a pretty good eyeballer and I can eat a serving and not go back for more. I could easily see weighing and logging becoming an unhealthy obsession with me. Now I just try to eat healthy and hit the gym 5 times a week.
However, that's not to say that weighing doesn't work for other people. It does and they should do it if it works for them. It's just not something I want to do.
For curiosity sake, are you at your goal weight? Is your goal weight above what is considered a normal weight for your height or is it within that range?
I'm with what Sharon said. And frankly, I don't give a hoot if people weigh food or not. Whatever works for people!
That being said, I'm not entirely sure why you care if her goal weight is above the healthy range or not. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm getting the impression that you don't believe that a person can get to a "healthy" weight without weighing food.
I'm maintaining a steady 130 lb at 5'5. I look emaciated if I get any thinner. That being said, I've never weighed my food in my entire life. Now, I actually don't log food at all and I've been just fine.
Back to it, whatever works for an individual should be what they continue doing. Not everyone has to weigh food but I also see how it is beneficial to some people. To each their own.
Why is everyone so riled up over this?
So. Many. Incorrect. Assumptions.
I was curious if she got there without weighing. Some people can reach their goals without weighing. I wanted to know if her goal was higher than most people who turn to weighing to reach theirs.
Why did you get so riled up about my questions? I'm an eyeballer too. I rarely weigh anything. I've reached my current goal of 145 from 195 without weighing. I'm wondering if she reached a similar goal using a similar method. This most recent goal of mine is at the high end of my "normal" for my height weight.
Can you see that my questions were for curiosity to my own situation now? Or do you still think it was some underhanded tactic?
Okay. Thank you for clarifying. That's why I asked and said correct me if I'm wrong.
I shouldn't have had to clarify. They were straight forward questions posed to a specific poster.
Relax.
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jennyonthespot wrote: »If I could go back in time, I'd have started using a food scale much earlier. I wasted so much energy trying to adhere to a 1200 calorie diet and wondering why I couldn't lose. To me, predictable results are so worth the extra time it takes to weigh my food.
Me too. I wish I had known sooner! I am excited to find out about so many people being successful getting the last bit off with weighing.1 -
RosieRose7673 wrote: »RosieRose7673 wrote: »RosieRose7673 wrote: »I'm with you, OP. I made the decision a long time ago not to weigh my food. I'm a pretty good eyeballer and I can eat a serving and not go back for more. I could easily see weighing and logging becoming an unhealthy obsession with me. Now I just try to eat healthy and hit the gym 5 times a week.
However, that's not to say that weighing doesn't work for other people. It does and they should do it if it works for them. It's just not something I want to do.
For curiosity sake, are you at your goal weight? Is your goal weight above what is considered a normal weight for your height or is it within that range?
I'm with what Sharon said. And frankly, I don't give a hoot if people weigh food or not. Whatever works for people!
That being said, I'm not entirely sure why you care if her goal weight is above the healthy range or not. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm getting the impression that you don't believe that a person can get to a "healthy" weight without weighing food.
I'm maintaining a steady 130 lb at 5'5. I look emaciated if I get any thinner. That being said, I've never weighed my food in my entire life. Now, I actually don't log food at all and I've been just fine.
Back to it, whatever works for an individual should be what they continue doing. Not everyone has to weigh food but I also see how it is beneficial to some people. To each their own.
Why is everyone so riled up over this?
So. Many. Incorrect. Assumptions.
I was curious if she got there without weighing. Some people can reach their goals without weighing. I wanted to know if her goal was higher than most people who turn to weighing to reach theirs.
Why did you get so riled up about my questions? I'm an eyeballer too. I rarely weigh anything. I've reached my current goal of 145 from 195 without weighing. I'm wondering if she reached a similar goal using a similar method. This most recent goal of mine is at the high end of my "normal" for my height weight.
Can you see that my questions were for curiosity to my own situation now? Or do you still think it was some underhanded tactic?
Okay. Thank you for clarifying. That's why I asked and said correct me if I'm wrong.
I shouldn't have had to clarify. They were straight forward questions posed to a specific poster.
Relax.
More assumptions.2 -
RosieRose7673 wrote: »RosieRose7673 wrote: »RosieRose7673 wrote: »I'm with you, OP. I made the decision a long time ago not to weigh my food. I'm a pretty good eyeballer and I can eat a serving and not go back for more. I could easily see weighing and logging becoming an unhealthy obsession with me. Now I just try to eat healthy and hit the gym 5 times a week.
However, that's not to say that weighing doesn't work for other people. It does and they should do it if it works for them. It's just not something I want to do.
For curiosity sake, are you at your goal weight? Is your goal weight above what is considered a normal weight for your height or is it within that range?
I'm with what Sharon said. And frankly, I don't give a hoot if people weigh food or not. Whatever works for people!
That being said, I'm not entirely sure why you care if her goal weight is above the healthy range or not. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm getting the impression that you don't believe that a person can get to a "healthy" weight without weighing food.
I'm maintaining a steady 130 lb at 5'5. I look emaciated if I get any thinner. That being said, I've never weighed my food in my entire life. Now, I actually don't log food at all and I've been just fine.
Back to it, whatever works for an individual should be what they continue doing. Not everyone has to weigh food but I also see how it is beneficial to some people. To each their own.
Why is everyone so riled up over this?
So. Many. Incorrect. Assumptions.
I was curious if she got there without weighing. Some people can reach their goals without weighing. I wanted to know if her goal was higher than most people who turn to weighing to reach theirs.
Why did you get so riled up about my questions? I'm an eyeballer too. I rarely weigh anything. I've reached my current goal of 145 from 195 without weighing. I'm wondering if she reached a similar goal using a similar method. This most recent goal of mine is at the high end of my "normal" for my height weight.
Can you see that my questions were for curiosity to my own situation now? Or do you still think it was some underhanded tactic?
Okay. Thank you for clarifying. That's why I asked and said correct me if I'm wrong.
I shouldn't have had to clarify. They were straight forward questions posed to a specific poster.
Relax.
More assumptions.
Alright! Big hugs for all!
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tlflag1620 wrote: »I'm with you, OP. I made the decision a long time ago not to weigh my food. I'm a pretty good eyeballer and I can eat a serving and not go back for more. I could easily see weighing and logging becoming an unhealthy obsession with me. Now I just try to eat healthy and hit the gym 5 times a week.
However, that's not to say that weighing doesn't work for other people. It does and they should do it if it works for them. It's just not something I want to do.
For curiosity sake, are you at your goal weight? Is your goal weight above what is considered a normal weight for your height or is it within that range?
I second @RosieRose7673 - it seems you are fishing for a certain answer here, expecting that no one can achieve and maintain goal weight/normal weight without measuring. I'm a 35 year old female, 5'7" 142 lbs. Smack in the middle of "normal" bmi, size 6/8 (US). Got there, and have maintained that, for three years (outside of a pregnancy) without weighing or measuring a thing (don't even log much of the time). At this point I continue to lose on average .25 lbs per week without trying. I figure my weight will continue to slowly reduce until I get to what is ideal for my body (even though I feel like I'm well within ideal range at this point). Historically I've found that my losses stop around 138-140 and I stabilize pretty well from there (I had my fourth child 10 months ago, it took about eight months for the last of the baby weight to come off).
Not everyone needs to weigh and measure. I'm not knocking those that do, it's a useful tool and people need to find what works for them. But whether you count calories or not, being at a deficit is all that's required to lose weight. Even the last few lbs.
Keep reading.
People can't take people at face value anymore?
So many inaccurate assumptions...
I mist have posted my response as you were posting yours... It happens.
I just know many people on here don't seem to think it's possible to lose those last few lbs without meticulous logging (read:weighing and measuring). Because of that, your questions sounded "loaded" to me. That's all.
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tlflag1620 wrote: »tlflag1620 wrote: »I'm with you, OP. I made the decision a long time ago not to weigh my food. I'm a pretty good eyeballer and I can eat a serving and not go back for more. I could easily see weighing and logging becoming an unhealthy obsession with me. Now I just try to eat healthy and hit the gym 5 times a week.
However, that's not to say that weighing doesn't work for other people. It does and they should do it if it works for them. It's just not something I want to do.
For curiosity sake, are you at your goal weight? Is your goal weight above what is considered a normal weight for your height or is it within that range?
I second @RosieRose7673 - it seems you are fishing for a certain answer here, expecting that no one can achieve and maintain goal weight/normal weight without measuring. I'm a 35 year old female, 5'7" 142 lbs. Smack in the middle of "normal" bmi, size 6/8 (US). Got there, and have maintained that, for three years (outside of a pregnancy) without weighing or measuring a thing (don't even log much of the time). At this point I continue to lose on average .25 lbs per week without trying. I figure my weight will continue to slowly reduce until I get to what is ideal for my body (even though I feel like I'm well within ideal range at this point). Historically I've found that my losses stop around 138-140 and I stabilize pretty well from there (I had my fourth child 10 months ago, it took about eight months for the last of the baby weight to come off).
Not everyone needs to weigh and measure. I'm not knocking those that do, it's a useful tool and people need to find what works for them. But whether you count calories or not, being at a deficit is all that's required to lose weight. Even the last few lbs.
Keep reading.
People can't take people at face value anymore?
So many inaccurate assumptions...
I mist have posted my response as you were posting yours... It happens.
I just know many people on here don't seem to think it's possible to lose those last few lbs without meticulous logging (read:weighing and measuring). Because of that, your questions sounded "loaded" to me. That's all.
Assumptions happen.0
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